Sheep hunting in Wrangell Mnt. of Alaska

[Istaga]

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r143/dave_mcneese/David-freezing.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r143/dave_mcneese/WrangellMtns.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r143/dave_mcneese/David-Letsgo.jpg

[Istaga]

awesome gear...

[rooks]

That top photo is fantastic, so open & alone. Awesome!

[Randy]

Thanks for sharing your hunt. How about a good story to go with the awesome photos?!

[Scoutin' Wyo]

I will second the request for a story.

Thanks for the pictures. I was supposed to go sheep hunting in the Wrangells with a buddy of mine in the fall of '08, but he drew his brown bear tag on Kodiak for '08 and now the sheep are out of the picture.


Thank you for wetting my appetite.
Brian

[Drathhaar]

Great Photos! Congratulations on your sheep. You have lived my dream hunt.

[T&S Manufacturing]

Anyone else notice the rainbow in the first picture? It's to the right and just above the man's head. About 1" away from his head, around 1 o'clock.

Istaga;

Are the orange boots hard-shell? Who are they by and did the owner like their performance? Any downsides to those boots?

Was this a fly in/out trip? How many days? Does AK F&G require non-residents use a guide for sheep?

[Istaga]

T&S Manufacturing,

The boots are hard-shell and Koflach Degre boot is the brand, and I believe that you can get a pair for around 300.00 dollars and yes.. the owner liked their performance so much that he (Me) will always wear them on sheep hunts.

It was a fly in and yes AK F&G require non-residents to hire a guide for sheep. I'm not required being a resident... I was in that area for 8 days, shot the Ram on day 5 and was picked up on the 8th day of a 12 day hunt. I had to signal the guy (pilot)with my mirror as he was flying past a couple of miles away from my position to the east with tourist going to a glacier.

As you can see from my other photo's, third pic down from the other post, that my choice of pack was the EMR.

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r143/dave_mcneese/David-Mike-Airplane.jpg
Wrangell Mountain Air was the Air service
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r143/dave_mcneese/Nicetomeetyou.jpg
Simply beautiful...

[snakey2]

Fantastic!! Big country! Great sheep.

[T&S Manufacturing]

Istaga;

Thank you for the reply. Before the Koflach's, what was your boot of choice for sheep terrain?

I've got a nice pair of Meindl (from A.J. Brooks, not Cabela's) boots (the Taiga model) but the upper isn't as stiff as it should be for steep scree and rock/boulder hopping. They were a find on this board and for $150, new and unused with Lathrop insoles, I couldn't say no. I like the Sportiva line also, except their quality isn't quite what it was 10 years ago. Scarpa is another favorite.

Can you tell me what summer weather is like in, inland southeast AK, in the foothill areas? Highs/lows, lots of rain/medium rain, lots of sun/no sun, etc? Are the northern lights visible? How about winter/summer daylight hours compared, say, to Fairbanks?

Did you see any bear or sign of bear during your trip?

Thanks in advance for any answers you can put up.

[Len]

Is that a 4 man tipi? Did you take a stove at all? I don't see any pipe but curious if you just decided against it or don't have one. How far did you have to hike to get that nice ram?

[Istaga]

Len

It was the ParaTipi and I didn't take the stove because of the early season but, had I went in a little later then it would have been with me. Hiked up to about 5 miles...

[Bushcraft]

Congratulation Istaga. That second picture makes me wish I had the time to run around up in those hills. Beautiful country.

Thanks for sharing!

Allen

[Bushcraft]

Congratulation Istaga. That second picture makes me wish I had the time to run around up in those hills. Beautiful country.

Thanks for sharing!

Allen

[Gizzmo]

Congrats on a excellant hunt !

Great photos.

[Istaga]

Thank you all for your comments and I will have a hunt edited this time next year for everyone to watch using the wonderful gear by Kifaru, it will have several sheep hunts and other Alaska game on it. Can't wait...

[AK Rick]

Istaga,

Congrats on the sheep! Almost went to the wrangells with a bud but we opted for a shorter trip accessing the white mountains. Didn't get a sheep but saw a few 3/4 and one 7/8 but just not big enough.

How did you like the performance of the EMR for hunting? I'm looking at getting one as well. I'm stationed up at Wainwright so a dual purpose military/hunting pack will work well in the long term.

Space wise did most of the meat load rest on top of the sleeping bag divider? How heavy were you loaded up going in then on the way out with the sheep.

thanks

Rick

[Istaga]

AK Rick

I flew into that area with a 70lb. bag and left from the mountain with an estimated weight of 130lbs. I even dumped several days worth of food to lighten the load.

The EMR performed wonderful and I also chose it for multi-purpose use, the material seemed more durable as well. It has plenty of room and as you can tell by the picture it is stuffed.

I left the sleeping bag divider opened and filled from the bottom up, after I had placed the meat in the bag the rest of my things went on top of the meat.

The meat were in game bags and I had a double-layered game bag to seperate my personal items from the meat. I'll also be going next year to the general area but this time with my own plane. /images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

[Istaga]

A tip for a lighter replacement of a sleeping bag is to take two poncho liners and double them up. Didn't have any problems with getting cool or cold and you know what they weigh... and hardly take up any room. Just thought that I'd throw that at ya... /images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif

[idaho lad]

Outstanding adventure.

[AK Rick]

Istaga,

thanks for the info.

Again great pics and hunt.

Rick

[Istaga]

You're welcome and would like to see some pics after your hunt next year.