How do you justify sheep hunting?

[Steve O]

Justifying a sheep hunt that is not a draw tag is a very difficult and very personal thing. I had dreamed of hunting sheep since my early teens. I saved for close to 20 years in order to do my first one and even then had to take a great leap. I’m sure glad I did. Every day I look at my Fannin ram and am SO glad I did not wait until I “retired” to do it. Costs go up much faster than my salary. I was supposed to go back to the Yukon five years later with the same outfit. I could not justify it.

I’ve drawn a Bighorn tag. An archery tag I was unable to fill. So close but no ram. I will have to draw another. I cannot justify buying a bighorn tag/hunt.

I was fortunate to draw a desert bighorn tag last year. I’m incredibly greatful for that. I cannot justify going to Mexico on a sheep hunt. Heck, the prices now make it incredibly hard to justify going on a deer hunt down there.

I want nothing more than to hunt Dalls in the Brooks Range, it is the only place in Alaska I want to experience that I haven’t. But I can’t justify it. I can hunt caribou or black bear and accomplish the same thing for 25% of the cost. At some point I may be able to justify the Dall hunt. Maybe.

Mule deer will be my sheep hunts for the future probably 20:1. I do have a pretty large group of friends who I will be more than happy to help on their sheep hunts. That is fantastically satisfying.

Definitely no all in one technique to justify a sheep hunt…

 

[kaboku68]

People think that hunting sheep in Alaska is just getting a tag and finding one off of an atv trail. OTC sheep hunting is expensive, time consuming and difficult. I am going to have to sell my house, relocate back to where I grew up, build a new house and buy a $50K jetboat to really go sheep hunting. Out of state hunters have better odds in the present system than Alaska residents for drawing the true premier Dall sheep areas. Guides harness a lot of flight time, guides, and expertise to max their chances of success. You guys can go hunt deer on otc tags without the expenses that we have.

 

[kaboku68]

This I can tell you. Sheep hunting is cheaper than trying to run a trophy wife.

 

[JustBen]

I'm lucky that I can buy an over the counter tag, drive an hour into the mountains, hike for another couple and start seeing sheep. Unfortunately, it's a rare occurrence to see a legal ram in these areas. So for me, its easy to justify.

But I do find it hard to justify these more expensive hunts, and as a result, I've never been on a guided hunt. For me, its going to be a "once-in-a-lifetime" sort of thing, and I'm thinking that will be caribou.

 

[Liv2HntBigBullz]

Easy, YOLO!

All kidding aside if you are asking how to justify it then you can't afford it.

You arent getting any younger and they aren't getting any cheaper. Sheep hunts are not sound financial investments, emotional investment, well worth it.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[drra]

Wouldn't it be nice if all you needed was a tag! It would make a lot more hunts accessible to the common man.

 

[cbeard64]

I find it interesting that a new pickup now costs about 60-80K and I see ordinary working guys driving them all the time. They were half that just a few years ago.

Like many others have said, different guys have different priorities. That’s just the way it is, that’s all.

The “holier than thou” responses on both sides irk me on these threads. Just because someone doesn’t move to AK or BC doesn’t mean they lack cajones, just like because someone doesn’t want to pay 30K to sheep hunt doesn’t make them somehow a lesser man.

People are different and that’s OK.

I have been lucky to go on four sheep hunts. I was also lucky to have drawn one tag and go on two of those hunts before they became so incredibly expensive. I bit the bullet this year, but it still wasn’t as much as a new pickup, and completing my Slam was worth way more than a new pickup to me.

I worked hard to finish my schooling and I worked hard at my profession to earn the money it takes to turn at least some of my dreams into memories. That’s America.

Would I do four sheep hunts if I were just starting today? IDK, but I would sure be trying to find a way….

 

[Falcon]

I was 42 years young when I finally got up the courage to let my wife know my desire to go sheep hunting once in my life. The Year was 2005, and I booked it out 2 years with a outfitter in the Alaskan Range. The 2 years of getting in sheep’s shape, and lying awake at night dreaming of the hunt was worth the price by itself. When you buy a hunt, you are basically buying a great outdoor experience with no guarantee of a animal. I had the greatest outdoor experience in my life, and I feel blessed to be able to do it at 44, and look back as I get older at that awesome moment in my life.

 

[z987k]

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

Yes you can. My share of the gas for us to go hunting was about $1000. Plus a couple weeks worth of food. Call it 2k tops if you ammortize all the gear over all the other hunts, fishing and camping trips.

 

[z987k]

People think that hunting sheep in Alaska is just getting a tag and finding one off of an atv trail. OTC sheep hunting is expensive, time consuming and difficult. I am going to have to sell my house, relocate back to where I grew up, build a new house and buy a $50K jetboat to really go sheep hunting. Out of state hunters have better odds in the present system than Alaska residents for drawing the true premier Dall sheep areas. Guides harness a lot of flight time, guides, and expertise to max their chances of success. You guys can go hunt deer on otc tags without the expenses that we have.

