How do you justify sheep hunting?

[Bigred323]

I think A lot of what we do as hunters and the amount of time/money we spend in its pursuit can never be fully understood by those that don’t.

I do not consider myself a sheep hunter yet because I have not gone on one, but do have 2 on the books (desert in Mexico that I won in a raffle and dall in NWT 2027). When I first started looking into sheep hunting, I thought to myself, “Man! What is wrong with these people paying that kind of money to hunt a damn sheep??” And here am I now.

The more I looked into it after spending some time in BC after moose, it just called to me and the experiences you hear from those fortunate to have gone on hunts, sucked me in right away. I would have never ever imagined spending money like that on a hunt, but I worked my butt off to get where I am, have the full support of my wife to go on the hunts (despite having 2 young children), and the decisions we’ve made financially will not put us in any sort of bind (especially since the hunt is a few years out) so I figured, why freaking not while I’m young and able to physically do the hunts.

I think the most important thing is not putting your loved ones well-being at risk financially to go on a hunt and as long as you aren’t doing that, get after them!

 

[Ramem7mm]

Congrats on booking your hunt! Who are you going with?

Raven's Throat Outfitter

 

[ssgjpd]

@ssgjpd and @Ramem7mm - congrats to you both; if I was a betting man you won't have single regret- except maybe you wish you had done it even sooner

Thanks, My first trip this past August was everything I could think of and more. Looking forward to the next one, the one after the next and so on. Really kicking myself in the butt for delaying, but heck now is better than never.

 

[northernmadman]

One of, if not the only benefit to living in the NWT is the hunting, I can purchase a Dall tag over the counter each year along with moose and caribou. Filling the freezer comes first so priority on the moose, but I am working on the fitness level so I am able to fill the tag this fall. Getting there can be expensive, but a far cry from 30k for a hunt. Just travel costs from Yellowknife to Norman Wells and out on a chopper will be under 5k If you want to do a dedicated sheep hunt.
Once gear is purchased, my fall hunt costs me less than 4K each year, mainly in fuel prices for my truck. I have seen shooter rams each year, they are just not high on the list with the crew I hunt with.

 

[buffybr]

I was lucky enough to have lived where I do now within 100 miles of all of Montana's Unlimited sheep units, and back in the early '80s when you could buy an Unlimited sheep tag for $25 any time before the season opened.

My only regret is that I didn't take my sheep hunting seriously enough and I only hunted the opening weekend of each year. But I did shoot 4 rams...3 of my own, and another that I passed up, then another hunter wounded him, and I finished him for her. My total cost for each hunt was the $25 tag and a tank of gas for my PU.

Then in 1999 I kind of let the word out that I would be interested in a Canadian Dall ram hunt, and an outfitter that I knew when he lived in Bozeman called me one day and said another outfitter had a Dall cancellation for $7,500 that included options for Mountain Caribou , wolf, and wolverine tags. I made that hunt happen and for less that $11,000 I came home with a great Dall ram, a good Mountain Caribou in the velvet, and a Wolverine.

Then 2 years later, my Canadian outfitter friend called me again about a cancellation Stone sheep hunt for $11,000. But at that time I was in the middle of a very nasty divorce that took 2 years and $100K for me to come out of it with my house and many of my posessions (including my house) that I had owned 10 or more years before I had even met her.

Now, I'm still single, don't have any debts, and I actually have the money that a Stone and Desert sheep hunt would cost, but I can't justify to myself paying more for a hunt that my house cost, and now at 78 I'm not sure that I can still climb to the tops of the sheep mountains.

 

[TheGrayRider]

“Only two things we will regret on the deathbed, that we are little loved and little travelled.” Mark Twain.​

 

[Houseminer]

For me the wild meat is just better. And if I I’ve the time I hunt them.