I will do this in bits and pieces as I travel while using an I phone. I will clean it up later.

Client- Larry Shores

Outfitter- Riley Pitts Big Game Backcountry Guides

Guides - Peter Mayall and Ethan Johnson

Area - ANWR

Rifle- Rifles, Inc. 300 Win Mag. Swarovski 3-18 scope with ballistic turret

Ammo- Black Hills Gold 180 grain Accubond

Game sought- Dall sheep. Also bought tags for caribou, grizzly and wolf.

I am going to do this a little differently and break this down into sections.

PREHUNT

The trip got off to a rough start . For reasons I do not recall, I got little sleep leading up to the trip. Perhaps I was worried about the injury I had I gotten about 4 weeks before. At any rate, I stayed at the airport hotel and still had to get up at 3 am to make my first flight .

I checked into the hotel in Anchorage. Frostbit graciously met me and took me to Barney's and one other place. Later that evening , several AR members went to dinner at the Crows Nest at the Captain Cook. Those in attendance were Mr. & Mrs. Frostbit, Cal Pappas, Brett Barringer and Peter Mayall. I had a great time but I was dying as I had been up about 24 hours

Bright and early the next morning , we caught a commercial flight to Deadhorse. Upon landing, I was shocked at what I saw . What an operation. Amazing, absolutely amazing. Massive as well.

From Deadhorse, we caught a charter to the Kavik River Camp. Nat Geo was just finish up filming Life Below Zero. It took me about 30 seconds to determine that a lot of the show is scripted. Got to meet Sue. She is a riot. Absolutely hysterical.

From there we took a bush plane into the mountains. The pilot was an ex special forces guy. Nice guy. There was a certain amount of comfort knowing that if something happened , a resourceful person would be there until help arrived.

On the way, we saw a herd of musk ox. I had never seen them before. That was entertaining .

We landed in the mountains. The guides were there as was another client . We spent the night there in the mountains. We cut up and raised hell a lot. I was having a blast. Hunting (for caribou) could start the next day, the 8th. Sheep season started the 10th. We were seeing a lot of caribou from that location.

THE HUNT

We all got up the next morning . For reasons I did not understand, we were just dragging around wasting time. Finally, we took off. We went for about an hour. There was some difficult footing . We stopped for a break . It started raining. The guides, again for reasons unknown to me, didn't want to walk in the rain. We waited until it stopped then headed up a river. We got to a significant place in the journey and it started raining again. We decided to camp there. The rain and fog stayed with us for 3.5 days. Let me use a technical term to describe being in a one man tent for 3.5 days. It f'ing sucks.

Well, we were all going stir crazy,some more than others. Let's just say that age appears to be a factor in handling this well. I was the oldest. I was handling it well but it still sucked. Finally, the guides decided that we would pack up and carry on. It felt good to walk again. After several hours, we made it to our destination . We had basically lost one full day of sheep hunting and most of a second day. Oh well,there went 20% of the hunt.

The good news was that we had spotted multiple shooter rams already . We tried to put the move on them but they didn't cooperate. Bastards! About midnight , we considered sitting on the mountain all night waiting on them. I was in. Guides decided against it. Damn good thing as it rained all night.

We went out the next day. Found the same rams again. Climbed the mountain in the rain to watch them, hoping they would move our way. It was absolutely impossible to get closer. After 5 hours of sitting there in the rain, the rams got up and moved......away from us. Down we go, back to camp.

The next morning, we spot more rams on a different mountain. We hoof it a few miles to get to the mountain and wait on them. Finally, they start to move. We attempt to get ourselves into position but we cannot close the deal. While exciting, it was also depressing . That didn't last long . On the walk out, Ethan turned around and looked. There was a GIANT ram on a ledge high up the mountain. Emphasis on giant. We watched him until midnight . He moved but only a little. We would try him the next day.

The next day we spotted a sheep in the spotting scope about 4 miles away . Hmmmm......We decided to go for it even though we were not sure it was the giant. Part of the logic was that it had rained every day and the forecast was for more on the way. We got to the mountain and started slowly skirting the bottom. Ethan spotted the ram on a ledge . Damn he was up there . I ranged him at 557 actual distance,
509 true ballistic distance according to the range finders in the binos. A poke for sure . Then I kept thinking about hitting a grapefruit sized target every time at 600 yards in a shooting school. There was no wind. I knew I could make it with a good rest. Without a good rest, I would not even try. I moved up an estimated 6 yards to a large rock to use for a rest. No good. I moved some rocks. Much better but still not acceptable. They brought the pack and wedged it between the rocks as a rest for my right elbow . Perfect! I let one fly. The ram disappeared. Maybe 30 seconds later, he appeared. I sighted and squeezed the trigger. The ram collapsed and started tumbling end over end down the mountain . At 2 months shy of 61, I took a Dall sheep. Was I happy? Hell yes!

We got back to camp happy but tired. Guess what ? Rain and fog again . I spent all the next day in the one man tent . Not fun . I was checking the weather and became concerned . Worse weather was on the way. I have a lot of stuff going on at work . I am headed to Africa in a few weeks. I decided I could not get stuck . I decided to leave. I am 100% confident that I could have taken a grizzly and caribou had I stayed AND the weather cooperated . The weather concerned me. I made the right decision.

OTHER MATTERS

As far as I am concerned, Riley runs a first class outfit and does it by the book. If I had any complaint it would be that he needs a better place to check the zero on the rifles. He is a straight shooter, an honest man.

