When you are looking straight down at a Dall sheep, the curl of the horn actually looks smaller than it really is. Even so I was certain that both rams were legal, but I couldn't tell which one was bigger. They battled for several minutes before one retreated and the dominant ram bedded down. At this point, the ridgeline was so narrow that I actually lay down on the back side of the ridge and used...  Read More

In places the ridgeline was razor thin- perhaps a foot or less wide- but it was also a sheep trail. As I looked down into the first 'bowl' up the valley, I didn't see my partners but I DID see our band of rams 300 yards beneath me. Another ram had joined them, so instead of seven there were eight. Not only that, but the eighth ram was also legal, and the two mature rams were battling it out for do...  Read More

I had no idea where my partners were. I reached the top of the mountain ridgeline right at sunrise. I had hoped to see Tim and Larry's camp from here, but no luck. I had a general idea of where they would be camping, but with the Dall sheep gone I figured that they would be looking for me. Our plan had been to meet up just below me where that other hunter had screwed us up. This was my first sheep...  Read More

I had no desire to speak to this hunter who had ruined my morning, so even though we were just a few feet apart I simply turned my back to him and began climbing a short distance to a sheep trail. When scouting the week before, this was the first sheep trail I had ever walked on. I knew that it wrapped around the face of this mountain and continued for several miles up the next valley. I also reme...  Read More

The sun and I seemed to be climbing at about the same pace. As I reached my destination above the Dall sheep it was just getting light enough to see. The sky was clear, but a low fog was whisping in and out at my elevation. I wondered where my partners were. I hadn't heard a shot yet. As I crested a final small knob, I saw one of them standing in the fog 50 feet from me. He was facing away from me...  Read More

I broke camp and was climbing well before daylight. It was far too dark to see the Dall sheep, but I didn't need to worry about getting off the trail because my path was uphill all the way. About 5:30 AM two massive bull caribou glided right past me. Either would have been 'the bull of a lifetime' for most hunters. By 6 AM the eastern horizon was showing signs of light. The blanket of stars above ...  Read More

Carrying a heavy pack through low brush up a steep hill was no picnic. I finally made it to a little knob that gave me a relatively straight shot up a ridgeline to the sheep. There was nothing left to do but to set up camp and wait for morning. About 11 PM, just before dark, other hunters entered the valley and set up camp about 3 miles from me. I was directly between them and the sheep and they c...  Read More

The rams were bedded in a place with no approach. Even if we walked past them they could see us coming from either direction. We decided to split up, with Tim and his dad camping at the base of the mountain just past the rams, 8 miles up the valley. I was setting up on a high ridge about 2 miles this side of the rams. Only one of the 7 rams was a legal full curl. We decided to come from both direc...  Read More

We put on our heavy packs and jumped into a vertical shale slide. I wasn't happy about it, but my partner, Tim Hand, had grown up in these mountains, so I trusted him. Our return to camp, which would have been over an hour of suffering down that steep ridge, took about 15 minutes. Another lesson learned. Though they were nearly 8 miles away, we could see where our rams had bedded down. While we ha...  Read More

Watching a wolf kill a sheep was exciting, but our Dall sheep hunt was far from over. In fact, it hadn't officially started. We'd come in the day before, but this was August 9. The season didn't open until the 10th. We had spotted a small band of rams the night before, climbed a steep ridge this morning, and were trying to figure out where they went. We finally saw them several miles away running ...  Read More

There was no struggle. The wolf hit the Dall sheep like a freight train and it was over. But then the most amazing part happened. Once dead, the wolf bit this adult ewe about halfway down its spine, right where the rib cage was largest. Then he lifted the entire animal off the ground, with its head and legs dangling, and carried it into the brush. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. I...  Read More

As fast as the Dall sheep were running, the wolf was quickly gaining ground. He expertly separated one ewe from the others, and in a moment he was on her. It was over in a matter of seconds. Divide and conquer- this is the same strategy that Satan uses to destroy friendships, marriages, families, and churches. When we are alone, we are a much easier target. When we lack unity, he can even use us a...  Read More