Success rate for Guided Stone Sheep hunts

[grandejuan]

I've gone twice and struck out twice. My guide and I hunted our as*es off and didn't see a legal ram. We saw lots of rams but none that were legal. I felt the area was shot out of legal full curl rams including double broomed rams.These were 14 day hunts In mid September. I went later because I wanted a thicker cape, maybe to late in the season there??? For several years everytime I looked at stone rams taken with my outfitter it felt like someone was standing on my grave!!! GJ

 

[The Hedgehog]

It brings a tear to my eye to read that very expensive vacations don’t always end up with a dead animal to take home.

 

[FishN4Eyes]

Thankfully I am 1 for 1 as there was no way I could afford another hunt.

Shot a nice ram on day 9 of a 10 day hunt and lemme tell you I was sweating it.

Happy to get it done but the prices have gone through the roof and I'll never be able to afford another Stone hunt.

 

[TheGrayRider]

I've gone twice and struck out twice. My guide and I hunted our as*es off and didn't see a legal ram. We saw lots of rams but none that were legal. I felt the area was shot out of legal full curl rams including double broomed rams.These were 14 day hunts In mid September. I went later because I wanted a thicker cape, maybe to late in the season there??? For several years everytime I looked at stone rams taken with my outfitter it felt like someone was standing on my grave!!! GJ

Don’t feel bad, grandejuan. As you are well aware, ain’t no guarantees on the slopes. Similarly, I have returned empty handed on a Dahl hunt in Alaska but haven’t hunted stone sheep yet.

Many people think $25,000 - $50,000 +++ automatically buys them a guaranteed trophy ram and an Instagram story. Say it ain’t so.

I think the mental game is tougher than the physical game on the mountains. I am not in the nursing home and am not giving up yet. Another swing of the bat in a couple of years already in the books. Happy future sheep hunting, TheGrayRider.

 

[johnp]

Stone sheep story : My sister's ex husband ,Casey was invited by his company on an all expenses paid Stone sheep hunt back in about 1980. Casey was in great shape back then and he and his guide hunted day after day . Spiked out and survived on peanut butter and bacon sandwiches part of the hunt .
Casey got his sheep on around day 10. then they ate sheep for a couple days until they got back to base camp . Epic hunt , thing is it was his first big game animal and his first big game hunt. Hard to follow that act!

 

[littlebighorn]

Rick,

Not sure if you've looked at it, and wont provide a 'perfect' picture of thinhorn vs bighorn harvest, but the Thinhorn mgmt 'draft' was recently posted. Shows license sales of Mountain sheep (bighorn/thinhorn) and harvest numbers for thinhorns for non-residents and residents each year.

Obviously not perfect in figuring out success, but interesting read regardless.

I'm working night shifts this week but will TRY and catch up this week for a visit!!!

https://engage.gov.bc.ca/app/uploads/sites/121/2023/02/Stewardship-Framework-for-Thinhorn-Sheep-v-22-draft-Jan2023.pdf

Hey Trev,
That study is eye opening and way more scientific than my online survey!
So if I read the charts right, BC has been issuing around 290 non-resident Sheep permits the last several years and the average harvest has been around 150 during that same period. Given that non-residents have to hunt with a guide and given that few would be hunting Dalls or Rockies, I'd say those figures indicate an average success rate at 52% for guided Stone Sheep hunts in BC.
That's actually worse than I thought it would be.
I guess my experience was average! I'm sure glad I got it done the second go around because I couldn't afford another Stone hunt.
I have to admit though, hunting Stones is an incredible experience in some of the most beautiful country on earth!
Thanks man!

 

[Elmacho]

It is still hunting, right?.....no guarantees?

 

[Rackmastr]

Hey Trev,
That study is eye opening and way more scientific than my online survey!
So if I read the charts right, BC has been issuing around 290 non-resident Sheep permits the last several years and the average harvest has been around 150 during that same period. Given that non-residents have to hunt with a guide and given that few would be hunting Dalls or Rockies, I'd say those figures indicate an average success rate at 52% for guided Stone Sheep hunts in BC.
That's actually worse than I thought it would be.
I guess my experience was average! I'm sure glad I got it done the second go around because I couldn't afford another Stone hunt.
I have to admit though, hunting Stones is an incredible experience in some of the most beautiful country on earth!
Thanks man!

Ya not a perfect science as there are probably 30-40 (maybe more) non resident bighorn hunters each year through the Rockies and Calis. I don’t have all that data in front of me but that number would change things once it was pinned down.

 

[littlebighorn]

Ya not a perfect science as there are probably 30-40 (maybe more) non resident bighorn hunters each year through the Rockies and Calis. I don’t have all that data in front of me but that number would change things once it was pinned down.

What's your guess on NR Rockie/Cali success? Higher or lower than success on Stones?

 

[Rackmastr]

What's your guess on NR Rockie/Cali success? Higher or lower than success on Stones?

Lower would be my guess on rockies, but I personally think there are a handful of outfitters that have a lot higher success and then some with extremely low success vs an overall 'average'. I'd have to do some digging to see exact numbers of rocky/cali hunters but its not insignificant in the total of the 'mountain sheep' permits sold to non-residents each year.

 

[Rackmastr]

Heres an interesting quote I found while doing some digging from a Fort Nelson paper in regards to thinhorn harvest.

