Genesis:


Before I get into the meat and potatoes of the hunt I want to give a bit of backround. I first traveled to Alaska in July 2005. For me it was love at first sight! Before I left I knew I was coming back........for good! So in March 2009 after finishing school I loaded up my Tundra and moved to Anchorage. Since moving here I've done a bit of hunting and had a fair bit of success. I shot my first black bear in spring of 2009 and my first moose last fall. So far Alaska has treated me well. Up to this year I've been restricted to weekend and long weekend hunts. As a self employed business owner it's just hard to get away.....especially when you're in your first year or two of business! So this year was going to be different. This year I would take a "big Alaskan hunt".



The Plan:


After thinking about it for a few months I decided I wanted to do a fly in Brooks Range sheep hunt. I started to do research while speaking to potential hunting partners. One of our forum members and a good friend Jim (Frostbit) was interested, but due to limited time off was unable to go. Last November I mentioned this to my friend, experienced sheep hunter, and fellow AR member Chuck (Aksheephunter). He said that he had plans to hunt the Brooks himself, but didn't have a partner either. Next thing you know we're going together! Chuck had the area, so I told him that he had the first shot and I'd take the second ram. Being the gentleman and good friend that he is Chuck would hear nothing of it and insisted that I take the first ram as it was my first sheep hunt. What could I say but ok!



Gearing Up:


Last year I had contacted Mark Bansner of Bansner Rifles and asked him to make me a light weight sheep rifle in 7mm wsm. So when I received the rifle late December 2010 the hunt prep was on! The rifle was fabulous, but unfortunately it was finicky and it took me almost 6 months of off and on reloading (interupted by spring bear, grayling, kings, reds, halibut, camping, hiking......ok I really did try 3 different bullets and a variety of powders!) to get it to shoot. Finally I settled on a 160 grain AccuBond screaming at 3158pfs.



I was also lucky because over the past several years living in Anchorage I had worked with and for Bob Hodson owner of world renoun sheep hunting gear Mecca Barney's Sports Chalet and over the years had aquired most of the gear sold within and therefore had almost everything I needed......or so I thought.......

Towards the end of July the gear fine tuning really began in earnest. I put together my gear for the hunt and met with Chuck and the other
two hunters that would be accompanying us. We went over gear and I was feeling a bit bloated on my pack's spike camp weight. I was sitting at 57-58lbs. and I really wanted to get it down at least 5lbs. if not more. Chuck and Chad (a former assistant sheep guide) went through my gear piece by piece and made recommendations for places where I could cut my weight. They recommended my tent, cooking kit, sleeping bag, outer insulated gear, and rain wear...........ouch! So with a week and a half to go I began the frantic search!!!!

While working at Barney's I had seen those frantic, hollow, and lost soles whose eyes where glazed over with walets ever thinning in the last minute quest to have the "right stuff" for the hunt of a lifetime! I was now one of them! Frantic drives between patient visits and lunch breaks and calls to fellow oviphiles had me pretty well dialling in my gear. Unfortunately the financial toal was high. A new 900 fill down bag here, ultra light rain suit there, a .00001oz one man 3 season tent here, and a light weight insulated jacket there........not to mention an all new cooking kit. The good news? I was down to 52lbs pack weight including all my optics, my rifle, and 6 days of food!!!



Sheep Shape:


I'm not talking about perfecting the morphology of an ancient saggy bellied Dall's ram.



I'm talking about becoming the finely physically honed predator necesary to not only pursue and kill a werry ram in his haunts, but to more importantly carry his remains as well as your gear out of the field safely without suffering cardiac arrest!!!

