How do you justify sheep hunting?

[schmalzy]

College is an overrated waste of $ if you aren’t going to be a doctor/lawyer/specific type of engineer (imo).

I did a semester @ a community college (learned how to drink beer more efficiently) then gave up and just went to work.

Every single person in my position in the company I work for has some sort of advanced degree with all the debt that comes with it-and I kick their @ss because I know what hard work is (thank you Dad & GPA).

I never understood funding your childrens post high school education. Give them a good life and instill a work ethic-the rest will work itself out

Not to stray off topic of the OPs post, but that was part of what I was getting at. College is great for some, not great for others. Can’t make it a one size fits all approach to it, and with that, can’t make it a blanket approach to personal finance and how that applies to an individuals choices regarding hunts and chasing dreams.


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[Jacob Chapman]

Not to stray off topic of the OPs post, but that was part of what I was getting at. College is great for some, not great for others. Can’t make it a one size fits all approach to it, and with that, can’t make it a blanket approach to personal finance and how that applies to an individuals choices regarding hunts and chasing dreams.


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Absolutely agree

 

[adventure907]

If a person loves to hunt, my question would be, how does one justify NOT sheep hunting?

 

[MtnW]

I have been on 5 mountain sheep hunts. Yukon,Colorado,NWT. Did my last one when I turned 50. My memories, adventures , and experiences outweigh any personal and financial sacrifices. The older you get the faster time goes by. I have friends who can no longer handle the rigors of the sheep mountains due to health issues or age. Privately they share their regrets about not doing these hunts when they could have.

 

[Mojave]

So am I good if i plan on pushing my kids into the trades or pulling a hitch with Uncle Sam? Or if college is a route that makes sense, I should wait til they’ve gone to college (or I’ve atleast saved up for the cost?)

That would have put me at about 48 for my first. I respect guys that choose to do this, but it ain’t for me. Never know when you’re ticket gets punched, when sheep opportunities get restricted, or when life just simply gets in the way. I’m not saying put yourself in a bad situation financially or spend your kids college fund on a hunt, but don’t be surprised if that hunt never happens if you wait til the kids are out of college and your mortgage paid off.

Slightly tongue in cheek, and I think I get your intent Of make sure your personal financial goals and needs are being met, but you’re painting with an awful broad brush.


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Other than the medical and engineering professions there are very few jobs that pay as well as the trades.

I did 20 years in the military and am 10 years into another career. It will be a life well spent.

Plus because of the overseas postings I was able to hunt all over the world at some good prices.

 

[Newtosavage]

So am I good if i plan on pushing my kids into the trades or pulling a hitch with Uncle Sam? Or if college is a route that makes sense, I should wait til they’ve gone to college (or I’ve atleast saved up for the cost?)

That would have put me at about 48 for my first. I respect guys that choose to do this, but it ain’t for me. Never know when you’re ticket gets punched, when sheep opportunities get restricted, or when life just simply gets in the way. I’m not saying put yourself in a bad situation financially or spend your kids college fund on a hunt, but don’t be surprised if that hunt never happens if you wait til the kids are out of college and your mortgage paid off.

Slightly tongue in cheek, and I think I get your intent Of make sure your personal financial goals and needs are being met, but you’re painting with an awful broad brush.


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You got the gist of what I was saying. If your financial affairs aren't in order and you haven't planned for your family's needs, I don't feel spending $20k to kill a sheep that you probably won't even eat is a sensible thing. But hey, spend it if you got it right?

Who really cares what anyone else thinks anyway. We're all entitled to our opinions.

 

[Newtosavage]

College is an overrated waste of $ if you aren’t going to be a doctor/lawyer/specific type of engineer (imo).

I did a semester @ a community college (learned how to drink beer more efficiently) then gave up and just went to work.

Every single person in my position in the company I work for has some sort of advanced degree with all the debt that comes with it-and I kick their @ss because I know what hard work is (thank you Dad & GPA).

I never understood funding your childrens post high school education. Give them a good life and instill a work ethic-the rest will work itself out

Any education is only worth something if you work hard. But the facts are that those with a college degree earn quite a bit more on average than those without. Regardless, more education never hurt a person, but less education on the other hand...

We were prepared to help our three through undergrad, but they worked their a$$es off and all got full ride scholarships, so we didn't have to. Grad school was on them, and they each worked that out too.

I have three HS buddies that all went into the trades while still in HS. I worked my way through college because there was no way else to do what I wanted to do for a living. They all make more $ than I do. Doesn't bother me because they are always telling me what a great job I have. Money isn't everything.

 

[Jacob Chapman]

Any education is only worth something if you work hard. But the facts are that those with a college degree earn quite a bit more on average than those without. Regardless, more education never hurt a person, but less education on the other hand...

We were prepared to help our three through undergrad, but they worked their a$$es off and all got full ride scholarships, so we didn't have to. Grad school was on them, and they each worked that out too.

I have three HS buddies that all went into the trades while still in HS. I worked my way through college because there was no way else to do what I wanted to do for a living. They all make more $ than I do. Doesn't bother me because they are always telling me what a great job I have. Money isn't everything.

