Reliable stone sheep pricing

[Doc Holliday]

I saw that the other day..... That is absolutely insane.

Prophet Muskwa is charging $125K:

Stone Sheep - Prophet Muskwa

Stone Sheep, British Columbia Stone Sheep – one of North America’s most sought-after trophies- are hunted in the Prophet and Muskwa Drainages. The rams in this area have continually produced top record book trophies, including the Chadwick Ram. Hunt Type Base Price Stone Sheep $125,000 Fees For...

www.olmsteadhunting.com

 

[buckpro]

Prophet Muskwa is charging $125K:

Stone Sheep - Prophet Muskwa

Stone Sheep, British Columbia Stone Sheep – one of North America’s most sought-after trophies- are hunted in the Prophet and Muskwa Drainages. The rams in this area have continually produced top record book trophies, including the Chadwick Ram. Hunt Type Base Price Stone Sheep $125,000 Fees For...

www.olmsteadhunting.com

They also charge $26,500 for maybe a 300" elk if that tells you anything.

 

[Doc Holliday]

They also charge $26,500 for maybe a 300" elk if that tells you anything.

I get your point, but seriously, if you have ever been up north on one of these hunts in a remote area (Yukon, NWT, BC, Alaska wilderness area), you will see how much is involved from a logistics standpoint (planes, horses, base camp staff, etc. ). Significantly more involved than the lower 48. Thanks to caribou and grizzly tags being taken away, BC outfitters have less and less tags to bring in revenue to help offset all their costs. The stone sheep are supposed to be bigger, more massive (higher scoring) up in this area, similar to Big 9, so I think that is why they charge towards the top of the range for that. The elk is what it is......it costs them ~$1,000/day to have you in the bush, so on a 10 day hunt, I'd say it compares more to a $15-16K elk hunt in the lower 48, which trust me there are plenty of ranches in Montana and New Mexico charging $15K all day long for guys to shoot 300" bulls. But they don't have to fly people around in airplanes and feed and tack horses and pay as many people, nor are they far from a paved road.

 

[cbeard64]

I certainly can appreciate the costs and logistics of running a remote outfit. I have seen it first hand many times. But given the size of the increases and how quickly they are happening, I’m pretty certain the price increases for Stone and Dall sheep hunts are not mainly the result of outfitter costs.

It’s demand and a realization of the demand by the outfitters. Same thing happens everywhere. A large percentage of what we call “inflation” is producers of certain products realizing they can increase prices and not significantly reduce demand.

My 2 cents….

 

[Doc Holliday]

I certainly can appreciate the costs and logistics of running a remote outfit. I have seen it first hand many times. But given the size of the increases and how quickly they are happening, I’m pretty certain the price increases for Stone and Dall sheep hunts are not mainly the result of outfitter costs.

It’s demand and a realization of the demand by the outfitters. Same thing happens everywhere. A large percentage of what we call “inflation” is producers of certain products realizing they can increase prices and not significantly reduce demand.

My 2 cents….

Do the math on 6 grizzly hunts and 12 caribou hunts in todays dollars. Not a small number. The outfitter has lost out on those hunts and the guides have lost out on those tips. You were bringing that in since the beginning, then the govt took them away from you. Now show me where that extra money is supposed to come from to account for that lost revenue?

There are plenty of solid stone outfitters charging $45K-$55k less than PM. How much are bigger horns worth to you than smaller ones? Supply and demand is much more of a factor for the ones at the higher end of the spectrum.

Also more and more hunters are taking their meat home these days. Not just sheep…all species…never mind that no more caribou are getting killed to be taken home or left at camp. In the past most hunters left all the meat at base camp. Just one more example of a headwind to account for, for the outfitter who is flying groceries in on his Cessna every week.

I spent a couple of hours discussing this last month with an outfitter directly, sitting in rocking chairs at a horse camp cabin with my rams head on the floor in front of us, and bottom line is there’s a lot more to it than greed or rich lower 48ers. Those are certainly a part of it though

 

[cbeard64]

I’m not really arguing with you, but the fact is that, whatever the reason for the price increases, the demand is not falling off. In short, folks are not batting an eye at the increases and outfits are booking hunts out years into the future despite increasing the prices significantly over the past several years.

If the demand weren’t there that would not be possible. I’ve had several sit downs with outfitters too and what most will say when pressed is that their only real concern is the possibility of tags being taken away altogether. Because the truth is that fewer tags bringing in the same $$$ actually makes their lives much easier from both a cost and logistics standpoint. One sheep tag that an outfitter can get 150K for the hunt makes for a much easier September than 3 sheep tags at 50K each that require 3 separate hunts to be outfitted for.

Not saying at all that outfitters don’t have reason to be concerned, but their concerns are not mainly costs or demand. It’s the government political push to take away hunting opportunities altogether. That’s why taking away BC grizzly tags altogether hurt so much, because all income from what were opportunity tags anyway disappeared.

 

[Doc Holliday]

their concerns are not mainly costs or demand. It’s the government political push to take away hunting opportunities altogether. That’s why taking away BC grizzly tags altogether hurt so much, because all income from what were opportunity tags anyway disappeared.

Yep. They are eroding it a little at a time up there, just like they are doing with firearms. The US will not be far behind if things keep going the way they are….