Wondering on how to get started drawing for Bighorn Tags? I am from Iowa and therefore not a resident of any state that has rocky mountain or desert bighorn sheep, which i know makes my odds of drawing even less. I love Bighorn sheep and read anything i can get my hands on about them. I am a member of FNAWS etc.

I guess my questions are do you folks hire somebody to do the application process for you, or do you do it on your own? Also for those of you like me who are non residents, what kind of total cost per year does it take to apply for a tag in every state that allows so? $1000???
I am a young guy, and my financial situation is now where i can start putting money towards drawing and hunting. Just wondering what kinds of money i am talking about? I also know that once a tag is drawn then many thousands of dollars are spent on guides and outfitters.

Thanks for any input.

The good news is that the info isn't too hard to get. Start by getting in contact every Division of Wildlife for all the western states. Most of them have pretty good websites. Might as well check into British Columbia and Alberta. I'm from Colorado and the deadline for applying is early april. You can apply online with a credit card. I wouldn't use a license outfit. You can do it by yourself. Applications aren't that dificult to figure out.

Now for the bad news. Tags are very hard to draw. I drew a sheep tag in 1986 and was too selective and ended up not filling it. I have been unable to draw since, but I apply every year. Since you are a non-resident you will be competing for around 10% of the tags. One of the benifits of living out west is that some tags are kind of set aside for the residents of the states.

Another piece of bad news is that you as a non-resident will be putting up between $1k-$2.5k for the tag. Of course you can hunt Montana's unlimited sheep area which eliminates the need to draw a tag, but that isn't country to mess with. Spooky rough stuff if you are not used to the high country. You can also book a guided hunt in Alberta and British Columbia, but you won't get much change back from your $20k if you go that route.

Here's a suggestion though. In Colorado, they issue quite a few tags for ewes. You don't get a trophy ram, but you get all the sport of sheep hunting and some really good meat. My brother has gone this route and taken a couple females. If you want to hunt sheep, that's the easiest way to get the experience.

Mac

257, you got some good advice from MAC

I think the reason to use an application service is if you don't want to take the time to figure out all the drawings yourself- which does take time.

if you want to accumulate points and enter every western state that has bighorn tags, a $1k/yr estimate is probably in the right ballpark, especially if you start buying a few raffle tickets as well

MAC is right about the way to hunt sooner, hunt MT unlimited, or for ewes

The MT unlimited areas are beautiful, but taking a ram is TOUGH. They are run on a quota, once the quota is killed, the unit closes. A lot of the rams taken are killed with outfitters, or by locals. Even then, it's tough if you look at the #hunter days/kill. I'd want to know that country well before trying it.

or, hunt Dalls in AK, that can be done for about $10k, I know an outfitter if you're interested

If you want to do something similar to hunting sheep, go on one of the early season high country buck mule deer hunts... just as tough as a sheep hunt, just as pretty of country, and in some of the areas you can watch sheep as a bonus!

Hey dreams can come true, I was born and raised in IL and never really guessed I'd hunt sheep when I was reading O'Connor in Outdoor Life, but did you see my thread on the photo contest?

here's a link to my photo if you didn't, perhaps I'll get a vote from you too!

http://www.riflescopes.com/gallery/entry290.htm

persistence pays off...

KJ

257,
p.s. if you're thinking seriously about doing MT otc bighorn, I'd think seriously about hiring a guide, and I'd talk to the Atchesons first about who to hire, etc.

Keith has posted here periodically, and was quite helpful to me for a MT moose hunt

I'm sure the Atchesons would get a lot of positive reviews here based upon posts I've seen over the yrs; they know sheep, and lots of other critters...

Atchesons