So far this has been an enjoyable conversation. I appreciate everybody who has chimed in. My favorite recent story involves a super sheep guide named George Bock. George is about 5ft tall and wears a size 7 women's boot. He is tougher than boot leather. He has the look like he could go for a couple of years in the adlers before even slowing down. He is a Maine Dairy farmer most of the year but comes up to Alaska and guides in his area in the Central Alaska range. He sells two or three dall hunts per year and is generally pretty successful. He has a couple of very large PA Amish packers and guides.
Last year he told me about one of his unsuccessful hunts. He had a wealthy executive who did cross-fit training and arrived in relatively good shape. The exec had a Magnus Gunwerks rifle with a Nightforce NX8 4-30 Scope but didn't want to shoot it himself and paid Bock's son who is a packer 100$ to check the zero. Bock thought the guy was nice but he said that started an itch that he had about the guy. Legal fully mature rams are not to be found in great abundance after the current storms and the increased number of both guided and resident hunters that hit that area pretty hard. Bock personally guided the exec who was all Kuiu'd up in the latest and greatest and after three days of work they outmanuevered a decent ram who was a 9 yo with 36 inch horns. Bock got him in place at about 250 yards and made sure the gent had a great rest on his pack. He had the guy dry fire on the ram a couple of times and made sure that the scope was set perfectly at 10X. The hunter did not show any target anxiety during any of the lead up to the shot. When George told him to fire, the exec fumbled the shot, missed the ram by 5 ft. reloaded and proceeded to shoot at the ram three more times with him hitting above the ram and below the ram but no where near the ram. He took the hunter back down to his basecamp and range and had the guy who had 30 rnds of custom ammo to shoot the rifle and it needed to be re-sighted in. The exec could hit the center of the target but was mouthy about how great his rifle was and how he had gone to several levels of gunwerks academy. He could hit a ram at more than a 1000 yards.
The next day they got an alpine start and were up into the glaciers before noon. They found a small band of rams that had trickled over into the area from some hunters on the other side of the range. One ram was legal and had what looked to be 38 inch horns. George worked with the guy and got him into about 175 yards to the ram. He again set the guy up and had him dry fire on the sheep. The guy was impatient and started being a bit of an azzhat. He told George that it wouldn't be anything for him to just kill the ram and be done with the hunt. He wanted to go on safari at the Alaska Bush Company on the way home and thought that he could dunk this ram and get to some really beaver hunting action. George didn't say anything but noted that this was a strange thing to say in at this time and place. The guy then decided not to wait till the ram was broadside but just started to unload. This time our hero was dialed up to 30 X and hit above and to the right of the ram who took off towards Denali National Park. He shot 2 more times even when George told him to stop. George was pizzed. He told the hunter that he better get his chit together or he would cancel the hunt right there and send for Wrights for a pickup. He had all of his crew at camp work with the hunter and they got him back on target. He again talked smack on how great his rifle was and what a killer he was and how he wasn't having a good time. He told them that he wasn't going to tip them and complained about food and the lack of modern conviences.
Every guide and outfit gets one of these types of clients during its history. ALGlenfornow, I am sure that you have had some real winners, but this guy was a complete peach. They, the bad ones, always seem to have extraordinary luck and this guy was no exception. The third try took them to the very boundary of Bock's guide area but two days later they were on a group of 7 rams. The two biggests were both approaching forty inches with wide flaring horns. George got the exec set up again and again the guy got mouthy right at the end. He was only shooting about 150 yards but again the guy let lead fly and the rams scattered. The guy began muttering excuses. George said he looked at the guy, grabbed his rifle, and threw it forty five yards down the mountain. He told the guy, this trip is no charge, you can get the rifle if you dare. The guy gave a number of excuses but didn't go after that rifle and left camp for his three days cavorting at the Alaska Bush company and the nearby Crown Plaza hotel. George didn't charge the client for the hunt and had his son go down and retrieve the rifle. They mailed that rifle that really wasn't worse for wear and said that he sure was impressed with the durability of the Nightforce scope. George said the exec threatened them with a bad review before he got on his charter but George reminded the client of all of the different prostitutes and women that the guy had bragged about during the hunt. He told him that his wife could call the client's wife and give her an overview of the execs hunting trips.
Bock sees me and stops to talk every year on his way in and his way out of the mountains. I believe he is an exceptional guide who turns pearls out of a sow's ear. That story still cracks me up.
