A decade in the mountains; one man’s sheep journey.

[Yukon]

Great thread and awesome write up. Thank you for sharing.

Good advice on the field care part of it. From observing your pictures, I might have a suggestion that you may find helpful. I was shown this by a local taxidermist in Whitehorse and it has saved me hours of fleshing and removes many potential knife cuts. I have only done this for Dall sheep but presume it would be the same for all sheep. Not sure about other species.

When caping in the field on a sheep, do your normal dorsal cut, split your hooves and come up above the back of the legs to above the knees.

Now look along your exposed hide along the back. If you look closely you will see a very fine membrane. Start peeling the membrane away instead of skinning the hide away. It might take a few careful cuts with your knife to get it started but be patient and try to keep it intact. It is tempting to skin it as you normally would but be persistant with the very hard to see membrane and it will pay off later as the fleshing and skinning will be done in one step.

Once it gets started you will be amazed at how it keeps together and how clean the skin will come out underneath. You can keep reaching down further and further and using a balled fist, peel the hide off the flesh.

It gets a little tricky in the arm pits and around the rump as there is more fat and the skin is stretchy.

Here are a few pics from some sheep I did this year. Most of the cape has been fleshed just by peeling off the hide and most of it is done in the field as you are dressing your animal. I took these just prior to salting. The only other tool I need is a havalon for the face and the areas that require a bit of extra attention. Not trying to hi-jack the thread just wanted to augment your excellent advice on field care for sheep!

 

[Stid2677]

Great tip Yukon,, Thanks for sharing, awesome photos!!!. That's what I wanted this thread to be about. I learn something from everyone I have ever hunted with and now from you Sir. Thanks

Steve

 

[yama49]

Awesome storys, u are living well sir. Keep the awesome adventure going this fall

 

[Buster]

Yukon, brilliant post. I really want to shoot something to try it.

 

[live2huntelk]

What an amazing testimony of a guy and his passion. A passion that has taken you to extraordinary places and tested your will and character. These pictures and stories are remarkable chapters in your life as a Student and a Scholar of the Last Frontier. This thread had my undivided attention to the end….Wow! Thank You for sharing your experiences and schooling us in Sheep hunting! I learned a lot of valuable lessons from this thread. Maybe one day, Lord willing, I will be able to share and experience a Sheep hunt and get a taste of the passion that you live for. You are a humble and blessed man to have been fortunate enough to live the dream of many. Keep the passion alive, for passion is what keeps the mind, body, and soul young!

 

[Stid2677]

What an amazing testimony of a guy and his passion. A passion that has taken you to extraordinary places and tested your will and character. These pictures and stories are remarkable chapters in your life as a Student and a Scholar of the Last Frontier. This thread had my undivided attention to the end….Wow! Thank You for sharing your experiences and schooling us in Sheep hunting! I learned a lot of valuable lessons from this thread. Maybe one day, Lord willing, I will be able to share and experience a Sheep hunt and get a taste of the passion that you live for. You are a humble and blessed man to have been fortunate enough to live the dream of many. Keep the passion alive, for passion is what keeps the mind, body, and soul young!

Thank you Sir for such kind words. I was speaking with my wife last night about wanting to go on a Stone Sheep hunt. When she ask me how much I said about 40K, she said "OMG our first house did not cost that much" well, at least she didn't say no. Hope my Son likes them, since that may be all he gets as an inheritance.

 

[Snyd]

Dang, 40K for a chance at a stone sheep by the time it's all said and done? It might be easier and cheaper to move to Canada for a year or 2!

But then again, 40k just might be worth it That's only the price of a new truck that'll wear out and cost you more money!

 

[Warren1726]

Fantastic story telling, Steve! I really appreciate your sharing this with me. It's motivating to a Kentucky boy, who dreams of the "Western Wild".

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

Thank you Sir for such kind words. I was speaking with my wife last night about wanting to go on a Stone Sheep hunt. When she ask me how much I said about 40K, she said "OMG our first house did not cost that much" well, at least she didn't say no. Hope my Son likes them, since that may be all he gets as an inheritance.

This is a great thread, awesome story and photos!
In Alberta our local WSF hunt of a lifetime lottery is a Stones sheep hunt in British Columbia valued at 43,000 all inclusive. Winning this draw is the only way I'll ever be able to hunt them. ( I phoned their office, this draw is only available to Alberta residences, sorry ) Maybe there are similar lotteries in Alaska?

 

[Buster]

Oh wow, I never realized how much a stone hunt costs! And here I'm griping at spending $2000 as a resident (mostly travel cost). Threads like these really prepare a guy for success.

 

[beachbunny]

that sure is great. I love the whole idea of knowing and accepting the learning curve!thanks for posting

 

[Stid2677]

This is a great thread, awesome story and photos!
In Alberta our local WSF hunt of a lifetime lottery is a Stones sheep hunt in British Columbia valued at 43,000 all inclusive. Winning this draw is the only way I'll ever be able to hunt them. ( I phoned their office, this draw is only available to Alberta residences, sorry ) Maybe there are similar lotteries in Alaska?

There are no hunt-able Stone sheep in Alaska, every once in a while one is seen near the Canadian border. There is a HOT debate if one was in Alaska and met the legal horn requirement if it could be legally taken. The answer is different depending on who you ask, because they are the same species of sheep as dall sheep, just subspecies. Dall is Ovis dalli dalli and stone is Ovis dalli stonei, technically a color variation. So if I ever see a legal one in Alaska, I might be very tempted to "ask for forgiveness rather than permission and let the court work it out. Honest officer, There are NO Stone Sheep in Alaska", so I thought it was just a dirty Sheep since my tag says "SHEEP"


There are Fannin sheep, which is a Sheep that is not pure white and has a black tail. Some debate on those as well, some say a cross between Stone and Dall sheep and other say a sub species, since the two different sheep's habitat does not over lap. Since there are large groups of Fannin, not Fannins just mixed in with the other two species, to be a separate group.

