DIY Hike in AK Sheep

[GRUBECHA]

A friend just moved to AK and i'm planning on flying up this fall to try to help him find a sheep in the Brooks. Seems like air charters are pretty overbooked due to COVID rescheduling from last year so we are looking at hiking in somewhere. How far should we be looking to hike in to ditch the majority of the crowds? 10 miles? 25 miles? 50 miles? Just trying to get an idea of how hardcore the average Alaskan roadhunter is. Appreciate any info

 

[as.ks.ak]

A friend just moved to AK and i'm planning on flying up this fall to try to help him find a sheep in the Brooks. Seems like air charters are pretty overbooked due to COVID rescheduling from last year so we are looking at hiking in somewhere. How far should we be looking to hike in to ditch the majority of the crowds? 10 miles? 25 miles? 50 miles? Just trying to get an idea of how hardcore the average Alaskan roadhunter is. Appreciate any info

Just go do it. You can’t ditch the crowd. You’ll either be close enough to the road to find the road guys or you’ll walk in just far enough to find the super cub guys.


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[chapman8523]

When going in from the road in Alaska, just assume your idea and plan is not unique. Don't let that keep you from making it happen, it's just there are plenty of hunters up here willing to put in the time and miles when it comes to walk in hunts. Good luck!

 

[Snyd]

Because of the nature of the terrain, the winding Haul Rd and having to be 5 miles off the road to shoot, you may have to hike 10 miles to get 5 miles off the road! Been there done that a few times.

 

[Bambistew]

Walk in until you run into the fly-in hunters then keep walking. JK

Good luck. Just go for it and don't worry about out pacing the next guy, because you won't.

 

[Jimbob]

I'm not in Alaska but I'll share my experience from BC.

It is amazing that in all of the vast wilderness we have that no matter what you still run into other hunters.

Guys fly into a lake someone is there.
You got horses and ride in you still find other hunters
You hire a guide and fly in or ride in and locals have got into those spots as well.
You find an old obscure trail on a map, hike in 16 miles and see not tracks, then opening morning as you are glassing a band of rams there comes 4 hunters hiking up the mountain blowing everything for you.

So do your best to find a place you can access that looks like it will hold game and go for it. Most likely you will run into other people no matter how far you go (if Alaska is anything like BC).

 

[22lr]

Walked 14miles into the Wrangells 2 days before opening, and while we saw zero other road guys on the way in, but heard pipers non stop. Like said above, its hard to out hike crowd since half the crowd has wings.

 

[jhm2023]

I have hiked into the same place of the Brooks every year for the past 6 years. Due to the curving of the road and the way the terrain is, it takes me 12-15 miles of hiking to get to where the sheep usually are just outside of the 5 mile corridor. I rarely see other people and if I do it's people accessing the area by horse or super cub. It's a 50+ mile round trip on average. It's a great place and I've enjoyed every minute in that area but the winter of 2019/2020 nearly destroyed the sheep population in that area. I would typically see 40-60 sheep with at least a half dozen or more (that I could tell) legal rams. Last year I only saw 13 sheep. 12 were rams that were 3/4 curl and smaller and one was a ewe without a lamb. Pretty disheartening. It's an aspect worth considering, not just for success rates but to also help the sheep out when the population is struggling. There's always a few grizz in that area too. I'll likely stay out of that area for several years and hope the population recovers. Luckily I live in Tok which affords the opportunity to hunt in the park in the Wrangells, so I'll likely hike into there this year.

If you can find an area that the terrain allows it, a hike in float out style hunt is the best way I've found to get further into the mountains and back out when you can't afford to or don't want to pay to fly in and out. If you're not a resident or within 2nd degree of kindred try finding an area that has opportunities at caribou while you tag along for the hunt. Regardless if anything is killed or not, though I do prefer to eat sheep, a week or more spent in sheep country is time well spent. For me it's my annual reset to decompress and escape the world for a little while.

Enjoy and good luck.

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[Bambistew]

If you want to reduce the chances of seeing people, go in August 21 or later. About 60% of all sheep hunting is done in the first 10 days, another 20-25% in the next 10, and the rest of the season sees very little to no pressure. Conditions get worse obviously the longer you wait, but on a walk in hunt, they don't really affect you like it would say a fly in hunt.

Good luck, you'll have a good time regardless. As jhm2023 eluded to, sheep got hammered in many areas of the state last year. Late crusting snows in some areas of the Books, and deep snow in the Talkeetnas and Alaska range. Success rates were down a bit last year in some areas, as were the number of hunters.

 

[Nick Muche]

Bad advice Bambi, everyone knows you need to be out there 3-4 days before the opener!

 

[Jimbob]

If you want to reduce the chances of seeing people, go in August 21 or later. About 60% of all sheep hunting is done in the first 10 days, another 20-25% in the next 10, and the rest of the season sees very little to no pressure. Conditions get worse obviously the longer you wait, but on a walk in hunt, they don't really affect you like it would say a fly in hunt.

Good luck, you'll have a good time regardless. As jhm2023 eluded to, sheep got hammered in many areas of the state last year. Late crusting snows in some areas of the Books, and deep snow in the Talkeetnas and Alaska range. Success rates were down a bit last year in some areas, as were the number of hunters.

Last year my son shot his ram opening day (August 1st) and three hours later we bumped into other hunters, I feel like they would have killed that ram if we hadn't. Felt like we won the race to the legal ram.

However, I went to a very popular sheep hunting place on August 7th and it was empty. The previous week it was crawling with hunters. We still glassed up multiple legal rams, no archery shot though. So it was worth it to wait.

My Buddy has hunted just about every august opener for the last 8 or so years but he and his son both killed rams in September with no one around.

If you really want to get away from people then Yes waiting would be a good idea, I'm guessing you have the same odds of harvesting as well.

 

[LivinGood]

Speaking of bad weather... The interior just got plenty of it. Heavy, wet snow followed up with cold temps to really lock it down. Usually not a good combo for sheep late in the spring. Hopefully the mountains get some warm temps sooner rather then later.

 

[wildwilderness]

Speaking of bad weather... The interior just got plenty of it. Heavy, wet snow followed up with cold temps to really lock it down. Usually not a good combo for sheep late in the spring. Hopefully the mountains get some warm temps sooner rather then later.

Which areas of the interior hit the snow? I know Fairbanks got a bit? The Brooks? Towards the DCUA?

 

[Nick Muche]

We got a pile in Fairbanks, but the storm was mostly W and North of Fairbanks, then the storm headed East. Too far south for the Brooks I believe and may have skirted the northern portions of the AK Range.

 

[z987k]

There's that eastern brooks non motorized area. It'd be a lot of work, but I'd imagine you'd be mostly alone.

 

[Nick Muche]

There's that eastern brooks non motorized area. It'd be a lot of work, but I'd imagine you'd be mostly alone.

Huh?

 

[Snyd]

Which areas of the interior hit the snow? I know Fairbanks got a bit? The Brooks? Towards the DCUA?

ya, we got hit hard here in downtown Fairbanks. My buddy lives off the Alcan by DCUA. He got over a foot in his yard.

 

[wildwilderness]

Hopefully it melts fast, but it looks like some cold will stick around this week

 

[GRUBECHA]

Thanks to everyone for the responses, definitely some helpful info

 

[z987k]

Huh?

I looked up the exact name. Sheep in the eastern brooks range management area within 25A is non-aircraft, which for that area is more or less the same as non-motorized. It's also resident only.