tam9492
WKR
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2016
- Messages
- 909
Heading down to Sonora in late February. Can. Not. Wait.
Freshman Class of 2023- who is in it?
- Thread starter mtwarden
- Start date
You will be in great hands. Will is an awesome guy. It has been a tough few years in Alaska for sheep, but if you are going to connect on one, Will is the guy.
I hunted last year with Will and was successful. I really couldn't have been happier.
schmalzy
WKR
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2014
- Messages
- 1,581
Excited for each of you going this year, wish I was going again!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
justinspicher
WKR
I got my work schedule and August is wide open so unless there is some major life event, I will heading back up to Alaska to hunt sheep again!
diamond10x
WKR
I am getting the final touches on my first sheep hunt done. Beyond excited is an understatement! 2023 can't get here fast enough. Having a bit of a difficulty finding a partner but I'm going solo if I have to. Only thing that might throw a wrench in my plans is if I draw a goat tag next season.
Oof, seems a bit steep for resident tags.Don't think I qualify as a freshman but yes, I will be spending my $45 CDN to get a sheep, grizzly and caribou tag and, barring some catastrophe, be at it again in 2023.
I'm not sure I'm technically still a freshman for 2023 because I went on my first sheep hunt in 2022 (but I'm still in the less than 1 club not to mention I still feel like a freshman). My son-in-law lives in AK and we took advantage of his residency. I've hunted a lot in the west and spent some time in SE working in a logging camp and doing some goat hunting in SE so I hard a pretty good sense of what I was getting into. Prior to the hunt I convinced another buddy of mine to take a trip to AK with me to do some scouting. I wanted to have some experience with the logistics along with seeing whether any rams were in the area or not. We had no intel to this area but by a little luck and probably over 40 hours of research/calls, we ended up in our area.
The scouting trip was perfect - we saw lots of sheep, moose, grizzly - it was looking to be an epic hunt. We established where to camp, located water, etc. The scouting trip also provided some real life exposure to this country. I've hunted the Frank for the past 5/6 years, hunted SE AK, etc.... but nothing was quite like this area. I've been on knife ridges before but not necessarily for hours upon hours where a fall goes unstopped for about 1,500 feet. While the scouting trip helped provide perspective for me in preparation of the hunt, my son-in-law was a strong young man but didn't have a lot of mountain experience. He eventually got used to the "no fall zones" during the hunt but it took a handful of days.
Fast forward to the hunt - we ended up spending 11 nights in the area we chose to hunt. We saw sheep everyday and overall we saw 10 rams all of which were sublegal. A great trip but we plan to do some things different for 2023 and hopefully apply some lessons learned. I'm probably the last person that anyone wants to take advice from with respect to sheep hunting but here are somethings for someone who has never sheep hunted to think about as they go into their 2023 season:
1. We were not mobile enough. We hiked in from the strip approximately 11 miles and because in our scouting trip we saw all the sheep at this range we unfortunately didn't plan to go any farther. We obviously hunted beyond this range but didn't make plans to ever relocate camp. We saw three other rams another 5-6 miles out - so now we are pushing 20 miles from the strip - and regrettably didn't pursue these rams. These rams still haunt me. I was too focused on finding something nearby and didn't have a contingency plan in the event the rams where elsewhere.
2. Full curl is not all that easy to determine - no body wants to shoot a sub legal ram and go through the embarrassment of having a ram taken not to mention they are such majestic animals and out of respect we owe it to them to follow the rules. On the other side of the coin I didn't want us to pass up a ram that was legal because I thought it was sublegal. It's hard to have the discipline and experience to judge these animals. And short of having experience with hunting sheep year over year, there really is no substitute for learning how to age and judge rams.
3. Timing - we hunted early September and had almost perfect weather. However, the taxi service had dropped off four other hunting parties before us spread out over the month of August. I'm almost certain all of the previous parties hunted/camped in the same areas we did. I'm guessing that the first group would have witnessed unpressured animal behavior compared to what we experienced. Being the first ones in can make a difference when there are only one or two legal rams to choose from.
4. No fall zones - not all hunting areas are created equal. And there were other areas in our unit that were easier to get around and other areas where we didn't hunt that would have required climbing gear. Mentally you have to be prepared to go where the rams are - anything short of that and you're just hoping to get lucky.
Again, I share this to help myself memorialize what I learned and not so much on what the incoming class should do. There are plenty of others on this website that can speak to how to kill rams and they have the trophy rooms to prove it.
