Anyone else? Sheep? Suggestions? Full curl society?

Huntmaster

Huntmaster

Active Member
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LAST EDITED ON Dec-26-11 AT 10:30PM (MST)[p]Is there any one else on here that feel sheep are just not really even an option to hunt? I would consider myself a hunter. I'm 34 and in good shape and feel I could kill a sheep, but obtaining a tag, or funds to kill one almost seems impossible. I have put in for many draws for them, but the odds are staggering. Tough to budget for one with a family of 5 to support. I am looking into the Full curl society, does anyone know how it works, and can you draw a tag there if you have never killed a sheep, or is it just there to help hunters complete their grand slams? I think that is a neat thing that is being promoted especially if it helps someone just take one of the species. If they can help some average do it yourself hunters like me possibly kill a sheep, it sounds like a great program. Let me know your thoughts on full curl society, and other suggestions you seasoned sheep hunters would recommend for a guy to get a chance to kill just one of the 4. Not venting just sharing my thoughts to see if others feel like me. They sure look fun and challenging to hunt! Congrats to those that have had the chance to hunt them, I just don't see my generation having the same opportunity at hunting sheep in the future.
 
You are spot on, full curl is one group that give tags for a fee or raffle or something like that.
As I understood I thought that they have a magazine, I am a member but never received one, I could for go the mag if they would donate a sheep to my cause.

I have NEVER hunted sheep even though I have applied for approx 85 applications and have never drawn a sheep tag, even though this does not include all the raffles I have purchased for thousands, well at least I know I helped some sheep. But man I have to draw a tag soon i'm going nuts already.

NMBIGHORN
 
Keep putting in. By the time you draw, you'll be old enough to afford the hunt. It took mt 17 years for an Az. tag. Well worth the wait.
 
I have drawn two Ram tags in two different states.

I say just keep appling and you will draw.

GSCO gives a raffle members sheep hunt a month away free.

Robb
 
What state do you live in? I have applied whenever and wherever I could afford for the past 15-20 years. I knew based on the odds I would be lucky to get to go on a hunt with someone I knew let alone draw a tag for myself. Last year my nephew drew a tag ( I fill out his apps each year) and then this year I drew one of the premier units for big rockies bucking tremendous odds. Just keep putting in when you can and it might happen. I am 43 and although I know based on odds I should never draw another tag somehow I think I will. You have to be persistent to improve your chances to be lucky.
 
When I was your age I felt the same way. Sheep hunting has never been, nor will it ever be a poor man's game, but the Full Curl Society is trying to help with that. It funded by donations and membership with the sole purpose of giving guys like you a chance at a sheep. Realistically, unless you are very lucky or well healed sheep hunting will always be a game of odds and you will have to pay whatever price you can afford to be included.
I have been fortunate to have two sheep hunts under my belt and I am in line for a Utah Desert Sheep any year now. But I have been playing the application game for over forty years, so for common folks like us, patience is key.
If you are willing to wait, play, and pay what you can, a sheep hunt will be in your future. If not, then put your eggs in another basket.
Good luck
 
There are some affordable options to get some sheep. A cancellation Dall Sheep in Alaska would go $7-9K. This would be a great hunt and not very expensive. With the economy this is a more available option.
You could also go for an aoudad in Texas. A high quality free range is 4000-6500. You can't get your grand slam with that but it is still a quality sheep hunt that would count towards a world slam if you choose to pursue that.
If you want to climb the mountains of the world there are many more options if you start including the goats. Ibex can be shot for 5-8k and would give you all the challenge you can handle.
Also Dagestan Tur, which is considered both a goat and a sheep, is 6-9k and from what I understand is one of the hardest hunts on this planet.
Other than waiting for a sheep draw or buying an expensive sheep tag there are a lot of other options. By the time you shoot all the $5-9,000 sheep and goats of the world you will be too old to chase a $40,000 Stone sheep.
 
Desire is a funny emotion!

I raised 5 kids and still managed to sheep hunt nearly a dozen times.

IF you really want to hunt sheep, you WILL hunt sheep. Maybe not as often as you want or as many times as you want but you WILL hunt sheep.

Keep dreaming about it because it WILL happen for you if you really want it.

Remember: "where there's a will, there's a way"

Full Curl does issue hunts to first time sheep hunters. It's also darn fun to meet, as a group, with so many sheep hunters!

Keep dreamin' (but come up with a plan)
Zeke
 
I agree with Zeke, come up with a plan. You may have to make sacrafices such as older vehicles, smaller houses, fewer kids(bet that goes over big).

It took me 6 years to save for my 1st sheep hunt and 25 years to draw a tag.

from the "Heartland of Wyoming"
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-27-11 AT 06:15PM (MST)[p]It will take years and years, on average, to draw a tag. But you have to be in the draws to finally succeed at some point (and luck can come in bunches). I've had friends draw on the first attempt, but that is the exception and not the rule. Some folks have more luck than others too, it seems.

