This year's high-value permits for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep were: British Columbia ($130,000), Oregon ($120,000), Taos Pueblo ($120,000) and Montana ($115,000). The permit for Rocky Mountain bighorns at the Taos Pueblo was a new offering in 2006. Prices paid for the British Columbia, Oregon and Montana permits declined from prices paid in 2005. State permits for Rocky Mountain bighorns in Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Washington and Wyoming ranged from $50,000 to $60,000.
This year's high-value permits were for desert bighorns. Of the dozen or so desert permits offered (several permits allowed hunters to choose whether to hunt a desert bighorn or a Rocky Mountain bighorn), permits for New Mexico ($185,000), Arizona ($165,000) and Nevada ($110,000) all sold well. Nevada's permit sold for a whopping $61,500 more than in 2005. Permits for desert sheep hunts in Mexico (two for the Baja Peninsula, two for Tiburon Island, and one for Carmen Island) brought $60,000-$67,500.
Special permits for other species generally brought within a few thousand dollars of last year's prices. Although the British Columbia elk permit that sold for $41,000 in 2005 brought only $25,000 this year, Colorado's elk, mountain goat and moose permits and Washington's elk permit increased slightly, while prices paid for California elk and Montana moose declined.
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