Brooks Range Dall Sheep - Foot on the gas!!!

[Naches Sportsman]

Hey Karl, a little insider tip, something to think about to maybe save some $, look at shipping stuff back non pri mail when you fly out of Bettles. Indeed Cargo is expensive. Don’t know how those villagers can afford the cargo prices with some of the stuff they send into Fairbanks and have shipped to their villages! When the villagers need pepsi, they usually ship it non pri as it’s cheaper.

[Karl Blanchard]

Hey Karl, a little insider tip, something to think about to maybe save some $, look at shipping stuff back non pri mail when you fly out of Bettles. Indeed Cargo is expensive. Don’t know how those villagers can afford the cargo prices with some of the stuff they send into Fairbanks and have shipped to their villages! When the villagers need pepsi, they usually ship it non pri as it’s cheaper.

oh yeah well aware. I'm not worried about a few hundred extra bucks to get my gear home. I'll be home for 4 whole days before I roll out for MT elk so need all my gear home asap.

Good luck, I'm well aware of the over 40 effect.  You gotta be much more picky about what you want to accomplish and focus on that.  The days of doing it all, eating garbage, drinking the bar dry, sleeping a couple hours and then doing it all again seem to be much more difficult to pull off, especially once I hit 45.  On the other side of the coin, it's pretty amazing what an old guy can do, I remember being surprised when my old man could walk, much less run once he hit the ancient age of 40.

I hear that. Luckily I eat relatively clean except for the occasional bender on a fishing trip or turkey hunt and I don't drink any beer or booze. Funny you bring up sleep. I've put deliberate effort into sleeping 8hrs a night, though with a 0400 wake up, I don't always succeed.

[grundy53]

Following along. I always love reading about your adventures. Good luck and have fun!

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[Caseknife]

Sounds like it will be a wonderful trip of a lifetime.  Stay safe and kill a good ram.  Looking forward to the "rest of the story".

[Karl Blanchard]

Speaking of gear, Hear is the full breakdown on gear. I'm normally not much of an ounce counter and I pack what I want to be comfortable in the backcountry but figured my "kit" was due for a good perging. I also went to town with a havalon on excess strapping and "fluff" on my pack. Ended up trimming almost a pound out of my pack 

Sleep system
• Kifaru 20° slick bag
• Thermarest Uber light
• Inflatable pillow
• Seat to summit closed cell short pad

Cook system
• Pocket rocket
• TI cup
• TI spoon x2
• 10ltr water bladder
• 1ltr bladders x3
• 32oz Gatorade bottle
• Fuel x2

Meat care
• Havalon
• Contractor bag x2
• 80ltr dry bag
• Game bags
• Extra blades

Misc Pack Contents
• crocs
• electrical tape
• Pack rain cover
• Puffy pants
• Puffy coat
• Rain gear
• Headlamps x2
• Phone scope
• Spotting scope
• Tripod
• Phone cord
• Battery banks
• Extra AAA batt
• 550 cord
• Aquamira drops
• Bug head net
• UL tarp/stakes
• Zoleo

Clothes
• Darn tough over the calf socks x2
• Firstlight merino t shirt
• Firstlight Chama hoodie
• Sitka timberline pant or Prana zion (undecided)
• Puffy vest
• Mechanics gloves
• Fingerless wool gloves and liners
• Beanie
• Lightweight neck gaiter
• Outdoor Research gaiters

Toiletries
• Benadryl
• Ibuprofen
• Tooth brush
• Floss pick
• Toothpaste
• Contacts stuff
• Gold bond
• Wet wipes (dried)

Weapon
• HCA 28 Nosler
• Spartan javelin bipod
• 20 rounds of ammo

Air strip misc stuff
• Bear fence
• Camp chair
• Extra kill kit for bear/caribou
• Diet Pepsi's
• Fishing rod/reel/tackle

My brother is carrying our med kit as well as our tent. Shelter for this trip will be a Hilleberg Anjan 3.  Chosen pack on this one will be a Kifaru crater on a 24" duplex light frame. I'll have a gun bearer, nalgene pocket, and medium belt pocket on it. I also added an xpac guide lid which bumps the whole setup to a bit over 9,000ci.  All loaded up with gear, 12 days food, and rifle my pack is at exactly 64lb 2oz.  I'll carry on my pack with optics, clothes, and sleeping bag. Everything else fit in a 50qt cooler and the gun case.

Side note on the two pads. So I have a pile of sleeping pads. One for any possible use. I normally carry a 4 section chunk of an old foam pad for a seat cushion but traded it in for the full short pad. What this did was 1, buy me a little redundancy if my inflatable goes down and 2, bumps my R value using it in conjunction with my lighter inflatable and gives me an overall weight savings. To match that R value I'd have to bump up to the neoair and then when you add in the butt pad it ends up being a good bit more weight.

[Karl Blanchard]

It’s incredible country with a ton of history! It’ll burn into your soul. I know sheep numbers have been sliding in there but there has to be a few hiding somewhere.

Are you going to buy a bear tag and get a sheep locking tag as well? Always a nice option without having to buy two tags. I’ve seen some incredible mountain grizzlies in the Brooks.

Good luck!

my brother and I have had many talks about this and each time we come to the same conclusion...we are there to hunt sheep. He will have his griz tag and stack of caribou tags but unless we get charged while waiting for our ride on the last day and have to shoot our way out, we aren't going to burn precious days dealing with non target species. Obviously we could always luck out and have something pop up close by base camp in which we would have to decide if It would be worth the extra $5,700 to come get it 😬

[MtnMuley]

...........you lost me at "short pad".......and "diet pepsi".....

[Karl Blanchard]

...........you lost me at "short pad".......and "diet pepsi".....

HAHA!!!

[huntnnw]

Cant wait for pics! dream hunt!

[2MANY]

As always your level of detail is so impressive.

I know you will have a dream trip especially since no motorcycles are involved..

[ganghis]

Looks like an awesome hunt!  Don't forget to add toilet paper to your list

Also, not sure how late you're going, but DEET / netting / thermacell could be handy if mosquitos are still around.

[Karl Blanchard]

Looks like an awesome hunt!  Don't forget to add toilet paper to your list

Also, not sure how late you're going, but DEET / netting / thermacell could be handy if mosquitos are still around.

I've got two Costco packs of wetwipes packed. I let them dry out to shave most of their packed weight and then you add water to them once you get where you're going.

As for bugs, my brother is packing his thermacell and we both have head nets.  I despise deet so I'll wear my rain gear all week if they are that bad  not sure if Michael is packing any or not.

[kellama2001]

Tagging along. Sounds like the hunt of a lifetime! Wishing you and your brother all the best 👍🏻

[NRA4LIFE]

I would do a test wipe with those before you go.  I ran out of butt wipe one day way back in the bush and resorted to a clorox wipe.  I will not do that again.

[Karl Blanchard]

I would do a test wipe with those before you go.  I ran out of butt wipe one day way back in the bush and resorted to a clorox wipe.  I will not do that again.

😆😆😆 yeah that sounds bad.  These are for sure baby wipes haha