Information about the Full Curl Society and their drawings can be found at: http://www.fullcurl.org/drawings.html

Good luck and hang in there. Sheep hunting is a lot a mental thing... The hunts are very mental, but staying in the tag draw game long enough to actually draw a tag is first mental hurdle (and you will repeatedly wonder why you stay in... until you draw...).
 
Go put $500 into an index mutual fund. Then keep adding $500 a year for the next 15 - 20 years. By then you'll be getting close to drawing and you'll have some cash to put towards your hunt without killing your pocket book. If you don't have the discipline to do something like that, its probably not meant to be anyway...
 
move to BC


JB
497fc2397b939f19.jpg
 
I have a better way JB, just try to work your way to the top ten important guys of S.F.W. they hunt sheep all the time!





hornkiller.jpg
 
It may seem like it is never going to happen but some day it will. I have played the application game for 15 years. In the last three years I have drawn oryx in NM, Mountain goat here in MT and desert sheep in Utah. It may be a dry next 15 years but it damn sure isnt going to happen if you dont at least put the apps in or buy the raffle tickets. I have started buying raffle tickets for ever sheep hunt I can find. Sometimes I think the odds are better there then in some of the state drawings!
 
PErsistence is the name of the game I'm afraid, it took me 12 years to draw here in my home state of Washington. It was well worth it, now I am planning a Dall sheep hunt to Alaska. i think a dall sheep hunt to Alaska is probably the most reasonable chance a guy has at a sheep, just start saving and in 2-3 years you'll probably have enough to go on a hunt. Also play the odds like the full curl society that can't hurt either. Good luck. As far as deserts and stones those are just a dream for me right now, gonna have to get lucky in the raffles or draws to hunt either of those critters.
 
Keep at it, I have my Desert and Rocky, I have never paid anything but the draw fees, $508 each, And lots of gas and time. Some of the funnest hunts I have ever been on. But I don't think I will get my Stone or Dall, they are to expensive for me. But I will try to draw one at the expo or Full Curl Society. It is a dream of mine to get my Grand Slam.
 
It is a long road, if you want to wait!! But if you want to hunt sheep every year buy an over the counter tag in MT $752.00 every year and you are off sheep hunting with a chance at a ram.
Jay
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-29-11 AT 00:30AM (MST)[p]Huntmaster, lay aside as much cash as you are able to and apply for every sheep tag you can; contribute to the raffles; and/or put some into a savings for a Dall's hunt...you'll get back most all of the money you invest on the draws until you pull a Big Ticket; any contributions you make to the raffles will used for the very just cause of our Wild Sheep (and who knows, ya might just win!); and/or you just might be able to afford a cancellation-type white sheep hunt up north before too long

One of our hunters from this past season drew a once in a lifetime ram tag for my state, won the Sheep Raffle for another state, and drew another once in lifetime tag for another species in my state as well...all in the same year

You never know where the Sheep Trail will lead if ya ain't willing to trod them first few steps

Best of Luck...and only kill OLD rams when ya go!

Cheers'

**edit---sorry, had addressed this post to Chasendeer by mistake
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-29-11 AT 01:54AM (MST)[p]Here's another option that hasn't been covered: ewe tags. Sure you won't be chasing rams, but you are hunting sheep. Places that offer ewe tags are:

Wyoming - 1rst year for these in 2012. Cheapest cost of any state @ $254.

Montana - $750ish

Colorado - $,1900 give or take.

New Mexico - ridiculously expensive @ 3,100+.

The cost of North American sheep is so far into the stratoshpere, that I'll probably never hunt them again. I would like to hunt the aoudad and an ibex or two. Guess I'm just not the sheep nut I used to be. Best of luck on your journey to hunt rams!
 
I read an interesting quote last night. I think it's appropriate for this thread.

"If you think you can, you will. If you think you can't, you make excuses"

How many of us are hiding behind a bunch of excuses? How many of us are starting to beleive our own BS excuses? I know I do at times.

Time to plan a sheep hunt!

Zeke
 
Huntmasters first post said he only wanted to kill ONE of the 4 sheep.

Zeke said it's time to plan a hunt.

Here's a plan for Huntmaster:

Focus soley on the Dall. Don't waste money or resources (and years) trying to draw a Western tag or win a raffle (remember family of 5 and limited funds). Yes, we all have those "lucky" stories, but the reality of the situation is Huntmaster is almost 2 decades behind in the points games. You could apply for a lifetime and NEVER draw. Just by skipping WY, NM, CO, & MT will free up $8,000 in upfront costs.

Get on the cancellation lists of several QUALITY Dall outfitters (do your homework since this will be a one time shot for Huntmaster).

