438 sheep 2016

sheep · #1 07-20-2016, 07:12 AM

Well its finally starting to sink in that its all true. I was awarded the 438 late season hunt.

Should be great, I'm really excited.

I've been hunting sheep for 15yrs now and it was the only tag I bought every year till I was 25 or so. I have 2 bighorns on the wall already but I hope to add a monster to the collection.

I'm hoping to go do some scouting soon as I only live 3hrs away. I'm trying to find out the best way for me to hunt the area and get a plan together. I don't know if we will be staying in Hinton and backpacking it all. Or taking ponys and camping out of the truck or a full pack in and camp through the mine somewhere.

I'm reaching out to anyone that has suggestions or information for me. Reply on here or Pm either way works.

I've been up there drooling over sheep a few times in the last ten years but never considered I'd be awarded the tag. I've never walked in the zone at all.

I had back surgery on July 6th so I'm going to have to take it easy for a month or better before I can hike in through the mine much.

Grizzly Adams · #2 07-20-2016, 07:30 AM

Long range forecast claims a colder winter with more snow than normal. Take that for what it's worth.

Motel in Cadomind, not sure if it's open that time of year though.

Grizz

Fowl91 · #3 07-20-2016, 07:32 AM

Congrats on the tag! Never hunted the area, but i hope it all works out for you. Best of luck on your recovery as well.

BackPackHunter · #4 07-20-2016, 08:42 AM

That's the tag to have!
I wish you luck, just build yourself back up slowly,
I had surgery on my knee in Jan and I'm in sheep shape right now
In a month I'll be in the best shape of my life

BigChevy · #5 07-20-2016, 09:05 AM

Congrats on drawing the tag, that is my dream to get to hunt that late season one day!
There's lots of options for spots to stay and hunt from. The days will be short so the further from the mountain you decide to stay the earlier you will have to be moving in the morning to hike in and the further you have to go each night.
Hope your back heals up well and you can put the time in that the tag deserves!
Best of luck.

sheep · #6 07-20-2016, 09:34 AM

Yes I hope all goes good with my back as well. I had the same surgery in 2012 and went on a 10 horse trip for moose a month after so I hope this time it goes the same. One way or another I will be there hunting for every hour of legal time anyway. My last sheep was on the last day of october at 4pm of a very cold windy day. I'm hoping I can at least walk so I don't have to crawl everywhere!

Fishhunter · #7 07-20-2016, 05:56 PM

I'll pack ya in if need be. Wow lucky bugger!!!! Good for you. I'm sure if anyone's going to put forth the effort for this hunt it will be you and I know you'll be hanging on to a hog of a sheep this fall. Right on congrats. We must celebrate soon....

saskwhitey · #8 07-20-2016, 06:45 PM

We camped in wall tents just outside the town. The one guy and his wife camped on the mine the year I had my tag. I think they told us they had to get special permission for that. The wall tents were great, but man it would be nice to have a hot bath or shower at the end if a freezing cold day! I would try and rent someones cabin in town or the motel if it is open. I would opt for the wall tent over driving into hinton though. Horses are not necassary. We had them but I think they are more trouble than they are worth. The hikes into the hot rocks/tower basin are not that far. Good luck, hope you get a crancker!

boonerkiller · #9 07-20-2016, 08:09 PM

Good luck. I was just down for a drive through the mine last week for the first time and seen 3 rams that had to be over 190" out of a group of 23. Really gets a guy excited for sheep season right around the season.

sheep · #10 07-25-2016, 12:58 PM

We made it up for a look around, found all the 4 trail heads through the mine. Wanted to hang a private property sign on a few sheep.

nube · #11 07-25-2016, 01:54 PM

Nice rams. Congrats on a tag. I hope it goes well for u

wildwoods · #12 07-25-2016, 03:05 PM

Those pictures are incredible. COngrarts and here's hoping you tag a monster

Ricko Swava · #13 07-26-2016, 11:18 AM

Congrats! I got the draw in 2009 and shot a cranker 191" gross! My 17 yr old son won the lottery this year and we will be hunting the second hunt nov11-20. We r planning to spend a weekend in cadomine to show carter my son what he is in for. We should hook up and we can let u know what we learned on our hunt to give u and idea of what is going on. The hot rocks and tower areas are where we went every day till the rut started. It is a great hunt but frustrating because there are 100's of animals every where but they are all on the mine. If u would like to compare notes let me know and we can hook up. Happy hunting!!

Ricko Swava · #14 07-26-2016, 11:32 AM

Would any body out there know where I could get a good gps with the map of 438 with the mine coordinates on it. So I can tell exactly where I am when I am out there. Last time I was there it was very hard to tell where the mine boarder is. There is very little signage and I don't want to make a mistake with a ram of a life time! Any info or recommendations would be awesome!

AlbertaGod · #15 07-26-2016, 02:17 PM

@Sheep

Please tell me about your back if you don't mind and the surgery? I had a cat scan last fall showing a disk out of place pushing on a nerve at L5 and S1. I have an MRI scheduled in January. Then I'll need to decide what to do with it.

Wondering if you could share your surgery options that you had please?

Tks

BigChevy · #16 07-26-2016, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlbertaGod

@Sheep

Please tell me about your back if you don't mind and the surgery? I had a cat scan last fall showing a disk out of place pushing on a nerve at L5 and S1. I have an MRI scheduled in January. Then I'll need to decide what to do with it.

Wondering if you could share your surgery options that you had please?

Tks

My Dad had surgery just a couple months ago for almost exactly what you are saying. Maybe shoot him a PM, his handle is Cowboyhunter.

DJS · #17 07-26-2016, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheep

We made it up for a look around, found all the 4 trail heads through the mine. Wanted to hang a private property sign on a few sheep.

