Time for my annual post. Have been doing this for the past several years and enjoy sharing photos of different places of Alaska with all the 'wallers who live down south. That being said, for those of you who are absolute die hard traditionalists, read no further. My hunting companion for years is a rifle hunter so there was guns along. But last year he got hold of an old Howatt bow and has been shooting a lot. Hoping next year I get him to commit to a spring bear or Aug. caribou hunt. My lifelong dream has been to arrow a sheep but the last few sheep hunts that I have had has slapped a little reality into me as the Alaska Range open shale slopes have proven tough to get 3-4 hundred yards from them. So I carry a rifle along with my bow. The bow I was hoping to use on caribou stalks and maybe a bear. It was a disappointment not to see even one caribou on this mtn. trip, nor a bear. The caribou are scarce on the north slope right now, no one knowing where they are. So if the moderator lets this go, let's get started and view some awesome country.....

The drive from my home in Anchorage to the fly out strip at Happy Valley on the north slope was nearly 800 miles. A few pictures on the drive up. As usual, Mt. Denali (McKinley) was cloud obscured.

south fork Koyokuk

gnarly rock

after lift off from Happy Valley in a Cessna 206, a few tundra scenes

The day we flew in was a warm sunny day. This would turn out to be the warmest Alaska hunt that I have ever been on. The first day the temp must have been 70. Nice weather to get camp set up.

After camp was set up we found a water source and then set out to scout some. Alaska does not allow you to hunt the day you fly.

The river bottom had numerous small braids of the river in it.

Each time we do a fly out we refine our gear some and try to go lighter. This time we took it to the extreme and had the minimalist amount of gear and food.

We dropped the fly rod at the last minute to go light. Mistake, as we saw some nice 16-18" grayling in these small clear waters.

along the river bottom we saw old wolf, moose, caribou, and bear tracks. Must have been a lot of porcupine around in the willows as there was lots of scat around.

the first afternoon we saw a couple of immature rams on this rock above camp.

the first legal day to hunt we set out upriver. I was carrying my 2 piece Fox Breed recurve in hopes that caribou would be around. During long sessions of stationary glassing we would break it up with little bouts of shooting contests at clumps of tundra with some ash shafted zwicky's.

Nice pictures. I hope photos and story will continue.

of the week we spent here we only saw two fresh piles of bear scat. one was upriver from camp a couple of miles and one was downriver from camp a couple miles. Each was very red. Saw 2 kinds of red berries on the mountain, surprised the bear chose these over all the blueberries.

Thanks for the picture essay! One year ago, we were in the northern reaches of Alaska. Recognize a lot of your pics!

Brad

After a day going upriver and another downriver we had not seen a sheep on our side. We had been viewing sheep across the river (another game unit but also open)and had seen a couple dozen rams. At 2-3 miles it was hard to say just how good they were but if that's where the sheep were we were going to have to get our feet wet. Wanting to keep our boots dry we went barefoot. The rocks hurt, next time pack reef slippers!

the lower 2/3 of the mtn is covered in tundra. some of it very spongy, your feet sink up to 6" with each step. very tiring, it does take the energy out of you. not to mention the steepness.

as a result, there were a lot of short breaks going up. this old man needed them just to let the heart rate come down some. always tried to take a break in a berry patch to replenish...

as we neared the top the tundra became less and the footing a little more solid. but the weather changed some, light drizzles and wind.

the view across the river

another

from our side the river we had watched 2 rams for 3 days stay in the same little valley high up. From a distance they had the best mass on their heads through the spotting scope. They were our goal. Just as we were almost high enough to peek into the boys bedroom I saw a wolverine loping side hill across the mtn and directly into where we wanted to go. it was a little while before we could see the results, the boys were not home but the wolverine did flush this band of ewes out of the rocks.

Truly can only be described as God's country...

we walked the ridge and looked into the next valley. saw quite a few sheep but to far to make any determinations. on our side of the ridge and the valley below us we had seen quite a few rams but nothing full curl (legal). so it was down the steep grade and back to camp.

