Yeti GOBOX Collection

'08 AK Dall Sheep report

I'm down and out. Jake says, pull your crap together and let's follow. Maybe they're holed up in the cliffs where we saw them yesterday. (left face of the tall mountain in the blurry picture).

All energy is drained out the body as we slog up the mountain, catch the ridge and start lining out toward the cliffs.

Sure enough. There they are! Safe and secure as can be in the cliffs!

We quickly devise a plan. Jake will stay eye level with them and act as a decoy and keep track of them. From his experience, they may stay put. I dump the pack, take my binos, rifle, range finder and a few extra rounds of ammo and bail off the backside of the mountain as fast as I can. Here's to second chances!

It get's steep, but I pick my way through as fast as possible. I reach the bottom and start up, and quickly figure out, if I'm gonna get a shot, it's got to be from the bottom. I ease along glassing and finally catch the back of one. I range it. 389 yards at about a 70 degree angle....hmmm. hold dead on then, right?

I see a boulder about 30 yards down hill of me and figure if I creep out to that it should give me a clear view of the rib cage. Then that would put me at 400+.....hold dead on then, right?

I back up and sure enough there is a ram in plain view. Which ram is it. I glass and glass and glass and he's looking right at me. I can't tell which one it is. Finally he turns back and looks across at Jake.

Here's a video that shows me glassing the rams from the bottom. Courtesy of Jake thinkikng to video the whole thing. Sorry about the low quality, but it opens with me glassing from the boulder.

http://www.hunttalk.com/forums/gallery/misc.php?do=downloadfile&i=2894
 
What's your gun sighted in at? I'm thinking you should hold high. You shot high at 489 though, so you can figure from there and the new angle.
 
I'm speechless as I watch him come down the mountain. It. finally. happened.

I have my Dall.

He seemed to tumble forever and came to rest only a 100 yards away from me. I get up to him and Wow, what a beautiful ram. Kinda hard to explain how I felt and how I feel. Those of you that have been there, know what I mean.

Luckily, the fall didn't break him up.

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Long side.
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Broomed side.
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I love him this much.
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Kinda hard to explain how I felt and how I feel. Those of you that have been there, know what I mean.

I do know how you feel, and you're right, it's hard to explain.

Congratulations on a well-earned trophy! That's a good looking ram. Glad he still had both horns after the tumble!

Now tell us about the trip out.
 
The pack out wasn't bad at all. Coming out heavy is always good.

Thanks for the kind words.

Overall, this hunt was exactly perfect.

Jake as a guide was what I was hoping for. We got along great, had lot's in common, and we thoroughly enjoyed being out there. I highly recommend him to anyone willing to work for a critter. Thanks to him for a flawless hunt. The summer had been much cooler than normal resulting in the sheep being more spread out. He said we saw roughly half of what he normally sees in there. We didn't see a single grizz either due to the complete absence of berries. Normally the hills are thick with them. I didn't mind, grizz was just a side show to me.

As my once in a lifetime hunt, I wanted to experience Alaska, not just show up and whack one.

I couldn't be any happier with it.

Thanks to my beautiful wife for understanding my madness. Thanks to my kids for letting me pillage their education savings for my hunt:).

Gear review:

If I could do it again, I'd of:

brought a warmer bag
brought one more layer of warm clothes

Thumbs up to:
Meindl Canadian hunter boots
Smartwool socks
Pentax DCF SP bino's
Cabelas Space Rain gear (lightweight but pretty good)
Kifaru LH pack.
Lightweight Rem 700 30-06, topped with Leup 6x36.
Nosler Partitions.
 
Congrats on another well earned sheep! I need to pillage the wifes shoe account and go after one myself.
 
Very happpy for you Tyson. Great hunt and thank so much for sharing it with us. Glad you showed us every part of it. Very cool to have the hunt of a lifetime and just getting started on the rest of the season. Love seeing a guy that works hard to fulfill the dream. You the man. Jake, your reputation continues, another well deserving and successful hunter.

Tyson, share some more pics of the experience for us 48'ers.
 
amazing hunt, story, video & sheep. That had to be heart wrenching watching the tumble, thank goodness he survived that (don't know if survive is quite the right word, since he died:D:D:D) Hell of a trophy.
 
Great story and a beautiful ram. Thanks for sharing your dream hunt. I,ll have to get on the other computer as the one I'm on will not run the video. CONGRATS BIG TIME Tyson.
 
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