I was at a friend's house in mid December when he mentioned he had a body fat calculating scale. I decided to try it out and was decidedly unimpressed...... 25% body fat at 203lbs..........you have to be kidding me. When I threw hammer at Ohio State at 218lbs. I was only 18% body fat. It lit a fire under my butt and I went to my local gym to get a water immersion body fat test. Luckily I was only 18.69%, but the fire was still lit. I was going to drop fat and be in the best shape I could be in for the hunt. I swam laps somewhat regularly, but mostly concentrated on lifting weights and trimming up my diet at first. I cut out rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, sugar, and alcohol (well for the most part). I also beefed up my fruits, vegies, and fats. By mid April I was down to 193lbs. at 14.5% body fat. About this time I started hunting and hiking ocassionally. As May and June progressed I hiked more frequently with more weight and backed off the weight lifting to drop upper body muscle mass. By July I was hiking in the mountians around Anchorage training with a 55lbs. pack. The week before the hunt I weighed in at 183lbs at 13.5% body fat. I had achieved my goal and it felt good! Chuck's probably going to kill me, but here's sheep shape at 28 and 45 respectively :





And So It Begins:


The plan was to leave after work Friday the 5th of August. I packed up all my gear and had it sitting in my truck ready to go so I could pick up Chuck as soon as I left work. Of course I saw 3 patients in the morning and 13 in the afternoon......go figure! After a monumental effort I was off on time to Wasilla to pick Chuck up! We loaded up Chuck's gear, said our goodbyes, and headed up the Parks. The next day we met up with Chad and Bryan who would be accompanying us into the field and sharing base camp. They flew out first thing that morning and we followed shortly after. The flight in was really something. The Brooks were spectacular! Upon arrival we set up base camp and began glassing around for sheep.

The next day August 7th Chuck and I readied our gear, said goodbye to Chad and Bryan, and started our treck towards spike camp.

Ready to go!


Chuck chomping at the bit.


A shed. One of two we found in that drainage.


Taking a break from the hike.


Towards the top of the drainage we spotted a shape running across the mountains above. Sure enough it was a wolverine! We watched as it moved across the mountain and a golden eagle started to dive bomb it. What a good start. After gaining 3000ft of elevation and moving several miles from base camp we decided to call it a day and set up camp. We spent the evening talking strategy, eating, and glassing lambs, ewes, and young rams over the ridge from us.

The next day we moved past the sheep and into another drainage.

Chuck degotiating terrain.


We made it to the top of a saddle and I peeked over to glass the valley bellow. Sure enough there were three rams.



Two of them were legal. One was a young just barely a full curl ram. The other was an old saggy bellied brute of a ram. His body was easily 10-15% bigger than any other ram I saw on the whole trip! We aged him through my spotter at 10-12 years old. He had massive horns that held their mass and ended in two broomed tips!!! Reality was it was my first sheep hunt and I'd be happy with any legal ram, but this was the exact type of ram I had envisioned and wanted! Now only 1.5 days to wait until the opener.





We soon spotted another group of 6 rams not far away, so we decided to set up spike camp and stay.



Over the next 1.5 days we sat on the rams and identified several legal rams. 3 were definitely shooters and 2 young full curl rams. Unfortunately the ram I had my eye on kept disappearing. Luckily the weather held and we enjoyed the down time.

Brief snow squal.


Glassing rams.


Sunset on the 8th.


Morning of the 9th.


Passing time in my new .000001oz ultra light tent.


Water run.




Chaos In The Mist:


On mid afternoon of the 9th we watched my large sagy bellied ram as well as two other legal rams we named splinter horn and broke tip. The plan was for us to move down the mountain together and split up with me sitting on the old gent and Chuck picking up splinter horn at 12:01am on the 10th. After a leasurely afternoon prepping gear and glassing sheep we readied ourselves for what was to come. About that time my old gent gave us the slip.....yet again. You have to be kidding me.........

