Dall sheep doable for under 25k ?

[craig Holland]

This is correct.
also you can hunt grizzly or caribou along side sheep. Bring a grizzly locking tag with harvest tickets for sheep and caribou.
[/QUOTE

Please dm me as well if you kny someone

 

[Rowndy]

Can you please point me to this population data that incorrect? There is 50% fewer sheep in Alaska today than there was 15 years ago. Wer'e killing half as many sheep as we did 15 years ago, and the trend isn't going to change anytime soon.

I never said anything about incorrect population data.

 

[S-3 ranch]

I don’t think it’s possible with Alaska having such huge problems with their population and Canada having to absorb all the pressure
I really wanted to make a run on a slam, but with a stone sheep being a impossible task now days, especially for anything with 10-14 rings ( mature ram)
It’s now easier to get multiple desert bighorn and bighorn then a single stone,
And I wouldn’t trust a single sheep operator in Alaska now for a Dall
Might be a wild goose chase

 

[wind gypsy]

I don’t think it’s possible with Alaska having such huge problems with their population and Canada having to absorb all the pressure
I really wanted to make a run on a slam, but with a stone sheep being a impossible task now days, especially for anything with 10-14 rings ( mature ram)
It’s now easier to get multiple desert bighorn and bighorn then a single stone,
And I wouldn’t trust a single sheep operator in Alaska now for a Dall
Might be a wild goose chase

Not sure what a sheep operator is but if you're saying not a single AK sheep outfitter is worth trusting that's a pretty strong statement.

 

[S-3 ranch]

Not sure what a sheep operator is but if you're saying not a single AK sheep outfitter is worth trusting that's a pretty strong statement.

Outfitter
Yep truth hurts, but most want a decent amount of money for a deposit that is now none interest bearing and none refundable

 

[houghton_hunter]

The list price for the hunt might be in the ballpark of $25,000, relatively speaking, here is a guy advertising a hunt for $28,000- https://www.mikeodin.com/dall-sheep-hunts.html

Its all the other costs, as mentioned earlier that really add up, one of the big ones is getting a bush plane, which is something like $4,000, or more, for the flight to sheep camp and back. Don't forget the cost of the tags, flights to Alaska, extra baggage charges (bringing meat and horns home), hotel stay while in Fairbanks or Anchorage, and tipping is typically 10% of the cost of the hunt ($2,500-$3,000). This is not exhaustive.

Depending on your living situation, you could just move for a few years, scratch the itch and be done....Not everyone has that luxury, I get it.

 

[TommyDom]

I just hunted AK on 08/19/24. I booked officially on 12/17/2021. So that means I had to book 2.7 years in advance and I think I was the last person to book for 2024. I had lost a close hunting buddy to suicide and buried my mom after a fight with cancer. The lockdown just pissed me off. I just didn't care about the cost. I was in a state where I knew life is so short and it can be your time at anytime (I had also got charged by a Grizzly on my BC Mountain Goat hunt and completely destroyed by right hand and needed surgery, oh and I almost died of a brain tumor years back). Beyond all that, this was something I had dreamt of my entire life. There was no internet when I was a kid. I would cut out images from the Cabelas magazine of hunters with sheep and pin them to my wall. I just never thought I would ever be able to harvest a sheep. I just decided I would made it work financially. Most of us hunters are salt of the earth people and just don't have this kind of money, but I found a way. It was the most glorious experience ever and I harvested a behemoth of a sheep. I was told that my same hunt is $12,000 more now than when I booked it. I track my expenses very closely and I tacked on another $7,000 for tag/license, tip, flight, hotel, rental car, etc. I am not even including gear that you may need. I bought a ton of gear from my 2021 Colorado Sheep hunt. I just don't think prices will go down. If you want to do it, find a way sooner than later....or apply for raffles and pray.

 

[Mojave]

If I had a profession where I could manage it, I would just move to the Yukon or NWT.

LIving in Alaska, would work if you could live in a village that had subsistence hunting for sheep in the unit.

Liv ing in Alaska and not having the money or time to get out and hunt. sheep every year would be a waste of living there.