Good link here..

http://www.wildsheep.org/sheep/north_american.htm

Steve

 

[robby denning]

"Honest officer, There are NO Stone Sheep in Alaska", so I thought it was just a dirty Sheep since my tag says "SHEEP"

Steve

Loved this entire thread. WOW.
Also, I laughed out loud at the dirty Dall Sheep.

 

[Snyd]

This ram is ( or was) in the Tok Visitors center. A young man (teen) killed it some years back here in AK. He grew up in Tok, I've met him and his dad. He also trapped the wolves.

 

[Snyd]

Loved this entire thread. WOW.
Also, I laughed out loud at the dirty Dall Sheep.

Here's a dirty dall we got a few years ago. He spent a lot of time eating and laying in black dirt. He was gray/silver... Like a Fannin!

 

[Stid2677]

Please, Please, Please take the time to read this link. It was reading this story when it happened that burnt into my mind the need for a sat phone or personal locator beacon. A slip or fall can happen in a blink of an eye, I know this first hand as we had to have a member of our group flew out by coast guard helicopter after breaking a leg during a fall while goat hunting.

Could you imagine being a father and having to leave your son on the mountain while you walk out for help??? This story reinforced the need for both a means to get help but also the need to have basic survival items with you at all times.

http://fp1.centurytel.net/170/father_let_go.htm

 

[Darren Best]

Thank you for your story Stid and thank you for the link.

It reinforces what I tell my family and people all the time, be prepared to spend a night out. People are far too reliant on their ability to walk out of trouble without ever realizing what would happen if they lost the ability to walk.

 

[Ray]

Dirty rams reminds me of the one ram we saw in the TMA. It was the only dirty one in the basin among the dozen other rams. Over the next few days I learned a small nugget of sheep behavior. On the rocky hillsides that the sheep prefered there were little patches of "dirt". In the rocks these spots make for great bedding, but are limited in size. In our case the most mature acting ram had dibs on the softest spot with the best view on the rocky hillside. Thinking back we "Tony Russed" when we should have "Joe Wanted" on that basin. Waiting to "Joe Want" till the next day was a costly mistake.

The small group of young rams we flushed out of a hole had been resting on a large bed of powdered muscovite at the base of a cliff. It appeared that part of an ice core had melted out and collapsed creating access to the mud. Other than the open tundra melt water spots well below the rocks it was the only soft spot on the hillside.

Due to my job and my play time I have been thinking about investing in a PLB. Mostly for body recovery I suppose for the job. After taking a Learn-to-Return class it was apparent that few people live through an actual airplane crash. Lots live through "hard landings" but have messed up legs and backs. For most of my hunting I don't really need a sat phone, but for mountain hunting I will always rent one and make sure everyone in the group has training on how to use it. The rentals come with no preprogrammed numbers and I always take the time put in the Troopers dispatch number, the air service, and at least two people to contact. During the TMA hunt I learned that the main number for 40 Mile would not connect with the sat phone. I had to turn on the iPhone to look up the "hunter desk" number and that call went through. So program more numbers than you think you'll need, or write them down in a water proof note book.

 

[Becca]

A slip or fall can happen in a blink of an eye, I know this first hand as we had to have a member of our group flew out by coast guard helicopter after breaking a leg during a fall while goat hunting.

I am the hunter Steve is referring to, and while he didn't say it, his cool head and emergency training saved my leg and possibly my life after I broke my leg on Kodiak. Not sure what would have happened to me without the Sat phone and emergency gear on that trip, but it wouldn't have been good. I know that experience made a big impression on all of us, and has reinforced the need to think through our emergency plan and supplies.

For most of my hunting I don't really need a sat phone, but for mountain hunting I will always rent one and make sure everyone in the group has training on how to use it. The rentals come with no preprogrammed numbers and I always take the time put in the Troopers dispatch number, the air service, and at least two people to contact. During the TMA hunt I learned that the main number for 40 Mile would not connect with the sat phone. I had to turn on the iPhone to look up the "hunter desk" number and that call went through. So program more numbers than you think you'll need, or write them down in a water proof note book.

This is good advice, and I have started taking it one step further by carrying a water proof list of emergency numbers on my person while we are in the field. I was medivaced with only the clothes I was wearing, and once I got back to medical care in Kodiak I didn't have any numbers to contact our family to let them know about the accident and help me coordinate transport back to Anchorage. In a stressful situation you may not remember things you might under other circumstances.

 

[Snyd]

Thanks for the reminder Steve and that link. I've looked for that story a few times over the years.

When that happened it really hit home for my buddy and I. We had been on a 12 day DCUA walk-in hunt and were 20 miles and a couple days from the road when we got our 2 rams. We came home and I read about this incident. We had no PLB or Sat phone. SPOT hadn't come out I don't think. Stupid on our part. I now carry a SPOT. Might go to a SAT phone.

I know exactly where we were when this young man fell. We had hiked 12 miles out of the high country and were sitting by a creek roasting sheep over a fire in the middle of an atv trail. I have pic of us and the time stamp is Aug 18th, 2006 8:15pm. While we were enjoying the fruits (meat) of our hunt, Rick Collins was trying to keep his son alive on that mountain. I get a lump in my throat now just thinking about it. It could have very well been us.

Lesson learned.