I've been blessed with a room-full of DIY rams (dall and others), I'm sure others have too, but here are my thoughts after years of trial and error...
Take the hiking sticks. I question the sanity of anyone who doesn't use them. Use anti-shock. Between my friends and I several of us experience instant wrist problems if we don't use the anti-shock spring-loaded style.
Do NOT take moth balls into the pristine wilds. That poison has no business on a sheep hunt! A few drops of pine sol may work fine to deter bears, I dunno.
Try your friends backpack out. Wear it with weight, train with it.
Take it to a reputable outdoor shop, if they fit it to you and it feels great, use it. Save the $600 guys are giving way for a Kifaru. If it won't work, bite the bullet or ask your guide for his take. He might have one.
Take the fly rod. If your guide says leave it behind with your flying (travel) clothes, leave it behind. Better to be prepared for some great grayling fishing than wish you had it.
I lived in AK and have had my chance to catch the helloutta them, so I wouldn't bring it myself. If you've never caught them? Bring it and hope for an opportunity.
Don't use an antiperspirant anything. That seems like a no-brainer to anyone who is health minded, but clogging your armpit pores, feet etc. is stupidity, imho.
You sweat for a reason. Wear good socks to wick moisture.
For your pits, buy a scent-free all-natural deodorant like Tom's of Maine and cut the deo stick out of it and put it in a zip lock. Use as needed. Gold bond has a strong odor, I'd leave that [bleep] at home.
Take the .308 and the Leupy. If, like you said, you have a good bear load for it, use that gun for both species with confidence.
Check with your guide; he'll very likely have a rangefinder, if not, take one. I missed my first ram without one years ago and swore I'd never sheep or goat hunt without one again. It's been 100% success since.
Leave the gaiters off the sheep mountain. They are just more weight and constriction and aren't necessary. I never use them either way, but I guess for bear country they'd be justified.
Break your boots in well. Train with them.
Don't forget the second skin, or moleskin, for rare blisters or rub spots. If your feet heat up, take the time to air them out properly.
Hope this helps. This advice has come from years of both mistakes and success--all DIY.
Just had two calls from friends that insisted people would not understand just how freaking stupid and clueless your points are unless I point them out clearly. Fortunately for you I can only type slowly, so you may be able to follow the points...
Roomful... kind of an interesting number, but I killed DIY sheep 14 years in a row. I have killed others. I have guided sheep hunters. I suspect my hands have been in an order of magnitude more sheep guts than you have seen.
I hear the limp-of-wrist benefit from braces... I would not know as the dozens and dozens of folks I have been with in the mountains have never been afflicted with your curse. I do not know anyone that has used the "anti-shock" AKA gay version of walking sticks.
Your Greenpeace attitudes are duly noted on moth balls and Pine Sol and can only laugh about them. You said it better than I could, obviously.
Where did the OP mention borrowing a friend's pack? I missed that along with everyone else with a scintilla of reading comprehension.
"Reputable outdoor shop" for adjusting? Taking a mythical pack to a mythical shop for a pimply-faced summer hire to adjust simply strikes me as really special. YMMV
Now you get back to borrowing from the guide without mentioning how he should train with it.
Finally!! Here is a single sentence that makes sense! It is a defensible argument on bringing the rod. Congratulations! You made sense for 33 whole words! I do not agree, but accept the fact you might be right under the conditions that will exist on the ground in August. This will be your only positive note... Do not let it go to your head.
Antiperspirant has been tested for decades and is not a health issue... period. Even if it were a long-term health issue you would not be looking at long-term issues with a single hunt and run-up to the hunt to help control the single most critical issue in the entire hunt; bad feet.
Antiperspirant works and works well. Anyone that denies that and admits they have never used it deserves every last word of derision possible. Especially when your absolute stupidity might lead someone away from it that could really use it. You show a clear lack of experience in the importance of conrolling wet feet, especially on others. The OP early on realized how important Ironbender's post was and will probably use it and benefit greatly from it. That would be without thanks to you...
And just where did you pull the armpit comment from? No one suggested it was to control anything other than excess foot perspiration. Prejuidicing an important point with noise generated from sheer stupidity is really something to be proud of. Congratulations!
Whoooooopsss! You may have made sense on two points! The 308 will work fine. Who would have thought there would be two positive points??? Amazing!
My rangefinder goes with me every hunt, every time... If there is ever a problem it is only on me. And I even change batteries before every major event. They are too cheap to ignore.
Just exactly what does your cluelessness think gaiters are for? Yes for bear hunts but no for sheep??? I would hate to have to pay your "recreational" reality bills! Gaiters are the single most important thing to protect your boot laces and uppers in scree and shale slides... That one of your professed outdoorsman status has not seen that despite a "roomful" of DIY trophies is at best comical. Or Pathetic... your call.
Rare blisters? More laughing...
Airing out boots and feet? What happens when they swell like EVERY over-heated foot does when you take that boot off?
Have you ever really left the house?
Congrats, I think you would score 100% on the AOD scale despite two not-quite-wrong points!
Only problem is deciding between laughing and crying...
