Alaska Dall sheep hunt, August 2008by Rich LaRocco |
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My Alaska outfitter and I had a wonderful but physically difficult Dall sheep hunt, culminating with the harvest of a beautiful ram. His horns have good mass. One of them is 36 inches long, and the other was broomed. He's a bit over full curl even by the more restrictive standards Alaska has adopted. We saw 26 rams the day I filled my tag. We were hunting 20 to 25 miles from the trailhead, and horses and planes and motorized vehicles are not allowed though we did use mountain bikes to cut eight miles off our hiking. We saw five black bears. A wolverine screeched at us from 40 yards for several minutes, spooking my ram. At the time, we passed on the sheep, and it walked away from us down a steep canyon wall, but after considering that we were almost out of food and energy, we tracked him down again, made a long stalk down the mountain, and put this mountain monarch on the ground. It was a great trip into the Alaska wilderness. If you're tough enough to handle a hunt like this, my guide might consider having you apply for a tag. He'll make an advance trip to pack in food and tents and will most likely hire a packer or assistant guide to ease the work load. You'll save about $2,000 from our favorite fly-in Alaska sheep hunt. Based on what I saw, you have an excellent chance of shooting a ram with horns 36 to 40 inches, and I've talked with enough hunters who have killed 40 to 42-inchers in the area that I'm convinced you could kill the ram of a lifetime with a little luck (and a lot of work).
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