Best Resident Sheep State in lower 48?

[Snyd]

lol, I pitched Alaska to my wife the other night and it didn't get very far. Something about dark and snow. I tired :/

ya, it gets dark at night and snows in the winter just like Michigan. Actually, the weather here really isn't that bad compared to the northeast and northern US. And, AK is one third the size of the lower 48 with very different weather depending on where one is. Barrow looses all daylight in the winter for a time. Most of the state doesn't. Ketchikan gets over 300 inches of rain per year. Here in the Interior Alaska our annual precipitation is 10 or 11".

 

[Ray]

Providence Hospital in Anchorage was paying to relocate qualified nurses a while ago.

Still are, as nurses keep quitting and moving to the valley or retiring.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Yeah, and the rest of us can buy a kiwi for .40, not $4.00...the point is everything has it's positives and negatives. Lived in AK for a long time, did plenty of sheep hunting; it sure is nice to not endure the hardships of that state, 'sheep hunting' notwithstanding.

I never liked kiwi. All joking aside, when I first moved here (almost 30 years ago), things seemed to be a lot more expensive compared to the lesser 48. These days the prices for most things seems to be pretty comparable. Fruits and veggies are still more expensive but now with a couple of Costco's, Wally super stores, etc., even those items usually aren't too much more. Also, the internet and Amazon has leveled the playing field considerably. Having other bigger sporting goods stores like Cabela's, Sportsman's Warehouse, and Bass Pro and not having sales tax (at least here in Anchorage), sometimes things are even cheaper here than down below.

 

[AK Troutbum]

The only hardship I can see right now is this shitty spring weather we’re having!!


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Every single training hike I've been on in the last month or so, about 7 or 8 so far, I've been snowed on.

 

[CTobias]

Every single training hike I've been on in the last month or so, about 7 or 8 so far, I've been snowed on.

Or blowing 80mph winds.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Nice thing about Anchorage is that it's only a couple hours away from Alaska

Also only a couple hours away from the best cold water fishing in the world, depending on which direction you go.

 

[Bambistew]

The success is 1-2%. Quota is 1-3 rams per unit and there is anywhere from 50 to 150 hunters more or less in each. Used to be odds of drawing a tag were as good as killing a ram in the UL, now it's probably better.

Speaking of drawing stats, I ran across the sheep regs from 2001 the other day. There is now 3x as more people applying for sheep tags as then, and fewer permits. I have an early 90s somewhere bit couldn't find it. As I recall, there was about 50% more sheep tags then. They heyday of Rock Creek, an UL area in eastern MT, Maiden Rock monsters, etc. Way before all the mass die-offs.

 

[Kodiak]

I would say move to where you and your wife will be happy. If you are looking to draw a sheep tag, your odds will be very slim anywhere. I have friends who have been successful in the unlimited sheep tag in MT and it is a brutal hunt. That said Montana would be lower on my list than ID WY and CO to draw a tag.

There are so many other great opportunities out west for all of the other animals that you can hunt ever year or every few years.just make sure your name is in as many drawings as you can afford and you might get lucky

 

[NVCHUKAR]

I have drawn 3 sheep tags in 24 years in Nevada. 2 deserts in 14 years of applying as you have to sit out ten years after a draw. Not very good odds for Rocky’s though we have less than ten tags now.