Thank you for the great pictures. That is a dream hunt for me. I like anything about alaska. cbc

the next morning we still could not glass up a sheep in the valleys on our side of the river. as we had seen a lot of sheep on the other side it was decided to go back. as long as it was taking to get to the top we went with the idea of bivying out for the night, hunt the next day and then come down. as we had packed so light, this would be my food for the trip. (we wanted to go light so left the stove and Mt. House behind)

we had to go upriver to find where the river divided into about 6 braids in order to cross it. otherwise it would have been to deep and the current would have taken us off our feet. it was cold water and my feet would be numb by the time we crossed the last channel and dried off to put boots back on.

the ridge in the center of the pic is the way we took to the top

we were half way up when we peeked over for a look only to be presented with this shock!

when we flew in there was another tent at the end of the runway, our air taxi said it had been there awhile. as we climbed the mtn we saw a couple of Cubs shuttling from upriver to our river runway. figured they were on their way out. in all the activity, a couple more had been dropped off. we were committed to going up and decided if they hunted up the valley we may have sheep pushed to us so we continued on. at 5000 ft. I found this little guy curled up in the sun.

at just shy of 6000 ft. it was great view

So cool!!!!!

the backside of the valley we wanted to hunt was rock for miles. we had to search for awhile before finding a spot that would accommodate two bivy sacks

this was my first trip into the Brooks Range and it was incredible country. as always, when above timberline I am always amazed at the flora and rock lichens. it's time to "smell the roses"

puff balls were in abundance

the next morning we woke ready to hunt for the day. the view to the south had a little cloud cover and shadowed the mtn

the view across the river had the sun on it.

Wow. thanks for taking me there.

to be continued...

Awesome pics of some beautiful country. Thanks for taking me along. Frank

That country must make you feel small !

Wow so amasing you are majorly blessed to get this opportunity to be living this. We are blessed by you showing us this too, thank you so much it's totally amasing.

Good luck and be careful, be safe.

Thanks for sharing. In 1985 I hunted the Brooks Range successfully for Dall Sheep and Caribu with a 7 Mag. Always wanted to go back with my bow, but the closest I've come is a Moose hunt off Kenei.

Wow! Thanks for the show, it was awesome... absolutely beautiful country.

I hope thats what heaven looks like. Thanks for taking the time to share. Beautiful!

Love it. AK is the most beautiful state I have ever visited or hunted.

Flatbow thanks for taking us along, the scenery is awesome.....Bobby

Flatbow,

Brings back memories of my Dall hunt in the Chugachs a few years ago including looking over a ridge and seeing someone else's camp or at least a blue tarp covering their gear. It was towards the end of sheep season and although we had seen no other people up to this point my guide and I felt the other hunters might be returning to catch the last few days of season is the reason they may have stashed their supplies. Changed the complexity of the hunt though as the only legal ram we had found was hanging just over the ridge with two smaller buddies from where we saw the tarp.

Nothing quite like sheep and Mt goat hunting or being in the places they live during late summer early fall.

Thanks for sharing your Adventure with us Billy...Beautiful Country and Photos...Glad to see you!...4finger

great pics,got back a few day ago what an Awsome place! Denali not the highest mountain but from base to peek Denali is 2 1/2 taller than little Mt Everest,

sorry ment to say 1 1/2 taller

so, did you ever get into sheep?

we spent the morning going along the rim and glassing from various places. saw quite a few rams, only one that we thought might be legal. by evening we still had not found him again, he was hanging out in some rough broken up stuff a few hundred yards below us. at one point when I crawled to the lip and peeked over this 1/2 curl ram was looking right at me. Busted.

about 6 pm we made our way over the rim and started down. slowly checking out all the little pockets in the terrain looking for the ram we thought might be legal. it was pretty much a straight down thing...

about 6 pm we made our way over the rim and started down. slowly checking out all the little pockets in the terrain looking for the ram we thought might be legal. it was pretty much a straight down thing...

we had just about given up finding him and were heading for camp and had searched a couple of different ridges and surrounding terrain when we spotted him! he was over another ridge, right in the middle of this pic, in the grass right under the rocky outcrop. he was 300 yds. but a small bump between us made it possible to get closer.

slooow connection. try more later......

we closed to 240 yds. and spent 10 min. looking until I decided he would make full curl. by the time I shot he had only fed off to 246 yds. he rolled all the way to the bottom and ended up on top of a little waterfall. no way to work him there, had to send him over and deal with him below.

