Talkeetna Dall Sheep Hunt

[Shepherd]

I returned from my Dall Sheep hunt a few weeks ago and thought I'd share it. I ended up hunting through Knik Glacier Adventures and Braun Kopsack. They are a great outfit in every way and I'd highly reccommend them to anyone. My guide was Tim and he was outstanding.

I flew into Anchorage on August 18th and ended up spending the night at Tims house. The next day we drove to Talkeetna and flew out via float plane in the afternoon. The flight in was spectacular. We landed in a small lake then traversed around 5 miles to our spike camp.



We ended up seeing rams right away once we arrived at spike camp. Over the next 3 days we saw numerous rams each day and one day we saw 14 rams - they seemed to be everywhere but we also put on a lot of miles. The third day I passed up a legal ram that was a bit thin horned and broomed on one side. On the fifth day we had exhausted the drainages near our spike camp so decided to move to another area to set up camp.





We arrived on the night of Day 5 and the next morning we were fogged in until around 2 PM. I felt the downtime was needed as we had a few long exhausting days and I developed a few hot spots on my feet and toes. I took a nap in my warm sleeping bag and read about 50 pages in my paperback.
Then we headed to the top of the mountain and looked for our sheep.

 

[handwerk]

Great so far.....

 

[Shepherd]

Once we reached the top of the mountain we were able to see down quite a few drainages and a big mineral lick. The first few drainages and mineral lick were barren of sheep so we ended up walking to the ther sie of the mountain top and were able to spot 4 sheep feeding together around 700 yards away. Tim eyed them with his spotting scope and determined the first two were dinks, the third was 3/4 curl and the fourth one looked good. It didn't take him long to determine he was a legal ram, which was exciting. Sometimes it takes a couple hours to determine this, especially if you're counting age rings.

We spent around two hours watching them, trying to determine where they were headed, but it was beginning to get a bit late - we had to make a move. We ended up moving to another viewpoint on the ridgetop, closer to the sheep. However, the thermals were blowing down the mountain and we ended up getting winded by the two dinks. They took off in one direction and we lost track of the two larger rams.
We moved a couple other times with no luck in spotting the rams. Finally we spotted three rams and one was the big guy. They were comfortably feeding around 450 yards away, about halfway down the mountain. We were able to close the distance to around 320 yards and it was there I began to prepare for my shot. I had trouble finding a good rest on the rocks but finally used my pack which worked well. We had a hard quartering wind so I did my best to adjust for this. The first shot was a hit. The second was a miss but we noticed he was limping pretty good. We then noticed two rams running away from us but lost track of my ram. We had to move a bit but then we spotted him laying down about 120 yards away. One more shot finished him. I was so excited to get my first ram but we had to hike halfway down the mountain to get him, and it was steep and rocky.
Tim reached him first and I heard him say "He's a hog, a great ram". And he definitely was, especially for this first time sheep hunter.

 

[Shepherd]

Then the work started. By then it was almost 10 and we began the work of skinning, caping, quartering, and then deboning the meat. By the time we finished it was almost 3 AM so we decided to lay down for a few hours under our tarp. By then there were snow flurries in the air but we kept a bit warmer under the shelter. We got up at sunup, had some coffee, then loaded up our packs to climb up the half of the mountain, climb down the other side, and make our way back to camp. We then ate breakfast, took a short nap, packed up camp, and made arrangements to get picked up around 3:30 from the Tiger Cub plane. It was around a 7 mile hike to the strip and we really had to hump it back. The packs were beyond heavy but the terrain wasn't as bad as what we were used to. It was still a struggle but we made it back just in time.

We had to make it back in two flights but arrived back to Talkeetna, had time for a Subway sub, then headed back to Tim's house in Wasilla.
All in all it was a fantastic hunt. It was a huge challenge physically, and on two of the days I felt I was almost at my physical limit. I had some foot issues but was able to tough it our with the help of changing socks often and moleskin. There were times I wondered why I paid so much for this torture but after the hunt it was all definitely worth it. I'm even mulling over where my next sheep hunt will be.

 

[Nick Muche]

Congrats!

I met Braun a few years ago while Brown Bear hunting on the peninsula, he's an animal and an inspiration.

 

[Shepherd]

Yes he is. I didn;t hunt with him but have heard of some of his exploits and spent some time in his house - its full of his trophies.

 

[River Rat]

Congrats!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[adventure907]

Congrats on a great hunt. I love wandering around the Talkeetna's, they are a beautiful place. For some reason I can't see the pics from your second and third post, anybody else with that problem? Anyway, congrats and great job!!

 

[Shepherd]

I think I fixed the photos - not perfect but at least you;ll be able to see them.

Anyone know how to make the photos bigger?

 

[handwerk]

Thanks for the write up and posting,congrats a great ram!

 

[AK Troutbum]

Great looking ram with good mass, congratulations!

 

[adventure907]

I think I fixed the photos - not perfect but at least you;ll be able to see them.

Anyone know how to make the photos bigger?

Pics look great now! Stud of a Ram!!!!!

Congrats!!!

 

[SLDMTN]

Braun is a legend of a mountain runner and guide. Tim is a good guy as well. Congrats on the hunt and a great ram!

 

[AKHUNTER]

That's one one heck of a ram you harvested! Good job and now you know what sheep hunting is like

 

[slvrslngr]

That's a great looking ram, congrats!

 

[ol490]

Great ram. Thanks for the write up.

 

[Stew]

beautiful looking sheep congrats.

 

[Matt W.]

Congrats. My buddy pulled his first ram out of the Talkeetnas this year as well. I like how the Mt ranges up here are similar yet different. Always something new to see!

 

[elkguide]

Congratulations on a fantastic animal. Great photos.
Thanks for taking us along.

 

[Murph1]

Congrats and thank you for the post. Sounds like you definitely had to work for that one. Pain and effort, just the way it should be.