Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska rifle for Dall Sheep

Choices are many. We thought a 9 pounder was fine years ago, now sub 7 pounds is the standard. I would use what ever one you would want in your hands if facing a mountain grizzly. Sheep seem to die easy according to sheep hunters.

I think I would go with the one with the most reliable trigger and a bolt that would field strip with out tools. All my Mod. 70's fill the bill.

7-08, but I might be prejudiced, having shot my first two rams at about 20 yards and 50 yards, respectively, with a .243 that barely kept 5 under 2 inches for the last 40 years, until a couple months back I got her down to MOA by damn. Rather hunt with the .260 tho...

The 3rd year we hunted that place my wife took her ram with a 270 - at 35 yards..... Still have that rifle too, tho it's now a 30-06 with which I parked a caribou just today.

Knowing the range and your trajectory is more important than the caliber used. And in sheep hunting, light weight may well be too. Danged near anything will reach out with killing force well beyond 500 yards. If you can hit it properly.

Just yesterday, I whipped up a batch of Bart's chili using a round roast from the goat. It was every bit as tasty as using a choice chuck roast.






Still, I was sweatin' it pretty hard for a while, there: while I was browning the meat, the whole kitchen smelled like a wet horse. I definitely pick up the odor when I'm trimming roasts, forming burgers, or working with the steaks to marinate them. The cooked meat, however, has always tasted like really good beef, only with less fat. The steaks are on the chewy side, but the flavor is still excellent.

FC

Gonna disagree with you, Art.

Until sheep has been in the freezer several months, I can't taste mutton flavor. Neither can my wife, and she absolutely won't touch mutton. But then, sheep doesn't generally last "several months" around our place. We consider it the best wild meat we have taken. Based on taste, not hype.

Can't tell the difference between Dall sheep or Rocky Mt. goat taste either, tho all I have to judge that by is one 2 year old goat, and a nanny.

I suspect anyone that dislikes wild goat probably shot a big 'ol stink billy in rut.

Same here, if I do not admire what Im carrying I would just as soon not go.

Really? The hunt/trip boils down to what you carry?

I've carried that damned .243 on a lot of hunts, and enjoyed every one. The rifle was marginally adequate (It's a damned tool!!!!), but didn't make the hunt, or not.

Actually, a couple of those hunts are among the best, including my first and second full curl Dall rams.

Perspective Larry, it is all about perspective!

I have hunted ugly guns, but I sure enjoy the notion of having something to work with when the camera comes out.

20 YO pic 257 Ackley old Ram and a younger Kurt

Prefer a rifle that you can shoot well in steep country, eye cuts from a scope don,t help a hunt.

A ram and an old goat in one picture!!!