Does Huntmaster have a 401(k) plan at work that he can borrow against? A person can always work an extra year or two later in life, but that person will enjoy a sheep hunt much more in his younger years.

Like Kilbuc said - it's all about the sacrifices to hunt sheep (perhaps a second job and other penny pinching).

I know that some of this runs counter to a lot of the advice that has been given so far, but given Huntmaster's criteria to hunt ONE sheep, this is an actual goal to make that happen.
 
I have a feeling that in the very near future non-residents wanting to hunt Dall sheep in Alaska is going to get a lot harder. I wouldn't be surprised to see a all NR sheep permits go on a draw in AK in the next 5 years (maybe sooner). There are a few proposals currently in the works, if passed, will limit NR hunters state wide. Potentially cutting the NR sheep 'quota' in half.

MT has unlimited sheep permits, but you could hunt a lifetime and never kill one... but at least you're sheep hunting. Same could be said for drawing a permit, just because you draw doesn't mean you're going to fill it.

Applying for every permit you can find is a lot of $$$ wasted IMO. Odds are you'll never draw a tag, thats reality.
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-30-11 AT 03:43PM (MST)[p]Ah yes DW, but you're forgetting one thing: the FEVER, Once infected, there's usually no going back...

I have yet to meet anyone who has hunted sheep once and was happy and contented to just leave it at that...there is always some loony scheming churning away, factoring and figuring how to get on another sheep hunt

Indeed, perhaps it would be better for Huntmaster to just leave well enough alone, instead of opening up a whole wild and woolly Can of Sheep
 
I started my sheep quest about 6 years earlier than you and am now 50 and have drawn 3 ram tags and my mrs has drawn 1 (hunting vicariously is better than not hunting at all) all were filled and I fully anticipate drawing at least a couple more between us before croakage. Move to a sheep state study draw odds play the points game, very doable but only if you MAKE it happen as opposed to wishing...
 
^Couldn't agree more with ya Squirrell...never been much of a fan of the 'woe is me, pity the odds, the Sky is Falling' type violin tunes...

More identify with the Magic Man philosophy...get out there and make s*** frikken happen!

Ya just cant beat huntin' them wild rams...

214wheeler_general_hunt_020.jpg


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6779wheeler_general_hunt_028.jpg
 
Thanks to all who have given great tips and advice, I know it's a long shot at the draws and I have been saving up, I just need to keep it up. Have any of you sheep hunters had any success on the Montana over the counter tag. I had a taxidermist in southern Utah that had hunted it many years back and taken a sheep, but it seems to me he said it was much tougher as of about 5-8 years ago than when he took his ram.
 
Great ram g-w and nice pics of their country- their allure is a combination of both the animal and the stuff they call home. if they tasted better and were easier to draw for they would be my favorite game animal. Some low elevation hunts aren't nearly as spectacular, everyone should do a treeline sheep hunt once, of course 5% would go face down in the dirt on the first day never to get up again...!
 
I think you've been eaten too may acorns Squirrel. lol. My sheep have all been excellent table fare, and despite the draw odds they are my favorite game animal! I agree 100% though, about the high country hunts! Most sheep country is spectacular and scary at the same time.
I second the warning about "the fever" Huntmaster! I thought after my Rocky I would be good, but now I just keep working and selling property so I can keep hunting. I will say that age has advantages when it comes to resources...at least that is true for me. But don't wait too long to get started cause Squirrel is right about sheep country!
Anyway, lots of good advice here and good luck to you Huntmaster.
May the new year bring you a surprise sheep hunt!
 
Got my Slam and one extra, drew 2 tags, it all boils down to desire and perseverance, both during the draw process and the hunt itself.
 
My father in law drew the Zion non resident tag last year with 8 points and he killed a 171.5 ram on the second day so just keep applying somebody has to draw and if your name isnt in the hat then you will never draw
 
Great advice.
I drew a sheep tag in Utah, not even in the regular draw. So keep putting in.
I will be buying a sheep tag within a couple of years also.
Idaho is a random draw, keep trying there.

Best of luck.

Mike
 
LAST EDITED ON Jan-03-12 AT 03:36PM (MST)[p]This year will be 31 years of putting in for sheep tags.
Some years in several States.
All I can say is keep putting in, till your to old to go.
Same days I fell like am already there.
Keep your head up, and keep trying.

p.s. I have never had a sheep tag.
Keep your head up, and keep trying....
 
Put in for Barbary in New Mexico. You will most likely draw in one or two years and the nonresident fee is only about $400. There is a lot of public land to access and some monster sheep are taken every year. I know it's not a bighorn, but it is a sheep. These sheep were introduced decades ago and are completely wild and free ranging. It beats the heck out of going to Texas to shoot a penned up sheep.

