JustOneMoreShot
WKR
I had a terrific first ever Dall Sheep hunt in unit 19C on the Alaska Range and have compiled a bunch of pictures and a long string of text. Sorry it is long winded but if you would just rather skip through and look at the photos feel free as they will go along and tell the story well enough I think.
The Dall Sheep Hunt 2014
I have hunted Alaska twice previously with my best friend for gigantic Yukon moose. The trips were amazing, wild and something that I will cherish forever. However this trip will be my first adventure to the tops of mountains looking for the majestic Dall Sheep. I did not sleep for three nights prior to leaving and it was all that I dreamed it would be...
I booked the hunt with an outfitter with a well known operation hunting in unit 19C in the Alaska Mountain Range. The location is approximately an hour East SouthEast from McGrath by plane landing in a wide pass between massive mountains along the Dillenger River. When the weather is clear and you are up in the mountains you can see Mount McKinley in the Denali Park.
I left from Atlanta, GA on 7August2014 with a 48 pound duffle bag, 48 pound hard rifle case and a medium sized backpack. Getting through security and on the plane was straightforward and easy enough although I did get long looks and multiple inquiries from travelers wondering if I was some sort of Special Forces due to my matching and technical camo attire. Apparently Core4Element gear in Mountain Mimicry confuses humans as well as animals.
I made a serious packing error when I realized my charging cable for my iPhone was in my checked luggage and the fully charged portable battery unit did me no good. The phone died when I hit the ground in Seattle but lucky for me there were lots of travelers going to Beijing and one was kind enough to let me borrow a charging cable for 10 minutes. The second flight got me to Anchorage, AK and we touched down at 11:20pm local time. I tried calling around for a cheap hotel but they were all booked and none were cheap. No luck; That's fine I just slept on the floor and by 2am I realize that there are quite a few other crazy hunters also wandering around looking for a comfortable spot out of the way to catch some Zzzzzs. The hard floor was tolerable however the annoying intercom system that runs all night announcing the current time every thirty minutes was almost too much to bear. I caught myself speaking along with the announcement each time it would go off all night long. Sunset was around 11:00pm and the sun was up about 6:00am 'which will give me lots of daylight to hunt' I thought to myself!
Next morning I caught a cab to IHOP which opened at 6am and I was the first one to knock on the locked door. After a good breakfast I hiked the little way in to Cabelas to buy my tags. Next time it would be easier to get the tags online in advance but this gave me something to do while I was waiting for my next flight to leave Anchorage. The Cabelas store I think is new in Anchorage and has only been open a few months. I bought tags for Dall Sheep, Caribou, and Wolf. It turns out that the unit I was hunting did not require a wolf tag in order to shoot a wolf but I was unaware and was ok with the additional $30.00 donation to Alaska Wildlife.
The Penn Air flight was interesting as it operates literally out of the basement of Anchorage International Airport. There is no security or screening at all. Just check your bags and then walk out either "gate" A or B. Both doors open onto the tarmac with a Saab twin turbo prop airplane waiting for you with the ladder extended. Hop aboard with all the other guys in camo, grab the free foam ear plugs from the flight attendant and find a seat. The plane got us all safely to McGrath airport, bar and grill, and laundromat. Scratch that they do not have a laundromat in McGrath. All kidding aside the facilities in McGrath are spartan and I was told that the entire town went bankrupt at one point and is making a really good comeback. You deboard the plane and wait on the opposite side of the ten foot high fence for your luggage to be delivered to you. It comes via a homemade wooden crate carried by a big fork lift. All the hunters help themselves wildly to the collection of large duffle bags and hard sided rifle cases. It is as if you and everyone else can't get your hands on the gear fast enough to make sure that it has made it all the way out here to nowhere.
My next pilot is a really nice guy named Barney. He is young and looks moderately fit with medium length straight brown hair and a tatoo on his forarm. He wears a ball cap and is missing a tooth when he smiles but agrees to take me and an ER doctor named Stephan from Virginia to camp first! That is great news we get to leave right now and split the cost of the charter flight! There are a total of 5 hunters that he is taking out to various hunting camps. Barney advises all the hunters to leave the hard and bulky rifle cases with him in his storage area and just put your rifle in soft cases if you have them to make more room in the plane. This will facilitate getting in and out with sufficient space if there is more gear that he needs to carry now or when he is getting you and animals out later. He has a Cessna and taxis the thing across the runway like a go kart with no care of the lines drawn on the tarmac. We had a very stiff headwind the entire flight to base camp and several times the pilot laughed that he couldn't remember ever flying so slow. He pointed out the Iditarod Trail as we flew over it. We saw black bears and moose while flying in to camp. The landing into camp was pretty hard with several stiff jolts and the pilot laughed when we got on the ground "wow we made it... are you ok?"
