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Alberta Rocky Mtn Bighorn Outfitters and Success Rates

G

GA Sheephunter

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Aug 28, 2017
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Who here has gone (or knows someone who has gone) on an outfitted bighorn hunt in Alberta, and what was the success rate in camp?

I recently priced an Alberta bighorn hunt with 2 different outfitters. 1 was $70K and one was $100K.

Heard of a guy on another forum who went with the $100K outfitter, and while he was there they went 1/6. They one guy's ram was 140" and they hiked 100 miles to get it on the last day.

Am familiar with the Canmore archery hunts, but more curious about the regular rifle hunts

Curious what folks on the LRH forum may know
 
I live in alberta and personally know most of the outfitters. If you have any questions just shoot me a message. Bighorns are tough, one outfitter can have terrible success one year. And his neighbor on the other side of the mountain can go 100%.
 
GA Sheephunter said:
Who here has gone (or knows someone who has gone) on an outfitted bighorn hunt in Alberta, and what was the success rate in camp?

I recently priced an Alberta bighorn hunt with 2 different outfitters. 1 was $70K and one was $100K.

Heard of a guy on another forum who went with the $100K outfitter, and while he was there they went 1/6. They one guy's ram was 140" and they hiked 100 miles to get it on the last day.

Am familiar with the Canmore archery hunts, but more curious about the regular rifle hunts

Curious what folks on the LRH forum may know
Click to expand...
Agreed man. I'm looking as well and have been told very similar. Pretty sure I know both outfits you're referring to and I've talked to both a few times. Will FOR SURE not be going with one after some stories from hunters that went with him.
 
Marky_mark said:
I live in alberta and personally know most of the outfitters. If you have any questions just shoot me a message. Bighorns are tough, one outfitter can have terrible success one year. And his neighbor on the other side of the mountain can go 100%.
Click to expand...
Love to hear your thoughts on a couple of outfitters for sure.
 
Good morning all,
I literally just got back from Rocky sheep in the Willmore Wilderness Park 11days ago with an outfitter. I am pretty disappointed with the whole Alberta process and animals. DO NOT GO TO ALBERTA FOR ROCKY unless you want to go 2 to 3 times or more. That will be 3-400K. You are better off buying a governors tag if you can afford it. 15 days on horseback and everything that goes with it. No legal Ram only half curls. Huge issue as mentioned is residents being able to buy a Ram tag for 80 bucks over the counter then add Natives allowed to hunt all year no restrictions. Public hunting area so other outfitters are hunting the same Ram you are and not to mention the bears. Day 3 had a 9ft grizz charge us and saw 12 more huge bears after that. There is no Grizz hunting allowed in Alberta! The place is a bad place to hunt, period! The list goes on for me with one bad thing after another but I won't go into detail. We all need to stop buying these hunts, the outfitters need to make this a trophy fee hunt so they have some skin in the game! 100K is absurd for a maybe kill. Make the hunt 40K and add a realistic trophy fee of 20-30K, which is still ridiculous. This would have completed my slam so the sales of the outfitter worked on me to sign! Bad decision. I'll keep putting in for my points and take my chances there before Ram hunting in Alberta. I know that there were 8 hunters taken to this area this season and only 1 hunter got a Ram. Horrible kill percentage. The two guys before me in camp were also trying to finish their slam and no Ram for them either! Not sure if you can personal message me here but if you can I will give more details privately! I am not posting this to create an argument. I am posting to show the truth behind what outfitters are telling you compared to what is really going on in Alberta. I've gone on sheep hunts in the past and come home empty handed and I never had an issue but to over sell this hunt like these guys are doing is ridiculous. There's about an 8% chance of shooting a Ram in my opinion. There may be better areas that are deeper in the mountains but do your homework and find out before you write the check. Also BC has Rocky so look there also!
 
Roofer Rich said:
Good morning all,
I literally just got back from Rocky sheep in the Willmore Wilderness Park 11days ago with an outfitter. I am pretty disappointed with the whole Alberta process and animals. DO NOT GO TO ALBERTA FOR ROCKY unless you want to go 2 to 3 times or more. That will be 3-400K. You are better off buying a governors tag if you can afford it. 15 days on horseback and everything that goes with it. No legal Ram only half curls. Huge issue as mentioned is residents being able to buy a Ram tag for 80 bucks over the counter then add Natives allowed to hunt all year no restrictions. Public hunting area so other outfitters are hunting the same Ram you are and not to mention the bears. Day 3 had a 9ft grizz charge us and saw 12 more huge bears after that. There is no Grizz hunting allowed in Alberta! The place is a bad place to hunt, period! The list goes on for me with one bad thing after another but I won't go into detail. We all need to stop buying these hunts, the outfitters need to make this a trophy fee hunt so they have some skin in the game! 100K is absurd for a maybe kill. Make the hunt 40K and add a realistic trophy fee of 20-30K, which is still ridiculous. This would have completed my slam so the sales of the outfitter worked on me to sign! Bad decision. I'll keep putting in for my points and take my chances there before Ram hunting in Alberta. I know that there were 8 hunters taken to this area this season and only 1 hunter got a Ram. Horrible kill percentage. The two guys before me in camp were also trying to finish their slam and no Ram for them either! Not sure if you can personal message me here but if you can I will give more details privately! I am not posting this to create an argument. I am posting to show the truth behind what outfitters are telling you compared to what is really going on in Alberta. I've gone on sheep hunts in the past and come home empty handed and I never had an issue but to over sell this hunt like these guys are doing is ridiculous. There's about an 8% chance of shooting a Ram in my opinion. There may be better areas that are deeper in the mountains but do your homework and find out before you write the check. Also BC has Rocky so look there also!
Click to expand...
I saw this on Rokslide as well. If I know anything its who I will never book a hunt with!!! I wonder how many people are going to book $100k camping trips with him in Reno. I'm looking forward to walking by his booth just to see what this guy looks like and maybe hear some of his lies he is selling
 
