todd h
FNG
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2014
- Messages
- 84
I am finally getting around to posting a story of my Dall sheep from Alaska. My brother moved to Alaska 4 years ago, since then we have gone on a few awesome hunts, back packing into the brooks for sheep, with me harvesting a sheep. My brother ,my nephew and myself going to the peninsula and all harvesting brown bear. So this year I was going to back pack into the brooks to get my brother his first sheep. Putting in for the draw I applied for goat,bear ,caribou and musk ox. The day before the draw I talked to my brother and he told me the sheep unit he was putting in for, so I thought I would put in also. Draw day arrives and I draw the sheep tag.only 4 available. We decide he will hunt the brooks first and we will fly into my sheep unit on August 22.
August 10 arrives and he harvests a 38 " 9 year old ram on the opener, his 50 th birthday, what a present. I contact the transporter and he can fly us in 2 days earlier.
We arrive in Tok on the 19th checked in to fly out at 6 the following morning. Awoke to frost and sunshine, we flew into an airstrip and waited to be shuttled in by super cub. Arrived a our drop point to about 50 caribou on the landing strip. We had caribou tags in our pockets, but sheep our first, we fill our water bottles and head up the mountain to look for sheep. We had to bush whack for a couple of miles and then it turned to boulders ,above the brush. We were constantly running into groups of caribou,but had yet to spot any sheep. I failed to drink enough water heading up as we reached the saddle I was starting to cramp up. We decided to camp there for the evening as it was about 9 pm. We had yet to see any sheep, while I was making my mountain house my brother hiked up to a little knob to check the next valley, when he returned he had spotted a group of 9 sheep he thought were all Rams so we grabbed the spotters and headed back up. All 9 were Rams with 4 or 5 being legal with a quick glance. I was cramping up pretty good so headed for the tent to get some some needed rest.
Awoke the following morning to clear skies following a quick breakfast we headed to the top to check on the sheep. Still on the same mountain side about a 1 1/2 miles away. Not in a good spot to approach at all. So we moved camp a little closer. We spent the day watching the sheep through the spotters and resting our bodies. We figured ther were 5 legal Rams in the group. Just had to wait for them to move into a location we could put a stalk on them. All day long they stayed high on the mountain.
I decided I would get up at first light and see if they had moved at all. When I checked they had moved down to the valley to get some water and green grass, I went back to the tent and told my brother they had moved to a spot we could put a move on them. We headed out to try and circle down wind and out of sight, it was slow going through the boulders and checking where they were moving to. Got to a spot and looked over a could see a couple of the sheep tried to range them and rangefinder battery was dead ( couldn't believe I didn't check that) warmed battery in armpit and was able to get reading 600 yards,we have to get closer, drop back over ridge and move closer, next time we look over we cannot see sheep, there were rolling ridges we couldn't see, so we stert sneaking over these ridges , we see one sheep about 300 yards away, I say let's sneak up another little ridge, bad idea I get about halfway to the next ridge when I run into one of the small Rams 30 yards,we drop to our backs and he stands looking and smelling at us, for about a minute. Then turns and starts to trot away we hop up and have to get to next hill top,he is going to alert the whole group, get to top of hill and can see 3 sheep standing broadside the rest are not in sight, trying to determine if those are legal, then the rest of the sheep come trotting from below the hill, heading straight away, I am laying on back pack trying to pick out the largest ram, spot him as the leader of that group, get him in the scope ,pull trigger, click, forget to chamber a round. Try find him back shoot twice missing both times, he stops broadside my brother ranges 492 I adjust my hold and fire, down he goes. It is then when you second guess yourself, was he legal, was he the largest of the group. We walk up to him and we knew we had the right ram. 11 years old and 41 on the long side 36 on the broomed side, part fannin markings on his back legs
Will post rest of adventure shortly
August 10 arrives and he harvests a 38 " 9 year old ram on the opener, his 50 th birthday, what a present. I contact the transporter and he can fly us in 2 days earlier.
We arrive in Tok on the 19th checked in to fly out at 6 the following morning. Awoke to frost and sunshine, we flew into an airstrip and waited to be shuttled in by super cub. Arrived a our drop point to about 50 caribou on the landing strip. We had caribou tags in our pockets, but sheep our first, we fill our water bottles and head up the mountain to look for sheep. We had to bush whack for a couple of miles and then it turned to boulders ,above the brush. We were constantly running into groups of caribou,but had yet to spot any sheep. I failed to drink enough water heading up as we reached the saddle I was starting to cramp up. We decided to camp there for the evening as it was about 9 pm. We had yet to see any sheep, while I was making my mountain house my brother hiked up to a little knob to check the next valley, when he returned he had spotted a group of 9 sheep he thought were all Rams so we grabbed the spotters and headed back up. All 9 were Rams with 4 or 5 being legal with a quick glance. I was cramping up pretty good so headed for the tent to get some some needed rest.
Awoke the following morning to clear skies following a quick breakfast we headed to the top to check on the sheep. Still on the same mountain side about a 1 1/2 miles away. Not in a good spot to approach at all. So we moved camp a little closer. We spent the day watching the sheep through the spotters and resting our bodies. We figured ther were 5 legal Rams in the group. Just had to wait for them to move into a location we could put a stalk on them. All day long they stayed high on the mountain.
I decided I would get up at first light and see if they had moved at all. When I checked they had moved down to the valley to get some water and green grass, I went back to the tent and told my brother they had moved to a spot we could put a move on them. We headed out to try and circle down wind and out of sight, it was slow going through the boulders and checking where they were moving to. Got to a spot and looked over a could see a couple of the sheep tried to range them and rangefinder battery was dead ( couldn't believe I didn't check that) warmed battery in armpit and was able to get reading 600 yards,we have to get closer, drop back over ridge and move closer, next time we look over we cannot see sheep, there were rolling ridges we couldn't see, so we stert sneaking over these ridges , we see one sheep about 300 yards away, I say let's sneak up another little ridge, bad idea I get about halfway to the next ridge when I run into one of the small Rams 30 yards,we drop to our backs and he stands looking and smelling at us, for about a minute. Then turns and starts to trot away we hop up and have to get to next hill top,he is going to alert the whole group, get to top of hill and can see 3 sheep standing broadside the rest are not in sight, trying to determine if those are legal, then the rest of the sheep come trotting from below the hill, heading straight away, I am laying on back pack trying to pick out the largest ram, spot him as the leader of that group, get him in the scope ,pull trigger, click, forget to chamber a round. Try find him back shoot twice missing both times, he stops broadside my brother ranges 492 I adjust my hold and fire, down he goes. It is then when you second guess yourself, was he legal, was he the largest of the group. We walk up to him and we knew we had the right ram. 11 years old and 41 on the long side 36 on the broomed side, part fannin markings on his back legs
Will post rest of adventure shortly
