Never been an outfitter or fishing guide that has ever gotten rich doing it. Just ask them! Gotta pay for those new F250's, huge lodges, new boats and planes. Nothing left over to buy a taco.
Dall Sheep - Why so Expensive?
- Thread starter COSA
- Start date
Never been an outfitter or fishing guide that has ever gotten rich doing it. Just ask them! Gotta pay for those new F250's, huge lodges, new boats and planes. Nothing left over to buy a taco.
Dont forget the boat. Gotta have boat.
Gatorgrizz27
WKR
The other thing, which I take absolutely no issue with, is that I would imagine most of the established outfitters have been doing it quite awhile, gotten better at it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes a lot more work than it used to. That all deserves more $.
If a guy started a business up there in the 70’s after 2-3 years of helping with guiding, didn’t know a whole lot, and sheep hunting consisted of “well, there they are, let’s go get one”, that’s a big difference from having 20-30 year of experience and having to hunt multiple areas over a 10-14 day hunt to have a chance to even see a sheep.
I own a woodworking business and my prices have definitely outpaced inflation, but so has the quality of the work I provide.
Haha. Possibly.
Pilots license qualification time is measured in hours. Coast guard measures their qualification time in days!!
Because sheep hunting is a rich mans game and they get away with charging that much. Look at the price of any guided sheep hunt or sheep auction tag, the prices are simply ridiculous and its largely a wealthy persons club. I know of one wealthy alaskan who has considered buying out an outfitters business just so that he would essentially have the area to himself...
If you're a non resident it is a rich man's game. There are plenty of us poor folks who get out and sheep hunt each year.
AK Troutbum
WKR
I like to compare it to the cost of a divorce. Why is it so expensive??? Because it’s worth it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
JP100
WKR
Pretty much supply and demand.
Sheep hunting is way out of whack I think, and has grown like wildfire, I think a number of reasons, but Ovis club, 'grand slam' etc etc have all had their effect. But for the guides/outfitters its great if they can sell those hunts for that money, it does not make their lives easy, running a good outfit is a mammoth task and costs are always going up. but it is nice to have a reasonable profit margin.
I have been on one sheep hunt as a packer, ile claim that as 'my' sheep hunt because I know I can never afford it, or even If I could it just seems absurd to spend that coin.
The outfit I worked ran Stones and Mt Goat hunts in similar areas. The costs of these hunts were very similar, yet one was under 10k and the other over 40k.
If they can sell those hunts the price will never go down, and from what ive seen ALL hunts in North America have gone up very rapidly over the last decade, and many are low success/poorly run hunts.
In many ways I wish I was an outfitter in Canada or Alaska, they have a huge industry support from the government which has made the industry so strong.
There are plenty of great adventure style hunts, fully outfitted, than can be had at the fraction of the price of a sheep hunt. Maybe the pressure will move onto these hunts and soon they too will be priced out of the 'average' man.
granted there still is DIY options for residents, which need to exist I think to add balance to the image of hunting
If you cant afford a sheep hunt, be a guide.
you will be even poorer, but you will get to put sheep on some one else's wall haha
Sheep hunting is way out of whack I think, and has grown like wildfire, I think a number of reasons, but Ovis club, 'grand slam' etc etc have all had their effect. But for the guides/outfitters its great if they can sell those hunts for that money, it does not make their lives easy, running a good outfit is a mammoth task and costs are always going up. but it is nice to have a reasonable profit margin.
I have been on one sheep hunt as a packer, ile claim that as 'my' sheep hunt because I know I can never afford it, or even If I could it just seems absurd to spend that coin.
The outfit I worked ran Stones and Mt Goat hunts in similar areas. The costs of these hunts were very similar, yet one was under 10k and the other over 40k.
If they can sell those hunts the price will never go down, and from what ive seen ALL hunts in North America have gone up very rapidly over the last decade, and many are low success/poorly run hunts.
In many ways I wish I was an outfitter in Canada or Alaska, they have a huge industry support from the government which has made the industry so strong.
There are plenty of great adventure style hunts, fully outfitted, than can be had at the fraction of the price of a sheep hunt. Maybe the pressure will move onto these hunts and soon they too will be priced out of the 'average' man.
granted there still is DIY options for residents, which need to exist I think to add balance to the image of hunting
If you cant afford a sheep hunt, be a guide.
you will be even poorer, but you will get to put sheep on some one else's wall haha
downsouth175
FNG
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2016
- Messages
- 34
I hunted in the NWT in '15, and had booked the hunt a couple years prior. Following the hunt my father-in-law and I visited with the outfitter the following winter at the sheep show. His hunts had gone up a few thousand dollars already. My FIL was giving him hell, asking him how he could justify increasing the prices that much. He kind-of laughed and said it's because the guys are still paying it, at that time he was booked solid for a couple years. I still watch his prices and they keep going up, and he's still booked a couple years out. I think it strictly boils down to supply and demand, like any business.
I’m sure that has some to do with it. But doing hunts hasn’t gotten cheaper for guides as well.
Not sure a comparison to a 1980s Alaska Sheep hunt is apples to apples. If I recall, back in the 80s residents could still park on the Glenn Highway 1-2 hours outside of Anchorage, hike into the mountains, and bag a nice ram without too too much trouble. I also seem to recall that the full curl law was not always the case in Alaska, and there seemed to be a lot more sheep (and a lot les hunters) back in those days.
I can't say for sure Jake, my family left Alaska when I was 12 - I had shot a caribou by then, but had never hunted sheep.
Has the full curl requirement been around for as long as you can recall?I remember 3/4 curl reg I believe and unit 11 didn’t have the full curl reg until a handful of years back. I’ve heard speculation that back when folks shot some smaller rams and bigger ones that there was more breeding stock left in the mountains. Now we shoot only older breeding rams perhaps limiting the amount of reproduction we see compared to back prior
To the full curl regulation. All speculation however.
To the full curl regulation. All speculation however.
Supply/demand? If you take a look at Wyo sheep hunts. Guides are required by nonresidents in wilderness areas (where most sheep hunts take place). Guided sheep hunts in Wyo wilderness run close to $15,000. A guided elk hunt in the same wilderness area is only around $5,000! Same guide, close to the same location, etc. and guided sheep is $10k more?
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