9:30pm we're side hilling to start our move on splinter horn and broke tip who are acompanied by 4 other rams. We had reason to believe my old gent is in the same area, but out of sight. 10pm we are decending on the rams using the rolling terrain and transient cloud cover to mask our decent. 11:45pm we are within 400 yards of the 6 bedded rams including two known legal rams. My old gent is still giving us the slip at this point, but he has to be somewhere........maybe?...........and the fog comes................. 12:30am I've identified Chuck's splinter horn is the farthest left of the group of 6. More fog............1am the second from the left and third from the left are sub legal banana horns. More fog........1:30am the fourth from the left is a sub legal 3/4 and the farthest on the right is broke tip! But what about the fifth from the left? He's facing straight away with a wide flair like my old gent. All I need him to do is turn his head to the side........more fog.............2am I range Chuck's ram splinter horn at 340 and mine broke tip at 360, but the fifth ram from the right is still facing straight away and he just isn't turning his head! 2:15am the fog lifts I see that the fifth from the left is sub legal and not my old gent. Unfortunately though Chuck's ram is now facing the other direction and we need to revarify that he is still the same ram. More fog...... 2:45am the fog lifts enough for me to revarify the first on the left is in fact splinter horn and I rerange our rams at 340 and 360 respectively. More fog..............2:45am we're laying prone on our rests with our scopes trained on where our rams should be through the fog, but still more fog..........2:50am........2:55am........3am..........BANG!!!!!! Somewhere bellow us there's a shot! Oh my god! We get up and run towards the sheep throught the mist looking for the other legal ram assuming rightly that one is now dead. We see through the mist a ram lying on its side and the other 5 milling around waiting on their comrad. I train the spotting scope on them and identify the other legal rams horns silloetted on a nearby ridge. By the time I get a rest and train my rifle on him he has move over the other side of the ridge line with only his throat and head showing as he glairs at me. It's too foggy to use my range finder, so I make due and let I felt a well centered shot loose. Unfortunately it just catches the crest of the ridge bellow the ram's exposed throat. They're gone................ I absolutely felt like I was kicked in the gut and I can tell Chuck is fuming. We go the the downed ram, congratulate the hunter, and try to regroup. I'd like to say at this point that this was in fact an accident. We were there first, but it's public land, the fog was thick, and our camp was not visible from bellow. The fact is the hunter did not know we were there and they beat us to the punch so the speak. The hunter shot the ram I was going to shoot broke tip. He had a 37.5" full curl on the right and a broomed left horn with 13.25" bases. A nice ram indeed.



Vindication & Requiem:


It was now 3:30-4am and the fog began to lift......go figure! I was frustrated, exhausted, cold, and tired. I ate a bit and began to set up a quick camp, so I could warm up and take a nap. Half way through setting up camp Chuck says pointing above us, "Hey there's rams up there! Give me the spotter!" Sure enough two of them are legal. One is a young tight full curl and the other is a heavier bigger bodied full curl on right and broomed on left ram. We decide to move bellow them in plain sight across the grass flats to gain cover, so we can gain elevation out of their sight and then side hill across to get a shot on them. Unfortunately they kept threatening to go up and over the saddle above them. We dropped our packs and stayed in plain sight. As long as wee didn't move they were content to stay. They did NOT want to break visual contact with us. Chuck suggested I drop my pack, take my rifle, go back the way I came to get out of sight, gain elevation, and then side hill across for the shot. I grabbed my rifle and moved as fast as I could. After getting out of sight I quickly started the 1200ft ascent to the rams. It was steep and I was quite frankly tired from having stayed up all night in the cold mist. I pushed myself up the mountain not knowing if the sheep were even still there. Once I had gained enough elevation I started sidehilling around the mountain to get a shot. I finally was able to visualize the sheep and had to keep out of sight as I movee to a large rock ahead of me I decided I'd use for a rest. It was apparhent the sheep had either heard or smelled me as they were adgitated at this point. Upon reaching the large flat rock I tore off my sweater for a rest and began glassind furiously for the two legal rams. Low and behold the larger legal ram was in the back of the flock by himself looking around. I quickly ranged him at 300 and sent a 160 AccuBond through his ribs. Unfortunately I couldn't see him react to the hit and blood was not apparhent. He labored up into the saddle above him while I cycled the bolt. At this location I couldn't use my rest, so I was forced to take a 300+ off hand shot....which I missed. Luckily he started to sidehill back across to the left and I was able to use my rest again. He stopped and I ranged him at 340. I held high and send another bullet through his ribs. He wavored and went down in a few yards.