Cory
 
Just checked an I have 14 points in AZ for sheep and I hate to say it, but with their drawing system I feel like I'm decades from ever getting a tag. Someone please tell me I'm wrong and I could draw this year!
 
dwalton's plan is a good one. You will probably spend less in the long run and definately get to go for a Dall. You can do it now for $10,000, but it's alot more fun to play the drawing game. I've drawn 3 tags in 35 years of applying in all western states. Odds are getting tougher though. If you are really lucky you could draw a few in the next 35 years and if unlucky you might not draw. Make a plan and stick with it. Also you can go along with a buddy who draws which is almost as fun. Good luck!
 
bwnntr
It is possible to draw this year but not likely with your number of points. I was going to help a guy who had rocky tag this year and he drew the az desert tag 5 years ago. A guy in Kingman drew with 0 points. Google kingman paper and read about the hunt.

keep trying.
 
Wow, this is a fantastic thread! Lots of really good advice and suggestions from everyone. My 2 cents worth is to be very, very, very, careful of what you wish for. Last year I was 44 and finally drew a Rocky tag in Colorado as a nonresident after 22 years of applying in many states. I spent 16 days on the mountain and came home with the ram of my dreams.
The experience was easily the hardest, most emotional, physically challenging and richly rewarding effort of my hunting career. I can honestly say that not a day goes by without me thinking of that time on the mountain. I know I am infected with this "sheep sickness" and I will now do almost anything to feel the rush again. I find myself thinking differently about my cherished deer and elk hunts and now fixate only on sheep opportunities and long odds drawing scenarios. I am even toying with the idea of moving to Arizona for a year and buying a Lifetime License so I can horn in to the resident pool of sheep tags!

I have it bad!!!!! Be careful - you don't want to be in my shoes!
 
Marvin,
Classic symptoms of Ovisitis! (Wanting to pull up stakes and move to where you can draw a sheep tag)
After you are successful on a desert ram, let me know and we can share a house in BC where we can hunt Stones with over the counter tags! lol
 
Oh the things we'll do to hunt sheep.

Ovisitis is a form of mental illness. Some of us lose our minds. haha

Zeke
 
coryb---FYI there is lot more free range aoudad hunting on hundreds of thousands of acres in west Texas than your state of NM has and the country they're in is tough going. Maybe you are referring to high fenced places of varying size up in the hill country toward the Kerrville area where it's more of a canned hunt with other exotics?
 
Speaking of sheep madness, I am trying to figure out how to get out to Reno for the "One more for Four" drawing. Would like to leave the day before (Friday), stay for the show and banquet on Saturday and then come back on Sunday. Is anybody going to the show? I have never been to it outside of Utah. The odds of drawing would be bad but any chance is worth a try in my warped mind.
 
>Speaking of sheep madness, I am
>trying to figure out how
>to get out to Reno
>for the "One more for
>Four" drawing. Would like
>to leave the day before
>(Friday), stay for the show
>and banquet on Saturday and
>then come back on Sunday.
>Is anybody going to the
>show? I have never
>been to it outside of
>Utah. The odds of
>drawing would be bad but
>any chance is worth a
>try in my warped mind.
>

Yup Mr Taximan, You're as sick as the rest of us! LOL
I won't be going but if I was you'd be welcome to go with.
 
Taximan,
You are a sick bugger!
Maybe you could trade some taxi work for a Rocky tag instead of driving all over the country trying to draw. LOL
 
>So who on here is going
>to be hunting sheep for
>sure in 2012

I will be hunting sheep for sure this year. Waiting to here if I got a Dall draw. If I dont get that tag then it is a 2 week Stone Sheep hunt Aug 1. If I dont succeed there I will hunt Rocky Mountain Bighorns or California bighorns all within 2 hours of my place. I usually do 3 weekend hunts for the bighorns.

BHB
 
BigBob,
That doesn't sound fun at all! LOL
I hope you do well, keep us posted please.
Zeke
 
>Speaking of sheep madness, I am
>trying to figure out how
>to get out to Reno
>for the "One more for
>Four" drawing. Would like
>to leave the day before
>(Friday), stay for the show
>and banquet on Saturday and
>then come back on Sunday.
>Is anybody going to the
>show? I have never
>been to it outside of
>Utah. The odds of
>drawing would be bad but
>any chance is worth a
>try in my warped mind.
>

Taximan, I hope you made it out there for the drawing. Because I was there in person, and I think the 6th name drawn was the winner! Five guys missed out on the chance to go hunt a sheep.
 
Interested in a Dall, those that have hunted them who would you reccommend and what is the typical price structure for a ram?
 
In my 12th year of sheep applications in every state I can apply in. Plus probably a dozen raffles each year. All this adds up to about $2500 per year out of pocket costs-I am not a rich man but my reasoning is it all goes to a good cause. Alot of guys think I am crazy in that I could save that money for a Dall hunt. This is true but I want a Rocky or Desert BH badly.