Honestly I don't think you'll have a ton of success with a jetboat sheep hunting. The couple spots where that might be useful have such low numbers I have no idea why they still allow sheep hunting.

The premier dall sheep unit is OTC(HT/R).

Deer is also OTC. So is Moose, bou, black bear, brown bear, elk and goat. Only Bison do not have an OTC hunt.

 

[Northpark]

I find it interesting that a new pickup now costs about 60-80K and I see ordinary working guys driving them all the time. They were half that just a few years ago.

I guess I can’t afford a new pickup either because I won’t spend that kind of money. My current truck I bought in 2017 and is a basic no frills model 2015 Silverado I got for $23k. I didn’t feel like I could afford that either but you kinda gotta have a reliable vehicle where we live to be able to go to work.

Everyone else’s responses seem to mostly be a mix of “if you have to ask you can’t afford it” or some remark about it not being justified financially but they did it anyway.

I guess I don’t want it bad enough. I can’t justify the $5,000 trip to hunt red stag in Argentina either.

 

[z987k]

I guess I can’t afford a new pickup either because I won’t spend that kind of money. My current truck I bought in 2017 and is a basic no frills model 2015 Silverado I got for $23k. I didn’t feel like I could afford that either but you kinda gotta have a reliable vehicle where we live to be able to go to work.

Everyone else’s responses seem to mostly be a mix of “if you have to ask you can’t afford it” or some remark about it not being justified financially but they did it anyway.

I guess I don’t want it bad enough. I can’t justify the $5,000 trip to hunt red stag in Argentina either.

Haha, my response was who the hell spends that much on hunting anything? The hunt I did this year was the most expensive hunt I've ever done, and the charges on my card for my share were right at 1k. I can easily repeat that hunt every year for that price pending fuel prices.

There's ways to do these things that don't cost anywhere near what people are paying for these gucci guided hunts. But they take a whole lot more effort than writing a check and showing up.

 

[cbeard64]

If you think hunting wild sheep is just a matter of “writing a check and showing up”, you don’t know much about sheep hunting.

BTW, for a nonresident to hunt sheep in Canada, AK, and many western states (probably in 80% of the places where sheep exist), a guide is mandated by law.

Again, priorities are different among hunters. That’s all. It’s a simple thing to acknowledge without being snide about it - which mostly just comes off as sour grapes.

 

[TradArcher]

I guess I can’t afford a new pickup either because I won’t spend that kind of money. My current truck I bought in 2017 and is a basic no frills model 2015 Silverado I got for $23k. I didn’t feel like I could afford that either but you kinda gotta have a reliable vehicle where we live to be able to go to work.

Everyone else’s responses seem to mostly be a mix of “if you have to ask you can’t afford it” or some remark about it not being justified financially but they did it anyway.

I guess I don’t want it bad enough. I can’t justify the $5,000 trip to hunt red stag in Argentina either.

Now I am curious about hunting Red Stag in Argentina - that sounds like a hoot! I might have to go do that.

Mountain hunting need not be tied to sheep...heck you can chase ptarmigan in ridiculous locations in the mountains or deer. Sheep sure would be fun though and I hope to do it someday, might have to start looking into the foreign hunts.

Do people on here kinda pack up together and figure out these foreign hunts to see if there are cost advantages?

 

[z987k]

If you think hunting wild sheep is just a matter of “writing a check and showing up”, you don’t know much about sheep hunting.

Compared to the effort of a 100% self supported hunt, it is.

 

[cbeard64]

That response is nonsensical. You don’t hunt and kill wild mountain sheep by just “showing up”. Period. End of story. That’s what the man said, and it’s wrong.

I will never understand why some guys just have to bring what others do down in order to try to lift themselves up. It’s not a competition. It’s just hunting, and we’re all hunters.

 

[z987k]

That response is nonsensical. You don’t hunt and kill wild mountain sheep by just “showing up”. Period. End of story. That’s what the man said, and it’s wrong.

I will never understand why some guys just have to bring what others do down in order to try to lift themselves up. It’s not a competition. It’s just hunting, and we’re all hunters.

The guided hunts have roughly 0% of the logistical problems to solve. That alone makes it a whole other world.

You don't have to know the area, you don't have to scout the area and spend endless hours/days/weeks out there figuring out an area.

You don't have to figure out the weather patterns of that microclimate, and on and on that the guide/outfitter takes care of for you.

And that's what you're paying for. I realize non-residents have to hire those guides, but 95% of the cost is paying for that stuff to be done. Not having to put in the time and effort. Not having to put boots on the ground even 1/4 as much time.

