[QUOTE=sheep nut;92467]. By opening morning, there were 27 hunters in that tiny valley,and an outfitter that was doing all she could to screw up the hunting for everyone. We left and went into the Clearwater and it was just as crowded. QUOTE]
I return to the original quote that got this thread started.
I hear you brother. I am surprised that there has been no comments on the bad behaviour of outfitters that do a lot more to endanger sheep hunting than most anything else. I too was in that neck of the woods and the female outfitter's antics were far more worrisome than the fellow residents. Crowded yes, but the other guys in the valley were just trying their best and playing by the rules as far as we could tell. I did not begrudge any of them for choosing the spot we had chosen. Everyone we spoke to was sure the "lady" outfitter was trying to scare every sheep in sight back into the park. She rode the ridge tops, skylined herself whenever possible, fired guns during the day, let her nitwit dogs harass passersby, and as Sheepnut said did, 'all she could to screw up the hunting for everyone'.
When asked why she was even there during the resident only week she claimed to be guiding a resident hunter. No one ever saw the alleged hunter. There is a law on the books that involves charges against one who willfully disrupts a lawful hunt. How to prove this?
[QUOTE=bullgetter;93584] I'm to worried about others wrecking my hunt to enjoy myself. [QUOTE]
This is what it became for us too.
A friend and very able sheep hunter friend of mine cultivated his sheep hunting skills in a more northerly zone for 15 years and had lots of competitions with the longtime outfitter there. There were a few questionable events, but generally the guy played fair. The new outfitter has made the old one look like an ethics expert. This new douch*-ba* has permanent equipment and supplies left in the area year round (illegal to maintain a cache in the forestry), has cut helicopter landing areas in two locations (one in the creek bed), and has a success rate that cannot be explained in any other way but a) poaching in the nearby sanctuary areas, or more likely b) sighting sheep on his frequent helicopter runs. The friend in question has taken pictures and GPS coordinates and bitc**ed his head off in the form of very articlulate letters for years and has never even heard so much as a response.
Now my question is: how can we get bad outfitter behaviour stopped?
We need to get some of the unfair competition under control and maybe the draw debate would be rendered moot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheephunter
I've studied Montana's sheep management extensively and they do know how to produce trophy rams in a way that makes Alberta look pathetic, even though many of their populations began with our transplants.!
Drawing a tag in certain areas there is as close to a guarantee of a book ram as you can get.
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I am glad that someone pointed out that some of Montana's genetics were drawn from the finest Alberta had to offer.
I spoke to a fanatic sheep hunter from Montana and he said he would gladly trade the once-in-a-lifetime nearly-guaranteed-book-ram opportunity of Montana for the ability to hunt rams every year in Alberta. I didn't get the impression that he held the general tag areas in very high regard.
Further, I don't think that the easy living areas (Missouri breaks) and human acceptance of Rams in Montana would work here given our subsistence hunting issues.
Opinion on draws for all sheep . . . we have other issues to resolve first.
Regards,
Magoo