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DALL STORY
Hi Everyone,
I took the season off from guiding sheep for Dan Montgomery so that I could go hunting sheep myself with my partner Todd Walton. We spent 17 days in August up in the Arctic and had a fantastic "outing" (backpacking experience). After being grounded in Kaktovik on Barter Island in the Artic Ocean, due to weather, we finally got flown in to the Kongakut drainage in the Eastern Brooks Range. We hike for miles and saw lots of animals, including caribou, grizzlies, muskox and moose. Unfortunately, the only sheep we saw were lots of ewes and lambs and a few small rams. Try as we might, we couldn't locate a legal ram. We feasted on beautiful Arctic Char that Todd caught and really had a fantastic time hunting together (much different than guiding). In fact Todd did so much work, that I felt like a client. When our time was up, we both felt anxious to continue our hunt until successful. But, Todd had to go back to work and I had obligations in Ketchikan.
By the time I got home, I had already formulated "a plan" to go back for a 2nd try. Although we planned to hunt together again, it worked out that Todd hiked back into the Brooks alone and I flew up to Anchorage/Wasilla hoping my "old boss" Dan Montgomery could help "cure" my sheep fever. Dan had called and said he'd located a few good rams and 2 of them were "accessible" from the Glen Highway. After arriving in Anchorage, I got into Dan's supercub and flew up the Matanuska River and into a side drainage. Dan showed me (from the air) where to park the truck and which trail to take up the valley. About 6 miles from the end of the road he showed me a basin where a couple of nice rams were living. He spotted them up on the ridgeline and took me in for a look. One look was all I needed to realize that one of the rams was exactly what I was looking for.
Back at Dan's house that evening, I loaded my pack for a 4-5 day hunt, even though Dan seemed to think it might be possible to get all the way in and out in a day. I was worried about the rainy weather and poor visibility common to these mountains and didn't want to risk running out of food or camping in the rain without a tent. I took the "normal" amount of stuff. It took me about 6 hours the next morning to get all the way up the river to the mouth of the basin the rams were in, and I had spotted them a couple times feeding near the saddle in the back end. The wind was poor (blowing toward the rams) so I pitched my tent and dumped out all but the essentials for the hunt. I started working up the back side of the ridge, trying to keep my scent blowing up the main river rather than into the basin. I could see the rams bedded right in the saddle about 2 miles away. I continued to climb and was fighting adverse wind and fog throughout the afternoon. During one break in the fog I saw the rams get up and walk out of sight over the mountain to the backside. I continued my climb, going with the old instinct that to be on top of the ridge, above the rams would put me in the best position. By 4:00 pm (10 hours after leaving the truck), I was on the ridgeline and realized this is why I was here. What a tremendous feeling to be on top of the mountain, and a steep one at that. As I picked my way through the craggy tops, I spotted 6 more rams across the basin. A couple of them looked suspiciously like the two I was stalking. I hoped they were different sheep and continued through out the ridgetop towards the saddle. Finally about 5:00 pm, I made to the very end which dropped off vertically for more than a hundred yards. I was in the fog. It had been raining (cats and dogs most of the day) and I was soaked and pre-hypothermic. I had been fighting a cold that had moved into my chest and was trying to suppress and horrible cough, when the fog cleared for a moment and I spotted one of the rams directly below me. It was the little guy that had been hanging with the 2 bigger ones. I had to shinny down onto a sloping ledge to get a better view. Sure enough, the other two were there also. I was definitely in the "drivers seat". The rams were bedded and had no idea I was there. They were beautiful. The ram I wanted was laying in a position that didn't offer me a good shot, so I lay there shivering, hope he would get up soon. Finally, after half an hour, they stood up. It was 132 yards almost vertical, and the bullet hit him in the spine between the shoulders. He dropped immediately, and rolled down the hill into a chute. I had done it! It took me 2 hours to get down to the ram, having to backtrack quite a ways, before finding a safe place to descend. After some hurried self-timer photos, I caped him out and got him about half worked up, before deciding I had just enough time to get back to my tent before dark.
I didn't account for the rainy clouds and fog. Darkness hit me half an hour before I got to the tent. Wet, cold and totally exhausted, I crawled into my tent. With Payday bar and a handful of granola for dinner, I passed out and didn't stir until 8:00am. It was still foggy, but the rain had lightened up. I climbed back over the mountain to recover my ram. Although I should have made 2 loads (one for the sheep and another for my gear), I decided that the trail was so long and the river crossing so treacherous that I only wanted to make the trip once. So, I loaded all the meat, cape and horns PLUS my gear into an overstuffed pack and started the long march (crawl) out of the valley. The river I had to cross was one of the most difficult I had ever made. Lots of breaks later, I finally made it out to the road at 9:00 pm. What a feeling! Accomplishment! This is my third ram, all taken on solo hunts. My sheep fever was definitively cured, for the time being.
I was sorry that my partner Todd wasn't there and hoped that he was having success in the Brooks. As it turned out, he did spot some rams, but got fogged in for several days and had to pull out before it cleared. I gave Todd the instructions on how to get back in there, for there are at least two more good rams in the valley I had left. I'll be talking to him this week, hoping he'll get get a chance to go after them on the last 3 days of the season.
Lots of expeditions to come!
Your friend, Ed
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