ARIZONA GAME & FISH COMMISSIONER'S SPECIAL PRONGHORN TAG $215,000

WYOMING GOVERNOR'S SHIRAS MOOSE LICENSE $100,000

COLORADO ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT LICENSE $45,000

STATE OF NEVADA PRONGHORN TAG $55,000

That amazes me that the Pronghorn tag went for so much more than they rest. Do they have a WR Pronghorn tied up somewhere? Crazy!

I’m also surprised at that Pronghorn tag price. While Nevada does have some very big Pronghorns; they’re low density and it can be a very tough hunt for a B&C caliber buck.

That said, Northwest Nevada is one of few places where you might find an 85-90”+ buck. I had an 021,022 tag a few years ago and chose to not fill it as I couldn’t find the caliber of buck that unit can occasionally produce.

MONTANA BIGHORN LICENSE $375,000

STATE OF WASHINGTON CALIFORNIA BIGHORN $235,000

NEW MEXICO DESERT BIGHORN $190,000

CALIFORNIA DESERT BIGHORN TAG $270,000

ALASKA CHUGACH DALL SHEEP TAG $250,000

WYOMING GOVERNOR'S SHIRAS MOOSE LICENSE $85,000

NEW MEXICO BIG GAME ENHANCEMENT PACKAGE $330,000

NAVAJO NATION DESERT BIGHORN $90,000

OREGON SPECIAL PRONGHORN ANTELOPE TAG $32,500

So much for a pronghorn??

What is so special??

Saeed, I believe the price paid for the Arizona Pronghorn tag has to do with the facts that Arizona grows world record bucks, and in March of last year the Arizona Game & Fish Commission voted to stop issuing Big Game auction tags beginning in 2026.


.

WYOMING BIGHORN $215,000

B.C. MOUNTAIN SHEEP SPECIAL PERMIT $275,000

CONFEDERATED TRIBES WARM SPRINGS CALIFORNIA BIGHORN $280,000

ALBERTA MINISTER ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIGHORN $400,000

COLORADO ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIGHORN $270,000

NAVAJO NATION DESERT BIGHORN $90,000

OREGON BIGHORN $480,000

IDAHO BIGHORN $300,000

TAOS PUEBLO ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIGHORN $250,000

NEVADA NELSON DESERT BIGHORN $170,000

NEBRASKA BIGHORN PERMIT $420,000

LA PALMOSA DESERT SHEEP $190,000

ARIZONA DESERT BIGHORN $500,000

NEW MEXICO ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIGHORN $1,300,000

Lots of money involved
Great for wildlife as most of this money goes to sheep conservation
I applaud to those guys who paid that kinda money

quote:

I applaud to those guys who paid that kinda money

A lot of look at me for sure.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

I applaud to those guys who paid that kinda money

A lot of look at me for sure.

True.

But his money and can do with it as he pleases!

Not for me though!

quote:

Originally posted by Thomas "Ty" Beaham:
Saeed, I believe the price paid for the Arizona Pronghorn tag has to do with the facts that Arizona grows world record bucks, and in March of last year the Arizona Game & Fish Commission voted to stop issuing Big Game auction tags beginning in 2026.


.

Ty -

Thats a shame, AZGFD gets 100% of its funding with only taxes collected on sporting items. I've always approved of the program.

As an aside, this bull was killed by Jimmy Johns the sandwich guy, on the 2020 governors tag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf0JXZqzsyE&t=1073s

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
So much for a pronghorn??

What is so special??

Nothing, whatsoever. Sure, they are fun to hunt, to a degree. Me and my son hunted them in Wyoming this past season through the public draw.

Deer and Elk are different!

Antelope is a blast to hunt especially when you target specific animal and tough to hunt that way
Sure, if you just go and shoot first one you see, then it’s one day outing and you will not experience plains hunting in different settings and different weather
Besides nothing like pulling prickly pear thorns out of your hands and knees and thighs …for a month after the hunt

quote:

Originally posted by M.Shy:
Antelope is a blast to hunt especially when you target specific animal and tough to hunt that way
Sure, if you just go and shoot first one you see, then it’s one day outing and you will not experience plains hunting in different settings and different weather
Besides nothing like pulling prickly pear thorns out of your hands and knees and thighs …for a month after the hunt

Agree, not a hunt to just shoot the first legal buck. I drew a Arizona tag last year, took 30BP to draw.

