dang I need to go to work but since you asked, I'll retell one.
but first a disclaimer, if you want to see this country, come and see it, tis worth it.
get an Alaska Airlines credit card from BOA and have your utilities, groceries and everything you buy run thru it, write a check each time you use it and reconcile and pay off the balance each month.
In no time you'll have enough miles for two people to make the trip and never cost you but a few hundred to airfare here.
start putting away $100 per month in an account to rent a truck, my pick is Arctic car rental in FBKS, by the time you have the miles built up you'll have enough to rent a truck for dang near a month. Bring your camping gear as luggage, your fishing tackle and maybe a shotgun or a short handy rifle. And lot's of camera and film or memory sticks or whatever you shoot for memories.
It'll be a trip of a life time and really won't cost you much.
okay now you get the hunting story.
My best pard that I guided with for bou, moose and bear had been working as a sheep guide for a few years and finally convinced me to sign on. We had a great hunt, as we filled both our hunters but that's another story.
After the season I told him with us in our 40's when was HE ever going to get a sheep for himself if he guided every year????
so I convinced him to bag it for the next year and we'd hunt for ourselves.
I did some flying with a pard in July and come August we headed up to the Brooks range and backpacked in about 12 miles, long hard slog that first day.
we camped below a little pass and saw sub legal rams over the other side the next morning. While we were preparing breakfast and he was filling a water bladder from a seep we got surprised by a sow griz and her twin cubs as they came ambling up through our campsite. I grabbed my sheep rifle and watched her thru the scope as she became aware of us and took her cubs off in full speed retreat (thank god) man can they move. He had the video camera hanging from his neck as we'd videoed the aforementioned sheep and got part of the visit and retreat of the bears. I asked him WTF? as to why he didn't grab his rifle instead of the video, but he said he figured I'd have the rifle part covered.
rain and clouds moved in and we were tent bound the rest of the day, that night and the next morning, we decided to head farther in country in the rain, so we packed up our gear and moved camp in a hard rain.
We were soaked by the time we found our next home and banged up the little tent and crawled in to get dry and some warm food inside of us. Around 5-6 pmish, I rolled out as the clouds and rain were moving on and the breeze had picked up to hang some clothes out to dry, I was barefooting around in the grass drying clothes and he popped out and we decided when we gave our clothes a few minutes to dry out, twas a pretty evening to hunt.
So we geared up and headed out, surprised 2 sublegal rams from about 30 yards, neat to see them. then came across a herd of about 35-50 ewes and lambs up on a plateau, they stampeded along a ridge and ran outa site.
As we approached the ridge that was the top of a cliff face we looked down and saw 2 legal rams and 2 sub legal bedded down. the two legal were both dandies with one being very nice.
We figured if they were going to go to higher ground they'd have to come up thru a little saddle below us, so we moved down there and sat up in ambush, and waited, and waited, and waited. Twas cold as the wind was still blowing and the sun was sinking fast.
had on every piece of clothing I had in my pack to stay warm, and that ain't comfortably warm either....grin
It finally sunk thru our thick skulls that they were bedded for the night, they had a sheer cliff face behind them and there was no way for a predator to approach from the other 3 sides without being seen by them (including us)
the only shot we had at them was from above on the ridge that formed the top of the cliff where we'd first spied them.
My client from two years before had gifted me a range finder, a new toy at that time as I'd never owned one. I had it along and we ranged the ram we wanted at 275 yards, shooting downhill so he had to compensate a bit for that.
I had full faith and confidence in my pard to make the shot, but he was apprehensive as it was a fair poke and he didn't want to muff it.
I got the video camera rolling, it was getting dark fast, told him I was ready, he was ready splayed out prone with his rifle on his pack for a rest ala mpaj. He turned around to make sure I was positioned to get the kill on video and said "hold everything" WTF? I said, he said "turn around and video that full moon, you don't see that everyday"
and sure enough the moon looked like it was bigger than the earth, sun was below the horizon but it was reflecting off that moon like a proud papa with his first born. few clouds around it, just wispy little suckers that only added to it's beauty.
Here he was getting ready to take his first dall ram and he had enough sense to know that there was a treat right behind us.
Just one of many times I've known I got blessed with a great hunting pard, he takes it all in.
he settles in and takes the shot, the ram twitched, but never got up, but the rest of the rams did, we watched him for a minute or so while the other rams nosed around and meandered a bit trying figure out what the hey had just happened.
When we decided the bullet had done it's work, we headed back down to the saddle and across to his trophy. The other rams finally bolted when we got about 40 yards away from them.
Watched my pard kneel by his ram and his tears flowed from his joy of joining the ranks of successful sheep hunters, mixed with the tears of sadness that his dad was no longer of this earth to partake of the joy and the meat he'd procured.
We took pics and butchered and caped by the moonlight, twas the days before I knew about photon micro lights, had some trouble with his homemade saw removing the horns.
We finally got loaded and began the hump uphill back to camp, uphill the whole way as we'd camped maybe 1000-2000 feet above where we found the rams and maybe 1.5 to 2 miles away.
we made it back to camp unslung our packs and crawled inside the tent, he made some grub and I looked at my watch as the water was boiling and it was 4 a.m., had been a long day and while we were tired, we were happy.
got up the next a.m. and boned out the meat and prepared to make the long haul back to the truck.
were heavy loads, but we made good time and camped the next night down in the timber, we found some baling wire along a creek where some one had lost their whole outfit many a moon ago, remnants of an old tent and gear etc. Makes you wonder what the story was behind it. We roasted fresh sheep ribs over an open fire by using the baling wire to put it on green branches and ate like kings with sheep grease running down our chins and freeze dried mac 'n cheese.
the next day we awoke to glorious weather and looking at the map decided to follow a creek down to the main river where it would save us makin a long pull up a mountian to get back to the truck.
the sheep gods blessed us, any more water volume and the creek would have been impassable. We'd have had to turn around hike uphill couple of miles and then done the pull over the mountain.
there were places along the creek barely wide enough between the gorges it had carved out to fit with our packs. the rock was so smooth from centuries of being washed by the spring melt. We found blocks of ice in the shade along the way as big as a trailer house.
When we finally made the river we took a break to catch our breath, look back at the mntns. from whence we came and reflect upon what a perfect hunt and time we'd had. Not a lot of words exchanged, but a lot of heartfelt emotion that words are not needed for.
we rambled back to the truck loaded our gear up and headed down the road where we found another campsite, banged up a bigger tent, cooked sheep steaks, baked potatoes in the fire and roasted onions, canned corn and fresh carrots. If happier guys existed, I've never met them.
On the trip home the words did come, my pard expressed his gratitude for the scouting I'd done preseason that helped lead to his success, how if he couldn't have his dad there, there was no one else than me he'd have rather shared the experience with.
he's a pretty good guy for an azzhole, but with having me for a friend what would you expect? (grin)
here's his ram, I enjoy seeing it hanging in a place of honor amongst his other trophies when I visit his home, too infrequently I might add.
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