I went on a Fannin hunt in the Yukon in 2006 and took a nice ram. This was everything I imagined and more-I have the "bug" bad now. (That hunt has now more than doubled in price!)

Am saving for an Alaska Dall hunt now. Huntmaster those prices range from 10K to 20K depending on the area which normally dictates the size of ram likely to be taken. Research your area and guides thoroughly. The well-known ones' names will come up over and over again.

Good luck everybody!!!
 
^^^^^^ good post Mr. cbeard.
I started doing the same thing in about 1977-79 so I've been at it a looooong time. It DOES pay off if you're dedicated. Well, you know that or you wouldn't do it.

Mr. Huntmaster,
While there are lots of Dall sheep outfitters, I can only address my experiences. I've hunted at Arctic Red River Outfitters (ARRO) twice and I'm about to return for the 3rd time with my oldest daughter.
They are a full backpack type hunt so conditioning is important (but you'd better be ready for any sheep hunt. haha)
I've seen some of their recent hunts on "youtube". A couple of my close friends just returned from there with fantastic trophies and had a wonderful experience. (See littlebighorn's and son's dall sheep post) If you can't find it them PM him and I'm sure he'd email a couple pix to you, I presume.

Zeke
 
Thank you Zeke. If I had only started a few years earlier I know I would have drawn in WY by now and likely at least one other. Oh well, it will happen one day. Thanks for the encouragement-all of us need a little of that from time to time!
 
I've hunted twice with a small outfitter from Alaska and killed two bomber dalls. This is a backpack hunt under 9K. Also killed a brown bear with him this past year. Send me a PM and I'll send you his cell
 
Sheep fever baby....!!!!!

A random thought I decided to write down.

Sheep hunting for a guy who draws a lucky tag likens to your buddy asking you to best man in his wedding. His fiances college roommate is an International super model who jets in from Paris to be the maid of honor. After a few too many glasses of champagne she takes a passionate liking to you. You know deep down inside this is a one time shot and you had better relish every second.


Below is a cut and paste from a story of mine....sheep ain't nothing like it.

I ran into another guy with a Ram tag who told me he was quitting his job after his boss told him he couldn't take off the time he thought he would need explaining, ?I can always get another job?I might not ever have another Sheep tag.? Logic like this is a sure symptom of the festering infection of Sheep fever.

Thats why this thread ha like 60 posts...the infected keep the shakes to a warm itch just talking about it....
 
"the infected keep the shakes to a warm itch just thinking about it..."
I really like that! Did you really come up with that on your own? Describes this group really well.
 
Huntmaster, I was in a similar situation....same age same concerns. I thought long and hard about putting in for an area with better draw odds vs. areas with huge sheep. I finally decided that I wanted to sheep hunt and wasn't worried about how big. It was the best decision I've ever made. My sheep will never see the pages of any record book or make the cover of any magazine.

I'm now in the category of.... "3 more for four" and can't wait for another chance.

Sheep fever...I think yes!!!!
 
Marvin...sure I'm a writer...somebodies got to to come up with it....ha.

Sheep fever is a real thing...I have hunted my whole life and had allot of memorable trips...experinces and days. But the day I got my Ram has left the deepest mark in my mind.

Great Western is right...you never hear of sheep hunters that once they go say....well...tick that one off the list. They always want to go again even more than the first time
 
I felt the same way when I was about your age (about yesterday I think that was). I grew up without much money but a father that made sure we could hunt every year. I blame him for setting the stage. When I got rich (for a college student) fishing in Alaska (can't do that anymore), and started a limited sheep hunting application system and fund. Then I got dumb and got a real job (that doesn't pay all that well) and a wife (who hunts and applies for her own tags). I started to apply to more states, but dang near broke the family budget doing so. Then I started a plan to buy/sell stuff on the side to help fund the hunting needs.
In 2006, I had a horrible year, I drew my first moose tag. But before applying that year, I was despairing thinking I would never draw a moose tag, so I had already booked a moose hunt in Canada. Two moose hunts in a year. Wow, what a problem, then I found out that I drew my first sheep tag, one with pathetic odds. Greatest hunt I ever had, because I got to hunt with my dad. But boy was it a busy fall. Best problem I ever had. Then I got lucky again in 2008, on really bad straight draw odds. My second sheep. I haven't drawn a sheep tag since then, but I keep applying and buying raffle tix. Someone has to draw, and you can't draw if you don't apply.
My advice for you is to figure out a game plan, study the odds, figure your finances, get a second job, refigure your finances, and apply in every state you can, sell some stuff from around the house (or even the neighbor's house-just kidding). Start now and you might get lucky in a 10 year time frame, you will probably get lucky in a 20 year time frame, and if you are really good, start a direct deposit of a little bit of $ out of your paycheck and guarantee yourself a Dall hunt at some point in the future. You can do this on a working man's budget. Stay in shape because most sheep hunters are in their 40's, 50's and even older (finances point systems, and drawing odds being the causal factor). If you want it, you have to work for it, it ain't gonna be handed to you (most sheep hunters are Republicans for that reason. The Democrap plan is that everybody should get a tag and a subsidy-and that my friends is not reality. Now don't bust on me for that, I like my one Democrat hunting buddy, but I only hunt with him for entertainment purposes-he shoots like he votes-crooked! Damn is it funny in camp after he misses, which is often.
Like everyone has warned you, sheep fever is truly one of the most contagious diseases there is, and the damn doctors can't even diagnosis it most of the time, and when they do, there is no cure.
Good luck.
WyMo
 
