Dukats Journal of Hunting

After my first sheep hunt, in the mountains of northern Yukon, I knew sheep hunting was in my blood.  The places sheep live and the amount of effort required to get to those places makes sheep hunting one of the most fulfilling adventures available.  There is nothing to compare to cresting that last summit after several hours of lung bursting hiking and seeing a band of rams sunning on the rocks in the distance.

The problem with sheep hunting is there aren't enough of them.  To draw one of the several thousand sheep hunting tags in the lower 48 of the United States, you have to be extremely lucky or extremely persistent.  Thousands of people apply every year and very few end up with a sheep tags in their mailbox after the draws. 

There are other options.  If you have the money, sheep hunting is available around the world with tags available and mountains just waiting to be climbed.  The cost of these hunts seems to beat the rate of inflation every year by a good margin, but saving your money and going on that once in a lifetime sheep hunt is well worth the wait. 

There are still some more affordable hunts for ibex and mountain goats that more than qualify as a sheep hunting experience and won't leave you riding your bicycle to work.  Chamois and tahr are also well earned trophies that won't break the bank, but the plane ticket adds to the trip cost.

So what is available in the United States that you can get a sheep hunting experience and not incur the flight costs and bank breaking payments required for out of country hunting?  Texas is the answer.  When sheep hunters think of Texas, they think of whitetail deer or miniature high fence ranches with corn fed animals waiting for the next rotation of the feeder.

Fortunately, this is not always the case.  The importation of exotics into Texas allows some of the most varied and best hunting in the lower 48 states.  If you've never been there, it's exciting to see 10-20 different species of game sneaking through the brush on a single hunt.  The terrain across the state varies widely from lush green woodland to dry desert and straight up and down mountains.   The mountains were what I was after in my quest to find a sheep hunt, where I didn't need to draw the tag.