Alaska Range Dall Sheep: My First Sheep Hunt

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Eventually we got to a point where we were able to peek and see the rams. They had left the peaks of the ridge and had gone down in the bowl to feed. All six rams were spotted. I ranged them at 770 yards and the wind was fierce blowing up in our face and over the mountain. The three of us dropped our packs and were only carrying optics, cameras, and my rifle and laser for the final approach. We closed the distance to 650 yards and I was getting really excited because I knew that we were getting in range but I was concerned because the wind was still really awful and I did not think that I could hold steady with the wind so strongly buffeting against me.

 

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Straight down and a long way if you have a misstep!

 

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I spotted a saddle with a rounded break over instead of the normal sharp and jagged edge of one side versus the other side of the mountain. I told Joey I wanted to make it to there and set up for the shot. It looked like a great place to set up and the sun was going to be directly behind us helping to blind the sheep if they tried to look up and spot us. Single file with Joey in the front and me in the middle and Casey in the rear we slowly made it to the location. We were crouched and just edged up forward. We dropped to our stomachs and belly crawled along for 50 yards or so until I passed by Joey and kept moving forward like a snake until the rifle scope had the sheep in the cross hair. We all were in agreement that the largest ram was by himself and to the right. It was challenging for a minute because the rams had rearranged themselves from when we spotted them at 770 yards. A long discussion was made as to which ram the shooter was to be sure that everyone agreed which one he was and all six rams were visible and judged. I wanted to be sure no one including me got excited and focused like a laser beam on the wrong one on accident.

 

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I ranged the ram multiple times and the G7BR2 consistently gave me a reading of 520 yards with a correction of 5.9 minutes of angle. I dialed six minutes on my NightForce SHV scope and held directly on the ram and waited for the ram to present himself. Everything was calm and nothing was rushed. I was concerned about the wind however it was not fierce since we had moved down off the edge of the mountain. I looked for the hair on the sheep but I could not see it moving at 14x magnification. I followed the ram and told Joey that I was ready and was waiting for a broadside shot. I knew that the ballistic coefficient was very high on my bullet and I was counting on it to get there with minimal wind deflection. I was estimating that there was minimal wind down in the protected bowl. I watched the ram in my cross hair for about ten to fifteen minutes locked down in as relaxed a position as I could be on the rocks. Eventually the ram walked away a few feet and turned perfectly broadside and gave me the opportunity that I was looking for. I told Joey that I was going to shoot him in three seconds and Joey whispered back "ok take him"
The trigger broke cleanly and the full case of Retumbo pushed the 150 grain Berger on its way. I was locked down on the ram's shoulder very steady when the sight picture left. I came out of recoil and quickly cycled the bolt and had another round in the chamber quickly however when I found the ram he was already on his back. He had gone directly over and onto his back without taking a step. Joey and Casey were both ecstatic and I heard "Nice shot!" I kept my scope right on him and I could see all four hooves pointed straight up. The rams head was wavering slightly as if he wanted to try and stand however his body and legs were not going anywhere. I waited and waited with my eye in the scope and finger on the trigger to be sure that he was anchored and expired. Both Joey and Casey were standing upright next to me and the rain was coming down steadily in a heavy mist all around. I couldn't believe that it was over so quickly... this is day two of a ten day hunt and my ram that I had been training for so long was laying on his back right in front of me. The five other rams seemed just as confused and they stood around him wondering what had just occurred. They did not want to leave their leader; the one who calls the shots and tells the group it is time to leave.
Casey and Joey were jubilant and I was still in shock. They finally got me to stand up and congratulated me on the long and well placed shot. I picked up the single piece of Winchester brass and smiled and placed it in my pocket happy that it had done its job. It seemed strange to stand up fully in sight of the rams and talk in normal tone. I still felt the urge to hide from them and only whisper but we had accomplished our goal and harvested a great ram. We left the rifle and optics there on the ground where the shot was taken and doubled back to grab our packs and gear that we left a few hundred yards away. When we returned the other five rams were still gathered around the fallen warrior staring at him and they did not begin to leave until we started down the mountain into the bowl to collect our prize. Slowly they moved away and up out of the bowl as we approached the ram. Casey went out ahead of Joey and I because he wanted to take photos of us as we walked up to the ram for the first time. The ram seemed to grow larger as we approached and his horns had great mass and his body was big, really big. Holding the massive horns in my hands for the first time was an awesome experience. Joey remarked first that he was double broomed and an even bigger trophy than what he had guessed it would be. It was beyond all my expectations. We took lots of photos and I encouraged Joey and Casey to take photos with the ram individually if they wanted as they had earned the trophy and the time with the ram just as much as I had. Casey told me that he wanted me to point my finger and hold it up to where the shot was taken from. It was a struggle to hold the large rams horns and head up and reach for our perch but after a few attempts Casey said that it was perfect and he had the shot. While we were taking pictures Casey said 'well I guess we can tell you now that this is my first sheep hunt that I have been in on.' I laughed and said really? He then continued that it was Joeys first guiding attempt at Dall Sheep! I exclaimed "what!? really?!?" I said "us three rookies did alright I guess!" I told them about the guide that I was given when I hunted elk last year in New Mexico. I was the guide's first client for elk but we managed to take the largest elk of the four hunters in that elk camp and on the first morning of the five day hunt at that.

 

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Here are the other 5 rams running over the top of the mountains leaving us in the bowl with the largest ram.

 

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The sun had already set and by the time the last quarter was placed in a game bag we were turning on our headlights. We lashed down all the meat and triple checked the kill zone to ensure we were not leaving anything behind. We marched out of the bowl and down into the drainage as it was getting well into darkness. It was steep, rocky, and wet as we marched along the stream emptying the bowl and we struggled to make progress. We encountered a really big waterfall that dropped 15 feet or more. The walls were vertical on either side and we had trouble getting out of the narrow space and had to double back before we found an exit and a way around the obstacle. We had to climb nearly straight up to get out and then around. We kept up the march until we were a tenth of a mile from where our gear was left previously at the base of the mountain: our tent, food, and extra clothes in dry bags. We had missed the location where we had crossed the stream and gone up the other side. We had now passed the point and were not watching the GPS close enough. We were exhausted and decided to siwash on the side of the mountain with just sleeping bags and the meat, cape and horns. I had my homemade Tyvek bivy sack and put my sleeping bag inside it and we were all asleep in mere minutes. It was about 3 or 4am and lucky for us we did not have rain that night or it was light enough that it did not wake me. We all slept in until about 9 or 10am the next morning. When we got up we could see across the steep draw that we climbed up and out to where the location of our camp was that we could not find in the dark ... we were so close but could not make it up the sheer rock wall on the opposite side. We left the meat, cape and horns under some brush and out of the sun to collect our gear on the opposite side. We ate food and had to make a decision on getting out and back to base camp.

 

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The Decision
Joey had talked with the master guide about options on getting out of here after a sheep was harvested and we were told we had two options. One was to go back up and over the big mountain behind base camp tracing the footsteps the way we hiked in. The second option was much easier and it was to follow the drainage and stream down to where it joins another river at a location called "the Jones". This was about 6 miles further and going away from base camp but there was a place where the Super Cup and or Maul could land and pull us and the gear out. We were all in agreement to take the easy way out and go down river to the Jones and wait for Super Cub extraction. We had used Joey's DeLorme InReach to send text and email messages to camp that we had bagged a ram last night while we were butchering. Then another message went out that we were making our way to the Jones pickup location. The three of us made a run down to the junction of the two rivers and found a suitable camp location and made camp and left all the gear taking the empty packs back up the river about six miles to get the sheep.