trophy sheep in alberta? i need some help

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jr.fish

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I have grown up in the hunting in the bush and never missed a season. but iv only ever shot deer and tryed for a few elk but never found a legal bull.
I have become very interested in big horn sheep and would like to try and hunt one in the 2011 season. I know very little about buying tags and would like to be prepaired for the upcoming season.

Am i able to buy a general tag or something like that?
Or do i have to enter a draw for an area?

The little bit of info i could find told me that i should try and draw for wmu438 because it is a general lotto that doesnt use the points system.

Being 18 and my first year trying to pursue a tag for this animal i have 0 points.

any help would be great
thanks
 
From what I've been hearing there may be changes to the sheep tags/draws this year?

If you look in the regs you'll find general trophy tags are available over the counter in some of the 400 zones. You can also apply for both trophy and non, or 999 to build priority in those. If you look in "my wild alberta" under "hunting draws", upper left click on "2010 draw results" and you'll see how many got drawn with what priority for every draw in the province.

Start getting in shape now. If you've never hunted in the mountains, it's an experience not to be missed, especially at your age. Just know that every step you take is uphill, even when you're going downhill, or at least it seems that way, so pick what you pack carefully. ;)

To get practiced up for sheep, just find a mountain, climb it, crawl the last 400yds over scree and scrub, then when you're almost in the clear pretend you see sheep going out of sight. Next climb to the top, pretend you see them on the next mountain over. :D

Seriously if you enjoy hunting you'll love it. Start planning now for next August.
 
You can hunt on a general tag most everywhere that sheep can be hunted in this province. The general tags are only good until Oct. 31st though and most of the draw tags are for areas that are also under general tags. The thing is that the draw tags are good in November, which is the month with the highest probability of success. For example WMU 438 is the most sought after draw tag, it's in a zone that’s general Aug- 25th until Oct. 31st, but only the ones with the draw tag can hunt in November.

Don't bother with the draw tags as they are impossible (as in you would have to live for over 100 years) to get drawn. This is because there are so many people at the top of the priority list. Just put in for the WMU 438 draw as that one is a lottery with no priority. The draw system may change soon for sheep though.

Grab the regs and look at where they can be hunted on your general tag (like I say pretty much every 400 WMU). Then put in the miles during the summer to find them. I mean LOTs of miles. No one will give you tips on where to go as we sheep hunters are secretive about our locations. Just scout with Google maps and then put on the miles trying to find them.

Don't get discouraged, you will see sheep, but it will take lots of time and miles before you see something that's legal. (Unless you drive into the park :p)
 
I'm going to elaborate on why the Alberta Draw system is flawed for sheep hunting. It makes it impossible for someone who is just getting in to build priority. One may look and say "hey I only have to wait 11 years as the guys who are getting drawn now are on priority 11." the thing is lets say 8 tags are drawn every year and there are 90 people at priority 11 and 130 people at priority 10 and so on. There are probably over 1000 people ahead of you in line and only 8 will be drawn in a year. You will have to wait hundreds of years before you are drawn.

(These numbers are not real, just used to show the point)

This is why you should just put in for the lottery 438 draw.
 
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