Honestly my first thought wasn't of joy, excitement, or accomplishment, but of relief. Thank God it's over! After the day's turn in events it was a welcomed close. I started to hike towards the ram, but realize 340 wasn't a straight 340 and he would be there after I retrieved my pack from bellow. I met Chuck, chugged water, and rested for a bit. I was able to reach the ram before Chuck and had a few momments to myself with the ram. I was immediately in awe of the rams size! The bulk of its body and horns were not apparhent from a distance. You just don't get it until you're standing over them. They are big and impressive animals!!! I spent quite a bit of time admiring him. I nelt down in fron of him and placed my forehead agains his horns while I gave a prayer of thanks for my success, for my safety, and for his life. After that I retrieved my camera and began to photograph the ram as he lay.







Chuck soon joined me and after admiring the ram we moved him for trophy pictures. I washed his muzzle with water and wiped down his side with wet wipes. Try as we might rigor had set hold and we were unable to bend his back legs under his body.



















He turned out to be an 8 year old ram with 12.75" bases, a broomed horn on the left, and a 34.75" full curl horn on the right. After finishing the photo session I began the caping process under Chuck's guidance. I then quartered it into game bags and loaded it for the trip back to base camp. I loaded the cape with head/horns intact, quarters with bone in, misc meat, my rifle, my binnos, clothing, and a few misc items into my pack. Chuck took approximately 25lbs of my gear with him which lightened my load, but still left me with a pack in the 110-125lbs deparment. Ouch!!! I studdied my topo and decided on a straight line path of return to camp that led us down a drainage we had not yet been in. It would make the pack to camp a 4 mile all down hill 4,000 foot decent. The only uphill portion would be an initial run of sidehilling to gain 200-300 feet to reach the top of the drainage. Once at the top of the drainage it looked reasonable, but you could only see so far. We decided to proceed. After decending for a ways we were able to see better what lay bellow us. It was a fairly steep rock studded shute with high and unclimbable sides. We continued down slowly and carefully with our heavy packs through the loose shale and baseball to soccerball size rocks. Unfortunately as we neared the half way mark the shute began to narrow and twist and turn leaving what was ahead out of sight. We had left the loose shale behind and were now negotiating rocks of various sizes. It was hard work and I was definitely getting tired, but we were well over half way down the shute. We rounded another corner in the rock walls and we could hear running water..........of #$%&! Waterfall!!! There was a small rock obsticle and 4-5 foot drop to negotiate to reach the top of the waterfall. After that the water fall was a 6 foot drop. Chuck leading the way quickly cleared the rock obsticle to the top of the waterfall. I started to navigate to obsticle. I passed the obsticle with my +110lbs pack, but had to decend 4-5 feet to the top of the waterfall. Suddenly all my hand holds were crumbling. I was stuck suspended 4-5 feet above large rocks with +110lbs on my back. I had a chiropractic kungfu death grip going on my only two hand holds with my plastic boots toing a small ledge bellow. I drew Chuck's attention to the situation and he calmly dropped his pack came over and pushed up on the bottom of my pack allowing me to gain a better center of gravity and negotiate my way down the rock ledge to the waterfall. That was too close!!!!! To negotiate the water fall I dropped my pack, Chuck went down the waterfall, I handed down our packs, and then followed down. We decended the rest of the way down the shute without further incident. By the time we hit flat ground I was passing on taking breaks because getting back up on my feet again was just too much work! The pack lasted 6 hours and I returned to our base camp by 8pm of opening day. Take it from me NEVER and I mean NEVER pack a sheep down a drainage you've never been down before!



The Others Return:


It had been a hot sunny day, so we threw the cape in the river to cool and set the meat on willow branches to facilitate air flow and covered it will a tarp to keep it dry and shaded. We decided to spend the next day the 11th in camp to allow me to recover from the pack before heading back out. I made a Mountain House freeze dried meal, ate it, and headed to bed! The next day I woke VERY sore, VERY stiff, and my left knee didn't really want to bend (old mild miniscus tear). I felt about like I'd imagine one would feel the day after having been violated by a hippo!!!