GA Sheephunter said:
I saw this on Rokslide as well. If I know anything its who I will never book a hunt with!!! I wonder how many people are going to book $100k camping trips with him in Reno. I'm looking forward to walking by his booth just to see what this guy looks like and maybe hear some of his lies he is selling
Click to expand...
Yes I posted it there first. I want hunters to really know what they are getting into when they go there and be prepared. It's easy to get sheep shape if you want to but to go climb mountains just for ***** and giggles is a waste!
 
Roofer Rich said:
Yes I posted it there first. I want hunters to really know what they are getting into when they go there and be prepared. It's easy to get sheep shape if you want to but to go climb mountains just for ***** and giggles is a waste!
Click to expand...
It's been a really rough year for sheep hunting here in Alberta. A lot of the outfitters have not had much luck. Residents haven't done much better either. One outfitter friend had a hunt this year where they spotted 44 different rams, none were legal. A big problem is a fair amount of the mature rams are broomed short. And they will never grow enough to be legal. So you can have a 14 year old broomed off warrior that is super heavy, standing beside a 6 year old with lamb tips. And you would have to shoot the 6 year old… if he was legal. Our bios don't care about large mature rams being harvested, they just care about harvest rates. They hope to have x amount die every year. And if they do, it's successful.
 
Roofer Rich said:
Yes I posted it there first. I want hunters to really know what they are getting into when they go there and be prepared. It's easy to get sheep shape if you want to but to go climb mountains just for ***** and giggles is a waste!
Click to expand...
Were you hunting with carters guys or McMahons?
 
Marky_mark said:
It's been a really rough year for sheep hunting here in Alberta. A lot of the outfitters have not had much luck. Residents haven't done much better either. One outfitter friend had a hunt this year where they spotted 44 different rams, none were legal. A big problem is a fair amount of the mature rams are broomed short. And they will never grow enough to be legal. So you can have a 14 year old broomed off warrior that is super heavy, standing beside a 6 year old with lamb tips. And you would have to shoot the 6 year old… if he was legal. Our bios don't care about large mature rams being harvested, they just care about harvest rates. They hope to have x amount die every year. And if they do, it's successful.
Click to expand...
With what I have researched it has been a tough five years. There's one more factor you are describing that I did not know about and probably no other hunter outside of Alberta knows. All these facts need to be out there so we know what we are getting into. Knowing you have a minimal chance of shooting a legal Ram is great going into a hunt which makes this hunt worth 30K maybe and I am just adding that because I know what it takes with all the camps food and horses. There is no way this hunt is worth 110K which is what prices on websites are now!
 
Marky_mark said:
Shoot me a message and Ill do the best i can
We have our wsfab banquet this weekend
Click to expand...
Marky_mark said:
It's been a really rough year for sheep hunting here in Alberta. A lot of the outfitters have not had much luck. Residents haven't done much better either. One outfitter friend had a hunt this year where they spotted 44 different rams, none were legal. A big problem is a fair amount of the mature rams are broomed short. And they will never grow enough to be legal. So you can have a 14 year old broomed off warrior that is super heavy, standing beside a 6 year old with lamb tips. And you would have to shoot the 6 year old… if he was legal. Our bios don't care about large mature rams being harvested, they just care about harvest rates. They hope to have x amount die every year. And if they do, it's successful.
Click to expand...
I agree the horn length issue is a bad idea , it took me 3 trips for a legal Ram first two trips saw many heavy old Rams that were short had to pass third trip managed to get a 173" ram that was just barely long enough 🙈👍
 
slam2107 said:
I agree the horn length issue is a bad idea , it took me 3 trips for a legal Ram first two trips saw many heavy old Rams that were short had to pass third trip managed to get a 173" ram that was just barely long enough 🙈👍
Click to expand...
Ya they wont do harvesting on age, because half of the bios cant age a ram
The rockys need to burn and we need to kill a lot of predators for the sheep size to increase
The nutritional value of the forage isnt good
Good feed equals big rams
The genetics are there, they just need some help
 

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