The story as told by Stalk and Spook friend Mike:
Dall Sheep Hunting in Alaska
Day 1 the 8th- drove up to the flight service for a quick flight over the area to make sure the sheep we had scouted in July are still tied to rocks for us. Flight is very promising and the three of us drive down and start the bushwhack about noon. Walk in just a little ways since we get a late start and we are in no hurry to get there and spook rams before we can harvest them.
Day 2: Walked in until just before the basin we saw the first rams in on the flight. Made camp and took it easy for the evening.
Day 3 the opener: Hiked camp back about another 1.5 miles (a total of about 16-17 miles) to a perfect little spot and set up the tent shoved our gear in and took off to look for sheep. Lucky us we spot some rams only about 1/4-1/2 mile from camp, unlucky us they saw us first , but they are small any way. Only a 1/2 mile more and we spot sheep again. This time there is an obvious legal ram in the bunch along with another ram that is close. We try to make a stock on them but find ourselves in a basin with sheep on both sides and we are pinned down in the middle with 20+ sets of eyes on us. After a couple of hours of tring to wait them out we decide to try an make a stock by going up the mountain behind another ridge. We make it to within 69 yards of the rams but the only one we can clearly see is the ram that is really close to full but none of the three of us are confident he is legal. While waiting for the legal ram to stand up so we can see him they wind us and are gone in a flash. A little disheartened we move head back to camp a pretty easy day 3mi.
Day 4: We don't spot rams in the first basins we did the day before so we continue on to the next. We climb the mountain a ways and spot 2 legal rams on the steep nasty stuff that is completely inaccessible. We watch them until they go over the other side if the cliff and talk about trying to get to them maybe tomorrow depending on the rest of the day. We climb the rest of the peak to about 6K and spot sheep about a mile and half out. There is another legal ram in this bunch. Watching them for awhile we seethe legal ram go over the hill and shortly after we hear BOOM. **** good for them bad for us. We turn and start the trek back to camp when my wife says SHEEP! 2 rams, one legal the other one really close again. My wife and I make a long stock while my buddy waits at the top to see if he can get a view of where they went after we lost sight of them. We spot them again! Time to sneak in closer, BOOM and she drops him! Unfortunately, he starts rolling down the grassy hill forever, ****. The three of us head down to the sheep only for me to realize I just left the spotting scope sitting on a rock in the middle of a talus field half way up the hill, dumbass. While my wife and friend keep heading to the sheep I go back crossing my fingers that I can find a needle in a talus field. As dumb luck would have it I walk right to it. My wife's sheep is nicer then we thought in the beginning. We know it was obviously full curl but what a sheep! We left the meat on the bone knowing we were going for another sheep. The pack back to camp was 2.5 mi of side hilling then .5 of climbing into the pass and back down to camp. Another big day about 7 mi.
Day 5: Caping, relaxing, and enjoying the sun on on a sheep hunt?
Day 6: Two more awesome stalks. We spot sheep in a spot that is too exposed for us to get there and
the shot is just too much for any of the three of us to attempt. We sat on them hoping for them to move closer but then they spooked? Turns out we think they spooked because another herd of rams came in right above them and they jumped up because of the noise above them. Holy rams! The other herd did not have anything legal and it. We take off to the next basin and find a pile of sheep all on the basin. Three big rams are in the bottom moving around, one of them is REALLY big, very heavy and long. They all drop into the head end and my buddy and I try to ghetto the head end to see if we can peak over and get a shot. Turns out they pulled a sheep move and disappeared into thin air. We already had a great day with two close stocks but decide to continue and head to another spot to check out where we had seen rams the 4th day. No rams here and head back. Another good day 7mi.
Day 7: My wife stays back to tend to her meat and cape while my buddy and I take off to find more sheep. An hour into the day we spook a possibly legal ram 50 yards from us. You can only imagine the look on all of our faces. He was in the next hunting district in about 60 seconds…haha! See 2 more rams on that side but can't find them when we get there. Climb a couple of peaks and saddles and sit down at 6500 ft on top to glass. Find ourselves amongst them again. We decide to go to the other side of the basin via going down the saddle and up the other side possibly coming down on them. We decide we can make it down one of the ridges to get above the sheep but it is steep. We close in and manage to take a beautiful ram at only 100 yards. Now for the bad part…we decide it is to steep to climb back to the top and it is late so we would be on the steep nasty stuff with head lamps if we go up. So, we risk it and think we can find a way down. Turns out we can climb down but no way in hell can we climb down with heavy packs. I have some cord in my pack and we start to lower the packs down the small cliff bands. Then sh!?! goes south. Cord frays and my pack tumbles down the mountain with 70+ lbs of sheep meat in it. Can you imagine a Kuiu carbon fiber frame tumbling down a mountain? Well, thank goodness the meat stayed in the game bag and made it to the bottom ok but the pack looked like a 10 ft brownie ate it for lunch and shat it out. We made it to the bottom and pack up my buddies pack with all our gear meat, cape and hide, and started toward camp. Back to camp about midnight. **** what a day.
Day 7: pack sleeping bags and tent in case we can't make it all the way out and all the boned meat. Walk 17 miles out with my wife's pack on me with a boned out sheep (a pack that does not fit, that sucked), took almost 14 straight hours with very short breaks. Get to the car drive back to town, put the meat in the freezer. Sleep.
Day 8: grab my other pack head back to the trail head, sleep.
Day 9: Sh!?, legs are tired but we go back in 17mi in about 11 hours this time cuz the packs are light. Set up the tent, I turn my sheep and salt him down with the salt I brought back in with me. Then I go to grab the horns. What the F? There is only one set sitting where we had left them! After 30-45 min my buddy finds the lower jawbone because I had not cut of the horns yet. We search around the jawbones and finally come up with the skull and horns a good 400 yards away! Very lucky find! We figure it was a wolverine because of the chew marks. ****, Another crazy long day.
Day 10: walk out 17 miles. Legs are screaming, knees are swollen, and man does a cold beer taste good.
So actually if you add up all the miles it was more like 90 miles in SHEEP country. Good thing I was with an ex-cross country runner and a division 1 All-American track athlete to keep me going. We won't be forgetting this hunt......EVER
My wife's first ram. 13 X 38
No good pictures of mine but here is my first ram. 13 7/8 X 39
One hell of a walk-in hunt. All total about 90 miles give or take in 10 days. I have to thank my wife and my good friend for toughing out the most grueling adventure yet. Through the highs and the lows. Saw lots of rams and spend some good quality time away from the hustle and bustle of real life with great people.
"On most days spent in the woods, I come home with an honestly earned feeling that something good has taken place. It makes no difference whether or not I got anything: it has to do with how the day was spent."
- Fred Bear