A state trooper flew in about 10am. He checked my paperwork, asked us questions, measured the ram, and then "sealed it". Before you ask I'll explain.......The area I hunted is a harvest area. Meaning both residents and non residents do NOT need to draw a tag to hunt it. Legal animals are limited by a criterion. For starters they must be a ram. Then they must be one of 3 things...8 years old (as determined by annular rings on the horns), broomed on both sides (both horn tips broken or worn off), or at least one horn is full curl (creating a 360 degree rotation by curling down and then coming up to at least the base of the horns when viewed from a perfect side angle). My trooper varified the age at 8, noted the broomed left horn, full curl right horn, measured the both horns for length and girth, and then sealed it. The sealing process means they drill into one of the horns an then pound a small metal spike into the hole. All horns must be sealed. If you are lucky enough to have a trooper "drop in" like I did they can do it in the field. Otherwise you take the horns to fish and game to be sealed within so many days of killing the ram.





After the trooper left I began to skin the head out while Chuck glassed for rams in the many bands of ewes and lambs vissable from camp.

Don't mind the hair!


This guy is getting a shoulder mount, but I think until I shoot a real boomer I'll go with Europeans for my next few dall's. It looked sharp enough to me to at least think twice about doing a European.


........and no that's not my beer! I brought a flask of single malt for a victory celebration once I returned to camp!

While I was in the process of skinning the head Chuck spotted a loan ram with one of the herds of ewes. We both looked him over in my spotter, but where unable to say for sure if he was legal. He had a wide flair and looked broomed on one side, but the other horn was just too close to call. An hour or so later Chuck spotted three rams bedded in the shade of some craggy peaks overlooking camp. Obviously from their location they had been spooked on the opener and were enjoying higher....and really nasty ground. I continued to skin my ram while Chucked hiked closer to get a better look at them. When he returned I could tell he was excited. I dropped what I was doing and hiked down with him to get a better look. It was warm and the heat marage was troublesome. After careful glassing they all looked to be mature rams. One looked full curl for sure and the other two were likely legal as well. I told Chuck I'd go with him after the rams tomorrow. Having done a successful solo hunt before he felt confidant and elected to not wait much to my shagrin. I definitely felt like I was letting him down, but there was NO way I was ready to go again. I still needed more time. I gave him my range finder, spotting scope, and any other necessary gear and he went on his way. I had some solice in the fact that he had his satellite phone on him and could contact us if he needed help.

That night after having my first taste of wild sheep I took a stroll down the river to an elevated mound that provided me a place to glass for caribou. I glassed for quite some time, but only managed to spot a lone cow. At 10pm I spotted three hunters coming down the river toward me and a little while later a fourth pulling/paddling a raft down the river. It turned out to be the hunter who had shot "my ram" the first morning returning with his group. They had taken 3 rams. One of them a beautiful 40" ram with lamb tips intact. As I was speaking with them they mentioned they had heard a shot coming from approximately the same area Chuck was headed earlier that night. Hmmm.....

The next day I woke early and went down the river in the opposite direction from last night. I spotted a herd of 5 or 6 caribou two or so miles down from camp. It was too far for me to tell with my binos weather they were bulls or cows. I decided to keep hiking down closer to them as it was a good spot to look around. About a mile out from the herd I could just make out that at least one of the caribou had horns. They were walking my way up the valley, so I decided to sit down and wait on them. With any luck they would close the distance and decrease my pack by a half mile to a mile. Unfortunately the day was begining to heat up and the bulls decided to bed down behind some large rocks a hundred yards up a mountain in some shade. Ok I'm game. I started the stalk down towards them. The wind wasn't perfect, but it was doubtful they would catch my scent unless I was very close. About 600 yards from the rock the bulls are bedded behind I heard a comotion and looked above me to see 6 beautiful bulls running across the mountain above me well out of range........s&*t they smelled me! I dropped my pack, grabbed my rifle, and started running towards the drainage they were heading up. I hadn't gone 200 yards when I looked in front of me and saw two wolves standing on the tundra! No wonder the caribou were running! I hit the deck, belly crawled to the nearest ridge, put a shell in the chamber, and found the largest wolf a beautiful gray wolf in my scope. Chuck had my rangefinder, so I had to guess the distance. I figured 300ish and held for a couple inches over its back. Bang..........running wolf........bang.........bang.........hmmmmm probably not 300ish yards! It was more like 150-200 yards! The caribou and the wolves were gone, so I headed back to camp for lunch. While back in camp our other group Bryan and Chad returned with two beautiful rams! I looked them over and heard their stories. They were able to take them together out of the same group!



