Some pictures are worth more than others....

Nice ram!

Nice ram. Congrats.




Travis

TURKEY -

actually I like 'smoked' turkey. <G>

Congratulations!

Jerry

Well done!

Yep, nice looking ram for sure...congrats!

I dare say 2000 words is probably seriously underselling that scene (but I get what you're saying. ) That's grand pic of what must have been a great experience, at least for two of the three fine specimens pictured!

Smoke, you suck.

Some guy named starsky dropped some poles of yours off this morning. trade you for a swaro cap.

for those of us that ain't into pictures, whydontcha type a few words about the hunt.

Why did that handsome young hunter let that homeless, old guy in the pic ?

I guess a feller just can't get far enuff back in, to avoid those pesky panhandlers

Thanks Klik. There are two fine specimens there, but one has horns and the other is in his 20’s.

I can’t say enough about the outfitter, Steve Johnson, and especially his guide Andrew. Both went the extra mile and Andrew worked his butt off to get me on that ram not once but twice. It was a walk-in hunt, my first hunt in AK and first sheep hunt. I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been for the terrain, I'm not a very good rock-hopper. Andrew was top-notch, a natural-born hunter and a pleasure to be around. He knew the area and had one nice ram pegged before I even got there, we saw him on the way in but by the opener he’d moved off somewhere else. Didn’t matter, Andrew found some more and put me on them on the third day of the hunt, but my fear of heights and lack of confidence in my ability to keep my feet planted kept me from getting a shot. I’m sure some guides would have been royally pissed at that but not Andrew. We just got some more food and a tarp and headed back for another run at ‘em. They stayed in the same general area and a couple evenings later we were waiting on them to feed down to us, which they did. They were around 700 yards away so we got up against the mountainside and snuck in closer. We finally got to within 180 but they were hidden behind a rocky knoll and above us. We were on a grassy knoll so we had the advantage.

They must have caught our wind, all of a sudden rocks were rolling and they were headed out, directly away from us. Andrew had been keeping tabs on this particular group of three rams, one possibly legal but too close to call, one full curl, and the one I shot, double broomed and the boss. As soon as they came into view, he had them pegged and told me to take the one on the left as they were headed over a rise. They were 250-280 at that point, and I had a great rest on the grassy knoll. They slowed a little, the crosshair settled, and the ram went down.

I was shooting a NULA 260 with an S&B PM II fixed 10X, the bullet was a 123 Scenar. The ram was 10 years old and had 14 ¾” bases.

Took us three full days to pack him out, with the last 2 ½ of those days pretty much constant rain. Everything we had was soaked and the rocks were wet but Andrew had me climbing stuff I never would have done on my own in good weather. Hardest hiking I've ever done. A great hunt, great scenery, great people, and the animals themselves are something else.


Here are some more pics:


Rams from above:





This one shows his mass a little better:




Tarp Camp:





Andrew fleshing out the cape:

2,000 aren't enough. Thanks for the great post, what a hunt. Congrats to you!

Congrats, Smoke!

Awesome pix. Congratulations SP!

Thanks all, a few more pics, the scenery was outstanding:





Spotter from above:




Tent camp:




Young rams, kings of the hill:

Fantastic!! Congrats on a fine ram. There is nothing like sheep hunting!

Great story, Smoke. Beautiful pics.

Most excellent smokepole...Congrats!

Stellar!

Outstanding!!! Thanks for the show..

Well now aint that something special. Well done my friend, well done.

I've been waiting on the story to appear here. I knew the pics would get rave reviews and the story just brings it more to life.

I know you busted azz getting ready. I couldn't be happier for you.

Beeeeeg congrats!!!! Enjoy those blueberry pancakes; you earned them.


Addition: Just looked at Steve Johnson's web page and there was another fire member-some guy from Wisconsin, SKane or something like that, I've seen him around here someplace -with this big Brown Bear. You young Bucks may bring me out of retirement.

It certainly is.....Wow what an adventure, and what gorgeous country. Congrats.

That's a fine ram!

Reminds me of my first sheep hunt, for Dall, 35 years ago, when I still had a young man's legs and lungs....

That is soooo freaking awesome!

Congrats!

I'm really happy for you Smokey.

The pics are A W E S O M E !! WOW is an understatement.



I'm Green with jealousy.

As the Brits say, "Well done!"

Great pics.

Congrats.

Congrates !! Nice ram. Reminds me of my hunt in 2007. And with a great round.

RS

SWEET!

Dale

Jealous.
Great work.

Great ram, and great pictures. Congrats!

Chris, it was great meeting you, thanks for the hospitality.




Probably because that ain't no ordinary homeless old guy. That's the most interesting homeless guy in the world.




Thanks Harry, and I saw that photo too. They were telling the story of calling in a brown bear for one of their hunters last year, came in frothing at the mouth. It sounded like the ultimate kick in the pants.

Outstanding! That is my dream hunt. Congratulations, you knocked it out of the park.

That is some crazy country, amazing that an animal decided to live there.

"Decided to"? You're assuming we don't have rules here!

There's a lot more feed than you'd think, grass grows right in the rocks. If you look at that first pic, he was pretty fat. The grass isn't what you'd call lush but the density of animals is pretty low, you have to walk a few miles to see a few animals.

And perching on those cliffs and pinnacles is pretty good "cover," they can see everything from up there and you can't get near them in a lot of places. That's why we laid up and waited for them to feed down to us, we couldn't approach them where they were bedded.

Beautiful pic's; beautiful ram; is your guide Starsky the son of 30338?

Congrats.