"In 2019, before COVID restrictions, 1,303 B.C. residents hunted 10,888 days for both stone sheep and their white cousins, the Dall, and harvested 137 thinhorn rams for a success rate of 10.5% — or 79 hunter days per ram harvested. The 234 non-residents (includes a few B.C. resident who used the services of guide outfitters) harvested 159 rams for a success rate of 68% and 10 days per ram.

In 2020, with COVID restrictions, 1,363 residents hunted 12,146 days and harvested 205 rams for a 17% success rate and 59 days per ram. Sixty non-residents (from other parts of Canada and B.C., like myself) used the services of a guide outfitter and harvested 42 rams for a succuss rate of 70%, or 8.6 days a ram."

 

[Rackmastr]

And some more good info from WSF from the Thinhorn summit......

This one seems to give a bit better picture of NR hunters for thinhorn and success, without lumping all sheep tags purchased into the numbers from what I can tell.

If using Jex' info on the graph (not exact numbers but can guess pretty close on NR thinhorn hunters), it looks like approx 195-220 (200 looks to be about the more common on the graph) NR thinhorn hunters each year from 2010-2019.

During that same time, NR thinhorn hunters averaged 171 rams per year (averaged out over the 10 year period).

Still not a perfect picture of it, and I imagine the exact numbers lie somewhere in between, but allows a person to get a bit closer with some recent info from Jex as well as the other thinhorn mgmt plan doc.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjXkvDk0KX9AhV8lIkEHU68BE4QFnoECAcQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wildsheepfoundation.org%2Fblob%2Fdocument%2FVmQrMUdTK01ucnc90&usg=AOvVaw1yV4dVp6flLyuI4iT5l3rD

 

[Rackmastr]

Other thing that looking at the graph does is makes a resident feel pretty good about success I've had and opportunities at the prices I've paid for the hunts I've done!!!

 

[sneakypete]

I hunted (elk/moose) with Stone Mountain Safaris about 10 years ago, in the sheep camp there was a guy who didn't leave camp and the guides were debating how to count him for success rates.

Apparently if your successful in the sandwich industry you can drop $40k to go camping.

I’ve hunted with Leif twice. Both times sheep hunters 2 for 2 and 1 for 1. Great area.

 

[littlebighorn]

Heres an interesting quote I found while doing some digging from a Fort Nelson paper in regards to thinhorn harvest.

"In 2019, before COVID restrictions, 1,303 B.C. residents hunted 10,888 days for both stone sheep and their white cousins, the Dall, and harvested 137 thinhorn rams for a success rate of 10.5% — or 79 hunter days per ram harvested. The 234 non-residents (includes a few B.C. resident who used the services of guide outfitters) harvested 159 rams for a success rate of 68% and 10 days per ram.

In 2020, with COVID restrictions, 1,363 residents hunted 12,146 days and harvested 205 rams for a 17% success rate and 59 days per ram. Sixty non-residents (from other parts of Canada and B.C., like myself) used the services of a guide outfitter and harvested 42 rams for a succuss rate of 70%, or 8.6 days a ram."

Well I'm glad you chimed in on all this Trev. Those figures are more like I had anticipated. No doubt, like anything else, some concessions are better than others and a hunters drive, preparation, and skill play a big part in success.

 

[Deleted member 39961]

Don’t feel bad, grandejuan. As you are well aware, ain’t no guarantees on the slopes. Similarly, I have returned empty handed on a Dahl hunt in Alaska but haven’t hunted stone sheep yet.

Many people think $25,000 - $50,000 +++ automatically buys them a guaranteed trophy ram and an Instagram story. Say it ain’t so.

I think the mental game is tougher than the physical game on the mountains. I am not in the nursing home and am not giving up yet. Another swing of the bat in a couple of years already in the books. Happy future sheep hunting, TheGrayRider.

The anxiety leading up to a hunt like this is real.

 

[Deleted member 39961]

Some very good friends helped finance the first hunt so it was a big discount that even got me there. But that outfit did not offer a discount for another go. I went with a different outfitter for the second hunt. I really went out on a financial limb to go a second time. Moonlit flipped a house to pay for it. Most outfits I've talked to don't reduce prices if you are not successful.

That’s some commitment.

 

[BradA]

I’ve hunted with Leif twice. Both times sheep hunters 2 for 2 and 1 for 1. Great area.

Glad to hear this!

All these reports of people being unsuccessful made me nervous that I just booked a hunt haha.

 

[Deleted member 39961]

Glad to hear this!

All these reports of people being unsuccessful made me nervous that I just booked a hunt haha.

Go giver hell.

 

[Fatrack]

Pretty hard to stomach the thought of a $50K+ hunt that yields a 50% success rate. Sitting here at a 3/4 slam, needing a stone, I think about this hunt often. The first 3 came at as cheap as they possibly can come...given a dall hunt, drew Rocky and drew Desert. Most people say I got off cheap and I should just buy a stone hunt and complete the slam. I'd LOVE to complete my slam and I think that a stone sheep hunt would be great. The one I went on as an observer was super fun....especially the fishing. We glassed 3 rams from the lake, then went up and shot one the next morning. But if it weren't for "completing my slam" I probably wouldn't even contemplate spending that kind of money for a hunt. Tough decisions...there's A LOT of good hunting that could be done over the years for the price of one stone hunt; and considering the 50% success....ouch. I think I'll just focus on my "Cheap Slam" and look to win one here in the next few years! ha ha