I had always dreamed of Alaska, ever since I was a little kid. My obsession with Alaska started when I was given a national geographic book about Alaska when I was 10 years old. Ever since then I have been completely engulfed in desire to experience such an impressive place. Last year, April of 2024, after graduation my wife and I decided to move to Alaska. We had no reason to go anywhere in particular, so we decided why not. She has always supported me in every crazy idea I’ve had. It wasn’t long after deciding to move that we found ourselves working jobs we had never worked in a place we had never been and didn’t know a single soul. The first year was rough, trying to build a community, recoup moving expenses, and learn the ins and outs of life in Alaska. Worst of all was waiting the year to get residency, as a non-resident I couldn’t afford to hunt, not to mention that all my hunting experience was in the high desert of Arizona which couldn’t be more different than Alaska, so I was completely clueless to how and where to hunt.
As we slowly began to meet people and learn about the area it became very apparent that hunting, particularly sheep hunting, which I had always dreamed of, was much different than I had convinced myself it would be and I’d be better off asking for someone’s firstborn than for information on where to go to find a legal ram. Deciding that I should find something else to focus on I had planned a bear hunt with my brothers, and we had all but finalized it when I got the news that I got a sheep tag. It was in an area with fairly low success and according to everyone I talked to had low sheep population, but having an area to hunt was excuse enough to go on the hunt. I got lots of info from people that had had this tag before, some of whom are on this site so thank you to them. I had dreamed of sheep hunting and had a place to try so I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity. I immediately got to work calling everybody I had hunted with before trying to find someone to come with me, none of them could make it. I was bummed to say the least, having never hunted in Alaska I was hesitant to go solo so I was desperate to find someone to go with me but as I continued to ask people, they continued to have reasons they couldn’t make it. My wife was talking to her parents about my struggles and her dad said he was willing to join me on this adventure. My father-in-law is awesome, I love him like a dad, but I knew he had no idea what he was signing up for. Quite honestly, I didn’t know what I was signing up for. Knowing that beggars can’t be choosers we began to get ready for the hunt. We were both overweight, out of shape, and needed new gear. We would call each other to hold each other accountable and ensure that we were working towards getting ready and slowly but surely, we made progress.
What seemed like almost too soon, the week before the hunt arrived and my father-in-law flew up to make final adjustments to our packs and make sure everything was in order. We were scheduled to fly in opening day, but 2 days before the pilot called and said there was a big storm coming so if we wanted to get in, he would need to fly us in early or wait until the storm passed and go in after. We decided to go in before and weather the storm. We rushed to have everything ready in the morning and meet the pilot. Before we knew it, we were watching the plane leave, contemplating where to go and a little bit of wondering what we got ourselves into. It wasn't long until we had camp set up and were on our way to look for a ram. After a few hours of glassing and hiking we found a sheep. Too far to tell if he was a ram, let alone legal, but being the only sheep we had seen and his location, way up in the cliffs, we assumed he was probably. hopefully, a big old ram. As night fall approached, we headed back to camp and decided to stay the night and try to cut the distance to verify what it was in the morning.
As we slowly began to meet people and learn about the area it became very apparent that hunting, particularly sheep hunting, which I had always dreamed of, was much different than I had convinced myself it would be and I’d be better off asking for someone’s firstborn than for information on where to go to find a legal ram. Deciding that I should find something else to focus on I had planned a bear hunt with my brothers, and we had all but finalized it when I got the news that I got a sheep tag. It was in an area with fairly low success and according to everyone I talked to had low sheep population, but having an area to hunt was excuse enough to go on the hunt. I got lots of info from people that had had this tag before, some of whom are on this site so thank you to them. I had dreamed of sheep hunting and had a place to try so I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity. I immediately got to work calling everybody I had hunted with before trying to find someone to come with me, none of them could make it. I was bummed to say the least, having never hunted in Alaska I was hesitant to go solo so I was desperate to find someone to go with me but as I continued to ask people, they continued to have reasons they couldn’t make it. My wife was talking to her parents about my struggles and her dad said he was willing to join me on this adventure. My father-in-law is awesome, I love him like a dad, but I knew he had no idea what he was signing up for. Quite honestly, I didn’t know what I was signing up for. Knowing that beggars can’t be choosers we began to get ready for the hunt. We were both overweight, out of shape, and needed new gear. We would call each other to hold each other accountable and ensure that we were working towards getting ready and slowly but surely, we made progress.
What seemed like almost too soon, the week before the hunt arrived and my father-in-law flew up to make final adjustments to our packs and make sure everything was in order. We were scheduled to fly in opening day, but 2 days before the pilot called and said there was a big storm coming so if we wanted to get in, he would need to fly us in early or wait until the storm passed and go in after. We decided to go in before and weather the storm. We rushed to have everything ready in the morning and meet the pilot. Before we knew it, we were watching the plane leave, contemplating where to go and a little bit of wondering what we got ourselves into. It wasn't long until we had camp set up and were on our way to look for a ram. After a few hours of glassing and hiking we found a sheep. Too far to tell if he was a ram, let alone legal, but being the only sheep we had seen and his location, way up in the cliffs, we assumed he was probably. hopefully, a big old ram. As night fall approached, we headed back to camp and decided to stay the night and try to cut the distance to verify what it was in the morning.