Awesome pics!!

AlbertaGod · #18 07-26-2016, 02:55 PM

@BigChevy

Thanks! I will.

beaver river game · #19 07-26-2016, 07:58 PM

Hey sheep I got the late draw to me and a crazy4moosehunting where up there two weeks ago hiking around checking to make sure all our gps coordinates we punched in made sense and drooling over sheep pm and we will touch base.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

sheep · #20 07-27-2016, 07:09 AM

beaver river game, albertagod, ricko swava PM's sent!

This is going to be a long 4 months!

Acesneights · #21 07-27-2016, 02:32 PM

Gonna have to get a couple good Sherpas

sheep · #22 09-07-2016, 08:25 AM

Went camping to Cadomin for the long weekend. Made it into Tower, Luscar and Hot rocks. Snowed or rained up there most of the weekend but visability was good enough to find all the trails anyway. Never seen much for sheep off the road but seen a few with the spotter in between clouds. Some of the rock pits made to get out of the cold don't look to inviting. I wonder how they came up with the name "Hot rocks"? they didn't seem very hot to me! Doc says I'm healing well so hopefully that stays true.

grizzler · #23 09-07-2016, 08:45 AM

those "rock blinds " might not look like much, but you will enjoy them the end of nov. Take a " jet boil " with you to make hot tea, it will also become your your best friend. Wind is brutal up there at times.

wildwoods · #24 09-07-2016, 09:11 AM

Really hoping you pull a CRANKER outta there

bdub · #25 09-07-2016, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheep

Went camping to Cadomin for the long weekend. Made it into Tower, Luscar and Hot rocks. Snowed or rained up there most of the weekend but visability was good enough to find all the trails anyway. Never seen much for sheep off the road but seen a few with the spotter in between clouds. Some of the rock pits made to get out of the cold don't look to inviting. I wonder how they came up with the name "Hot rocks"? they didn't seem very hot to me! Doc says I'm healing well so hopefully that stays true.

There is an underground coal fire still going there. Just off the access trail there are a couple big boulders where steam from below ground comes out of the ground from some holes at those boulders. It's hot enough you can't hold your bare hand in it for very long. They are on your left side heading in, about 50 yards off the access trail, on the big flat before you start climbing off the mine site. Good luck on your hunt.

Acesneights · #26 09-07-2016, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdub

There is an underground coal fire still going there. Just off the access trail there are a couple big boulders where steam from below ground comes out of the ground from some holes at those boulders. It's hot enough you can't hold your bare hand in it for very long. They are on your left side heading in, about 50 yards off the access trail, on the big flat before you start climbing off the mine site. Good luck on your hunt.

That's great input bdub. I'm going to be sheeps Sherpa that's standing over those steam holes trying to survive. Haha. Brrrrrrr

sheep · #27 12-02-2016, 08:46 AM

Well the hunts all over now, It is alot tougher hunt than most think it is thats for sure. Met a few of the other hunters the sunday night and hit tower first thing monday morning. We hiked in everyday in the dark and left the top of the mountain after dark everyday. Seen at least 1 legal ram out of the mine everyday except the very first day and that was because we sat all day. When you keep moving you'll see more. On days 4,5 and 6 we were able to help other tag holders fill there tags, so that was exciting. The 4th tag holder left on day 5 a little to early as he missed a nice ram out of the mine as well. On day 6 we decided to split up and start looking all over the front range for a herd of ewes off the mine. I went into tower and out to the north to luscar and found 5 rams and 4 ewes off the mine but no shooters. My good friend "Gilbertguy" went to hot rocks and past to the top of the mountain to look into gregg river. Same thing found rams but no big herds of ewes or any shooters. Day eight I went back to tower and he went to the back side of slaughter and back. Mid day on day 8 the ram I had been watching as well as 4 others chased a ewe off the mine, I ended up connecting on him after a little hide and seek. He tumbled a fair ways but with minimal damage. Thankyou to everyone that helped me along the way, including my back surgeon!

And Acesneights, your not much of a sherpa!

Acesneights · #28 12-02-2016, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheep

Well the hunts all over now, It is alot tougher hunt than most think it is thats for sure. Met a few of the other hunters the sunday night and hit tower first thing monday morning. We hiked in everyday in the dark and left the top of the mountain after dark everyday. Seen at least 1 legal ram out of the mine everyday except the very first day and that was because we sat all day. When you keep moving you'll see more. On days 4,5 and 6 we were able to help other tag holders fill there tags, so that was exciting. The 4th tag holder left on day 5 a little to early as he missed a nice ram out of the mine as well. On day 6 we decided to split up and start looking all over the front range for a herd of ewes off the mine. I went into tower and out to the north to luscar and found 5 rams and 4 ewes off the mine but no shooters. My good friend "Gilbertguy" went to hot rocks and past to the top of the mountain to look into gregg river. Same thing found rams but no big herds of ewes or any shooters. Day eight I went back to tower and he went to the back side of slaughter and back. Mid day on day 8 the ram I had been watching as well as 4 others chased a ewe off the mine, I ended up connecting on him after a little hide and seek. He tumbled a fair ways but with minimal damage. Thankyou to everyone that helped me along the way, including my back surgeon!

And Acesneights, your not much of a sherpa!

Lol. Congrats again on your rammy. You deserve it.

Huntnut · #29 12-02-2016, 09:24 AM

Beauty ram...congrats

walking buffalo · #30 12-02-2016, 09:49 AM

Congrats Sheep, a very nice Ram!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acesneights

Lol. Congrats again on your rammy. You deserve it.

You've been hanging with BM too much.
That is Not a rammy...