Well this is probably the hardest post I will ever make.I am 53 and just your average diehard hunter and have been for since I was 6 years old.Now here is a reality that I have finally had to accept.Sheep hunting is an elitest,rich mans sport.Only with a stroke of luck/fate will the average non resident hunter ever hunt sheep.Here are the realities that I have had to accept after 30 years of living an impossible dream.You in reality have almost no chance of ever drawing a non resident tag in any state.You will have over 10,000.00 per year tied up in non resident application fees.Many states now require you to buy a non resident licesnse to even apply so now you have a cost of around 1000.00 per year or more just to play the application game.I understand supply and demand and also the economics of this game and it is all about money.If you can afford to play someday maybe your luck will get that tag but as for a non resident not likely.Now for the preference point hoax.What a gig for the states.Non residents apply and accumulate preference points but the pool of people with max points put you with almost no chance for the 1 tag maybe per unit and if you are new to the game in 30 years you might get in the max pool before you die.Do the states want a fair and even draw.Of course not as that cuts down on revenue for the states.If you want a fair draw put all non residents in a pool and whoever gets pulled out gets the tag.Yes it kills all the preference points you have accumulated/bought in the past but it does one big thing nobody is thinking about.It keeps the sport alive by allowing anybody that works and can put up the application fee the slight chance to actually get a tag.Sounds like a state run lottery.State gets the money and you get the I am sorry slip each year.Well now we go to the other options.Buy a guided hunt,buy a raffle ticket or bid on a hunt at the fund raiser conventions.Guided hunts have went from 5000.00 in 1987 in 20 years to 14.000.00 plus for a Dall Sheep hunt and that means the cost is actually about 25.000.00 when you figure in equipment,travel,taxidermy,tags and misc.expenses of a hunt.As for the Bighorn,Stone or Desert Sheep discussion is not necessary as they are out of reach to all but the few.As for the auction tags they are what they are.Great sources of revenue for the states that allow multi millionaires the opportunity to purchase a trophy sheep if they will take they opportunity they are presented.When a hunter turns down a 180 sheep and goes home without he knows he can do it again next year by the same means.I have ask myself if I had the resources would I do this or not.My decision would be just to donate the money to FNAWS,OVIS or whatever conservation organization that deserved it and buy someone who could never hunt sheep a hunt of a lifetime but that is just me.As for raffles I think everybody should participate as they are usually for good causes and the odds are even.One ticket is as good as 1000 if it is the winner.Well now I have posted it and I am sure it will offend many.If you are offended tough.Reality is tough.If this generates interest in this board it will be good.If it enlightens anyone it will also be good.As for me I will always love and support hunting and my love of the mountain animals will never go away but my dream of hunting them is over.I have been lucky enough to have photographed all 4 North American sheep in the natural habitat and up close so I am luckier than most in that respect.In closing I look forward to all responses both positive and negative as discussion is always good in the world of hunting.You do not have to agree but you do have to think to respond.

I'm not sure that I would use the term elitest as I certainly don't consider myself that. The cost have soared and for that I am regrettful because I don't think my daughters and my son-in-laws will get to have the mountain hunting experiences that I have had. Possibly it is like the old cartoon POGO said: We have met the enemy and they is us.

Bighornhunter2
If you are truely a die-hard hunter and desperately want to hunt sheep, I suggest you buy a Montana unlimited area bighorn sheep license and just go hunting...and you can hunt every year until you kill a ram. If there was ever an opportunity for a serious sheep hunter this would be it, and no guide is reqired. You may get lucky and kill a ram the first or second year, or it may take you several years to learn the area and the ram haunts or the migration patterns before you get a crack at a ram, but at least you're hunting without the need to draw a permit or the need pay $15K-$50K to an outfitter.
License-$750
Airfare-$350
Rental Car-$300
Backpack-$200
Food-$150
Being in sheep country with a tag in your pocket and a rifle in your hands year after year...Priceless

Yes and No

I live in CA. I ma or may not ever get a I draw tag in my life. If I get my priorities stIGHT I will get to get a dall sheep. Yes a desert, rocky, and a stone is out of my reach $$ wise. I enter my draws hoping to get drawn fot my other tags

Bighorn,

I certainly can understand your frustration. A good friend and I got serious about applying for tags a few years ago. On year four, we both hit. He drew an excellent Montana tag and I drew an Idaho tag for California Bighorns. I still catch my self laughing about the odds of both of us drawing NR tags in the same year. I am seriously looking at a Dall hunt, and then we'll see what happens. At forty, I still hold out hope of pulling a Rocky or Desert tag while I am still able to climb the mountains.
The realization that you may never have a bighorn tag in your pocket again sure adds a little pressure to the shot!

Bighorn
Wow. That was a lot to say.
I know it can be a frustrating battle at times with the states and this bonus point game. Put in for the states where max pools dont matter, it'll help but not nessesary (ID,WA,NM,UT,MT,NV). I've been extremly lucky in the past and I know it may never happen again. I still try!
Every year it seems some one I know draws or wins a hunt. I dont consider any of us wealthy. (lucky at times, yes) with a great desire to go sheep hunting. I love to hunt sheep so I go. It took me 4 years to save for a dall hunt. Once I went I knew I had to do it again so 6 years of saving later I was in the Yukon. In between I try to go along on some "budys" hunt. No I dont always get to pull the trigger but it doesnt meen I dont get to hunt. That is how I scratch my sheep hunting itch.

Bryan B

I agree.Just getting to be in sheep country is as good to me as hunting.To me it is the trip and adventure now.The hunt is secondary.
As for the unlimited area of Montana if I was about 20 that would be a good idea but at 53 if you have seen that area or been in it as I have save your life and donate the money to FNAWS and let them spend it on a good project.The reason it is unlimited entry is there are few sheep,Without a guide your odds are about as bad or worse than the draw and your chances of surviving the hunt are not good.I think my new sheep hunt will be high mountain elk with a bow.Seems I am pretty good at it without a guide and the scenery is pretty good there also.But they sure are heavy when you pack them out.But man I still itch for that sheep country.I think I got cheated by growing up in the Southeast instead of the West.

Bighornhunter2, At 53 you are not too old to go on an unlimited hunt in Montana. You just need to be in reasonable shape to hike into any of the 3 areas I have hunted in my life. No better shape than you would need to be in to hunt Dalls in Alaska or Bighorns here in Colorado where I live. I'm 53 also. It gets harder every year to get up the hill but 75% of it is between your ears. Just being in the mountains in sheep country with the sheep is worth the price of admission in Montana. I've seen sheep on all 3 of my trips there. Never shot a sheep but saw 1 that was too close to call. Had a great time in sheep country, the sights, the sounds, the smells. That's what it's all about. If you really want to go sheep hunting with some research which is readily available, you can in Montana. You're not getting any younger.

As much as I hate to admit it, I agree that unless you are well off or very lucky, sheep hunting is tough to do. the open area in MT would be a great adventure if you had the time, but that seems to be in short supply these days. Mountain goat, Ibex and free range Auodad can give the same challenge for a fraction of the cost (I've been told), it's sad to think that my kids may not be able to sheep hunt. It's definitely getting more expensive and harder to do.

Supply and demand.The supply is limited and tightly controlled and they demand the money to get the opportunity to get to hunt the limited supply.What is sad is that the younger generation will think that it is the norm to have to pay huge sums of money to hunt.I hate to admit this but it seems the sport I have loved my whole life is going to be lost to the younnger generations.No access,parents with no time and to much expense to equip and travel.Sad to say it but like everything else its all about the money.And I will say not many outfitters ever got rich most did it because they love to be out there.