Drawing a sheep tag

[Blueman]

So if a young guy like myself wants to get a sheep grand slam obviously the desert is the hardest tag to draw. Which state would be his best bet?

 

[azsugarbear]

Your best chance to draw would probably be AZ or possibly NV. These states seem to have the most sheep. But remember, you asked for best chance and not least expensive. A NR hunt license will cost you $160 per year. You will need that just to apply. If you are not drawn, you are only charged the $7.50 application fee. If you are lucky enough to draw, the tag will run you $1,815.

California's system sounds like it heavily favors the max point holders. In AZ there are typically some 70 permits for desert bighorn. Of those, only 20% or 14 tags are guaranteed to go to the max point holders. The rest are open for anyone to draw. Although a lot of the remaining tags go hunters with higher points, there are always some sheep tags that find their way to hunters with only 5 points - or even first time applicants. It is truly like winning the lottery.

This year there are approx. 160 hunters with max points (25). With an attrition rate of about 25 per year due to drawn tags, plus another 2-3 hunters that either dir or give up, we will burn thru our current max hunters in about 5-6 years. Then those with 24 points (currently) will be the next group. There are over 200 of them, but about 10 draw or give up/die each year.

The AZ system seems to be a little more fair than CA, but it is still long odds if you didn't get into the game early. Statistically, I will begin to have greater than a 1% chance of getting drawn by the age of 65.

 

[davkrat]

The AZ system seems to be a little more fair than CA, but it is still long odds if you didn't get into the game early. Statistically, I will begin to have greater than a 1% chance of getting drawn by the age of 65.

As dismal as that sounds it's loads better than the CA system

 

[Punisher]

You will begin to lean all new terms to be afraid of such as harvest reduction and point creep.

The truthfully dismal reality of hunting is that us young men will live to see the day when the common man cannot afford to hunt much like in Europe today.

Hunters have placed so much value in recreation in this industry that the state game and fish departments are addicted to the revenue we generate. It is odd that more hunters do not speak out against the terribly high cost of getting permits. After all, it's not the state's job to figure out how to generate funds for its perpetually failing infrastructure... Oh wait.


I can give you advice from my perspective. I apply in Utah for desert sheep, mountain goat, moose, elk and mule deer. It's a $65 huntin license to apply then $10 per species. The hunting license is good for 365 days! So you can apply twice under the same license!

Anything else I can afford will b hunted in Alaska. I can buy property there and hunt as a non resident out of my own cabin for $2000 per year including my air fare. So I'm not about to ease money on some silly deer lease or spend thousands on applications that point creep may never allow me to draw.

 

[CoasttoCoast]

In all honesty, your absolute best bet at a sheep tag is to save money and go to Alaska. If you want to draw a tag, start applying and building up bonus points in all states. its gonna cost you but if you really want to do it, you gotta do it, its the name of the game. I don't know how you are financially or where your from, but one day you might have to pack up and move to one of those states (NV or AZ or UT for Desert sheep) your bonus points are yours weather your a res or not, and we all know that residents have a lot better odds then non residents. Just my 2 cents.