Anyone hunted the Montana unlimited archery sheep season? I hear it's the hardest hunt in NA and that the sheep at best are hard to find but its a guaranteed tag which is enough motivation for me. I'm planning a trip for next year and I can hardly wait!

so the tag is good year after year until you kill one?

You have to apply and purchase a new tag every year. The areas are very rugged and the season ends when the quota is met. You have to call every day to see if it's been met.

Sounds like a real tough hunt....hope it works out for you. Best of Luck.......

The unlimited areas are tough backpacking, fewer and smaller sheep(compared to limited draw areas), plenty of grizzlies in the areas, elk and deer are there too. Might get snowed on in Sept. high country. Apply for a goat in the same area...odds are low, so worry about it only if you draw the goat tag. There are horse based outfitters that will set up a high base camp and then glass and hike from there. Best luck.

You will be competing directly with the rifle  hunters, waiting for them to come out of Yellowstone National Park.  Most years they never come out of the park.  If they do leave the park the possibility of you getting them with a bow before the guns do are slim, at best. If you hunt the Absorkas, figure going in around twenty five miles.  If you hunt the Gallatins, it is only about six or seven miles to where the outfitter line up their clients', waiting for them to cross the line.

Believe me, if I thought there was any chance at all I would be hunting the areas yearly.

QuoteOriginally posted by Walt Francis:
You will be competing directly with the rifle  hunters, waiting for them to come out of Yellowstone National Park.  Most years they never come out of the park.  If they do leave the park the possibility of you getting them with a bow before the guns do are slim, at best. If you hunt the Absorkas, figure going in around twenty five miles.  If you hunt the Gallatins, it is only about six or seven miles to where the outfitter line up their clients', waiting for them to cross the line.

Believe me, if I thought there was any chance at all I would be hunting the areas yearly.

Well....THAT's encouraging...        .

Seriously....it's nice to get intel like that before buying the tag.  I've emarked on some pretty hopeless endeavors and afterward found out that I shoulda known better....

Yep, pretty sure no one has ever got one with a bow in the unlimited areas, not even with the 100 yard plus arrow launching devices available today.  Incredibly rough country and from what I have heard, drinking water is pretty hard to come by.  If it was that good of an idea, there would be a line of rich guys a mile deep waiting to fork out $40,000 to do it...

I considered the Gallatin area several years ago. I had a meeting in Big Sky and thought why not bowhunt sheep in this area?  I wrongly thought that if I stayed in the mountains I wouldn't know when the quota of 1 sheep was killed and I could keep hunting.  

Nope, I called FW and learned what has been written above...it is the hunter's responsibility to check by radio each day to make sure the quota hasn't been filled.

Sometimes I think thought that maybe I should have done it anyway (hunt, not break the law). At least I would have been a sheep hunter for a few days?

For guys with the money but not years to draw, Alberta is a place for bighorns.  

I think the current price is $27,000 for one of the tags. I also think they are booked about 1-2 years in advance.  Only 2-3 outfitters have these tags. They are hunting outside parks.

Yep, what they said...    

I am aware of the rules regarding the call in system and the quotas. There is however, a seperate archery only season prior to the rifle season. My plan is to go in the week before to scout and then hunt the ten day archery season. I'm not to concerned with trophy potenital, a legal ram if given the opportunity would be a once in a lifetime trophy. I would just be happy to see sheep I think and to be in their country.

My uncle and his buddy got a couple of the biggest rams taken in those unlimited regions many years ago but that was rifle. He did the hunt a couple years ago but no luck. You go waaaay back in there. I know sheep hunts are hard regardless, but if you want to get on a legal ram it's going to be a lot harder than any other sheep hunt in NA.

Brendan Burns at kuiu might be able to help you out with more info too since he's a sheep guide. You can find more info on him on Kuiu's blog: blog.kuiu.com