Facebook2006 Fall: Sheep, Caribou & Wolves
Brooks Range
My favorite animal to hunt is Dall sheep, and my favorite place to hunt is the Brooks Range. I can’t imagine being anywhere else come August.
I flew to Fairbanks on the 29th of July. The next day in Delta Junction, (where Deltana Outfitters bases its operation) we packed gear in 4 trucks and 2 trailers. It took 12 hours to travel the 500 miles of mostly gravel roads to our base camp at Happy Valley, 150 miles North of the Arctic Circle. We were blessed with good weather to complete our construction projects. I was thrilled to fly into camp on the 5th of August to do some scouting.
I found several nice rams before my first hunter, Dave Casten, arrived. Dave, president of a solvents company, hunts with me every year, and knock on wood, we have always been successful. We passed several legal rams early in the hunt. On the 4th day Dave received a message, the he need to return to work, for business complications related to the terrorist threats in London. We woke early to a low ceiling, but 12 miles later, Dave found his ram at 8 p.m. We were wet and miserable packing that ram out. Luckily, I had my satellite phone, and saw one of our planes. Our pilots were able to land at the base of the mountain Dave shot his ram from. I was flown back to my camp, and Dave was flown to base camp. I ate supper that night at 1a.m.
It was another adventure, with a great hunter and
friend. Most hunters would have given up, but Dave’s persistence paid
off with a beautiful 38 ¼” ram.
My second hunt was with Randy Peters, the owner of a printing company from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My fellow cheesehead and I began our hunt 6 miles upstream from where Dave shot his ram. We were weathered in on our first day, but the weather broke on our second morning. So, we packed 2 miles to where I had spotted rams prior to Randy’s arrival. That night we spotted 2 small rams and ran a grizzly sow with 2 cubs out of camp.
We rose early the next morning and headed out
before 5 a.m. We worked slowly up
the drainage, peering through the
patchy fog that was still clinging to the mountains. Just before noon I
caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a legal ram in the fog, about 1
mile from where I had spotted a nice ram about 4 days earlier. Randy and
I decided to try for him. Our round-a-bout stalk took 3 hours, but we
closed to 130 yds.of the ram. We waited for almost an hour to see if
there were any other rams hiding in a hidden bowl below the ram. The
wind swirled and our ram stood and became nervous. Randy and I agreed
that he should take the shot. Jack O’Connor was smiling at us, as
Randy’s .270 sent the 34” ram tumbling down 2,500’ to the bottom!
It wasn’t until the next afternoon that we returned with the ram to our original camp where our airstrip was located. Within 4 we were relocated, 25 miles North, to our caribou camp. We saw several nice bulls while we ate supper that night. We were anxious to find a nice bull for Randy and his .44 the next morning.
We
found several bulls but finally connected on a bull at 4 p.m. While
packing the caribou the 1 ½ miles back to camp, I spotted a wolf.
Randy, who brought his rifle for such an occasion, dropped prone, and
waited as the large male trotted towards us. At 130 yds the wolf stopped
and Randy dropped him in his tracks! It was my first “triple-header in 7
years of guiding in the Brooks Range!
My 3rd hunter was Claus Ballisager, of Denmark. Claus and his father Carl were in camp for 4 days previous, with 2 other guides. Carl was only after caribou, while Claus and his guide were chasing both caribou and sheep. I flew in to their camp to relieve Claus’s guide, as he had to return home. When I got there they were packing their 2 caribou that they had shot that morning.
Claus is an outdoor writer and booking agent. So naturally, he and I hit it off immediately. He and his father were blast to have in camp. I always enjoy quizzing foreigners of how their country differs from ours. Claus and I hunted hard, for the remaining day and a half of his hunt. We did get on a band of 6 rams, and 1 appeared to be legal, but they were in a tough spot that offered only 1 approach, and a swirling wind blew our stalk. I was probably more disappointed the Claus, but we hunted until noon on the Claus’s fly out day before surrendering. I believe there is much to come from my new friend.
My fourth hunter was Pat DeRico of MD. Pat is an advertising executive for NBC. So, once again we had plenty to talk about. Pat and I spiked 3 miles up a small drainage I had taken 2 rams from several years earlier. We didn’t spot a legal ram until the second day. We closed to within 240 yds of a huge ram, but 2, previously unseen, smaller rams took us by surprise and spoiled that opportunity. We saw several smaller rams over the next day and a half. Day 4 brought bad weather. Having covered 90% of the area, we decided to pack back down to our original camp to gather more groceries and relocate.
Upon arriving to our camp, we found a very nice
caribou 40 yds from the airstrip. It is important to note, Guides
measure a trophy by how close the animal is to the runway; this was
Boone and Crockett! It did take a half mile stalk to get him but the
plane was able to taxi right up to Pat’s caribou, which I rough scored
at 350”.
The next day turned out to be poor sheep hunting once again, which worked out for us as I had to finish cape the caribou hide. As I fleshed the hide, Pat spotted 2 wolves! We watched as they both ran off with a leg from the caribou kill, which allowed us to get ready for them to come back. This time they came to the meat, which we had placed under a tarp 100 yds from the carcass, and 250 yds from our camp. I coached Pat to the larger of the 2, and pat did his job. A beautiful grey wolf! I was able to skin and finish cape the wolf that night.
On the sixth day Pat and I found several rams, but
nothing legal. On our final day we woke at 3:30 a.m. and we hit the
trail at 4:30. We found our first rams by 7, but nothing legal. By 8, I
spotted a band of 3 rams. One was HEAVILY broomed, but legal. Pat and I
were both
surprised to see just how broomed he was! Pat was apprehensive
about going after the ram at first, but being the last day, all I had to
tell him was that this ram had to be at least 13 years old, and was
probably nearing his last winter. Despite the rams being only 1, 000 yds
away, the stalk was over 3 miles long. We had to wait for over an hour
for the rams to move to a more favorable spot before we could close the
last 400 yds. When they got out of their beds and moved into a small
shady draw, Pat was right behind me as we ran towards the hidden rams.
We peeked of the ridge to find the rams drinking in the spring, 120 yds
below us. Two shots later, the second for insurance, Pat had a beautiful
15 -16 year old ram!! The ram was 40-50 lbs larger than any ram I have
ever seen! This old boy had half-a tooth on his lower jaw, but I assure
you he was mighty tasty! We arrived back at the airstrip late that
night. We were both able to fly back to base camp just before dark. I
spent the nest day on the ram cape. I was excited when Pat told me “he
was coming back next year to shoot one with 2 horns!” Pat worked hard
for his ram, and I hope we can find him another great trophy next fall.
On September 5, I rode to Deadhorse with Pat, and got a flight to
Anchorage, and headed home to my family.