Alaska Range Dall Sheep: My First Sheep Hunt

[Baby Huey]

Excellent story, thanks for sharing. Glad you are doing well after that fall, as well as all of the adversity you went through. Great ram and adventure!

 

[Ray]

What! A polaris side by side falls apart with just a few miles on it? Inconceivable! Actually kind of suprised it made it off the CASA without breaking a drive axle.

Excellent telling of your hunt with both words and text. Glad you made it back whole with that dandy old ram.

I am also on board with some of the WTF moments about the guide/packer stuff. That stuff should not be happening when you are paying good coin for the hired help. The intent of the guide requirement it to prevent that kind of stuff from happening.

 

[JustOneMoreShot]

He was pretty irate about the Polaris. It was a nice one with aftermarket tires (Interco Swamp Lite). The dealership in Anchorage was trying really hard to get him a new differential and could not locate one. They are backordered and they could not get one. The guide with the Maul plane went over there and pitched a fit in person and they actually pulled a diff off of a brand new unsold Polaris and gave him that one to swap into the broken one at camp. Some serious shade tree mechanic work was going on but those guys in Alaska can make some stuff work when they really have to I suppose.

As far as the guide thing... I had a great relationship with both the guide on the ground and my packer. I gave them both a very good tip. I really wish that the packer could have come back to help us and split up the load some. We should have requested/demanded that by satellite text/email I suppose but we did not so that was on us. Again like I said when we made it to the top of the steep mountain we should have stayed put. We put ourselves in jeopardy by coming down that terrain when we were rushed and tired right at dark and into the dark. If we camped up on top and told them we needed help it would have been the wise choice. But hindsight is 20/20. We made it up that mountain and did ok. We just took a different route down and it was really treacherous. Looking at the topo map back at camp I did see a way down that looked to be less steep. We could have left all of the gear and come down and brought some young help and fresh legs up the mountain and split the load 5 ways and it would have been more manageable.
You live and learn. I would not hunt with that outfit ever again. Too many good outfitters out there to waste time fighting with ones that suck and are too busy and preoccupied with other things. He had a film crew in camp and they were building a log cabin for God sakes! Great for him build ... you a log cabin with a bunch of kids running a saw mill but take care of the hunters paying tons of money for the hunts that they need to get out on. Get in the air and move people and look for game. Do what you can. I just did not see that while I was there. Lots of unhappy hunters overall.

 

[Eagle]

Maybe I missed it, but, for the sake of the rest of us, let us know who the outfitter was so we can all avoid him in the future.

 

[ol490]

Great ram. Glad you survived unscathed!

 

[mtnclimber]

Maybe I missed it, but, for the sake of the rest of us, let us know who the outfitter was so we can all avoid him in the future.

Just look up the tail number on the cub

 

[Matt W.]

Great story! Enjoyed the read. A more "perfect hunt" would have made less of an impact. For me hunting is the journey and your certainly had one HECK of a journey! Should be a hunt you never forget. Congrats on a great ram and surviving all your ups and down. You certainly earned both the ram and the memories.

How well did that pack survive its "Cliff toss test'?

 

[Shrek]

Thanks for the bird dog on the guide mtnclimber. Looks like TS of ATH was busy with his newly amended camp lease and outfitter TV crew and not too focused on his clients. Hard work and a bit of luck by the rookie guide and justonemoreshot got the job done. I wonder how the guide and packer felt about having their safety , word , and reputation jeopardized buy the outfitter ? You tell me to hike miles in rough country to be picked up at an airstrip and then don't follow through I'd be more than PO'ed and then to not send the packer back to help is really chitty. JOMS and the guide made a bad choice trying to push on that was heavily influenced by being exhausted and out of food. If the outfitter had been doing his job they never would have been in that situation. If this is a regular way of doing business then Thomas Shankster needs his license revoked before someone gets killed. Great hunt Justonemoreshot , you and your guide getting it done in spite of your outtfitter . JMO

 

[Stid2677]

Interesting that Cub is registered as "experimental",, if I'm not mistaken it is unlawful to carry for hire passengers in experimental aircraft....

 

[Daniel_M]

Interesting that Cub is registered as "experimental",, if I'm not mistaken it is unlawful to carry for hire passengers in experimental aircraft....

Guides a non-res to boot if I'm looking correctly.