by the time we got to him, took some photos and opened knives it was 10 pm. finished up about midnight and knew that with a heavy pack there was no way we would attempt the climb down in the dark. there was just a bit of a bench below the rock next to the waterfall that we built out the ledge with rocks and then ripped up big chunks of moss sod to fill in. made a comfy bed but would have been ugly to have rolled off during the night.

we started down the next morning. you can see the ridge we came down above me and how steep it was. the rest of the way down was no better, maybe steeper.

after leaving the waterfall we had about 2000 ft. to drop through this canyon.

the river bottom never looked so good as to when we finally got down.

found out we wouldn't be picked up the next day till 4 pm so it was a quick look around for a last chance caribou. a no go....

in the miles of river bottom we could see both ways, it was all willow. found this little cottonwood park and it had scratch marks above our heads and bear hair stuck to the bark where they had their scratching posts.

we had flown in by a Cessna 206, going out would be by Helio

left the valley with a rainbow hanging over it. flew out differently than the way we came in. some pics from above:

was good to get back to the truck and begin the drive home. even though it is nearly 800 miles, I never tire of the scenery.

made a pit stop on a little gravel road and had a lynx cross in front of us. it stopped about 10 yds. out and gave us a good stare

stopped in Fairbanks to get the horns plugged. the fields behind the Game & Fish are planted to grains for the migrating waterfowl.

on one slope of a mtn. we saw these berries. had never seen them before and they didn't taste very good. but on this slope aspect the mtn was orange with them...

this was a great hunt as it was in spectacular country. it was a test as both of us were born in '53. we got it done, maybe a little slower but it tells us that maybe we got another sheep hunt left in us. or two. next up, an archery only moose hunt in mid-Sept. solo? will keep you posted. best of luck to all you who enter the woods. Be safe!

Thanks for the trip you took us on. Congrats on the ram. Alaska is truly beautiful country. I got short of breath just looking at the pictures of you climbing up and down those mountains. :)

Thanks for the trip you took us on. Congrats on the ram. Alaska is truly beautiful country. I got short of breath just looking at the pictures of you climbing up and down those mountains. :)

Congrats,beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing. Pappy

Congrats on a Fine Ram and the Adventure...your Living the Dream my friend...Congrats again...Darwin

Thanks for the awesome pics. Felt like I was there too. Lawman

Living vicariously through others,a friend of a friend also got a couple of nice rams there in Alaska.The largest measuring 40"+,a real trophy.Thanks for the pics and story!Great Hunt!

Thanks for taking us along. It's something I can only dream of.

Great job of telling your adventure. Been a long time since I enjoyed a thread this much. Congratulations on your hunt and trophy. Sodbusterjim.

Brought back some good memories of my 1999 trip. Beautiful part of the world.

ttt

just once, before it's buried and forgotten...

I am sure glad you topped it. I had missed it. Awesome trip and I have some new wallpaper for my computer.

The orange berries are "Cloudberries" and interesting musky taste but I like them and have even picked enough rarely for a whole pie.

Thats amazing. Thanks for sharing the wonderful pics.

Steve H: thank you. I was hoping that someone would chime in with an answer. Had never seen them before or heard of them. The whole side of one mtn. was covered. I did not care for the taste but it would have been easy to fill up on 'em....

Flat:

It is often hard to find so many but once in a blue moon! Cloudberries indeed have a very unique taste.

Congratulations and thank you for sharing both a great story and pictures!

>>>>--------->

Glad this thread was bumped. Sincere congrats on a hard earned trophy. Share the mount pics when he is back! -Todd

Don't know how I missed this thread the first time. Really enjoyed it, awesome country. Carl

"Wow" will have to do for me and that'sabout your achievement and the pictures. Thanks. Lou

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing your adventure. JW

SpurHntr, Finally got around to mounting the skull. A lot tighter curl than my first ram...

That's awesome. God Bless

Great pics,hunt,and sheep. Thanks for sharing with us.

Great hunt, great pics, great country! Congratulations! That trophy was hard earned, for sure!

Sweet photos, thanks for taking us along!

Blows me away just to see all this and thanks for sharing and taking us there with you your all blessed to have had this experiance. Congrats on it all you earned it and great pictures.

So did you take it with a gun?

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