Once in Lifetime Hunt Costs

Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Messages
408
Location
Idaho
Hey all,

I've been planning out a budget for possible planned hunts within the next 5 years and am stuck on the general cost for OIL Moose and Goat in the lower 48. For hunting, I have a C.D which my late grandma set up for all of us grandkids before her passing that is doing pretty good. She told me before she died to use the money for hunting, so that is the plan.

My question for all of you DIY folks, what was your general overall cost when said and done of your hunt? Leave out any hotel costs associated too if you don't mind.

I set a general mark of about $3500 per species when said and done, but want to have a better idea. I am not rich, so every dollar I can save is a plus.

Thanks for your time!
 

FURMAN

WKR
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
1,793
I am not sure I understand what you are asking. Drawing a tag for those species will be like winning the lottery. It is not something you can really even hope for. The points game is most likely futile and you would have $3500 wrapped up in points alone, more than likely. For a Newfoundland moose(one of the less expensive) you are looking at $8-12k. Goats will run the same $8-12k.
 
OP
.204smokechaser
Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Messages
408
Location
Idaho
I'm asking what was the costs racked up during the hunt and after with taxidermy were. Drawing within 5 years for moose is pretty reasonable in some states, but goat will take longer. I've done the research on the units I'd put on the applications that tell me so.
 

FURMAN

WKR
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
1,793
Show me the state you can bet on drawing a moose tag in within five years. You could hunt Alaska for moose but your post leads me to believe you’re new to this and DIY moose is no joke.

Your looking at 10k in Canada plus 2k for airfare and another 1500 for taxiderny and probably 1500 to get it into us. There are different options as far as the taxidermy go.
 

ckleeves

WKR
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Messages
1,520
Location
Montrose,Colorado
That’s a really hard question to answer. There is a huge difference between resident vs nonresident in tag cost alone.

Taxidermy can be a huge swing also. I like euro moose mounts for example so my cost would be a few hours of my time.

I don’t think I would really worry about a budget. Draw a tag then start figuring things out. When it comes to OIL type hunts you will figure out a way to pay for it if you draw.

A guy that draws a unit that’s 15 minutes down the road from him is going to have vastly different cost then the non resident who lives on the other side of the country. The guy who lives 15 minutes away could get it done for the cost of 3 gallons of fuel, a cartridge, the tag price and a PBJ if he’s lucky.


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Outhunting

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
182
I will play along. If you get lucky and draw the tag, You could spend $1000.00 to $4000.00 in a DIY hunt. Same cost as going anywhere in the states and hunting any big game really.
 

Broomd

WKR
Joined
Sep 29, 2014
Messages
4,210
Location
North Idaho
Naches, it shows that you're based in Moscow, Id.
You've got the best OIL chances in the world right here as an ID resident..
I, and a close friend (and neighbor) both drew all four OIL species within ten years. Two or three of those years in the last decade I put in for non-OIL tags as well. So, in 7-8 years, I drew all four. I started in 2009, he started in 2006 and ended in 2013 with all four drawn. He filled all but his moose tag due to fires. I filled all but my Rocky Mnt. Bighorn tag due to horrible fires in Central ID.

The odds are very good for your plan, just review those ID F&G odds closely and plan accordingly. You should be able to complete your quest quite reasonalby. A truck camper really helps. I did all of my hunts on the cheap, although I did patronize the local shops and eateries when I could. I'd be happy to share more via PM.
 
Joined
Sep 9, 2012
Messages
1,979
Location
BC
Let's see as I arrowed the following "OIL" DIY critters:
NV NR Desert Bighorn for the price of a tag (drew first year in the drawing), shoulder mount, gas to drive from CO and back.
UT NR Bison for the price of tag (drew in year 12), shoulder mount, and Euro (had a cast of horns done for shoulder mount) gas to drive from CO and back.
WY NR Shiras Moose for the price of tag (drew in year 12) getting it packed out ($400) with a string of horses, gas to drive from CO and back.
Two CO resident Bighorns for the price of tags (drew 6 tags over 34 years of applying), two shoulder mounts, gas....both rams shot 25 miles from home.
Two CO resident Goats for the price of tags (drew 4 tags over 34 years of applying), a shoulder mount and a rug, both billies shot about 40 miles from home.
BC resident Roosevelt Elk for the price of a tag (put in about 6 years before I drew). No taxidermy and the hunt was about 400 km from home and I drove over twice.

I could go on and on but just figure out the license costs, application fees with the odds of drawing (how many yrs of fees), driving distance and gas mileage and what your favorite taxidermist charges for what you want him to do. You could have a spread sheet that estimated what a MT ram would cost you, an ID goat, WY moose etc. Anyway, get the license and go hunting. DIY will be affordable in the lower 48, and even an Alaskan DIY trip won't break you for Sitka Blacktails or moose & caribou.