My equipment by and large performed well with one notable exception . My expensive Swarovski binos leaked. Binos are necessity for a sheep hunt

If I had it to do over again, I would take both my Nalgene bottle and the water bladder.
It is hard to drink from the bottle while hiking and hard to drink from the bladder while tent bound.

I would also take more books.

The southern Brooks where I have previously hunted is a walk in the park compared to this area. This area was a little weird. In much, perhaps most, one could not get to the top as near the top there were cliffs that went straight up.

Ethan and Peter did an excellent job. Unfortunately, Peter hurt his knee on the last day. The rocks were treacherous especially when wet which was most of the time. I made up my mind that I was going at my own pace so I didn't get hurt. It worked for me.

There was no way in hell that I could train for some of this, the rocks for example. I did my best. My back held up . I was lucky. All in all this was pretty easy. It could have been much worse.

The Dinner Crew



Kavik River Camp from Life Below Zero





First Camp in the Mountains
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The Ram


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A sign from the Prudhoe Bay Hotel that i thought was hysterical
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Sue from Life below Zero At kavik

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My tent and all my stuff. The mountain in the background is the mountain the sheep was taken off of
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Finally , I ended my visit to Alaska by having dinner with Faisal. It was a very pleasant and enjoyable dinner. I am glad I got to meet him.

Congratulations!
Can't wait to see the pictures.

Helluva shot, again, Congratulations!

Way to go Larry!

Don't you just love sheep hunting.

Fantastic!!

Congrats Larry!! Sounds like 360 yards isn't gonna be the longest shot this year! Also sounds like your preparation was good, only a couple things you'd have changed. Rest easy there is no way to train for 3 days in a one man tent fogged in!!! Lol

nice!

Great report. Can't wait for the pictures.

Thanks for posting. There usually is a lot of drama between sheep hunting and the weather. My second hunt had us carrying solo tents.
We could camp wherever and whenever it got dark, fogged in or too much rain.
It saved a lot of hiking although camp amenities were less.
It may not be necessary in every case, depending on the typography and competition.

What was the age and measurements on that ram?
How did you like the mtn house meals?

He was right at 37. The age depended on who one listened to. They varied from 10 to 12 years old.

Right on! You seal it in Fairbanks? Sometimes they are all over on the age guessing.

No, this was various people in the field. The teeth were pretty worn.

I missed answering your question about the Mountain House. They were better than rocks but not by much!

Rocks? You ate rocks too? Lol
I had a ram sealed by troopers once, three troopers and they said 7,8 and 9 years old! Lol guys writing the tickets couldn't even age them! Was frustrating. Was full and 9 yrs old....

Great hunt Larry - Maybe I will do one in 2018.

Mike

Go to Tajikistan with me Mike.

Congratulations Larry, I'm really happy you got your ram. Peter is a great guy. A month another he was guiding me in the tropics & now you got you ram way up north!well done.
Jim

I thought you were hunting Dall sheep, not Red Sheep - well done!!!

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Go to Tajikistan with me Mike.

and me!

Beautiful ram Larry. Congratulations.

Don

Congrats, Larry.

Larry,

Nice shooting and big congrats.

Mark

Well done, sheep hunter, well done indeed!
Zeke

All that Florida "hill" training did you well....and no alligators in the Brooks Range! Well done :-)

Congratulations on the great ram Larry!

Your remarks about Riley are spot on.....

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
All that Florida "hill" training did you well....and no alligators in the Brooks Range! Well done :-)

Hey Biebs

That is a 500 yard shot. With you shooting 500 yards I am sure you will hit a mountain in the brooks range. Please note I said a mountain in the brooks range not the mountain the sheep was on

Mike

Tee hee. You'd have to call in an air strike!

You guys crack me up.

Looks like a nice adventure.
Congrats.

Great hunt, Larry. Congratulations!

well done.

bravo.

Beautiful Ram Larry. Congratulations. Those photos bring back great memories.
Now we just need Faisal to tag out.
Cheers
Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Steve416:
Beautiful Ram Larry. Congratulations. Those photos bring back great memories.
Now we just need Faisal to tag out.
Cheers
Steve

Steve:

I had dinner with Faisal before he went to the mountains. My guess is that he is starting today. I wish him the best of luck.

Way to go Larry. I know you put in the hard work for this hunt. Kudos, & enjoy the shit eating grin that comes out of nowhere!!!!

I got news today. It appears that out of 4 hunters, 2 took rams. One passed a ram and missed another at 89 yards. He took a grizzly. One has not gotten a ram and is still hunting. He has taken a caribou.

One of the guides is down with a knee problem. He thinks ACL. Ouch!

Thanks everyone.

Larry,

Congratulations!

Thanks for sharing the journey with us.

Tom

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I got news today. It appears that out of 4 hunters, 2 took rams. One passed a ram and missed another at 89 yards. He took a grizzly. One has not gotten a ram and is still hunting. He has taken a caribou.

One of the guides is down with a knee problem. He thinks ACL. Ouch!

Thanks everyone.

Larry,
Yes our guide is waiting to get out but socked in I hear. Looks like surgery to fix that Ligament. Bummer.
Jimmy flew in to take over.
Cheers
Steve

Good job Larry you worked hard for it.

Nice job, Larry.

You busted your ass getting ready for the hunt and researching all your gear.

You earned that sucker, congrats and a helluva shot.

Glad you got it done!

Larry:

Really happy for you; congrats!