Leaning canada but not ruling out AK. Also, considering saving an extra year and chasing stone.
I researched last year (2016) for several months before booking my hunt for 2018. I talked to several outfitters in Alaska as well as Canada.
I booked in Canada for a couple of reasons:
1. There was an opening for a hunt with sheep, caribou & moose on a single hunt, whereas in Alaska it was only Sheep & Grizz. Moose would be a separate trip. While Canada may be a little more expensive, I view the opportunity to knock multiple species off my list in a single trip as a value. I know grizz are highly prized, I just personally don't have a desire to kill a bear. I like headgear.
2. It seems there is less pressure due to the nature of the concessions that the outfitters have in Canada....they have exclusive rights to certain pieces of land so they are able to pass on 9 & 10 yr old rams because they know no one else is going to kill them. The outfitter I am going with has over 6000 square miles in their concession and have had this same piece since the 80s I believe. In Alaska you are hunting often the same public spaces as anyone else who has the means to get there so quality animals are harder to find.
I am not trying to disrespect or ding Alaska in any way. Every outfitter I talked to in Alaska made me feel like they would show me the hunt of a lifetime, and I believe it. Canada just lined up better with my personal goals and also had an opening on the exact hunt I was looking for.
3. I am taking my wife and it was important to me to have a base camp where if we tagged out early, there was stuff to do unsupervised (fish, hike, etc.), and we were welcome to relax and maximize the opportunity to be away vs. being bored/lingering or being rushed out. Many outfitters I talked to basically said if you tag out early, you typically go home, or that we would be bored. When I asked about staying for the rest of the days they were all agreeable to that, but I could tell for many, it's not what they wanted or are set up for. Others were like yeah we can take you to fish or do this or that but we will have to fly you to those places and it will be $5K more, etc...
If you google "alaska dall sheep hunting" and "canada dall sheep hunting", I called all of those. You should also think about Horseback vs. Backpack
If you have not joined Wildsheepfoundation, I would do that. You will get a couple issues of "Wild Sheep" per year. Great magazine and you will see the ads for the more established outfitters there.
As for price, I would say 25K is not all inclusive. By the time you add up all the flights, charter flight, licenses, gratiuties, I'd say it's more like 30K+ right now for a Canadian dall sheep by the time you get home. Recommend you also compare how many days of hunting you are getting as well as the other details I mention above in #3. Pretty sure every outfitter I talked to had a slightly different situation, so it is really hard to make fair comparisons in my opinion.