I tend not to think in circles of any hunt being the thing I wrap around my life. Odds are pretty high these days to go home without a sheep. Happened a lot during the 2023 stone and Dall seasons in Canada and Alaska. I don't know how 2024 worked out.

If you are lucky you will live through hundreds or thousands of hunting scenarios. To define your life at 5-12 days one August doesn't interest me.

Should you blow $350,000 on a slam? Or $35,000 on a Dall hunt? Yes, if it does nothing to your financial bottom line.

I knew a guy that won $50,000 in the early 1990's and went to Tanzania and killed everything in the Masailand area. 15-20 species. Got divorced, lost his house, eventually lost his job and ended up in poverty. That $50,000 would have changed his life today.

Do as much as you can do, but!

Be careful with what you do.

 

[TheWhitetailNut]

Outfitter
Yep truth hurts, but most want a decent amount of money for a deposit that is now none interest bearing and none refundable

LOL. What service provider on the planet pays interest on a deposit, and of course it's non refundable, that's the whole friggin' point of a deposit?

 

[TheWhitetailNut]

If I had a profession where I could manage it, I would just move to the Yukon or NWT.

LIving in Alaska, would work if you could live in a village that had subsistence hunting for sheep in the unit.

Liv ing in Alaska and not having the money or time to get out and hunt. sheep every year would be a waste of living there.

I tend not to think in circles of any hunt being the thing I wrap around my life. Odds are pretty high these days to go home without a sheep. Happened a lot during the 2023 stone and Dall seasons in Canada and Alaska. I don't know how 2024 worked out.

If you are lucky you will live through hundreds or thousands of hunting scenarios. To define your life at 5-12 days one August doesn't interest me.

Should you blow $350,000 on a slam? Or $35,000 on a Dall hunt? Yes, if it does nothing to your financial bottom line.

I knew a guy that won $50,000 in the early 1990's and went to Tanzania and killed everything in the Masailand area. 15-20 species. Got divorced, lost his house, eventually lost his job and ended up in poverty. That $50,000 would have changed his life today.

Do as much as you can do, but!

Be careful with what you do.

Your friend had problems you can't fix with $50k.

 

[ColeyG]

Can you please point me to this population data that incorrect? There is 50% fewer sheep in Alaska today than there was 15 years ago. Wer'e killing half as many sheep as we did 15 years ago, and the trend isn't going to change anytime soon.

The NR success rate is 30-40% less than it was 15 yaers ago and only half as many are coming. Many outfitters are booking less becaues they don't have rams to shoot.

Are there still sheep to shoot? Yep, can you still kill one? Yep Is the sheep hunting still "good?" That depends on who you ask. The hunting is a shell of what it used to be. Hunt'em until they're gone. No reason not to at this point. No one else is letting off the gas, I'm not going to either.

Trying to dissuade NR? Thats funny, considering most outfitters are booked years out.

The Dall population in Canada has also fallen off a cliff. 50% less sheep there too according the the most recent data.

The fake Dall Sheep news campaign is working.

I haven't encountered any NR hunters on my last 3 sheep hunts! Keep up the good work!

Granted, I haven't encountered any legal rams either, but that is beside the point.

 

[mtwarden]

It's been said a few times, but whatever the cost of the hunt is, it's going to be significantly than that. Licenses while not exorbitant, aren't exactly cheap and if it's a once in a lifetime hunt you would be wise to grab a grizzly and caribou tag as well. Commercial flights to AK aren't cheap, but if there is an additional charter flight (almost a certainty w/ the Brooks Range) it's going to be spendy-my round trip flight was $1500+, more than my flight from Helena to Fairbanks. At a minimum you'll have two nights of lodging, expensive lodging at that. Meals on each end. Tips—if you get good service (which you should for the cost of the hunt) you should probably tip decently as well. Additional baggage cost on the way home (hopefully). Taxidermy costs (hopefully).

Not unrealistic to add an additional 20% (or more) over the cost of the hunt.

One thing is almost a certainty, whatever you book your for now, is going to cheaper than in the 2-4 year wait when you actually hunt.