Unfilled Tag on Guided Sheep Hunt

[HornPorn]

If you went off social media, you would think everybody who goes on a sheep hunt these days is killing a Boone & Crockett ram.

How many folks out there have ever been on a guided sheep hunt, whether Dall, Stone, Rocky Mtn Bighorn, or Desert, and did not harvest the target species?

Please do not name any outfitters, but please do share any and all other pertinent info including "reasons" why you did not get the target animal......Interested in the reality of success rates, how often someone comes back empty handed on a guided sheep hunt, and what the scenarios were. Think it would be useful for people considering (or who have already booked) guided sheep hunts to see/hear.

 

[ganngus]

I have not been on a sheep hunt, but know a few who have and ended up eating tag soup. Probably happens a lot, but people don't want to go around telling people they spent over $25k only to be put through physical torture and end up empty handed...

 

[Fishn4eyes]

I haven't been on an unsuccessful one but had three that had me sweating it big time. Shot a Stone on the 10th day of a 12 day hunt, shot a Desert on the 12th day of what was supposed to be 7 day hunt and shot a Rocky on the 11th day of a 14 day hunt.

It was tough to keep the thoughts of going home empty handed out of my brain but I just kept telling myself it could happen at any time and it did. Thankfully....

Didn't mean to not answer your question, just wanted to encourage people to keep the faith!

 

[VernAK]

There are guides selling hunts for sheep that are not out there.

 

[Ibex]

I hunted 40 days over 4 hunts before I killed a dall. He was the first legal ram I saw and was a nice full curl 10 year old ram. 2 hunts in Canada for stones and 2 in Alaska. Killed ram on second hunt in Alaska. Can’t wait to get back to sheep mountains.

 

[kipper09]

I ate a tag. Hunted my tail off. 15 days on the mountain and we couldn’t have hunted any harder. Guide was a tough ass dude and he went as hard as he could. Didn’t see a ram until like day 13. They got in some cliffs and we just couldn’t turn them up again when they went over the other side..

I will say it was humbling. It stung for sure. All the training and time and money. It was a once in a lifetime for me. Can’t say I would change it, or I have any regrets. It was an awesome experience and I enjoyed it. I have been trying to figure out how to go again but it’s a huge commitment with a family.

Honestly I feel like I’m the guy you never hear about…. Everybody I see kills a giant ram and it seems easy. There’s a few of us out there I’m sure. Still honestly think about it everyday probably


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[7layerburrito]

@kipper09 thanks for sharing. while my profile pic on here is definitely salt in the wounds of the contributors of this thread, when i went on my hunt, two out of the four guys i met weren't successful. one guy couldn't handle the terrain and the weather, the other flat-out missed.

It was an awesome experience and I enjoyed it.

It's impossible to capture an image of this feeling in particular on social media, but it's really the only way to go into one of these hunts given all the commitments, financial and otherwise, that they require. i was lucky and saw a bunch of rams over the course of eight days but had yet to see one we could be sure was legal. i inReached my wife that night and told her "hey, this might not happen for me up but please, when i get home, don't say you're sorry or feel badly that i came home without a ram, i'm hunting until i pass out every day, having so much fun and nothing about this feels like a failure." if you go up there and keep feelings like those front of mind, you'll have one of the best hunts of your life.

 

[Afhunter1]

I went to Alaska last year and never saw a legal ram. I did shoot a beautiful grizz on my sheep tag. She wasn’t huge but she was very pretty. Not sure there was any legal rams anywhere close to me.

 

[Kotaman]

My sheep hunting started a bit slow. I did all four species in two years and only killed one. (Desert). Since then, I’m 7 for 7. Of those first four, only one was truly a bad experience that I hope nobody ever has to go through. The other two were on me. (One miss and one wound) Looking to continue my streak next week!

 

[OMB]

I know there's a lot of beautiful rams coming out of the NWT this year, and thankfully I was able to contribute to that, but even there it's not a guarantee. I won't be shocked if success rate there is sub 70% at some outfits there this year, and that's with more 8/9 year old rams being taken or lots of pre-scouting with the choppers. Take all the money shots and social media influencer posts with a giant grain of salt.

 

[MattB]

I have two stories:

Didn’t fill a tag on a dall hunt in the NWT. Prior to the hunt the outfitter told me they hunted for rams 8 years old and older and I never saw one on my hunt.

It was not the end of the world, but unfortunately the outfitter (South Nahanni) tried to put it back on me when speaking with a friend of mine at the Sheep Show the following year. Toward the end of the hunt I had a beautiful full curl 7 year old at 30 yards the guide would not let me shoot and I was fine with that. I know naming the outfitter is against the spirit of this thread, but Werner deserves it for that BS. He never called me back after I called and spoke with his wife and asked that she have him give me a ring back to discuss it either.

Had another in the NWT where I never saw a ram better than the one I had killed in my previous hunt. It was also a weird year where the sheep hadn’t yet gotten to their summer range by the time the season started, so we spent a bit of time looking for big rams in places where they were a day or two prior but weren’t when we got dropped there.

