Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Other Big Game => Topic started by: Vek on August 17, 2010, 02:49:31 PM

Title: AK Dall
Post by: Vek on August 17, 2010, 02:49:31 PM: Got a double broomer last week. 34" on the long side, 13.5" bases. Solo hunt in big country.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Lowedog on August 17, 2010, 02:56:32 PM: Very cool! Congrats!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: vandeman17 on August 17, 2010, 03:00:29 PM: That looks intense and like quite the adventure! Well done!!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: quadrafire on August 17, 2010, 03:04:19 PM: Very nice!!! How bout a good story to go with the great pics?
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on August 17, 2010, 03:08:40 PM: Very Nice!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: whacker1 on August 17, 2010, 03:10:46 PM: Wow - great pics on great animal
Any story for us?
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: WAcoyotehunter on August 17, 2010, 03:13:43 PM: NICE WORK!!! That camp looks pretty rough!!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Austrian Hunter on August 17, 2010, 03:14:45 PM: That's cool, nice pics and congrats... Kudos for being on a solo hunt in the big country :tup:
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: chevysquid on August 17, 2010, 03:15:26 PM: Now that's how you do it! Great pictures of the mountains too.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: PAW66 on August 17, 2010, 03:19:59 PM: Congrats on a nice animal. Tough country for a great hunt
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: RustneckNW on August 17, 2010, 03:20:31 PM: So cool! Looks like a lot of hard work paid off really well for you!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: bucklucky on August 17, 2010, 04:52:12 PM: Nice job and great pics of camp and the surrounding mountains! Looks like a dream hunt right there!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: high country on August 17, 2010, 04:57:24 PM: man I am glad you are living the dream up there. life will prett boring when you come back down here........trust me.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: rasbo on August 17, 2010, 04:58:08 PM: living the dream through you guys,,,great work, and Im sure there was lots of it
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Gringo31 on August 17, 2010, 05:10:32 PM: Congrats!

But, we need a detailed story!!!!!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: boneaddict on August 17, 2010, 05:30:56 PM: Hes too damn modest or humble. That hunt was absolutely epic and would leave 99.99999% of the population of hunters in this world gasping for air. What an AWESOME adventure. I am jealous beyond all thought process. (ina good way). Congrats in a big way. I know you will top it, but again AWESOME HUNT.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: JPhelps on August 17, 2010, 05:33:22 PM: Jerry,

Congratulations on the Ram! EPIC hunt. Sounds like this hunt one upped all of your backcountry hunts here in Washington.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: bowhunterforever on August 17, 2010, 05:59:01 PM: Nice ram, congrats :drool: That would be an awsome hunt
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: jameslong on August 17, 2010, 06:05:48 PM: I would love to experience something like that. So extreme in every aspect. Congratulations on doing something I've only dreamed of. :) And thanks for the great pics.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: seth30 on August 17, 2010, 06:16:33 PM: I thought to hunt the sheep, moose, and bear in AK you had to be a resident or if not you had to have a guide?? Nice sheep!!!! Man that is a dream hunt there!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: hogsniper on August 17, 2010, 06:21:38 PM: Awesome pics! Sure a dream hunt for sure!!! SOMEDAY!!!!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Vek on August 17, 2010, 08:14:38 PM: Thanks guys. I moved up here in 2007, and I'll be back down there before too long. I wanted to get a good sheep in the process and it's happened.

Here's a real brief timeline:

8/6 flew into airstrip on glacier. Hiked to top of main glacier (easy walking on rotted ice and hard moraine rock) and saw only goats.

8/7 hiked down to intersection of main and big branch glacier. Things get rougher as you get lower with crevasses and a lot more surface rock, causing weird melting patterns, big hills, and big holes.

8/8 hiked halfway up branch glacier to nice camp on lateral moraine above glacier. Spotted eight rams a few more miles up, one of which had some mass.