wyomoosehunter that is an inspiring post! I too drew a WY moose tag in the random draw in 2005 and had the hunt of a lifetime-took a great bull with my bow.This has taught me to stay with it as the odds of me drawing that tag were long indeed.

As for the politics deal,I am an independent but when I am shooting I will now be a die hard Republican!
 
Diagnosis: Ovis Pyrexia...the clever latin term Tom Saad applied to the infectious bug in his recent and instantly classic "Desert Bighorns, Arizona's Mountain Kings", published by Geof Moss (highly recommended...excellent historical work)

I do agree, there is no cure for the wretched OP...just a temporary alleviation (leading to further aggravation) of its chronic symptoms by doin' more sheep huntin! :)
 
At age 39 my wife drew a moose tag with 2 points. I started putting her in for rocky's at 40, truely believing she'd never draw. At 47 she drew with 8 points. It was an extremely awesome time learning about sheep, meeting other sheep hunters, scouting, and the hunt itself. Being disabled, I wasn't even sure I could do the hunt with her. I'm sooo glad I put her in. I got 12 moose points, and this year I bailed and put in for sheep at age 50. I'd rather try for sheep and fail, than hunt moose.

Yelum
 
Oh Yelum,
That's sick man. Dumping a dozen years trying for moose. It appears you have acquired a chronic case of OP via passive exposure from your wife's hunt. Your only hope is drawing your own tag and temporarily scratching that nasty itch. Good luck my friend! I will pray for a cure!
 
I hunted Dagestan Tur last year in Azerbaijan and all said and done with tips, airfare, hotels, custom brokers, shipping fees and etc, it was about the cost of a guided dall hunt in Alaska at current prices.

And yes, it is one of the hardest and most dangerous hunts on the planet in terms of sheep hunting. But an amazing hunt in an amazing place. It redefined my boundaries on what is steep and what isn't!

I'm not too sure there is an abundent of worldwide sheep and goat hunting opportunities at $5-9k. All the incidentals add up very quickly on top of the base price of the hunt. You would be surprised.

Just sayin....


>>Also Dagestan Tur, which is considered
>both a goat and a
>sheep, is 6-9k and from
>what I understand is one
>of the hardest hunts on
>this planet.
 
BHB you sure you can make it up the mountain for sheep? Sounds like you got your hopes set high! Good to be from B.C. hey?
 
LAST EDITED ON Feb-28-12 AT 07:07PM (MST)[p]Ya 'Oak, Jeremy is the same hunter I was referring to in my first post on this thread, and is pictured with his other 2011 ram in one of my other posts. His is a super example of what can be possible for anyone who follows the great advice offered by many on this thread.

Another shot of his 1st of 2 Rocky rams from last season

4921002.jpg


Nice and balmy eh! :)

**edit---I think he's havin' em mounted buttin heads!
 
Stay in great shape. Try to make connections with outfitters. I went to the Wild Sheep Society convention this year for the first time, and met outfitters in person. It was worth it !

Research them before you go. Study their website. After you introduce yourself, have a chat with them, let them feel your passion and willingness to hunt hard. Even if you can't make it this year, stay in touch with them, and they might put your name on a cancellation list. They all like to have sheep nuts that are in shape, and willing to go in rough areas, after bigger rams. They make for great pictures and wonderful marketing tools for older, richer guys who will pay full price. I feel that some of them would be willing to make a deal when there are openings remaining. It's a lot better than sending an e-mail out of the blue asking for a bargain hunt.

Yes I'm lucky to be able to afford some expensive hunt, I went on a bighorn hunt in fall 2010 in BC, but never found a legal ram. Well I'm going back this year on a hard to believe discounted hunt, because I was in great shape, and the outfitter needs a guy who can climb so we put a ram on the ground, to eventually book other hunters.

Also apply, apply, apply, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico...Good luck !
 