I wasn't seeing any mature bucks out on the grass flats, we usually associate with Antelope hunting. I finally found a good buck in the thick, Ponderosa pines. Great hunt.

I have hunted them in 90 F and -20 F and snow drifts so I hear you Steve
They are simply such a unique animal to hunt
If I had all that money I’d be bidding on all those hunts as well
After all being hunter, any opportunity to hunt is a good day in life

I went to the Sheep Show yesterday and thought it was very good. Good crowd! Lots of booths seemed busy. For me the best part was talking to people whom I planned on discussing hunts with (John Porter of Wyoming, Bighorns) and people I’m acquainted with whom I ran into unexpectedly. It was nice to discuss Caprivi Elephants with Karl Stumpf.

Visited a bit with Tom Opre, who’s been a speaker at out last two Mzuri Wildlife Foundation fundraisers. His new film, “The Last Keeper” is worth watching. It’s about the challenges the Scottish Gamekeepers and estates are facing. Also, Sue Tidwell Coyle, author of “Cries of the Savannah”. She is our speaker for this year’s Mzuri dinner in Monterey. Finally, I had a productive conversation with Ludo Wurfbain of Rowland Ward. Ludo is a fascinating fellow.

Yes, the New Mexico Bighorn tag brought $1,300,000.00 at auction. Most of the other sheep tags also brought huge winning bids.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:

quote:

Originally posted by M.Shy:
Antelope is a blast to hunt especially when you target specific animal and tough to hunt that way
Sure, if you just go and shoot first one you see, then it’s one day outing and you will not experience plains hunting in different settings and different weather
Besides nothing like pulling prickly pear thorns out of your hands and knees and thighs …for a month after the hunt

Agree, not a hunt to just shoot the first legal buck. I drew a Arizona tag last year, took 30BP to draw.

I wasn't seeing any mature bucks out on the grass flats, we usually associate with Antelope hunting. I finally found a good buck in the thick, Ponderosa pines. Great hunt.

True; I guess having them in my back yard for the past 20 years made me take them for granted. A few years back, most of our local animals were wiped by a severe winter.
My dad bought a conservation tag before that winter and probably passed on 30 bucks opening day. The do make amazing shoulder mounts.

Conservation Permits: A History of Impacting Wild Sheep Conservation
February 11, 2025



In 1980, a new strategy to fund wild sheep conservation emerged in Wyoming. The state auctioned off a single bighorn sheep hunting permit, raising $23,000—a staggering sum at the time.
Fast forward to today, and the concept has reached unprecedented heights. The sale of New Mexico's bighorn sheep tag for $1.3 million at the 2025 Sheep Show is the latest and most dramatic example of how conservation permit auctions have evolved.

This, however, is not without its questions. As the numbers climb, does this still align with the values that have long defined North American wildlife conservation?



The Birth of Conservation Permits

Maintaining healthy wildlife populations takes significant resources, and for wild sheep, whose numbers and range are far smaller than those of species like whitetail deer, traditional funding sources have often fallen short.

Major efforts like translocations to establish new herds or bolster existing ones and disease management require additional support beyond the moneys generated from a limited number of hunting permits.

Recognizing this gap, Wyoming Governor Ed Herschler took a bold step in 1980. Partnering with the Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF) (then known as the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep), the state offered a single bighorn sheep tag for auction to the highest bidder, with all proceeds dedicated to wild sheep conservation. Other states quickly took notice. Over the next few decades, the auction model expanded beyond Wyoming, becoming an essential funding strategy for wildlife agencies across North America.

Today, conservation permits, originally referred to as "Governor's Tags" or "Heritage Tags", are a cornerstone of funding for species like bighorn sheep, elk, mule deer, and pronghorn. Because of their expanded use by more states, provinces and tribes, to better reflect their use and the diverse jurisdictions they support, these are better described as Conservation Permits today.

Direct Impact

The financial success of conservation permit auctions is staggering. In recent years, auctioned tags have consistently brought in six-figure sums, with several states relying on them as primary sources of funding for wild sheep conservation.

