Building pts vs saving for hunts

I read somewhere recently someone broke down the cost of building points in states vs just saving money to buy a hunt somewhere for sheep. Does anyone have this info? It basically stated that in some states it costs more to build points than to just save up and buy a hunt. I believe this was a comment on someones thread. Let me know if you know what I'm taking about! Thanks all.

Lets say a guided sheep hunt cost $20,000.

A lower 48 sheep tag if drawn is $1-3k.

Nonresident sheep odds are nearly all sub 1% draw odds and most are way worse. For instance in MT I think you needed 10 or more points to even get a unit to 1% draw odds on gohunt.

Most sheep applications at the state level cost $125-$175 for a point or for the required nonresident hunting license and tag fee and the assumption is that you might need to pay them 30,50, 100+ times on average before you draw. If you were to put that year series of payments into a market fund you could end up with a more than the guided hunt fee.

Sheep points for me, and I am sure like most people my age are an exercise in futility. Against my better judgment I am throwing good money after bad on them. That said I do both. I put in for just about aevery and any sheep tags that has a random chance attached to it and in the mean time I am financing a pair of future sheep hunting over the next 5-7years.

Couple of things....you’d be hard pressed to find a sheep hunt for less then 20K ...yes you can in Alaska however they aren’t the highest percentage of success in those areas at that price.
You also can not assume success is assured, so you maybe in for the purchase of More than one hunt.


Dall sheep AK 18 to 22 k plus expensives, some substantial like brush flights
Dall sheep NWT and Yukon, 25k .... Plus substantial expenses
Stone sheep 40K up
bighorn 35 K up
Desert 45k up..

I would say one thing. If you decide to save up and go the guided route for a sheep hunt, I would recommend saving a little extra and booking with the best outfitter possible. They may be 4-6k more but their success rates are often top notch. It's easier to book 1 hunt for 30k than 2 hunts for 26k each.

as said earlier, each state you apply for sheep will for the most part cost you $150-200 non refundable. simple math depending on how many states you apply in and what the odds are to determine how many years you will be doing that for. you could compromise and apply for a couple of the states you would like to hunt with the "best" odds. and then save hard for a hunt. most people in reality don't want it bad enough to save for it though. if you do then you should be able to do it pretty quickly 5 years or less.

I looked at tags/cost/allocation on something I was working on back in 2013, here was the numbers at that time.

State NR Price NR allocation Res Allocation All permits
WY $2,250 55 165 220
ID $2,200 8 87 95
CO $1,950 23 225 248
UT $1,600 8 66 74
AZ $1,550 10 97 107
NV $1,340 33 313 346
MT $755 14 242 256

I didn't look at the non-refundable fee/point price, for each, but a good average would be $150 each. That's $1000 just in draw fees/points if you were to apply for all of these.

Assuming a hunt is $20,000 today (and doesn't jump in price). Inflation is 2.5%, and a rate of return of 5% on investments... you could invest $1500/year ($125/mo) and go on a hunt in about 12-14 years.

I'm grateful that I can get a tag every year and don't have to worry about a draw, points, etc.

Thanks all! That was the info I was looking for.

The problem with both options is that the bar is continually moved. The hunts you can buy keep going up in cost. The tag prices and fees keep going up and point creep keeps making it harder to draw. What worked ten years ago might not work today. Me and a couple of close friends were fortunate. I drew an Idaho NR California Bighorn tag, another drew a NR Montana Bighorn tag, and another won a raffle for Desert in Arizona. Maybe you can be "lucky" enough to draw NM and get to pay $3,000 for a DIY sheep hunt.

I'm a financial planner by occupation and I apply to nearly every state for several species. When I break down the cost of building points vs buying a tag/hunt its really not even close. I'm in the process of booking a dall sheep hunt for 2020 in the NWT and most of the sheep outfitters raise the cost around 10% every couple of years. So if you think you are going to be able to take the cost of applying and invest that money and be able to buy a hunt north of the border in 10-15 years, you will be disappointed. Take $1500 as stated above at 5% growth and you will have around $30k 14 yrs from now. However sheep hunts are increasing at around 5% per year in cost so a $20k hunt will cost $40k 14 years from now and a $30k sheep hunt will cost $60k. Rule of 72...

For most states if you apply for multiple species, and draw several of those tags over time its actually not that bad. I realize the odds of drawing a bighorn tag in the lower 48 is always going to be terrible for me (37 years old with 9-12 pts for just about everything) but the amount of tags I will draw while waiting for a sheep tag makes it worth it. A big horn hunt in alberta is all of $30k and even a less expensive Alaska dall hunt will run close to $20k all in. If you consider not applying to any states and investing that money, and plan on being able to catch up to the rising costs of that hunt you are setting unrealistic goals. The bad news is you wont be able to afford the sheep hunt but you will have more in your retirement acct!

If you cant afford to build points at a relatively low cost per year, then its hard to imagine being able to justify spending $40,000 to $60,000 to go on a hunt 15 years from now. The best option for the vast majority of people who dream of sheep hunting is to apply for pts, buy raffle tags, and hope the sheep gods smile on you. Im very fortunate to have a successful practice and an understanding wife to be able to justify the cost associated with this addiction. I would have a hard time giving that advice to your average person working to pay bills and funds ira's. It sucks that sheep hunting has turned into this but its the reality of supply and demand, at least when the market and economy are doing so well...