Lawnboy
Well-known member
I only had 5 days to try and get this all done. All the locals say I'm nuts to think I can come up and try to get a sheep in 5 days. I'm beginning to think they are right. My brother had just finished a week hunt with my dad and brother and was still nursing his wounds. His wife had a caribou tag like I did so she was along. We were going to hunt 2-3 days for a caribou and try to fit a couple in for sheep. We headed off Tuesday morning looking for bou and sheep in the rocks above.
We came across a couple smaller bulls but nothing to get excited about. While trying to get my sister in law to see a bull through the spotter she says I see a bigger one that's laying down. Sure enough higher up on the side hill there's a real pretty bull fighting flys. He has an awesome cape and color to him. All the Caribou we saw were darker in color but this guy looked awesome in the green foliage. I haven't hunted these guys before so I'm not great on size and got real excited to see this one. I have seen way bigger up higher in the basins by the sheep but getting them out would kill you. My sister in law had only 2 days to hunt due to the little ones at home so we decided to let her go for it.
When you're looking in Alaska at green bottoms and some Alders that lead up to the rocks you think "Ah we'll just go right up that grassy looking stuff and get em". Ya right. The green junk is dwarf birch bushes and Alders sometimes 10' tall. We soon realized that even though the bull was a mile off the trail it was going to be a chore to reach him fighting the brush. We made a great stalk and popped out 330 yards below him. the only problem was that the brush was so high that the shot would have to be off hand. We didn't feel comfortable with that so tried to get higher and closer. Fighting the alders on hands and knees we made it to were we thought we would be under a 100 yards. The brush was noisy on our pants and I couldn't believe that we could even get in on him. We kept moving forward looking for any sign of his gray velvet rack above the brush. We soon realized that he must of heard or smelled us. We split up about 50 yards apart to just cover the last 70 yards of were he had been. My sister in law is short and the brush was hard for her to navigate except when I was on my hands and knees in the alders, she could walk right through them. Me being tall kept moving forward cautiously looking. Suddenly I see him just above me and he wheels around. I whistle to them that he's just above them. He spooks and climbs this little dirt/rock pile and stops broadside. She throws the gun up but is struggling to hold steady and clear the brush in front of her. She fires and nothing happens. I hear her jack another shell in and the caribou moves up a little higher. The whole time I'm right on him and am waiting for her to hit him. We had previously discussed that if she hit him and he was moving out that I should shoot as well to make sure we would get him. She also said If I don't have a shot you better shoot as well. She lives there and isn't limited to only 5 days like me.
I wait for a few seconds for her to shoot again but nothing happened. I'm taller and am higher up so I had a full view of him. I yelled shoot again but nothing and he begins to high tail it out of sight. When he moved ahead he was completely out of her view. I fired a shot at a now quartering sharp bull and hear it thwack him. He immediately starts coughing from signs from a lung hit and stumbles out of sight. We went up and found him laying there.
He's not the biggest bull in the world but his mane and cape color is awesome. I think he's older and beginning to receed some. I was bummed that she didn't hit him but glad that at least we were able to take such a beautiful animal. Being stupid because the weather was so nice we left the rain gear and heavy packs down below while we stalked in. A big rain storm came in and soaked us during the quartering and packing.
When he fell in the brush his velvet was already getting torn apart. Just in taking the hero shots my hands were squishing through the velvet.
My younger brother is a stud. He packed a whole sheep out last week 80 pounds for 6 hours and this dude came in at 100lbs with one hind, front quarter, neck and rib meat and the head and horns. The rain was soaking in that hide and he was suffering. Mine weighed maybe 70. I owe him big time. He says he thinks he's shorter after packing 2 big loads out in the last 7 days.
I'll continue the sheep hunt story and photos later. My wife is wanting some attention after being gone and I'm up typing on Hunttalk.
Enjoy!
We came across a couple smaller bulls but nothing to get excited about. While trying to get my sister in law to see a bull through the spotter she says I see a bigger one that's laying down. Sure enough higher up on the side hill there's a real pretty bull fighting flys. He has an awesome cape and color to him. All the Caribou we saw were darker in color but this guy looked awesome in the green foliage. I haven't hunted these guys before so I'm not great on size and got real excited to see this one. I have seen way bigger up higher in the basins by the sheep but getting them out would kill you. My sister in law had only 2 days to hunt due to the little ones at home so we decided to let her go for it.
When you're looking in Alaska at green bottoms and some Alders that lead up to the rocks you think "Ah we'll just go right up that grassy looking stuff and get em". Ya right. The green junk is dwarf birch bushes and Alders sometimes 10' tall. We soon realized that even though the bull was a mile off the trail it was going to be a chore to reach him fighting the brush. We made a great stalk and popped out 330 yards below him. the only problem was that the brush was so high that the shot would have to be off hand. We didn't feel comfortable with that so tried to get higher and closer. Fighting the alders on hands and knees we made it to were we thought we would be under a 100 yards. The brush was noisy on our pants and I couldn't believe that we could even get in on him. We kept moving forward looking for any sign of his gray velvet rack above the brush. We soon realized that he must of heard or smelled us. We split up about 50 yards apart to just cover the last 70 yards of were he had been. My sister in law is short and the brush was hard for her to navigate except when I was on my hands and knees in the alders, she could walk right through them. Me being tall kept moving forward cautiously looking. Suddenly I see him just above me and he wheels around. I whistle to them that he's just above them. He spooks and climbs this little dirt/rock pile and stops broadside. She throws the gun up but is struggling to hold steady and clear the brush in front of her. She fires and nothing happens. I hear her jack another shell in and the caribou moves up a little higher. The whole time I'm right on him and am waiting for her to hit him. We had previously discussed that if she hit him and he was moving out that I should shoot as well to make sure we would get him. She also said If I don't have a shot you better shoot as well. She lives there and isn't limited to only 5 days like me.
I wait for a few seconds for her to shoot again but nothing happened. I'm taller and am higher up so I had a full view of him. I yelled shoot again but nothing and he begins to high tail it out of sight. When he moved ahead he was completely out of her view. I fired a shot at a now quartering sharp bull and hear it thwack him. He immediately starts coughing from signs from a lung hit and stumbles out of sight. We went up and found him laying there.
He's not the biggest bull in the world but his mane and cape color is awesome. I think he's older and beginning to receed some. I was bummed that she didn't hit him but glad that at least we were able to take such a beautiful animal. Being stupid because the weather was so nice we left the rain gear and heavy packs down below while we stalked in. A big rain storm came in and soaked us during the quartering and packing.
When he fell in the brush his velvet was already getting torn apart. Just in taking the hero shots my hands were squishing through the velvet.
My younger brother is a stud. He packed a whole sheep out last week 80 pounds for 6 hours and this dude came in at 100lbs with one hind, front quarter, neck and rib meat and the head and horns. The rain was soaking in that hide and he was suffering. Mine weighed maybe 70. I owe him big time. He says he thinks he's shorter after packing 2 big loads out in the last 7 days.
I'll continue the sheep hunt story and photos later. My wife is wanting some attention after being gone and I'm up typing on Hunttalk.
Enjoy!
