19 August 2016, 01:05
larryshoresDall sheep in the Brooks Range (more photos added)
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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[/[URL=http://s830.photobucket.com/user/larryshores/media/7E573DED-B04D-4D97-B865-12E3B5F7C693_zpsc3gstk3j.jpg.html] 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.