I told them that the previous group had said they heard Chuck shoot. Chad who had the satellite phone confirmed that he had received a text from Chuck and he had in fact shot a ram! Unfortunately he didn't say where he was. I asked Chad to see where Chuck was, but unfortunately we didn't hear anything back from him that night. I went out again that night and spotted another wolverine, but nothing else happened of note.

The next morning we were starting to get ansy about Chuck. Finally mid morning we received a text from Chuck saying he was across the river! We started glassing franticly so we could go over and help him get the sheep and gear out. We kept texting him asking him to call us or tell us where he was. Finally I spotted him way down the river from camp! Chad and I emptied our packs and ran down to help him. We took his gear and helped him across the river back to camp.





Even though we had taken different paths we all were able to take a ram by the end of the second day of season!











Killing Time:


I spent the next several days trying to get a caribou. I went out early in the morning and had several herds of cows come past me, but no bulls. The night of the 13th fog started to roll in. I didn't hunt that night due to the fog. The next morning it was still there. Once the sun was up the fog began to burn off. I kept going out, but it was more of the same. The fog returned the night of the 14th and again on the 15th. In the evenings we gathered with the few other hunters camped in the area. We ate caribou and sheep and shared our hunting stories. It was a ton of fun with a good group of people.



Exodus:


We had a few very nice days earlier in the hunt, but since the fog had settled in it had cooled off quite a bit. The 16th was a gorgeous day! I had a wedding to attend in Washington DC immediately after the hunt, so I was scheduled to leave the 18th. Since we all had our sheep and the caribou were non existant we decided to head out. Chuck and I left that night and Chad and Bryan left the morning of the 17th.



It was a great inogural sheep hunt. I definitely have the fever and I'm looking forward to climbing the mountains again! I may try another sheep hunt here in Alaska next year if the time allows. I will for a fact be traveling to Kyrgyzstan next year for Marco Polo and Ibex. I'm extremely excited about my new found sickness!



Gear Report:


For starters I'd like to say I buy all my gear at Barney's Sports Chalet. Bob the owner is a regular at SCI, DSC, FNWS, and the Sheep Show. They are a high end butique for sheep/wilderness hunters. I highly recommend them! You can check them out on:

http://www.barneyssports.com/

Boots: Scarpa Koflach - I'm extremely impressed with these! 3 of the 4 of us used them. I have yet to get my first blister. They are extremely forgiving. Mild flexion in the ankle allows for comfortable movement on flat ground. They breath well. The booty is nice for camp use. I'll use plastics for the rest of my life for sheep. I can't even imagine packing out without them.

Laces: After Market Kevlar Laces

Socks: Darn Tough - Wool Blend

Underwear: Minus 33 briefs, bottom, zip T top - Merino wool and very comfortable. Did a fabulous job with keeping the smell factor down on a long hunt. A must as long as you don't have wool sensitivity.

Pants: Mountain Equipment Liskamm - These things are fabulous! I love these pants! They zip up snug around my boots. I didn't use gaiters the whole hunt. I was able to run across creeks and not get wet. If the pants did get wet or damp they dried with my body heat in a few minutes. Good four way stretch, kevlar knees, and durable fabric.

Shirt: Mountain Equipment Wool Shirt - Another great techniqual piece that did a great job stopping wind and keeping me warm.