Sometime that’s just how bowhunting goes…

 

[Mojave]

There are guides selling hunts for sheep that are not out there.

This is an absolute thing in Alaska.

In the old days in BC, Yukon and the NWT they would sell hunts they didn't have permits for. Mostly in BC.

 

[Mojave]

I have two stories:

Didn’t fill a tag on a dall hunt in the NWT. Prior to the hunt the outfitter told me they hunted for rams 8 years old and older and I never saw one on my hunt.

It was not the end of the world, but unfortunately the outfitter (South Nahanni) tried to put it back when speaking with a friend of mine at the Sheep Show the following year. Toward the end of the hunt I had a beautiful full curl 7 year old at 30 yards the guide would not let me shoot and I was fine with that. I know naming the outfitter is against the spirit of this thread, but Werner deserves it for that BS. He never called me back after I called and spoke with his wife and asked that she have him give me a ring back to discuss it either.

Had another in the NWT where I never saw a ram better than the one I had killed in my previous hunt. It was also a weird year where the sheep hadn’t yet gotten to their summer range by the time the season started, so we spent a bit of time looking for big rams in places where they were a day or two prior but weren’t when we got dropped there.

Sometime that’s just how bowhunting goes…

I know Werner, interesting.

 

[Shortround]

First guy I ever guided was on his 4th Alberta bighorn hunt, last sheep he needed for his slam.
Kept saying he'd spent 200 000$ on a bighorn, he coulda just bought a governors tag somewhere for that money.
He was getting pretty itchy by the time he shot his sheep on day 10 of a 12 day hunt.
Average success rate for outfitted bighorn hunts in Ab at the time was around 45% I believe, so he was a bit unlucky.

 

[TXCO]

If you went off social media, you would think everybody who goes on a sheep hunt these days is killing a Boone & Crockett ram.

How many folks out there have ever been on a guided sheep hunt, whether Dall, Stone, Rocky Mtn Bighorn, or Desert, and did not harvest the target species?

Please do not name any outfitters, but please do share any and all other pertinent info including "reasons" why you did not get the target animal......Interested in the reality of success rates, how often someone comes back empty handed on a guided sheep hunt, and what the scenarios were. Think it would be useful for people considering (or who have already booked) guided sheep hunts to see/hear.

Why wouldnt you want people to name guides? I think its better to hear the highs and lows and help folks do research. Id rather book with some who had happy unsuccessful hunters that want to return. And Id dang sure want to avoid a poorly run operation.

For me it wasnt a sheep but a mountain goat in the chugach. I missed one with a bow so obviously had my chance. I didnt like how we ran into multiple other hunters nor thought we hunted enough but like I said, had my chance. Im going to kodiak this fall to make my second attempt.


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[Nick Muche]

Mtn Goats are a dime a dozen, mature rams are not. Strange to compare the two.

 

[Mojave]

I met two brothers in BC at Jagd and Hund in Dortmond about 3 years ago. They owned an outfit out of Smithers and were both professional rough stock riders in the PRCA.

They told me that they only got one sheep tag and if they didn't fill it, they told the guy he could keep coming back until the end of the season.

They couldn't afford at the time to not fill the tag, as it hurt their business.

 

[Tanner]

I will say from a guides side of the equation, it is an absolute kick in the balls to send somebody home without a ram.

I have only taken a few that didn’t kill a ram, for reasons ranging from hunters quitting early, being scared to death of heights, to just straight up not finding a legal ram. Some of those hunts were also some of the most enjoyable hunts I have guided, from a guide/hunter relationship point of view.

If it were up to me I’d hunt until a tag was filled but everyone knows that isn’t usually a possibility.

 

[buckpro]

I'm in that boat, yukon stone sheep hunt, and i'm going back to try again. It was of no fault whatsoever of the outfitter or guide, we busted our asses for 13 days and I've been there before, they have the sheep and a great success rate.
First mountain range we knew something was off but stuck it out a few days and evidence led us to believe wolves had been in there. We moved ranges, saw over 100 sheep, a few around 8 but no shooters and decided to go back to first range. It was a whole different place 10 days later, found 2 mature shooters on day 11, had the shot but wind was howling & wanted to be 100%. Thought we had them dead to right, as we moved in we got weathered out in moments, along with the rams retreating to the cliffs below as the weather blew in. We couldn't see 30ft sometimes. Stayed that way for the remainder.

I also probably shouldn't have wasted a day shooting a moose as we moved ranges but it was too easy not to and we'd been seeing him daily from up top.

 

[VernAK]

I went to Alaska last year and never saw a legal ram. I did shoot a beautiful grizz on my sheep tag. She wasn’t huge but she was very pretty. Not sure there was any legal rams anywhere close to me.

I like it!

A nice ram may have been your goal but the taking of a grizzly or wolf is a prize in my opinion........and a favor to our wildlife.