No, they don't carry you in a chair for 70 miles to find that sheep(or any species). But most of the time they even dress and quarter it for you. With a moose they probably have a packer show up and help pack it out so you don't have to make six 2 miles trips with 100lbs on your back.

Camping, stalking and shooting any game animal is by far the easiest part of hunting. So yes, a guided sheep hunt where 95% of what actually goes into a hunt is like showing up and writing a check, because you wrote a check to have the vast majority of it done for you.

I'm not saying this to bring others down. I'm trying to point out that you can do all kinds of hunts, including sheep, for a price that normal people can afford(if you're a resident that doesn't require that guide) But there's a LOT more to that kind of hunt.
I'm challenging the notion that a sheep hunt costs $50k. It can. But it does not have to.

 

[Falcon]

The guided hunts have roughly 0% of the logistical problems to solve. That alone makes it a whole other world.

You don't have to know the area, you don't have to scout the area and spend endless hours/days/weeks out there figuring out an area.

You don't have to figure out the weather patterns of that microclimate, and on and on that the guide/outfitter takes care of for you.

And that's what you're paying for. I realize non-residents have to hire those guides, but 95% of the cost is paying for that stuff to be done. Not having to put in the time and effort. Not having to put boots on the ground even 1/4 as much time.

No, they don't carry you in a chair for 70 miles to find that sheep(or any species). But most of the time they even dress and quarter it for you. With a moose they probably have a packer show up and help pack it out so you don't have to make six 2 miles trips with 100lbs on your back.

Camping, stalking and shooting any game animal is by far the easiest part of hunting. So yes, a guided sheep hunt where 95% of what actually goes into a hunt is like showing up and writing a check, because you wrote a check to have the vast majority of it done for you.

I'm not saying this to bring others down. I'm trying to point out that you can do all kinds of hunts, including sheep, for a price that normal people can afford(if you're a resident that doesn't require that guide) But there's a LOT more to that kind of hunt.
I'm challenging the notion that a sheep hunt costs $50k. It can. But it does not have to.

I don’t disagree with anything you said. For me, living in Washington many miles away, I wanted to give myself the best chance for success. My opportunity to scout an area wasn’t practical. Even if their wasn’t a guide requirement for sheep, I would have hired an outfitter. There was a lot planning involved, I got in the best shape of my life, and I made the longest shot of my life at 420 yards.
I’ve killed 2 Mtn goats on my own in Washington, so I have some mountain experience for these critters. Thank God I had good weather on my sheep hunt. That seems to be a huge factor in success rates.

 

[AdventureHunter]

some live like hermits all year to save for sheep hunts......agreed with prior posts with other goat hunts that can scratch a similar itch and see the incredible country.... But I recommend not holding a set of horns in your hand if you don't want to get addicted to it.. Was worth every penny to me, but it hurt like hell. my fear was waking up and being physically unable to do it, as some of these guys with 25 bonus/preference points have in the states by the time they draw a tag.

 

[kaboku68]

Never show your hand on units. I used to help people all the time. I grew up down near Chitina and we used to be the only ones to use Salmon Point. We used it for years. This is 45 years ago for reference. My sister and BIL took one of their friends down getting their fish. One of the friends was an outdoor writer for ADN and wrote about her Alaskan experience at Salmon Point. The next year we had more than 400 people go out there. It has not been the same since. Jetboats get you into great open harvest tag areas in a number of parts of the state. Once upon a time that area that you are talking about would deliver 11 year old rams like clockwork. Heavy, tightly curling bruisers. I have a cousin who has one that is 46 inches from in there. These days that is less common. You are lucky to find legal rams. They get picked pretty clean. Bootleather can pay dividends and you can find areas that will pull a ram if you have enough time. You might even see a 10 year old ram from the road. However, know that if you are competing for a resource like a full curl ram that is worth 30k or more to an outfitter and they have all the toys, time and tools I am going to bet heavily that they have the advantage. Keep going though! You are the real heart and soul of sheephunting. For many years I used a beat up coffee can, carhart coat, a tarp, and a old BL 15-45X60 spotter with my beat up old push feed XTR Winchester 300 and I would go get some. Those were some of the best hunts of my life. Your left the list of all your worldly possessions in a last will and testament in the glove compartment of your beat up old ranger and crossed yourself on the way up the mountain. Tang and salmon strips were your fuel and you marched like a boss. Ten days later you would see the other young sheep hunters packing rams out of the creek drainages and would compare notes. Man a lot of people chewed copenhagen on sheep hunts and would never touch it anyplace else. Nowadays people have a year's salary in gear and optics and they e-scout, run a podcast and model for instagram. We sure lost something. Misery was part of the whole adventure and we would call present hunters candy-azzes.