out of the <1 club :)

[mxgsfmdpx]

Thanks!



they still count rings, but evidently will sometimes pull a tooth to check against their ring count; the outfitter heard that the tooth generally revealed an older ram vs the ring count

there is an outfit in Montana (maybe others) that do it

https://matsonslab.com/how-to/ship-your-teeth/

The saying “long in the tooth” is a real thing haha. Just don’t let them pull one of your teeth @mtwarden. We all already know you’re ancient

 

[mtwarden]

^ that’s a fact!

 

[Indyal]

Congratulations and well done! Great story and pics.

 

[7mm-08]

Fabulous writeup. That was a real pleasure to read. Congratulations on your ram. Sounds like you had a heck of an adventure. I'm sure you'll agree, Alaska is impossible to comprehend until you've hunted it. Glad you're home safe and sound. As you (now) know, the logistics there are formidable - distance, weather (and the list goes on) are real challenges.

 

[hobbes]

Congrats.

State employment doesn't exactly set a person up to do many hunts like this without some sacrifice and planning. Glad you could do it. Gives me hope.

 

[mtwarden]

Thanks Guys!

Congrats.

State employment doesn't exactly set a person up to do many hunts like this without some sacrifice and planning. Glad you could do it. Gives me hope.

No doubt; if it weren’t for my wife telling me to just do it- I’d still be only daydreaming about it!

 

[skeptic]

You pretty much set the bar with that write up for sure. I could feel the anxiety you must have felt when you were dealing with the smoke and decreased visibility after traveling all those miles. I could also feel the relief and joy you must have felt when you punched your tag. Great storytelling, poignant pictures, and a humble approach. Congratulations on your well deserved ram.

 

[idahodave]

Thanks for sharing friend.

dave

 

[roymunson]

That's the adventure you dream of!

Well done and congrats!

 

[Raschein farms]

We woke promptly at 4:30, ate a bar, loaded up and headed down for where we left our camp stuff.

I'm not going to sugar coat it, this pack out sucked! Jumping from rock to rock with a loaded pack sucked and was dangerous. I just kept reminding myself to take my time.

It probably was only about 2 miles to where we dumped our camp stuff, but seemed like a lot more.

Made it. We ate good breakfast and then the guys took a well deserved two hour nap, I was still a bit hyped up and just soaked in the views.

Our packs were plenty heavy coming down, loaded up with a camp gear they were terrible and we still had a long ways to go to get to our lake. We just took our time and took a break every half hour or so. Slowly but surely, fighting spongy tundra and lots of thick brush, we made our way to the lake. We got to camp about 11:00 PM sore and tired. We got a big fire going (it had rained on us pretty hard the last hour), tents setup and stoves fired up.

As the fire turned to coals we broke out the tenderloins, sliced thin and on a green willow stick. No spices, no nothing and it simply melted in your mouth. We kept eating until the tenderloins were gone

The guide got a message to the outfitter and he would pick us up on the lake the next morning. We were up early after a welcomed nights sleep. Got the rafts blown up and loaded and made our way to the other end of the lake.

On the way back to the lodge I told him we were bringing out two racks of ribs, his eyes lit up- that's a good sign. He knew exactly what he was doing with the ribs.

Now I've heard on Rokslide how good sheep ribs were, but they were beyond words- possibly the best thing I've ever ate! Oh and they had cold beer too! An ingenious refrigerator- 55 gallon drums sunk into the ground and the permafrost. Keeps stuff cool all summer and keeps stuff from freezing in cold weather.

Didn't go to bed until midnight that night, but was up early as the packer (guide) and I were headed out for several days trying to locate a good grizzly- my guide was waiting at the lodge for another sheep hunter who was flying early.

My view from the front of my cabin.

We were taken up the lake via jet boat and headed upriver. This was straight tundra with no reprieve and even though we didn't climb a lot, it was tough walking. Trying to keep up with a 6' 4" 22 year old was challenging enough!

We eventually found a nice spot to camp- dry, level and water close by.

A couple of miles upriver from our camp we found a great glassing spot that covered a large expanse of what looked like good grizzly country.

We spent four days glassing from this spot and saw 6 different grizzlies. One grizzly walked right below us at under 300 yards. This was a large, beautifully colored grizzly- probably 7' nose to tail. It was a tough call, but I passed as I was looking for something a little larger yet. The arctic grizzly doesn't get as large as their southern brethren due to the very short time they are out of their dens and no fatty salmon to dine on. But definitely not small.

On day three we glassed up a very large boar, large enough that I was very interested. He was low like the other we had seen previously, but after an hour or so, we lost him. Two hours of glassing and the guide pointed up to a very high basin; I looked through my spotter and without any doubt this was the boar we saw low (they tend to have very distinctive coats).

He was high enough that it looked like he was heading for a pass that would lead to the next drainage. We watched him feed for almost four hours and he never made it to that pass- simply bouncing back and forth feeding. We thought it would take us at least 3 hours (and a pretty tough ford of a high creek). That would put us there right at dark and decided the prudent move was wait until early morning and see if he was still there and then make our move.

Sadly we couldn't glass him up the next morning. We had hoped he might might have retraced his steps and came back down low, but 4-5 hours we couldn't turn him up.

We found out the weather was turning for the worse and that we should consider getting out while we still could. We hiked back to camp, loaded up and hiked to a small lake he could land on. Turned out to be a good consideration as the wind was howling and we barely were able to get out. One of the sheep camps weren't as fortunate and had run out of food, but couldn't be reached- luckily they had a ram down so they weren't going to starve

I had one day to lounge at the lodge and eat to my hearts content (I might have a couple of beers too!). Some of the other hunters and guides were back and we got to swap stories AND eat more sheep ribs!

My travel back to Montana was long, but went smoothly. It was nice to get home to my wife (and dog).

I'll have to say that the adventure even exceeded by rather high expectations. The outfitter, guides and other workers were top notch and super friendly. It was more like visiting relatives than strangers. I doubt I ever get the chance to hunt Alaska again, but have the satisfaction of this trip to relive.

Thanks for reading.

I was the guy that got the sheep last year on that steep mountain and Britton was a great guide, awesome to see that country again! I wish I could be back in there again this year, there was a giant ram with the one I got but couldn’t get a shot at him! Congrats

 

[mtwarden]

Thanks Guys!

I was the guy that got the sheep last year on that steep mountain and Britton was a great guide, awesome to see that country again! I wish I could be back in there again this year, there was a giant ram with the one I got but couldn’t get a shot at him! Congrats

Excellent- that was a rugged looking mofo!

Yeah Britton is great (his brother Brooks too); hoping to get together with those guys for a trip a little closer to home

 

[Suera]

Congrats, thanks for share, what and adventure and a trophy. This is a dreamlife hunt

 

[Fowler530]

Great story and pics! Congrats and thanks for sharing your awesome adventure!

 

[ssgjpd]

great write up and congrats.

 

[KingGus]

Nice one man!

 

[mtwarden]

Thanks a bunch Fellas!

 

[Doepee]

Thanks for sharing, truly an awesome adventure!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[156821]

Well done sir. Great pictures.

 

[WashedUp1775]

Awesome story and pics, thank you for sharing! Congrats!!!

 

[Ratamahatta]

I do have a question for you, does the cork ball work?