The scouting trip was perfect - we saw lots of sheep, moose, grizzly - it was looking to be an epic hunt. We established where to camp, located water, etc. The scouting trip also provided some real life exposure to this country. I've hunted the Frank for the past 5/6 years, hunted SE AK, etc.... but nothing was quite like this area. I've been on knife ridges before but not necessarily for hours upon hours where a fall goes unstopped for about 1,500 feet. While the scouting trip helped provide perspective for me in preparation of the hunt, my son-in-law was a strong young man but didn't have a lot of mountain experience. He eventually got used to the "no fall zones" during the hunt but it took a handful of days.
Fast forward to the hunt - we ended up spending 11 nights in the area we chose to hunt. We saw sheep everyday and overall we saw 10 rams all of which were sublegal. A great trip but we plan to do some things different for 2023 and hopefully apply some lessons learned. I'm probably the last person that anyone wants to take advice from with respect to sheep hunting but here are somethings for someone who has never sheep hunted to think about as they go into their 2023 season:
1. We were not mobile enough. We hiked in from the strip approximately 11 miles and because in our scouting trip we saw all the sheep at this range we unfortunately didn't plan to go any farther. We obviously hunted beyond this range but didn't make plans to ever relocate camp. We saw three other rams another 5-6 miles out - so now we are pushing 20 miles from the strip - and regrettably didn't pursue these rams. These rams still haunt me. I was too focused on finding something nearby and didn't have a contingency plan in the event the rams where elsewhere.
2. Full curl is not all that easy to determine - no body wants to shoot a sub legal ram and go through the embarrassment of having a ram taken not to mention they are such majestic animals and out of respect we owe it to them to follow the rules. On the other side of the coin I didn't want us to pass up a ram that was legal because I thought it was sublegal. It's hard to have the discipline and experience to judge these animals. And short of having experience with hunting sheep year over year, there really is no substitute for learning how to age and judge rams.
3. Timing - we hunted early September and had almost perfect weather. However, the taxi service had dropped off four other hunting parties before us spread out over the month of August. I'm almost certain all of the previous parties hunted/camped in the same areas we did. I'm guessing that the first group would have witnessed unpressured animal behavior compared to what we experienced. Being the first ones in can make a difference when there are only one or two legal rams to choose from.
4. No fall zones - not all hunting areas are created equal. And there were other areas in our unit that were easier to get around and other areas where we didn't hunt that would have required climbing gear. Mentally you have to be prepared to go where the rams are - anything short of that and you're just hoping to get lucky.
Again, I share this to help myself memorialize what I learned and not so much on what the incoming class should do. There are plenty of others on this website that can speak to how to kill rams and they have the trophy rooms to prove it.
- Thread Starter
- #32
- Thread Starter
- #33
well.....
I've sent in a check to the outfitter for half the hunt (less the deposit made two years ago)
I've made my airline reservations (to Fairbanks & return)
I've made my hotel reservations for my first days there, still need to book a room for my last day there
I've talked to the taxidermist (who is also the expeditor that the outfitter uses), happens to be in the same town which makes it handy
Outfitter will soon be sending info on securing licenses and the charter flight from Fairbanks to the lodge
I've been hiking our single tracks daily and strength training twice a week
Gear list is getting honed
just 190 days to go
I've sent in a check to the outfitter for half the hunt (less the deposit made two years ago)
I've made my airline reservations (to Fairbanks & return)
I've made my hotel reservations for my first days there, still need to book a room for my last day there
I've talked to the taxidermist (who is also the expeditor that the outfitter uses), happens to be in the same town which makes it handy
Outfitter will soon be sending info on securing licenses and the charter flight from Fairbanks to the lodge
I've been hiking our single tracks daily and strength training twice a week
Gear list is getting honed
just 190 days to go
Cbf6768
FNG
I’m in the class as well- hunting w Luke Tyrell Aug 19, 2023- excited to say the least- reading all this has me even more stoked- will have sheep, griz and caribou tag- bringing my 300PRC and my brother in law is tagging along carrying my 6.5PRC
Looks like Luke has had a pretty good 2022 and 2021- hope 2023 is as well!
Looks like Luke has had a pretty good 2022 and 2021- hope 2023 is as well!
- Thread Starter
- #38
Are you both sheep hunting?
Cbf6768
FNG
Yes I’m specifically hunting sheep but will also have tags for caribou and griz
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