Wyoming's bighorn sheep conservation permit sold for $215,000 in 2025, following a record $305,000 sale in 2022.

Montana's auction permits have generated $8.2 million for bighorn sheep conservation over the past decades.
"To date, WSF has directed more than $90 million to wildlife agency partners through the auction sale of their conservation permits. “We incur the marketing costs. We create an environment conducive to their sale and bring the buyers to the venue and auction to buy them. And 90-100% of funds go directly back to the agencies for the direct conservation of wild sheep," said WSF President & CEO Gray Thornton. But there's more.


"In some cases, federal conservation programs further amplify the money generated through auctions. The Pittman-Robertson Act, for example, allows states to match auction revenue with federal funds, 3 to1 tripling impact of a single high-dollar permit," said WSF Vice President of Conservation & COO Corey Mason.

Addressing Criticisms

Some critics claim that conservation auctions violate the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, which is based on the principle that wildlife is a public resource and should not be commercially exploited.

Wildlife biologist Shane Mahoney of Conservation Visions, a leading advocate for conservation funding, disagrees.
"There's a misconception," Mahoney said. "Some argue that auctioning or raffling conservation permits violates the North American Model because it 'commercializes' wildlife. But if that were true, then the entire hunting license system where millions of dollars are exchanged annually would also be considered commercialization."


Mahoney said Dr. Valerius Geist's (author of the Model) intentions in writing the Model never suggested that wildlife would not have any kind of value.



The sale of New Mexico's bighorn sheep tag for $1.3 million at the 2025 Sheep Show is the latest and most dramatic example of how conservation permit auctions have evolved. The excitement in the room was palpable.

"In 2021, approximately 15 million hunters in the United States of America bought approximately, between resident and non-resident licenses, 37 million hunting permits, licenses, tags, whatever you might want to call them. And that generated about $980 million for just the sale of those tags," Mahoney said.

"We have, in these particular special auction permits, obviously out of that 37 million that were sold in one year, a tiny, tiny fraction that is helping to fund many conservation efforts."

He noted there is a distinction between this kind of funding and the private wildlife concerns addressed in the Model.

Another argument is that these special tags take away from the opportunities of everyday hunters who can't fork over hundreds of thousands of dollars for an opportunity to hunt a wild sheep.

According to Gray Thornton, conservation Permits are additive to the draw tags. "They do not take away from the permits us regular gals and guys have the opportunity to draw. There are thousands of hunting permits sold each year. Conservation permits are a mere fraction of those offered," he said. "WSF sold 30 Conservation permits at our 2025 Sheep Show in Reno and will direct $6.7 to state provincial, tribal, and federal agencies."

The Arizona Example

Much of the discussion about conservation permits in recent months has come from the Arizona Game and Fish Commission's vote to end the auction of conservation permit tags in 2026 and opt for raffles and other means of fundraising. The Grand Canyon State has a rich history of wild sheep conservation, and millions of dollars have been raised through conservation permit auctions.

Funds raised from conservation permits since the inception of the Special Big Game Tag Program have increased wild sheep hunting opportunities from 44 tags in 1984 to 157 tags in 2023. By investing in just three bighorn sheep conservation permits yearly (two auctions and one raffle), Arizona has vastly increased sheep hunting opportunities for everyone.


Thirty desert bighorn sheep being released into Arizona's East Harcuvar Mountains in November 2022.

Since 1984, WSF has directed $7,107,000 to the Arizona Game and Fish Department from the sale of just one auction tag per year.

WSF and the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society sold the Arizona Desert Bighorn Special Big Game Tag at auction for $500,000 at the 2025 Sheep Show®, and the pronghorn conservation permit went for $215,000.

Future articles will address the impact of other fundraising mechanisms, and various concerns raised about this topic within the hunting community.

But when it comes to a history of helping wild sheep, conservation permits are unquestionably a proven commodity. According to Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies data, in 2014, 73 percent of agency wild sheep conservation was funded by an auction or raffle permit with the majority of the revenue coming from an auction permit.

In 2024 in the United States that number had increased to 83 percent.

"More dollars equals more sheep on the mountain. More sheep on the mountain equals more opportunity for all," Thornton said.