8/9 hiked past rams up glacier, only because there was a hard-flowing river in the middle of the ice that oxbowed everywhere and left really sheer sides and slick bottom to the flow surface. Took and extra couple miles to get high enough to get above the bad oxbows and cross. Made camp on lateral moraine below ridge with rams

8/10 start hike up ridge - stupid rams are all bedded right above me and bust me barely out of my tent. They hadn't been that far over on the ridge either of the two previous days. Only two of the young ones see me and spook - the rest follow to a high castle area. Wind is favorable, weather is crap, and they can't see me, so I pursue. I hang back a bit and wait, and they start to filter back down the hill to feed, on a finger ~100 yards out. I get caught standing on the next finger but thankfully next to a tall man-shaped rock, so my skyline isn't too out of place. But, I'll be busted if I move or sit down. I wait for 3 hours bone still on the hillside in the spitting sleet, held in place by the gaze of one or more rams the whole time. Finally big guy shows, and I binoc him to make sure, sit down slow, bring up rifle, and shoot. First load of sheep down to camp that night - it's too late to bone everything and I don't want to cross a bad slide area with too much weight.

8/11 return to carcass for remainder, and flesh/salt the cape.

8/12 make 3 hour push down the stub glacier with meat. Make it about halfway to main glacier, rest, then return to camp. Leapfrog camp, cape, and horns a few miles past meat. Miserable work, starting at 7:00 am and finally laying pack down at 9:00.

8/13 Head up for meat and get it back to camp. Lunch, then push meat down to intersection of main and stub glaciers. Get back to camp right at twilight. 8:00 am to 9:30 pm, near solid work with a bit of rest and food.

8/14 Get camp past meat onto white ice strip on main glacier. Return and get meat to same place, then load up everything (130+ lbs?) and head down a nice 3 mile strip of ice before it peters out into giant rubble piles. Keep one-trip load on and head over to edge of main glacier, and hold up about five miles above takeout airstrip. Again, 8:00 - 9:30 full day, second half of which is beating sun and near-80-degree temps.

8/15 One-trip the remainder to the airstrip in five hours, staggering in like a dead man. Again, 80-degrees, sun, no wind. I'm half a day early. An hour later, air taxi flies over to look for me cause he's in the neighborhood for another dropoff. Bam, I'm back to civilization another hour later. Drive home.

I've had hard days, but never three and a half of them in a row!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: washelkhntr on August 17, 2010, 08:18:52 PM: Congrats! I'm jealous!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Ridgerunner on August 17, 2010, 08:24:46 PM: WOW, way to get it done, I knew it would happen for you, heck of a nice ram too.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: carpsniperg2 on August 17, 2010, 08:37:44 PM: congrats way cool!!! :IBCOOL:
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: PacificNWhunter on August 17, 2010, 08:44:04 PM: Outstanding Vek! Great hunt, that's my dream hunt! Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: wapiti hunter2 on August 17, 2010, 08:46:41 PM: Man, that is just awesome. Was that in the Alaska range or near the coast? Who dropped you off?
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: cohoho on August 17, 2010, 09:03:17 PM: Totally cool, what an accomplishment for sure.....
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: shanevg on August 17, 2010, 09:09:56 PM: Awesome! I am definitely jealous!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: boonerboy on August 17, 2010, 09:12:48 PM: you are a SAVAGE! Awesome....I don't think I would have made it. Great job and Great ram
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: actionshooter on August 17, 2010, 09:15:15 PM: Man, you always do it the right way! Congrats on an awesome hunt.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: huntnnw on August 18, 2010, 12:14:17 AM: :tup: awesome ,awesome! I am seriously contemplating moving up there to hunt a few of the animals before I get too old.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: PolarBear on August 18, 2010, 12:31:54 AM: Kick ass!!! Congrats man!!!!!!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: halflife65 on August 18, 2010, 06:41:38 AM: That is just awesome. Good work.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: bearhunter99 on August 18, 2010, 07:30:58 AM: Very cool, been on a couple of goat hunts there with my brother (resident so I don't need a guide). I was bow hunting though and had some slight opportunities but never released an arrow. Still had an absolute blast in the back country up there though. My brother did harvest a small goat. One bit of advice if you do it again, be careful with their regulations. My brother has a buddy that did basically what you did and they gave him a hard time about packing the horns past the meat. They are big sticklers about their rules about packing the meat out first and some of the troopers can get a little owly about it. They told him that leapfrogging the horns past the meat was technically breaking the law and could have resulted in a citation. Might be just an isolated incident with a particular trooper but you never know who you are going to see? :dunno:

Sorry for the ramble, but congrats on an outstanding hunt!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Vek on August 18, 2010, 08:36:53 AM: It crossed my mind about the order of the packout. I was ready to plead my case if necessary, citing that if meat preservation is the priority and the packout is taking a while, I'd be inclined to let the meat sit in the nice ice vaults I found rather than risking not finding such, extending the packout time, and compromising the meat. The air taxi pilot was an old sheep guide, and he mentioned specifically that the meat looked/smelled good, and I had a way bigger quantity at pickup that lots of guys do - due to a combination of a big ram and bringing everything out down to the ribs/flanks/shanks.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: high country on August 18, 2010, 08:40:40 AM: alaska game cops are reasonable, you're fine. your taxi would have turned you in otherwise.

kinda makes chelan look a bit easier now huh?......lol
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: boneaddict on August 18, 2010, 08:52:31 AM: My wife wants to know how sheep tastes. I told her let me go to AK and you'll find out. :)
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: whacker1 on August 18, 2010, 08:54:47 AM: great story - thanks for the update. You just convinced many guys including me to push a little harder this season for all our opportunities. very inspiring
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: MikeWalking on August 18, 2010, 09:00:06 AM: Arrrgggg, just as I'm coming to terms with being stuck down here a few season longer...

What part of the State? did I miss that?

I spent two weeks in '06 on the Leffingwell Fork of the Aichilik. Had 2 bands of sheep come in and out of the valley following the sun, avoiding the wind the whole time. Had two younger males, 1/2 curl 1/4 curl come down to within 50-60 feet of my tent to sniff me out...If anybody wants to pay off my Jeep so I can go back.... :chuckle:
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Ray on August 18, 2010, 09:04:11 AM: Nice looking sheep. Wish I could do that. I am envious.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Gobble on August 18, 2010, 09:38:19 AM: WoW, Great job, One of my buddies used to live in AK and has killed Dall sheep before, one of my dream hunts ;)
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Lowedog on August 18, 2010, 12:33:07 PM: This thread has been on my mind all morning. Wish I had done something like this before starting a family! I fear I will be too old by the time I could ever go off on this type of an adventure.

All you young guys who dream of an adventure like this...don't wait till it's too late!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Skyvalhunter on August 18, 2010, 01:00:58 PM: Thats why i have done 3 of them. I still keep putting for those special permit dall sheep tags every year. It's addicting!!
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Falcon on August 19, 2010, 08:32:05 PM: Vek,

Congrats on a unbelievable hunt. I went on a guided sheep hunt in the Wood River area in 07, and that was hard enough.

Going solo and getting a ram like that is a feat of a lifetime, and one I am sure you will never forget.

Thanks for sharing !
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: seth30 on August 19, 2010, 08:39:48 PM: how hard is it to get up to Canada and do the same thing? is it more cost effective?
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: actionshooter on August 19, 2010, 08:58:16 PM: Quote from: seth30 on August 19, 2010, 08:39:48 PM
how hard is it to get up to Canada and do the same thing? is it more cost effective?
guided only, if someone considers 15k cost effective, than yes. :chuckle:
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: seth30 on August 19, 2010, 08:59:14 PM: dang unless I win the lotto sheep hunting in AK is out of my reach, with my funds maybe I can afford a grouse hunt :chuckle: :chuckle:
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: seth30 on August 19, 2010, 09:02:47 PM: is all hunting in Canada guided only?
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: actionshooter on August 19, 2010, 09:12:04 PM: yes
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: PacificNWhunter on August 19, 2010, 09:26:13 PM: Love this thread, look at it everyday....congrats again vek.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Wea300mag on August 27, 2010, 11:48:22 AM: Well done Vek, sounds like you had another great hunt. I really like the camp ground you chose. :chuckle:
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: Skyvalhunter on August 27, 2010, 11:56:34 AM: Quote from: Falcon on August 19, 2010, 08:32:05 PM

Vek,

Congrats on a unbelievable hunt. I went on a guided sheep hunt in the Wood River area in 07, and that was hard enough.

Going solo and getting a ram like that is a feat of a lifetime, and one I am sure you will never forget.

Thanks for sharing !
I moose hunted the Wodd River on a self guided hunt a couple years back. Castle outfitters gets some decent rams and moose in there. It nice to get away from everything.
Title: Re: AK Dall
Post by: NWBREW on August 27, 2010, 12:19:50 PM: SOLO? ....I am not worthy. That sounds like it was out of my dreams. Vek...you are the man. Thank you for the story and the pics. Congrats on a what I would consider a true trophy hunt and experience.

Please feel free to post more pics of that beautiful country.