Insulated Coat: Barney's Sports Chalet Super Cub Jacket - Very light weight, warm, dries quickly, and the outer layer is water resistant. I highly recommend it for a warmer weather sheep hunt. For a colder weather sheep hunt I'd recommend taking the Brooks Range Coat and Pant also from Barney's Sports Chalet.

Rain Gear: Mountain Hardwear Stretch Cohesion Coat and Pant - Super light weight. Not super durable. You don't want to hike through sharp rock!

Gloves: Waterproof Komperdale Gloves

Hat: Marmot Waterproof ball cap & Sporthill 3SP beenie - Both light weight and extremely functional in waterproof/warmth & wind proof.

Pack: Barney's Sports Chalet Freighter Frame and Pinnacle Pack

Tent: Fly Camp - Big Agnus Fly Creek 1 man Base Camp - Hilleberg Kaitum 2 man

Sleeping Pad: Thermarest Neoair - The best pad I've ever used! Super light, super comfortable, packs down small, and it's pretty durable. It actually has a non slip surface that keeps your sleeping bag from sliding off.

Sleeping Bag: Integral Design 10 degree 900 fill down bag. These are fabulous bags! One of the few manufacture that give you comfort level rather than servivable leve in the temp rating. 10 degrees means you can do 10 degree with this bag. 10 degrees with other bags means you'll likely survive 10! They also make fabulous synthetic (primaloft sport) bags.

Cooking Gear: Snowpeak ??? stove and pot

Water: MSR pump and Platipus 3L bag with Cammelback nozzle

Rifle: Bansner Ultimate Ovis 7mm wsm with a Swarovski Z3 3-9

Ammo: Hand loaded 160 grain Nosler AccuBonds with IMR 4831 at 3158fps. That's hot fyi! Both shots were compete pass throughs at 300 & 340.

Scope Cover: Scope Shield http://scopeshieldcover.com/

Tripod: Giottos carbon fiber with Manfrotto ball head

Spotting Scope: Leica Televid 65mm

Binos: Leica Ultravid HD 10x42

Rangefinder: Leica CRF 1600

All the optics were great! I'm glad I had them! The only change I might make is going with a compact 10x25 binno in stead of a full size in the future. You use the binnos to spot the white dots. After that it's all spotting scope. It seems like a good way to save some weight.

Food: I had my resting metabolic rate messured before the hunt. I burn about 2,000 cal/day resting all day. That means in the mountains I'm easily buring +3,000 cal/day and probably over 4,000 cal/day on a hard day. I decided to take 6 days of food for spike camp at ~2,000 cal/day of food. I took a mixture of dried fruit, pecans, ProBars, and Mountain House dehydrated meals for my food. I cashed plenty extra at base camp for when I returned from spiking. Since 1lb. of human fat = 3,500 cal I knew I'd probably lose 5-10lbs depending on how long it took me to shoot the sheep. If you have plenty of extra fat that's no big deal. If you're very lean I would caution you to take enough calories to cover resting metabolic rate and at least some of your daily expenditure. I knew I could lose 5lbs. of fat and be alright without losing energy and catabolizing muscle. In hind sight I think I'd plan for more food in spike camp.......but not much more!

Please let me know if you have more gear questions.



Brett

Great start... looking forward to "the rest of the story"!

Excellent! What tents are you using? They look great.

Good stuff Brett!!!

Anxious for the rest of the story.

Excellent so far!

Wonderful report Brett.

It doesn't sound boring at all so please give specific
details on the waterfall and pack down the drainage.

Oh Boy, this is gonna be great!!

I'm glad you guys made it out safe, but man am I chuckling about what your story might be.
Never and I mean NEVER !!

Brett,

Thank you so much for sharing your hunt. There is NOTHING like a sheep hunt. DIY? even better.

Well deserved congrats to you sir!

Dude,

The buff boy pictures had too much direct light. You need to have indirect overhead lighting to show all that muscular definition.

Thanks for not telling anyone it was my scale that showed you as fatboy.

Jokes aside, great report and I wish I was there. How about 2013?

Congratulations on a fine sheep. Well done. Now get ready for the "fever" to set in.
Bill

Fantastic report.
Really makes you want to get out and into the hills.