>Stay in great shape. Try to
>make connections with outfitters. I
>went to the Wild Sheep
>Society convention this year for
>the first time, and met
>outfitters in person. It was
>worth it !
>
>Research them before you go. Study
>their website. After you introduce
>yourself, have a chat with
>them, let them feel your
>passion and willingness to hunt
>hard. Even if you can't
>make it this year, stay
>in touch with them, and
>they might put your name
>on a cancellation list. They
>all like to have sheep
>nuts that are in shape,
>and willing to go in
>rough areas, after bigger rams.
>They make for great pictures
>and wonderful marketing tools for
>older, richer guys who will
>pay full price. I feel
>that some of them would
>be willing to make a
>deal when there are openings
>remaining. It's a lot better
>than sending an e-mail out
>of the blue asking for
>a bargain hunt.
>
>Yes I'm lucky to be able
>to afford some expensive hunt,
>I went on a bighorn
>hunt in fall 2010 in
>BC, but never found a
>legal ram. Well I'm going
>back this year on a
>hard to believe discounted hunt,
>because I was in great
>shape, and the outfitter needs
>a guy who can climb
>so we put a ram
>on the ground, to eventually
>book other hunters.
>
>Also apply, apply, apply, Colorado, Montana,
>Idaho, New Mexico...Good luck !
>


You and others should be wary of these type of hunts.

Outfitters in BC are allowed to book as many hunters as they want but they are only allowed to kill a certain number of rams. If you dump a ram early this does not give the outfitter another tag to kill a ram. For example if he has 5 hunters booked for the fall I really hope he has a quota of 5 rams that year. If you kill a ram, him booking another hunter will not increase his quota.

I am also afraid to say that some outfitters purposely take out hunters knowing full well their quota has already been reached and that hunter will only see a 10 day horse trip into areas with ewes and lambs, no legal rams will be shown to the hunter. A well known sheep guide from the Kootenays used to do this. He would only get 2 tags and he would book 3 hunters. On more then one occasion the third hunter would come and hunt and there would be no chance that poor guy would see a legal ram. The outtfitter being such a nice guy would then offer the hunter another trip the following year (at the going rate of $30,000) and if he did not kill a ram it would be free. The outfitter knew his sheep so he could make a guarentee like that.

One way around this is if you are interested in a certain outfit, contact the Ministry of Environment and get the outfitters hunt stats (number of rams allowed to be killed and the actual number killed for the last 5 or so years.) Dont tell the outfitter you have this information, then ask the outfitter how many guys he took that did not get rams. He may be batting 100% with the government but he tells clients that he is only batting 50%, meaning he books an extra two hunters a year.

Things to think about.

BHB
 
Correct Mr BHB!
That's the quota thing that I was posting about earlier. It's a COMMON practice for some outfitters to take guys on a horse ride into beautiful country which holds no sheep!!!!!!!!

They can fill their quota each year so they like to tout 100% success but in reality they hunted more hunters than their allowed sheep quota. Legal but a bit shady!

Zeke
 
I'm going back with the same outfitter I hunted with in 2010. We saw plenty of sheep, 17 rams, most 5 year old and younger but 2 were 7-8 year old, one being 1/2 inch short of full curl ( the legal size ). I know he his quota ( 4 in a 5 year cycle ), and he didn't reach it in the cycle finishing last fall. I was booked by a reputable agent, that sells his hunts honestly. It's a tough hunt, but it's a great price, and I'm up for the challenge.

If you know of a high success bighorn sheep hunt below 25K let me know...
 
>Correct Mr BHB!
>That's the quota thing that I
>was posting about earlier. It's
>a COMMON practice for some
>outfitters to take guys on
>a horse ride into beautiful
>country which holds no sheep!!!!!!!!
>
>
>They can fill their quota each
>year so they like to
>tout 100% success but in
>reality they hunted more hunters
>than their allowed sheep quota.
>Legal but a bit shady!
>
>
>Zeke

Some guys even see legal rams and are not allowed to shoot. While hunting the Kootenays one fall, I stopped at a taxidermist for a BS session. After a little while a friend of his came in and the topic turned to sheep as the new guy was a sheep guide in the Yukon and came back in time to hunt the last week of sheep season in the koots. He said him and a buddy found a group of rams and one looked legal. They went up the road to get another angle and ran into a guide and his American hunter. Being a guide himself he did not want to step on any toes so he went and talked to the guide and hunter. They said they were not interested in those rams as they had seen another bunch and were going to go after them.

So the local guy and his buddy go up the mountain and get to within a 100 yards and spot again and can definitely tell the ram is legal but are undecided if they want it. They then notice the local guide and his hunter coming up the hill and start spotting the rams from about 400 yards away. The guide had told them they were going to go in a completely different direction after other rams.

