I'm 33 years old. I have built several preference points in several states and normally only put in for the ones I think I will draw or the animals I want to hunt.

would it be worth putting in for Bighorn sheep in the states I hunt? or would I just be throwing away/donating money on a tag I probably will never draw?



Anyone with experience please chime in

I think it depends on how many PP you have and in which states.
Wyoming raised the price of tags and PP significantly this year and perhaps those without deep, pockets will burn their PP this year then be out, older applicants may also burn their PP finally , some will no doubt hold on and hope many bow out for better odds in a few years. If you have a few in Wyoming I would stay in another year or 2 and look at the PP pool then, see if it shrank at all. The general thinking I see from NR in Wyoming is if you're in the bottom of the PP poll you'll probably never draw, but we do have some random tags every year and somebody has to draw those, my spouse did in the resident draw one year.
Other state run their draws differently so others will have to chime in.

We are about the same age. I am big into the points game and ran the numbers on this last year. I figured out that building points in the states with the best odds, if I started now, by the time I was 55, I would have a 1% chance of drawing, probably a little less if you factor in point creep.

What I do instead is buy raffle tickets in every state the offers them. The odds are still terrible, but the tickets are cheap and I have the same chance as everyone else.

If a sheep hunt is on your list and you are willing to spend 15-20 years building towards that goal, just put away $100 a month. In 15-20 years you will have enough saved up for a guided dall sheep hunt in Alaska. Put away $250 a month for 20 years and you can buy a bighorn tag.

Kinda what I figured. Don't wanna wait 15 or 20 years so I'll just work hard and get the money the old fashioned way. I just want to kill a sheep not real particular on which one....may just save and do the stone sheep in Alaska or go off to some far off country and shoot one of their variants.


if I wait 15 years the price of a bighorn is likely to double. better try and do the sheep thing now while i'm young

If you're that young you have a lot of time to play the game. You should consider sheep out here, whether it be California or Rocky Mt. bighorns. Idaho has no PP's or BP's, so it is luck of the draw every year. You do have to buy a $152 license in order to apply, but you can still buy a deer or elk tag over the counter and hunt with that license. That is cheaper than many of the other states cost when you add them up.

did not know that.

that is something to look into

I believe RCCLA the rio costilla ranch is auctioning their tag right now, last year theirs went for 27 or 29k which in the bighorn sheep world thats cheap

yes that is cheap

Cheapest I’ve heard of.

New Mexico is straight lottery and has deserts and Rocky Mountain Bighorn.

Like said above, Idaho is the same way.

I also buy at least a few raffle tags for sheep in AZ, WY, and MT, and some others.

In Utah, Nevada, and Arizona there are also tags in the pool that go in the random draw and applying in those states isn’t terribly expensive. So I apply in those states for the actual permit, not bonus points, because there is a slight chance of pulling a tag, just make sure you are applying in a unit with a random tag available,