I agree with ya-it’s kind of like the mantra for my Iowa Hawkeyes: hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

I am blessed to be good at my job, however since I don’t have a degree I’ll always have that chip on my shoulder since some like to flaunt their degrees at me.

My high school education was from one of the best public schools in the state & Iowa has some of the best. I am fairly well read and was also blessed with common sense which has helped haha.

I am not in a blue collar job necessarily (financial sales) however before I started down this career path I roofed, poured foundations & even worked at a furniture warehouse.

Those experiences help remind me every day that I am extremely lucky to be in the position that I am, and I’m determined to have experiences like sheep hunting so I’m making it happen

 

[Newtosavage]

I agree with ya-it’s kind of like the mantra for my Iowa Hawkeyes: hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

I am blessed to be good at my job, however since I don’t have a degree I’ll always have that chip on my shoulder since some like to flaunt their degrees at me.

My high school education was from one of the best public schools in the state & Iowa has some of the best. I am fairly well read and was also blessed with common sense which has helped haha.

I am not in a blue collar job necessarily (financial sales) however before I started down this career path I roofed, poured foundations & even worked at a furniture warehouse.

Those experiences help remind me every day that I am extremely lucky to be in the position that I am, and I’m determined to have experiences like sheep hunting so I’m making it happen

Work hard to achieve your goals. That's a good lesson no matter who you are or what your goals are. I always told my kids I don't care what you do for a living so long as it's legal and you work hard. That's all anyone can ask of any of us.

Glad I never got bit by the sheep bug! It's an expensive addiction!

 

[HighUintas]

Move to Alaska for a few years and hunt dall sheep. Don't residents there get tags pretty easily?

 

[Mykolaivka887]

If a person loves to hunt, my question would be, how does one justify NOT sheep hunting?

I agree with this.

 

[kaboku68]

I used to have a mental barrier when it came to sheep. I grew up a meat hunter and was told you can't eat horns. We would hunt to eat and the process of hunting was one that cleared ones soul. I remember a story about my uncle passing up three large full curl dall rams that were crossing in front of his nodwell near Manker Creek in the Chugach Mountains. He felt that they would taste like the sheep that he grew up with and was having nothing of it. He wanted moose and that was that. He later really liked dall sheep meat when I would bring him some. It is some of the best tasting of all wild game.

Sheep and Goats are some of the few critters that the economic expense of hunting them is greater than the market price of meat in the store. You really are going trophy hunting but there is something to sheep and goats. You can hunt moose, bears and caribou and you can stay human. You are a human hunting and adapting to lands that humans can live in. But mountain sheep are different. You have to become a mountain creature in order to hunt them in an environment that is foreign as Mars. You have to outthink then and out play them in their environment. The challenge of this is lessened if you have a guide that does this but it doesn't completely go away. Sheep hunting forces you to get to the essentials of what it is to be a human and a predator. You work to become one with a land that would kill the average human. This process of challenge and honing oneself is the biggest draw. You follow in the footsteps of other sheep hunters in the past. You smell the smells of the mountain. You feel that sun of the mountain country that is fantastic. You experience complete misery as the weather works to defeat you and sometimes you don't connect the dots and come home empty handed but you have experienced an adventure. That adventure defines who we are in life and it marks us forever.

I teach school so I am not some millionaire but I work hard. Rather than go to Mexico or Hawaii I choose to go sheep hunting because it makes my life more vibrant. The tumbles I have taken have changed my body but the fire that one gets from the mountains is still there and I will be back up in those mountains soon. Spend the money and take the adventure while you are young and let that adventure steer you for your whole life. It is money well spent.

 

[adventure907]

I used to have a mental barrier when it came to sheep. I grew up a meat hunter and was told you can't eat horns. We would hunt to eat and the process of hunting was one that cleared ones soul. I remember a story about my uncle passing up three large full curl dall rams that were crossing in front of his nodwell near Manker Creek in the Chugach Mountains. He felt that they would taste like the sheep that he grew up with and was having nothing of it. He wanted moose and that was that. He later really liked dall sheep meat when I would bring him some. It is some of the best tasting of all wild game.

Sheep and Goats are some of the few critters that the economic expense of hunting them is greater than the market price of meat in the store. You really are going trophy hunting but there is something to sheep and goats. You can hunt moose, bears and caribou and you can stay human. You are a human hunting and adapting to lands that humans can live in. But mountain sheep are different. You have to become a mountain creature in order to hunt them in an environment that is foreign as Mars. You have to outthink then and out play them in their environment. The challenge of this is lessened if you have a guide that does this but it doesn't completely go away. Sheep hunting forces you to get to the essentials of what it is to be a human and a predator. You work to become one with a land that would kill the average human. This process of challenge and honing oneself is the biggest draw. You follow in the footsteps of other sheep hunters in the past. You smell the smells of the mountain. You feel that sun of the mountain country that is fantastic. You experience complete misery as the weather works to defeat you and sometimes you don't connect the dots and come home empty handed but you have experienced an adventure. That adventure defines who we are in life and it marks us forever.

