Dall sheep Scouting ?

[Firemedic710]

So after last years delta hunt in I’m kinda hooked. I’ve been trying to narrow down an area to go scout for a otc sheep hunt this year. My question is what characteristics on maps or google earth do you look for to make you interested in an area. I plan on calling adfg ounce I narrow down a few places. I’m planning on putting eyes on the area before season as well. Obviously seeing rams would be a good sign but what else should be looking for on scouting trips in June and July?

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Flip through the ADFG hunting refs and make a list of places that have OTC sheep available and go from there.

 

[Firemedic710]

Thanks, I’ve made it as far as narrowing it down to 4 different gmu’s. I’m just having trouble picking drainages to talk to adfg about and to go scout in person. Just figured there’d be certain attributes to look for.

 

[BurtWatson]

I might suggest looking for smaller side drainages and the presence of mineral licks, hard to find recent/reliable info on natural licks or other food sources in OTC areas but a little digging does a lot of good

 

[smg]

I'm following this one. I'm not planning to hunt in the same area as the OP but I do plan to scout this summer in mid-July. From those who have experience with sheep, are you able to reasonably expect dall sheep to be in their summer range on the 1st of September? Obviously hunting pressure will affect sheep movements but outside of hunting pressure (predators) can a person expect the sheep to change their location much from the summer?

 

[tuffcity]

YMMV but if you find rams in July they will be there in (in the general area) in Sept. You'll start to see migration to ewe areas in late Oct as they stage for the rut.

This is assuming they haven't been driven out by external factors.

 

[Firemedic710]

I guess I’ll give some context to what I learned from this post. Either A this was a stupid question Or B sheep hunters are of the mindset of do your home work.

After narrowing my search to a few drainages I scouted and found 1 legal ram in a band 5 a week before opening day.

I went back in the day before the opener and tried to find them with no luck. Spent 4 days trying to find them. I had a pretty good view of a lot of the nearby drainages in the area and couldn’t find 1 ram. Only able to find 1 band of 20 or so lambs and ewes.

The long and short of it is I feel like it’s just a game of chance. Put eyes on on as much country as can and enjoy the journey.

 

[tuffcity]

Depends on how big the drainages are. There's places I know of that the rams do a "circuit" and it might be 8-10 days before they are back where you first saw them, and they can cover a huge area in that time. If it was hot when you went back they could be tucked into little crevices or over hangs and you really have to pick the country apart at various times throughout the day with good glass and good glassing techniques.

Patience is key. A quick glass and then moving on you will miss a lot of animals. It's less a game of chance but rather persistence!