Effect of sheep on Elk

[CurlyTail]

I am hunting a Wyoming General Unit this fall. It is known to have a lot of sheep grazing in the National Forest. What kind of effect should I expect the sheep to have on Elk? Do elk avoid the sheep herds? What are the sheep herders like - are they friendly and talkative or scary/untrustworthy?

[saddlesore]

I hunt NW CO .They run 2000-4000 head of sheep where I hunt.They are usually out of there by ML season.If they are gone a week or two,I kill elk,if not, I don't kill elk.I think it is mostly that the sheep are constantly on the move and with the dogs and herders,they make a lot of noise and pretty much eat whatever is in their path.Herders are mostly Basque from Spain or from Argentina ,Peru or Brazil. Most speak VERY limited English. Usually friendly ,but hard to communicate with

[twinkieman]

I agree, if sheep are around, elk and deer are not. Along with the dogs and herders, sheep leave a lot of odor, even days after they are gone. Learn some Spanish phrases, for asking the herders, they don't see a lot of people, and all that I have encountered, have been friendly. One in Nevada, in 2003, even loaned me his horse to pack out my buck. I gave him a headlamp, and batteries, in return. You would have thought I gave him a million dollars.

[ishy]

Make sure when you "talk" to herders let them know you are hunting coyotes too, and they will open up with any and all information they have.

[Elkhunttoo]

Excellent question... I have great resources on this (my dad and I will talk to him first so I don't butcher my response ... he spent his entire career studying sheep and wildlife on the range for the university of Idaho. As for the sheep herders, if you can communicate with them they are/can be great resources and have great stories . Most all of them are great guys.

Just a few years ago my cousin and I went to a place with very few elk tags and lots of elk just to watch them and listen to them bugle...we watched 13 bulls and over 50 cows work a big side hill with a band of sheep on the same hill.

[ElkNut1]

Yep, similar here! We have 4-5 flocks with 2500 or so per flock every year! elk vamoose out & generally return 10-14 days later. Sheep herders are small fellows around here & always wave! Don't speak much English at all.

ElkNut1

[saddlesore]

Where I hunt in ML elk season they run a lot of sheep.They are suppose to be out of there by then, but the grazing lease holders cheat at times.About five years ago they drove about 3000 head of sheep right thru the trail head we were camped at.This was about 4PM.No big deal we thought.
That night,the sheep got loose out of the pens down the mountain.1 AM and they were back in our camp,bleating,running,two Great Pyranees barking . It spooked my one young mule so bad,it ruined her.
By daylight those sheep were spread out over a 5mile circle. In every little meadow,draw, that you could see. A day later they brought in some guys on horse back and dogs to round them up. They were yelling from one ridge to the next,the dogs were chasing sheep thru the timber.Genuine mayhem all about.What elk were there left, PDQ

The outfitter had drop camps spread out thru that area, and those guys were pi$$ed to say the least.These were NR's that had used 12-13 points to get those tags and there wasn't an elk around. Only sheep. After a lot of complaints that guy lost his lease,but another rancher took it up. I heard they lost a coupe hundred head of sheep in all. I didn't get an elk in that ML season and had to wait until 2nd rifle season to shoot a bull.

[Indian Summer]

I'd pretty much agree with most of the comments above. Sheep herders well..... herd sheep! That means chasing them where they want them to go. Basic stuff. Chasing means using dogs and yelling in Spanish as loud as you can. So yes the elk vacate the area. But that doesn't mean they head for Canada. As with any scenario in elk hunting you need to be flexible and adapt. So move a couple ridges over and you should be back in business. As a matter of fact you could do really well. If you think about it the elk can really be concentrated because of the situation. The elk that were originally there will still be there and the ones that relocated will often take up residence in the same spots. Myself and some of my clients have had insane days of hunting after bumping over a ridge or two or hunting the other side of the road from where we ran into sheep. One piece of advice I can give you if you do run into sheep herders is stand downwind. Those dudes don't shower very often!

[WapitiTalk1]

I've never hunted where there are domestic sheep around. Is this a common thing in the areas a lot of guys hunt?

[Elkhunttoo]

Temporary displacement is what the elk do when sheep are around. Like has been said, usually just a ridge or two over. All sheep herders are different, some are really quiet and some yell and holler and shoot there gun a few times every evening to try and keep predators at bay. The loud ones definitely push the elk farther off...sheep and elk eat different forages, sheep mainly eat forbs and elk prefer grasses. The two animals co-exist really well together but the sheep herders are still human and elk like to get out of there smell as much as Indian summer ...like has been said, give the elk a week or so after the sheep are out and they will be back.

[CurlyTail]

Thanks for the help. I am thinking of setting my base camp up in an area about 500 yards from a herder base camp. Hoping that they will not clean out my camp while I am in the outback. One of the guys in our group operates a wool yarn mill - he will probably be down there in the evenings trying to get a good deal on this years wool. Maybe he will get some good intel also as this is our first time in the area.

[Lefty]

I dont like the smell of sheep that have or are grazing. Lots of straight up info.
Ask where they didnt run sheep,.Or look for the way too steep, too much blow down, where the grizzle lives. Blow down is the place to look

[saddlesore]

I've never hunted where there are domestic sheep around. Is this a common thing in the areas a lot of guys hunt?

Northern Colorado sure doesn't have a shortage of them. It's Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!!!!!

[six]

I hunted near sheep one year. Couple things. Had a great hunt and were into quite a few elk. We hunted the steep stuff where the sheep hadn't been.

Sat in a sheep traffic jam for 30 minutes one afternoon. Herder didn't seem to give a dang. We finally eased into the heard actually lightly bumping into the sheep. They started moving.

On the drive home from the hunt I wished I had remembered my Spanish 101 better. I have since written down some key phrases in a hunting notebook I keep in the truck. Those guys live where the elk live. They could be a great resource.

A couple days after being in the new area I spoke with a local. I asked him if the elk avoided the sheep. He said they sure do. He said the elk head into the timber when the sheep are around. Reason being the sheep have shorter legs and avoid the blow downs and such associated with heavy timber.