Pope's Sheep hunt

[Vek]

Congrats.  From one who knows, that place takes years off your life. 

[Wacenturion]

Awesome ram, awesome pictures and awesome story.  Thanks for sharing your great adventure with all of us.

[Ironhead]

AWESOME! Congrats

[Hawkeye270]

So what did you decide to do as far as the mount goes?  Did you bring horns and cape home or leave in AK?  Full body or shoulder?  Which taxidermist?
I'm still anxiously/patiently waiting for mine to get done. Been just over a year now but should be done any day

[saylean]

Everyone has already said it, but I will say it again. Congrats Pope. Some of that landscape looks like an old bombing range. The fact you had a guide say he is no hurry, wanting you to enjoy your hunt is nice to hear. I can also relate and respect the way you took time to give thanks to the moment and animal. Very well done Pope. Enjoy it. Thanks for sharing.

[Whitpirate]

Cant wait to see the horns in person and read about it in the WA Sheep mag   Great hunt Pope.  Love that flat shooting 6.5!

[MuleySniper]

Dude looks and sounds like an awesome hunt! Congrats on a stud ram. You have some bad ass pictures to go along with the memory also.
MS

[Netminder01]

What a cool hunt and thanks for taking us along with you on this trip through posts & pics.  Amazing and congrats!

[bearpaw]

Wow, that was an awesome adventure and thanks for such great pictures and inspiring story. 

[Fishhuntmike]

Outstanding writeup!  You gave me an idea of what my dream hunt would be.  A couple years ago I was planning to do a Wrangle trip for this year as I will turn 50 but could not make it happen financially (although wife approved of trip).  It certainly looks harder than I imagined with more rugged country as well.  Reminds me of my 30th bday McKinley trip.

Now that you put some time in that rugged country what would be your Dslr 2 lens or 1 lens recommendation for a trip in that place assuming you had the smaller non-full frame camera sensor?  How did you like your 100-400?  What wide angle lens did you take?  Awesome photography in that harsh and somewhat sterile environment!

Very cool.  Thanks for sharing!

Mike

[popeshawnpaul]

Outstanding writeup!  You gave me an idea of what my dream hunt would be.  A couple years ago I was planning to do a Wrangle trip for this year as I will turn 50 but could not make it happen financially (although wife approved of trip).  It certainly looks harder than I imagined with more rugged country as well.  Reminds me of my 30th bday McKinley trip.

Now that you put some time in that rugged country what would be your Dslr 2 lens or 1 lens recommendation for a trip in that place assuming you had the smaller non-full frame camera sensor?  How did you like your 100-400?  What wide angle lens did you take?  Awesome photography in that harsh and somewhat sterile environment!

Very cool.  Thanks for sharing!

Mike

Next time I would only bring one body.  I could also make a case to leave the 100-400 home.  In that particular spot, there were no other animals other than sheep and pika.  No ptarmigan, etc.  The shorter focal lengths I took most of my images from.  I brought a 24-105L.  Some zoom in that range would be perfect.  I could also make a case for just bringing the 24mm pancake lens with a body.  Most of my shots were at 24mm at it would save weight.

[popeshawnpaul]

So what did you decide to do as far as the mount goes?  Did you bring horns and cape home or leave in AK?  Full body or shoulder?  Which taxidermist?
I'm still anxiously/patiently waiting for mine to get done. Been just over a year now but should be done any day

Great question!  I've been pondering this still.  Right now it's at Knights Taxidermy in Anchorage and they are going to tan the hide at minimum for me.  They charge $1,100 for a shoulder mount which seemed steep to me, but they are guaranteeing it done by Christmas.  If I bring it down to the lower 48, I'm certain I'll get it by Christmas of 2017.  I hate waiting that long for this particular mount.  I'm leaning toward just leaving it here and have them ship it all done to me by X-mas. 

Anyone have thoughts on this or experience with Knights?  Seems the reviews I've found are good.  Looks like they also had some TV show for a while but I've never seen it.

[Fishhuntmike]

Thanks Shawn for the lens recommendation. 

How about your feet?  Are you happy with your boots?  Would you do anything different next time?

Thanks again!

Mike

[huntnnw]

  Fantastic

[BULLBLASTER]

Awesome sheep,story,and pics. I didn't know what to look at in the trophy pics. The sheep is awesome but then my eyes wandered to the mountains in the background! Amazing!