 

[Shrek]

Interesting that Cub is registered as "experimental",, if I'm not mistaken it is unlawful to carry for hire passengers in experimental aircraft....

Wonder if he takes as much care and pride in maintaining his kit Cub as he does his outfitting business....? I'd be pleased to know that my Alaskan outfitter hails from "Saudi" Aurora Colorado also.

 

[Shrek]

JOMS , I'm wondering if your "mountain goat" packer isn't Tanner from Colorado , a member here ? It all fits his story.

 

[JustOneMoreShot]

Hey guys ... sorry to leave people hanging. I did not really want to bash anyone but it is what it is and I am an open book and am telling my experiences. The packer's name is Casey and he is a cool kid. He has the beard in all of my photos. He took most of the pictures so he is not in too many that I posted. He is from Colorado but I am not aware that he is on this site. He may be and it would not shock me if he were. He would be a valuable asset to the membership and he puts in lots of time in the backcountry.
As I understand it he did build the plane from the ground up himself with some help and uses it in running his outfitting business. It has a high output motor and other do dads that I think I may have referred in the write up as a "tricked out" supercub. I never rode in it but wanted to get a chance but never got moved anywhere but he was flying clients and guides out with it. He used to live in AK but does live in CO now. Works in the taxidermy field (maybe not fulltime just on the side?) and also for a museum perhaps CO Museum of Natural History?
I think that Shrek hit the nail about perfect on the head with post # 68. All that was about accurate. They are filming a TV show and that was a priority in the camp without a doubt when obviously the clients needed to be absolute first order of business. But TV deadlines were a major distraction and always changing and needed input and camera interview time. "Building Alaska" catch it on the DIY or Discovery channel in a year or whatever if you want to see a bunch of crazy people building a wood frame cabin in the wilds of Alaska. So can anyone just use the cabin as it is on public land or he has an exclusive lease on it so no one else is allowed to land there?
Looking back we should have camped the night up on the top where we spent the first night. We could have cooked as much sheep as we wanted and ate it over the little stove and sent camp a message of our plans. Next morning got up and divided the packs to a manageable load and then gone down ourselves or waited for help to come up. We made the decision so it was on us but yes we were not in our right minds and we were pissed for being abandoned at the Jones for days and just wanted the hell back to camp. We could have split it up and made several trips down and back up if we needed to and would have gotten by if base camp did not want to or not available to help the following day.
In the end it is all good and I would not recommend hunting with that outfitter based on this one trip. There was a pair of guys from Texas and I am curious how their trip turned out. They seemed super pissed when I saw them in camp and when I left they were still there and looking even more upset. That was there second hunt with the outfitter. I will need to try and reach out to them and see what they have to say if I can find them.

 

[Ray]

Interesting that Cub is registered as "experimental",, if I'm not mistaken it is unlawful to carry for hire passengers in experimental aircraft....

Quite the head scratcher that is. And the hole private pilot certificate in a for hire situation. Of course if he claims all the plane rides in the cub are free then there is no compensation and his clients can have their joy rides in an experimental plane flown by a private pilot.

14CFR91.319 and 14CFR61.113? Never heard of them. Are those winning lotto numbers?

We all better be careful about what we say online about this outfit. His worshiper(s) over on the 24HCF will sniff this thread out and keyboard commando us.

 

[Daniel_M]

I wouldn't say worshiped, 24HCF already has a few "not-so-pleasant" threads.

I'd like to know what people think about a Region III guide that takes 38?+ full curls in 3 seasons.

 

[Eagle]

Finally got to see the pictures at home and they are even better than I had imagined. Awesome ram and write up, thanks for sharing it.

 

[mtnclimber]

Interesting that Cub is registered as "experimental",, if I'm not mistaken it is unlawful to carry for hire passengers in experimental aircraft....

Ive never heard that before, but thats possible.

And you'd be surprised at how many big name guides up here are non-res these days. lower 48'ers running the sheep game up here, pretty funny stuff

 

[mtnclimber]

JOMS , I'm wondering if your "mountain goat" packer isn't Tanner from Colorado , a member here ? It all fits his story.

Tanner is working for a different outfit. but i thought the same when i read this as well.

 

[Bmcox86]

Sounds like a grand adventure. Cant wait to get a chance to chase sheep one day

 

[tipsntails7]

Sounds like an amazing trip, but you are a better man then I. The head guide and myself would have had words, TV cameras be damned.