I teach school so I am not some millionaire but I work hard. Rather than go to Mexico or Hawaii I choose to go sheep hunting because it makes my life more vibrant. The tumbles I have taken have changed my body but the fire that one gets from the mountains is still there and I will be back up in those mountains soon. Spend the money and take the adventure while you are young and let that adventure steer you for your whole life. It is money well spent.

What he said!

 

[TheGrayRider]

You can’t take it with you….

 

[JBrown1]

If you have a mortgage or kids who need to go to college yet, it is a selfish and irresponsible expenditure IMO. Nobody will care that you killed that sheep when you die. Literally Nobody. Except maybe your wife and kids if they are stuck paying bills.

Newtosavage,

I'm not arguing with you over your opinion, but I am interested in hearing about your experience....

I am interested to know: Have you know more people who lived to regret their irresponsible expenditures, or have you known more people who lived responsibly but later grew to regret the opportunities that they deferred and then saw stolen by the passage of time?

I ask because I feel like I have known a lot more of the latter. Which probably explains why I am one of the former....

 

[JBrown1]

Move to Alaska for a few years and hunt dall sheep. Don't residents there get tags pretty easily?

I shake my head whenever I see this advice(and I see it a lot). I am living it, so I fully understand the drawbacks.

I could go into a ton of the drawbacks(diy dall sheep hunting is low success, and is more expensive than most realize, etc), but I won't bore you. I will say this: The $30k price of a sheep hunt cheap compared to the cost of moving two Alaska once all costs are figured in.

I don't regret moving up here, but if all a guy wants is to hunt sheep a time or two and to get a good trophy(or two), he would be money ahead to book the hunts as a non resident.

And one final cost that people never mention when talking of moving to Alaska: you are moving to one of the most amazing places on earth, but you are also giving up many of the things that you enjoy "back home". No doubt I love the opportunities up here, but I miss antelope and mule deer so much that it darn near hurts.

 

[Newtosavage]

Newtosavage,

I'm not arguing with you over your opinion, but I am interested in hearing about your experience....

I am interested to know: Have you know more people who lived to regret their irresponsible expenditures, or have you known more people who lived responsibly but later grew to regret the opportunities that they deferred and then saw stolen by the passage of time?

I ask because I feel like I have known a lot more of the latter. Which probably explains why I am one of the former....

Fair question. There are trailer parks and parent's basements full of people who regret their irresponsible expenditures. If they have even figured out they were in fact responsible for them.

I think the statistics would show there are far more of the former.

Every time I am in a car dealership and see a young couple about to sign a 7 year note on a vehicle 4x as expensive as they can afford, I think about this too. And that's pretty much every time I'm in a dealership.

We all have to own our choices. I hope to get to photograph sheep someday. That's about all I need from sheep. Like I said before, I'm glad I didn't get that bug.

 

[HornPorn]

Fair question. There are trailer parks and parent's basements full of people who regret their irresponsible expenditures. If they have even figured out they were in fact responsible for them.

I think the statistics would show there are far more of the former.

Every time I am in a car dealership and see a young couple about to sign a 7 year note on a vehicle 4x as expensive as they can afford, I think about this too. And that's pretty much every time I'm in a dealership.

We all have to own our choices.

Who do you know that lives in a trailer or basement because they spent too much on exotic hunting trips?

Buying a car (while a similar dollar mount) is a poor comparison to buying a sheep hunt. Living in the US, having a vehicle is practically an essential item to maintain employment and complete basic chores of daily life (getting kids to school, going to the grocery store, etc.) . By the way, did you go and interview all the people at the car lots? How do you know what they can afford? It sounds like you are projecting things onto people you don't know, and making alot of assumptions.

People who are going on guided sheep hunts and dropping $30K for dall, $60K for stones and bighorns, $70K for desert sheep, are doing so for entertainment purposes. Luxury purchase. Etc. These are not people who are rubbing nickels together to make a car or mortgage payment.

Just because you personally don't want to go on a sheep hunt or pay the associated cost, doesn't make it less desirable, foolish, irresponsible, etc., etc. for other people.

 

[Newtosavage]

Who do you know that lives in a trailer or basement because they spent too much on exotic hunting trips?

Buying a car (while a similar dollar mount) is a poor comparison to buying a sheep hunt. Living in the US, having a vehicle is practically an essential item to maintain employment and complete basic chores of daily life (getting kids to school, going to the grocery store, etc.) . By the way, did you go and interview all the people at the car lots? How do you know what they can afford? It sounds like you are projecting things onto people you don't know, and making alot of assumptions.

People who are going on guided sheep hunts and dropping $30K for dall, $60K for stones and bighorns, $70K for desert sheep, are doing so for entertainment purposes. Luxury purchase. Etc. These are not people who are rubbing nickels together to make a car or mortgage payment.

Just because you personally don't want to go on a sheep hunt or pay the associated cost, doesn't make it less desirable, foolish, irresponsible, etc., etc. for other people.

You're inferring a lot from my statements. You do you bro. I don't really care how you spend your money.

 

[IBen]

You can hunt dall sheep in Alaska for less than 30k, less than 20k and even less than 15k.