Why is mountain goat hunting so much cheaper than sheep hunting? For the last few months I've been looking at Dall sheep hunts in Alaska and the NWT. The cost runs from 9K to 15K plus airfare, tags and so on, for a 8 to 12 day hunt. For one ANIMAL, allow me to rant here but you can do a LOT of hunting in Africa for 15k. Today while drooling over a sheep hunting web page I looked at mt. goat hunting. I saw a several mt. goat moose hunt combos for 6k to 8k, now that seems way more reasonable. Is mt. goat hunting that much harder? Whats the deal? Why is it so much more affordable?

Purely about demand! Sheep hunting in NA with a guide is way over priced IMO. Its all about supply and demand, they got the supply and there are always people willing to pay for it. I would much rather go to africa and hunt mulitple speices for the same price or less... I would how ever not turn down a DIY sheep hunt... But since Alaska subsidises thier guiding industry... they can kiss my ass!

It is true, supply and demand is a PART of the picture, granted a big part. Sheep are "glamorous" and everybody wants one. Goats just havn't developed the following, the demand. But there is more to it. Granted, goats live in STEEP, ROUGH country that will try ones body, but, it is generally a short term trial, i.e. they usually aren't a long ways off. One spends a day or 2 busting his ever loving butt, but that's it. It's over. In goat country, there are lots of them, and they aren't near as hard to find. The climb is very hard, much harder than for most sheep, but at the same time, much shorter, generally at least. Also, the costs of getting to goat country are usually much less from the outfitters side than getting to sheep country. A goat hunt in decent goat areas really only requires 4 days or less, often less. Of course a guy may go find a sheep in 1 day, but often it is a week or 10 days. As to Dall sheep, at least in the NWT, I really think a week is plenty 29 times out of 30. Other sheep, not necessarily so. I wouldn't plan a Stone or Bighorn hunt for less than 2 weeks--may not need it, but damn sure might. For goats, if I only had 2 days, I would still consider the odds high--not a guarantee, but very good. If I were to schedual a goat only hunt, it would definitly not be for more than a week. So, the outfitters cost of hunting sheep is a lot higher, hence they charge more. Then, the goats smallish horns just don't attract the attention of sheep, so demand is less. You will work your butt off for a goat, and it can be genuinely dangerous, but it won't take long. For a sheep, you'll work (hard), but not as hard daily, but likely for lots more days. It's kind of like a sprint compared to a long distance run. And for sure, the cost to the outfitter to get you in to sheep is much higher than getting you a goat.

"it can be genuinely dangerous"

Yeah, I've read some real horror stories about goat hunting and thats one, maybe the only, thing holding me back. J.Y. Jones said its the only north america hunt he didn't want to do again. That at one point he was walking on a very small ledge a thousand or so feet above NOTHING Now I've worked on radial coal stackers 200 feet off the ground and I've walked across 16" bridge girders several feet above highways, I had a safety harness on most of the time, but the way J.Y. talked about it goat hunting didn't sound like a lot of fun . Then again I've seen some video of goat hunts and it didn't look that bad, sure they had to climb 3000 feet or so but they didn't show any cliffs.

There are some easier goat hunts late when the goats have
come down off the higher elevations,around November.
If you want to goat or sheep hunt go now...the cost are
not getting cheaper.

Did you get my e-mail the other day?

Jeff

Sorry I haven't replied Jeff, I've been busy. Yes I did get your email and I looked at Johns web page. I sent him an email this morning. I got an Idaho bear hunt coming up in 11 days but I can't get these DAMN sheep off my mind

I consider goat hunting to be one of the best buys in the hunting world, and sheep hunting the single biggest rip-off......

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What he said!

Hey Ivan, I'ved lived in Alaska for the last 32 years and could care less whether you come up here to hunt [but I won't kiss your ass!!!] In fact I'm so sick of tourists, if I see another one, it will be too soon.

How do you figure that the poor State of Alaska is subsidizing the guiding industry?

Because a sheep "slam" is a big thing for people.Also have not heard of goat hunting organization. or goat convention.