Congrats on a nice sheep!

Chuck is one hard core mofo when it comes to sheep hunting. I've read several of his reports and that guy knows how to get it done.

I'd love to do sheep hunt with him just to tag along.

Again, congrats and looking forward to reading the rest of the report.

Chris

Congratulations and great report. Makes me jealous sitting hear reading about an adventure like this.

envious!!

Way to go Brett
Congratulations

Well done.

WOW!!!! What a great report. I certainly wish I were younger...but sleeping on rocks is out of the question now!

Your ram was well earned and I can't wait to read the rest of the report!!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Well, if Chuck's 45, then I guess there's still time & hope for me!

Did your parter get a ram too?

Wonderful reading-great report! Many thanks for sharing it with us!

friar

quote:

Originally posted by D. Nelson:
I certainly wish I were younger...but sleeping on rocks is out of the question now!

D,

Even us tough young Alaskans take a good old inflatable sleeping pad. No rocks for this boy! PS. May join you, Jim, and Joyce for dinner when you fly in.

All,

Thanks for the kind words. I'll update the boring pack out and get the rest of the story up ASAP. Getting ready for a moose/griz hunt this weekend, so I've been busy.

Brett

Cant wait for the rest...

Brett:
Well earned and very nice ram.
How's the knee's?
Destroyed mine Aug '70 on a similar "days hike into camp". Been crippled with 'em since, but, didn't help any to join the Army that Jan either. Way too soon and I've paid dearly for it. Though still have my own joints yet.
Glucosamine, & Synvisc shots every six months no doubt.

Thanks for sharing a great hunt with us.
George

Brett, congrats on a great hunt and fine trophy! What tent is that you ended up with??

Excellent Report. Thx for sharing!!

Nice ram... congrats!

waiting with bated breath for more!

Great story - great pics! Wish I were there!

enjoy the memories!

friar

Nice ram & great story. Congratulations.

Fantastic report!
JCHB

Awesome hunt!

Congrats.

Man that looked like an awesome hunt!

Congratulations

Brett
Very nice ram
For those who think they are to old, I did it at 64 and we had a guide in camp at 72. He out walked his younger clients. Not easy but very rewarding hunt for me. I might even do it again.
Larry

Hey whats it going to take to get this report finished?

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
Hey whats it going to take to get this report finished?

Scotch and a weekend in Anchorage............working as we speak!

Brett

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
Brett:
How's the knee's?

Knees are good George! It took me almost 2 weeks to feel totally back to normal. That said I shot, processed, and packed out a moose last weekend by myself and my knees didn't mind what so ever. My back.........yeah that was sore for a day or two!!!



Brett

quote:

Originally posted by Antlers:
Brett, congrats on a great hunt and fine trophy! What tent is that you ended up with??

Big Agnus Fly Creek 1 man. It's a 3 season. I would probably use my Hilleberg Akto if I need a 4 season. I liked the tent though and it was super light weight. The three man would be pretty nice for one tent for two people.

Brett

Thank you all for the kind words! I finished the report and will try to get some pics of the other sheep on the ground intact to add to the report.

Brett

What a fantastic report. Thanks so much for sharing, and congrats on a fine animal!

That was a terrific read of real hunting in wild free country with nary a fence or a servant in sight...Top report.

Brett,

Outstanding report!! I love how you covered the gear. It's great when planning, gear, fitness, and weather comes together.

Cheers
Jim

Great report again
The thing I wish I had, any a few experinced sheep hunters had them was pants with the knee and butt pads. Can't get away from the rocks makes the crawling on the hands and knees much easier.
Larry

quote:

Originally posted by elk88101:
Great report again
The thing I wish I had, any a few experinced sheep hunters had them was pants with the knee and butt pads. Can't get away from the rocks makes the crawling on the hands and knees much easier.
Larry

Yep! Those Mountain Equipment Liskamm pants are the stuff for sheep and goat hunting. I kid you not!!!!

Brett

Pictures of the other sheep added.

Brett