Good luck, and what a great grandmother you had to send you down this path!
 

sneaky

"DADDY"
Joined
Feb 1, 2014
Messages
10,015
Location
ID
Let's see as I arrowed the following "OIL" DIY critters:
NV NR Desert Bighorn for the price of a tag (drew first year in the drawing), shoulder mount, gas to drive from CO and back.
UT NR Bison for the price of tag (drew in year 12), shoulder mount, and Euro (had a cast of horns done for shoulder mount) gas to drive from CO and back.
WY NR Shiras Moose for the price of tag (drew in year 12) getting it packed out ($400) with a string of horses, gas to drive from CO and back.
Two CO resident Bighorns for the price of tags (drew 6 tags over 34 years of applying), two shoulder mounts, gas....both rams shot 25 miles from home.
Two CO resident Goats for the price of tags (drew 4 tags over 34 years of applying), a shoulder mount and a rug, both billies shot about 40 miles from home.
BC resident Roosevelt Elk for the price of a tag (put in about 6 years before I drew). No taxidermy and the hunt was about 400 km from home and I drove over twice.

I could go on and on but just figure out the license costs, application fees with the odds of drawing (how many yrs of fees), driving distance and gas mileage and what your favorite taxidermist charges for what you want him to do. You could have a spread sheet that estimated what a MT ram would cost you, an ID goat, WY moose etc. Anyway, get the license and go hunting. DIY will be affordable in the lower 48, and even an Alaskan DIY trip won't break you for Sitka Blacktails or moose & caribou.

Good luck, and what a great grandmother you had to send you down this path!
Maybe we should have the guys who have applied for 30+ years post on here as the rebuttal to your lucky streak of drawing tags. I talked to a guy at Sheep Show who has applied his whole life in Idaho where he lives, and still hasn't drawn a sheep tag. He's in his late 60s now. Some guys will never come close to drawing the amount of tags you were fortunate enough to draw.

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Joined
Apr 21, 2015
Messages
970
Couldn't say on all the application costs and tag prices, you can look those up.

We travel as a group in a diesel truck from Washington. We split fuel, food, ice, ect... We sleep along the road and then camp in a big canvas tent or Travel trailer when we get to the hunt area. Sometimes in a campground, sometimes on forest service land (dispersed camping).

We average about $500-$700 per guy for a 2 week hunting trip for all expenses other than tag costs. That's with 5 guys, would be more with less guys due to fuel costs.

Shoulder mounts will run you $1 to $2K depending. Used to be you could get a shoulder mount for $600 but those days seem to have passed in my parts. Might be cheaper in the Midwest.
 
Joined
Feb 17, 2017
Messages
649
Let's see as I arrowed the following "OIL" DIY critters:
NV NR Desert Bighorn for the price of a tag (drew first year in the drawing), shoulder mount, gas to drive from CO and back.
UT NR Bison for the price of tag (drew in year 12), shoulder mount, and Euro (had a cast of horns done for shoulder mount) gas to drive from CO and back.
WY NR Shiras Moose for the price of tag (drew in year 12) getting it packed out ($400) with a string of horses, gas to drive from CO and back.
Two CO resident Bighorns for the price of tags (drew 6 tags over 34 years of applying), two shoulder mounts, gas....both rams shot 25 miles from home.
Two CO resident Goats for the price of tags (drew 4 tags over 34 years of applying), a shoulder mount and a rug, both billies shot about 40 miles from home.
BC resident Roosevelt Elk for the price of a tag (put in about 6 years before I drew). No taxidermy and the hunt was about 400 km from home and I drove over twice.

I could go on and on but just figure out the license costs, application fees with the odds of drawing (how many yrs of fees), driving distance and gas mileage and what your favorite taxidermist charges for what you want him to do. You could have a spread sheet that estimated what a MT ram would cost you, an ID goat, WY moose etc. Anyway, get the license and go hunting. DIY will be affordable in the lower 48, and even an Alaskan DIY trip won't break you for Sitka Blacktails or moose & caribou.

Good luck, and what a great grandmother you had to send you down this path!

Blockcaver-That is some great luck in drawing tags! Congrats and I know that it is a numbers game...send in a lot of applications and you will be surprised as to what you pull!

OP-one of the things you may want to look into is the cost of just applying for all of those species. If you were to get into all the state draws for OIL sheep, moose, goat, bison, muskox...and/or limited entry elk, deer, antelope etc...your annual cost of applications will be north of $2500 easily. Most sheep tags will run $2K same with bison, moose and muskox. Actually I think bison tags are over 4K in most states.

Just the WY shiras moose that blockcaver pulled in 12 years would cost you $3800 (150 per point x 12yrs and 2k for the tag) and drawing that tag in 12 years was very lucky.

Being an Idaho resident is your best shot at drawing some great tags.
 
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