Congratulations

Congratulations
It sounds like you were well prepared for the moment of truth.


and thanks for sharing your adventure.

Thanks. Starsky was not my guide, but he was kind enough to bring my walking sticks back since he was flying back to Denver.

smokepole;
Thanks for the couple thousand words sir and hearty congratulations on that dandy ram.

I'll dispense with my usual salutation as I'm going to surmise that for the time being all is well with you by the way...

The alpine can be incredibly lush in some spots can't it, deceivingly so until you're up and on it - though admittedly it's a short season of good eating for the creatures who live there.

I did note that your ram looked in really, really good condition too so I'm sure he'll be grand table fare.

Thanks again for sharing the photos and write up sir, all the best to you and your family and good luck on your remaining hunts this fall as well.

Dwayne

Outstanding!

That's an incredible hunt and memory. Congrats!

Well done Smoke! Congrats - awesome story and ram!

Great pictures, well done

Outstanding!!

One part of the trip I forgot to mention. On day three we watched the two biggest rams in a group of 4 square off and butt heads through the spotter for 30-40 minutes. It was a spetacle, and pretty cool to see the collision and wait for the sound, about a 3 second delay. Andrew got some video on his iPhone.

Great going Smoke!

Congratulations! and thanks a bunch for sharing the story.

Smokepole,

Congratulations on a great hunt, and experience, and a wall full of awesome ( as soon as it gets mounted). I hope you're still walking on air (it helps the sore knees and muscles).

Good lord smoke! Aside from the fact that my headlamp would kick the chitt outta yours I am humbled by your honesty. Wow! I could not be more happy for you. That is a great ram and you deserved it. Wow! Inspiring to say the least. Congrats

Chuck

Smoke, boots? Again, wow.

Shag, I'm pretty sure my headlamp would wipe the floor with your headlamp. Has your headlamp ever helped light up a Dall Ram being caped at 1:00 AM?

Boots were Hanwag Mountain Lights. Plastic mountaineering boots would have been better but the Hanwags did OK, protected by some good gaiters.

Here is some of the terrain we covered packing out the ram. To get to the high point shown in the first pic we had to climb about 2800 vertical up a rocky ridge, traverse across the top, then descend to the saddle shown in the second pic, then back up about another 1,000 vertical on the sharp ridge that ascends from right to left in the middle of the second pic to the top of the next mountain:

Congrats Smoke!

Seems like that lil 123 did you well.....

No sheep, just elk at 1,2,3,4am. Again Congrats on a beautiful Ram.

Really cool! Congrats!

Smoke, which walk in area? I ask, assuming it was a draw, not a super secret spot.

Good to meet you too man. Congrats again.

14 3/4" bases? Ridiculous.

Chris, here's a crappy cell phone pic that gives a good look at the base & horns (or would, if my hand was outta the way). All lost on me, being my first sheep hunt. It'll be a cool mount though!!

Awesome hunt - congrats!!

Yep, those are great bases - I meant "ridiculous" in a good way. They will shrink a little (quite a bit actually), but as a reference (from B&C):

SCORE: 189 6/8
LOCATION: Wrangell Mts., AK
HUNTER: Harry L. Swank, Jr.
OWNER: Mrs. Harry L. Swank, Jr.
DATE: 1961

KEY MEASUREMENTS:
Length of horn: Right 48 5/8 - Left 47 7/8
Circumference of base: Right 14 5/8 - Left 14 6/8
Circumference of 3rd quarter: Right 6 5/8 - Left 6 7/8
Greatest spread: 34 3/8
Tip to tip spread: 34 3/8

You PO'd????


If I would have shot that Ram and had those horns in my hand, I would have been grinning like the butcher's Dog.

That was grinning. Grin.

Thanks much for sharing, the photos are awesome. That sure looks like windswept camping at its best!

I've been known to grin in similar fashion.

Flat out tickled for you smokepole, and mayhap a bit envious too. Thanks for sharing those pics and details of your hunt.

Congratulations smokepole......

That's pretty cool.
Great story.
Congratulations!

No worries Chris, that's how I took it. But I did want to give an update. Browning meat for some of the best osso buco I've ever had, and the backstraps are fork tender:

Now I'm envious and hungry!

Outstanding.

Dall backstraps... mighty good.

Congratiolations on a fine ram.

You qualify for Scenarshooters sigline:

Luck is the residue of design.

Congrats on the Ram smokepole.

That's a beautiful ram and great photos!

Thanks Geno. Hope you and yours are doing well.

Thanks, I smile each time I see the pics! You too I'll bet!

Very Nice!

Congratulations!

David

Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed the hunt, words and photos!

Lots of nice photos and a great story...I can only wish!

If you were where I think you were, then you EARNED that ram. First photo it's tough to tell, but no mistaking in the last photo that you got a monster. Good job.

Nice ram smokepole, congrats.

Thanks. As you know, on a hunt like that success is a credit to the guide and I was lucky to have a very good one. I did have to keep up with him though.

Or at least try to.

Amazing accomplishment. Congrats.

Now get working on the other three!

You and Andrew made a great team. He's a natural born killer and a badass hunter but you stuck right with him. Awesome ram.

Tanner

Thanks Tanner. But I really had no choice, he was carrying most of the food!

Seriously though, y'all are studs. I told Andrew "remind me to never pick a fight with a sheep guide." After my cortisone shot wore off and I stopped taking 2000 mg of ibuprofen a day my ankle hurt for 2 weeks. As a matter of fact, it still hurts....

I should've taken a photo of you guys on that beach when we picked you up. Eerily similar to "Castaway" doesn't even cut it!

Tanner