I'll join
@wyosteve 's soapbox for moment and share a few additional thoughts.
This was my first Sheep Show and I had a great time. As a state wildlife commissioner from the Mid-Atlantic, I was really impressed by the conservation tag auctions. Maryland has great whitetail hunting, a black bear lottery and wild sika deer, but does not have game species that will ever see tag prices remotely close to any of this week's auctions.
Like every aspiring sheep hunter, I would love to see increases in sheep populations that support sustainable increases in hunting opportunities. I believe that's exactly what these very limited conservation tag auctions (or raffles) help to accomplish. Sheep biologist salaries, guzzlers, tagging, tracking and test and remove programs,
M. ovi research, grazing allotment retirements, population establishment/transplants all help to increase sheep populations and cost a lot of money. Funding that generally does not come from state budgets, rather it comes from sportsmen and women. Wildlife management in most states is funded by license/point revenue and Federal aid (Pittman-Robertson, D-J Act and others), significant portions of which are based on the number of licensed hunters in the State and unencumbered State wildlife revenue. Valuable Federal matching dollars can double State funds for certain wildlife projects.
I'll highlight a few data points for Wyoming I found though a quick web search since it was referenced by the post above.
Note - I have no personal knowledge or connection to Wyoming - it would be interesting if someone from Wyoming or WSF would confirm or correct the following:
The 2024 auction tag sold for $190,000. The auction description says "90% of the auction proceeds provide funding for Wyoming bighorn sheep projects via the Wyoming Governor’s Big Game License Coalition"-- that's $171,000 for bighorn conservation in lieu of one tag most of us realistically would never draw anyway.
A 2020 Wyoming Game and Fish Commission Revenue fact sheet describes a total annual budget of $88.6M, $56.4M of which is generated by license sales and approximately 77% of that revenue comes from nonresidents. In 2020, the $800,000 in annual General Fund support for wildlife management was eliminated. It appears that Wyoming issued 184 bighorn tags in 2020. The auction price for the single 2020 bighorn tag sold at the Sheep Show was $110,000, generating $99,000 for Wyoming bighorn sheep projects. In contrast, all regular bighorn sheep license revenue totaled just over $119,000 (approx. $100K from nonresidents and $19K from residents). In other words, as I interpret the reports, the
single conservation tag auctioned at the 2020 Sheep Show generated
almost as much funding for sheep conservation as the
other 180+ bighorn tags sold that year (assuming there were a few additional bighorn conservation tags, the revenue from them and the Sheep Show tag appear to be reported as "Conservation Stamps" revenue in the report).
With the 10% rule, increasing prices, and availability of only one random sheep tag, excepting those who are close to max points, most nonresidents appear to have virtually no chance of drawing a bighorn tag in Wyoming. Nonresident sheep tag preference point revenue may stabilize or even decrease. It is probably true that a conservation tag offered for auction is a tag that would otherwise be available to be drawn by the masses. Unfortunately, without more and robust sheep populations, it is also true that most of us will not be successful in the draws this year, next year or beyond.
Beyond the benefits for sheep conservation in general, over the long-run, I believe the gains accomplished using the funds these tags provide will generate more hunting opportunities for all of us than are lost through the very modest diversion of less than a handful of tags per state.
Finally, I understand these soaring auction tag prices and hunt opportunities are only within reach of a very small group of hunters. I'm grateful that they chose to invest in conservation and hope they have a fantastic hunt that compels them make even greater contributions in future years. I'm clearly not in that group, but am proof that a young(er) guy without a lifetime of preference points or $110,000, $190,00 or $600,000 for a bighorn tag can occasionally get very lucky and have the hunt of a lifetime for a very modest contribution for conservation.
Several states address the concerns about access or monetizing hunting in conflict with the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation by making a few tags available in raffles or Super Tag drawings. Anyone who can afford to shoot a centerfire rifle can find $20, $50 or $100 to send to Washington or New Mexico WSF or to buy a few chances in the Wyoming, Montana, Oregon, or Nevada Super Tag, Dream Tag or Silver State tag raffles.
Stepping off the long-winded soapbox.