So after awhile of watching the guide and hunter spotting the rams the locals guys back out and hook up with the guide and hunter. Once again the local guy tells them the ram is not really what they are looking for and they can take it if they want. The local guide says the ram is not legal so they wont be shooting. The local guy reassures him the ram is legal and even tells them to come with them to their spot 100 yards away to see the ram up close and get a good shot off. Once again the guide says the ram is not legal. The guide says they are going after other rams.

The local guy and his buddy go back to their spot and are still debating if they want the ram. All the time the guide and hunter continue to spot the rams, with no intentions of going elsewhere to look for the other rams.

After about ? hour the locals get pissed off that the guide wont take this ram as he said it was pretty evident that the hunter would have taken it in a heartbeat. So to spite the guide they shoot the ram. While skinning the ram the guide and hunter come up and the guide looks at the sheep and says ? I guess he was legal? and they walk off the mountain.

After hearing that story I thought how stupid it was for the guide to look a gift horse in the mouth. Not till about a week later did I remember the story of the ?famous outfitter? and his practice and then it all made some sense. Oh and the area they were in was the ?famous outfitters? guide area.

For those that don't know, a ram in BC has to be full curl and sometimes it is quite difficult to tell if they are legal unless you have hunted and glassed sheep for years, especially if the ram is just legal.

BHB
 
>I'm going back with the same
>outfitter I hunted with in
>2010. We saw plenty of
>sheep, 17 rams, most 5
>year old and younger but
>2 were 7-8 year old,
>one being 1/2 inch short
>of full curl ( the
>legal size ). I know
>he his quota ( 4
>in a 5 year cycle
>), and he didn't reach
>it in the cycle finishing
>last fall. I was booked
>by a reputable agent, that
>sells his hunts honestly. It's
>a tough hunt, but it's
>a great price, and I'm
>up for the challenge.
>
>If you know of a high
>success bighorn sheep hunt below
>25K let me know...


No offence but the reputable agent might not know its even going on. Basically when you are comitting fraud the less people that know the better. From the outfitters eyes its almost too easy to do. Most of them know their areas like the backs of their hands they know what rams are where and when. They also know which bands have no legal rams especially if they have already taken one from the band.

So its quite easy to take a guy into a basin where you know there are 8 rams and not one of them is legal. Its also quite easy to tell the hunter where to glass. Say you are glassing a one side of the valley and your guide tells you "don't bother glassing that side as we have never seen a ram on that side" and he sets up to glass the opposite side. Do you listen to him and start glassing the side he is glassing or do you glass the opposite side?

Its almost the perfect scam as nothing is illegal until a ram dies, and the hunter does not even know its happening. The frightening thing is with sheep hunts close to $40,000 an extra hunter a year could just make or break an outfit.

BHB
 
It's funny that a guy who doesn't even know which outfitter I'm talking about, which agent I'm talking about, or what price I'm paying, assumes that everybody is a crook. All because he heard a couple good stories...
 
>It's funny that a guy who
>doesn't even know which outfitter
>I'm talking about, which agent
>I'm talking about, or what
>price I'm paying, assumes that
>everybody is a crook. All
>because he heard a couple
>good stories...

You are right I don't know any of the details of your hunt or booking nor what you are spending. Spend a 1000 or spend 50,000 on a hunt, I could care less. My posts were a more of heads up of what some outfitters are doing. Are they all doing it, no. Is every outfitter out there completely honest, absolutely not.

The whole point was, a person may be getting shafted and not even know it. I am not saying you are or the next guy but it does happen.

BHB
 
I agree with you BHB, there are some outfitters that would do anything for money. I hunted in NewFoundland for moose and caribou in 07, with 3 other guys. We got 3 moose, and 4 caribous, were well-fed, had good guides. But I would never send a friend there. We got really lucky to get 3 moose, and we shot them only because we were not picky. The outfitter was nowhere to be seen, the guides were bitching against him when we talked about him, and he put us in a poor area for moose, for NF standards. If he asked us about our preference ( moose vs caribou ), and mentionned that he couldn't put us in a great area for both, I would understand. But everything was supposed to be great, no problem this, no problem that. When I shot my moose, I learned that it was the very first one of the season for my guide, and this was last week of the season !! We hunted late October, early November...

On the other side, I saw how hard my outfitter was working to find a sheep. If you're only pretending to hunt, there is no point in paying 1 or 2 extra spotters ( at 200$ a day each )for 14 days, to find a shooter ram ( even 3 for 1 day, before 1 went back to his other job ! ). But that's what my outfitter did. Plus hiking with me all day long some days, to look into hard to reach basins, climbing 2-3000 feet many times. That's a lot of work to look the other way when you get there, or simply get into the wrong basin on purpose...

Then again I'm sure it happens some time, and hunters must be careful when they spend hard earn money...
 
BHB

Yeah save a lifetime...put your heart and soul into something for a once in a lifetime dream... Would hate to drop my gun and have a misfire. Just reading that s##t pisses me off,,,,,but a good heads up
 

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