Got my 1st Dall Sheep (photo)
01-27-2004, 07:46 PM
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 4
Got my 1st Dall Sheep (photo)
New to this site. Just posted my goat hunt under the archery forum and thought I would share my sheep hunt also with you all. Got my 1st sheep this past September. Don't want to sound like bragging, just like to look at pics and read stories of other hunters, so I thought I would share my pic. Only 2nd time sheep hunting. Drew the delta management unit hunt in Alaska. My buddy and I drew the walk in only hunt in 2002 for our 1st ever sheep hunt. We went 65 miles on foot round trip with our bows. Came close a few times, but no luck. It was definitely an awesome hunt. Got a foot of snow on August 13th which was quite interesting. Got some awesome photos on that hunt. 2003 we drew the same unit, but motorized vehicles allowed. They split the unit into 2 seperate seasons. Motorized allowed and not allowed. This time we left the bows at home and took rifles and rode an atv in 14 miles and hiked in another 14 according to our gps fixes. Saw over 100 sheep. We were watching 5 rams feeding about 1000 feet below us for about 2 hours when they started walking back up to us to bed down. They split into a group of 2 and a group of 3. I went after the 2 who were headed up 4 ravine's over from the point we were watching and my buddy went after the 3 who were headed up the ravine behind us. As I was laying down to take a 125yd steep downhill shot, I heard a gunshot behind me. The ravine where my buddy was headed was about a thousand yards away. When he shot, the sheep I was looking at looked in the direction of the shot. As I was getting the sheep in my scope, I heard a second shot. The sheep I was looking at bounded forward about 30 yards and stopped. I put the crosshairs on the top of the near shoulder blade, due to the extreme angle of the shot. When I shot, the sheep turned and was facing straight away from me. I chambered another round and put the crosshairs right in the middle of the shoulders and pulled the trigger. I'd like to say I slowly "squeezed" the trigger, but that would not be the truth. I was way to excited. The My second shot dropped him in his tracks. Upon getting a close look at him, it turned out my 1st shot was on the money entering just above the shoulder blade on the left side and out the right side armpit. He was standing there already dead but didn't know it. Neither did I for that matter. That all happened at 1:20 in the afternoon. My buddy and I met up at our packs and lots of hugs and high fives later we got down to the work. We went back down to my sheep 1st and got it quartered up and and on our backs and took it up the ravine and across and then down the ravine to where my buddy's sheep lay. There was a creek running near my buddy's sheep which would make the cleaning easier with water nearby. My buddy started caping both sheep while I got busy deboning all the meat. We got back to our Bivy's and tarps that nite just before midnight. Next day we spent all morning and into the early afternoon fleshing the capes and getting the meat cooled and dried out. Started the long climb up at 4:30 that afternoon just as clouds started to roll in. Hiked til 10:00 pm when we put up camp in 40-50 mph winds and sleet. Woke up the next morning to a blanket of snow. Started hiking at 8:30 am and finally got back to the truck that night at 8:00 pm. Long day, but with each of us carrying sheep, we didn't seem to mind. 2002 we went for 12 days. 3 days hiking into sheep country. 4 days hunting. 4 days in a row tent bound. ( that was a life learning experiment) 1 day hiking out. 2003 it was 1 day to get into sheep country, 4 days hunting. 2 days to get out. No wonder all you sheep hunters are so addicted to it. The 2 most awesome hunts I have ever been on were both thos sheep hunts. Never have I experienced such extremes in highs and lows both physically and emotionally in my hunting life. Who needs drugs when you have sheep. Anyways, not much of a typist or story teller, but I hope you all enjoyed the story and photo at least half as much as I do reading all of yours. New to Hunting.net and am really enjoying the people on this site. Take care and straight shooting. Wil
Thank you all for the kind words. Just wanted to share a story with you all. Thanks again, nice to know it's appreciated. Not necessary, but appreciated. Thanks!