The Dall Sheep Hunt 2014
I have hunted Alaska twice previously with my best friend for gigantic Yukon moose. The trips were amazing, wild and something that I will cherish forever. However this trip will be my first adventure to the tops of mountains looking for the majestic Dall Sheep. I did not sleep for three nights prior to leaving and it was all that I dreamed it would be...
I booked the hunt with an outfitter with a well known operation hunting in unit 19C in the Alaska Mountain Range. The location is approximately an hour East SouthEast from McGrath by plane landing in a wide pass between massive mountains along the Dillenger River. When the weather is clear and you are up in the mountains you can see Mount McKinley in the Denali Park.
I left from Atlanta, GA on 7August2014 with a 48 pound duffle bag, 48 pound hard rifle case and a medium sized backpack. Getting through security and on the plane was straightforward and easy enough although I did get long looks and multiple inquiries from travelers wondering if I was some sort of Special Forces due to my matching and technical camo attire. Apparently Core4Element gear in Mountain Mimicry confuses humans as well as animals.
I made a serious packing error when I realized my charging cable for my iPhone was in my checked luggage and the fully charged portable battery unit did me no good. The phone died when I hit the ground in Seattle but lucky for me there were lots of travelers going to Beijing and one was kind enough to let me borrow a charging cable for 10 minutes. The second flight got me to Anchorage, AK and we touched down at 11:20pm local time. I tried calling around for a cheap hotel but they were all booked and none were cheap. No luck; That's fine I just slept on the floor and by 2am I realize that there are quite a few other crazy hunters also wandering around looking for a comfortable spot out of the way to catch some Zzzzzs. The hard floor was tolerable however the annoying intercom system that runs all night announcing the current time every thirty minutes was almost too much to bear. I caught myself speaking along with the announcement each time it would go off all night long. Sunset was around 11:00pm and the sun was up about 6:00am 'which will give me lots of daylight to hunt' I thought to myself!
Next morning I caught a cab to IHOP which opened at 6am and I was the first one to knock on the locked door. After a good breakfast I hiked the little way in to Cabelas to buy my tags. Next time it would be easier to get the tags online in advance but this gave me something to do while I was waiting for my next flight to leave Anchorage. The Cabelas store I think is new in Anchorage and has only been open a few months. I bought tags for Dall Sheep, Caribou, and Wolf. It turns out that the unit I was hunting did not require a wolf tag in order to shoot a wolf but I was unaware and was ok with the additional $30.00 donation to Alaska Wildlife.
The Penn Air flight was interesting as it operates literally out of the basement of Anchorage International Airport. There is no security or screening at all. Just check your bags and then walk out either "gate" A or B. Both doors open onto the tarmac with a Saab twin turbo prop airplane waiting for you with the ladder extended. Hop aboard with all the other guys in camo, grab the free foam ear plugs from the flight attendant and find a seat. The plane got us all safely to McGrath airport, bar and grill, and laundromat. Scratch that they do not have a laundromat in McGrath. All kidding aside the facilities in McGrath are spartan and I was told that the entire town went bankrupt at one point and is making a really good comeback. You deboard the plane and wait on the opposite side of the ten foot high fence for your luggage to be delivered to you. It comes via a homemade wooden crate carried by a big fork lift. All the hunters help themselves wildly to the collection of large duffle bags and hard sided rifle cases. It is as if you and everyone else can't get your hands on the gear fast enough to make sure that it has made it all the way out here to nowhere.
My next pilot is a really nice guy named Barney. He is young and looks moderately fit with medium length straight brown hair and a tatoo on his forarm. He wears a ball cap and is missing a tooth when he smiles but agrees to take me and an ER doctor named Stephan from Virginia to camp first! That is great news we get to leave right now and split the cost of the charter flight! There are a total of 5 hunters that he is taking out to various hunting camps. Barney advises all the hunters to leave the hard and bulky rifle cases with him in his storage area and just put your rifle in soft cases if you have them to make more room in the plane. This will facilitate getting in and out with sufficient space if there is more gear that he needs to carry now or when he is getting you and animals out later. He has a Cessna and taxis the thing across the runway like a go kart with no care of the lines drawn on the tarmac. We had a very stiff headwind the entire flight to base camp and several times the pilot laughed that he couldn't remember ever flying so slow. He pointed out the Iditarod Trail as we flew over it. We saw black bears and moose while flying in to camp. The landing into camp was pretty hard with several stiff jolts and the pilot laughed when we got on the ground "wow we made it... are you ok?"