Ram Hunt on a budget?
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Audubon & Red Rock, Penna.
Posts: 4,472
Ram Hunt on a budget?
I've been wanting to hunt ram but I've been intimidated by the cost. I've looked at rocky, desert, stone and dall. Guided hunts are $15-25K. Is a DIY an excercise in futility? Would I even be able to get into sheep country without hiring help anyway?
Thanks.
Thanks.
#2
Most places don't allow you to pursue Bighorn without a registered guide. Desert and Rocky Mountain Bighorn are so elusive because of how rare it is to draw a tag. That's why there aren't a lot of people walking around with a Bighorn Sheep Slam under their belt. I'm in the same boat as you man. I want to get after these Bighorn's for the challenge of pursuing them up in the high mountains. I've come to terms that I'm just going to have to suck up the cost and pay it if I want that dream to come true. Dall is first on my list while I'm waiting to accumulate enough point to draw either Desert or Rocky Mountain once-in-a-lifetime tags in Utah.
#4
That's what I'm planning to do right now for New Zealand. Being that I'm stationed in Japan, NZ is a short hop for me. I'm gonna save and reserve a hunt with a reputable outfitter over there and try to take a Stag, ram, and boar all in the same hunt. I'm going to try to do it as cheap as possible without sacrificing quality. I'm gonna try to catch a military hop over there since they are free. That'll save me several hundred, possibly thousand dollars right there.
#6
Drawing the tag is the biggest problem I see. Harvesting an animal is not.
I think you can do an alaskan dall sheep hunt reasonably.
The cheapest hunt would be a DIY once you drew the tag.
The unlimited sheep units in MT seem like a needle in haystack too, success rates are horrible I believe...
I think you can do an alaskan dall sheep hunt reasonably.
The cheapest hunt would be a DIY once you drew the tag.
The unlimited sheep units in MT seem like a needle in haystack too, success rates are horrible I believe...
#7
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,085
No DIY in Alaska for nonresidents...Nonresidents are required to hire a guide for sheep in Alaska.... However, many areas in AK are OTC... Alaska is probably the cheapest alternative available to most of us mere mortals..... Many dall , stone and bighorn hunts in Canada are OTC, but prices are very steep...
There is an open, OTC area in Montana, but access is difficult and success rates are quite low...The rest of the lower 48 requires drawing a tag, again with low odds of drawing... A friend of mine did the unlimited Montana area hunt a few years ago.. He's an experienced hunter and had done dall and stone sheep hunts and a goat hunt previously..
He packed in a LONG way...Saw quite a few hunters and even got a look at a ram, 2 or 3 ridges away...he said he wouldn't do it again..
There is an open, OTC area in Montana, but access is difficult and success rates are quite low...The rest of the lower 48 requires drawing a tag, again with low odds of drawing... A friend of mine did the unlimited Montana area hunt a few years ago.. He's an experienced hunter and had done dall and stone sheep hunts and a goat hunt previously..
He packed in a LONG way...Saw quite a few hunters and even got a look at a ram, 2 or 3 ridges away...he said he wouldn't do it again..
Last edited by Pygmy; 02-21-2010 at 06:49 AM.
#10