Scouting Sheep

This year's sheep hunting plans includes a new area. With any new hunting area, scouting is an absolute must for me. Since Danielle and Ashton were in Iowa, I planned a four day scouting trip for Tundra and I. 

I have learned to not go into great detail of my scouting trips and hunts because some people use that hard work and information to help them hunt sheep in the same area. Regardless, I'll still share a some details and pictures of the fun trip!

I had four days off work to gather as much information on my hunt area as possible. After work on Wednesday, I packed up the truck and drove to where we would start hiking. Tundra and I slept in the cab of the truck there so we could wake up early and get a jump start. 

The weather on the first morning was rainy with a low cloud ceiling, not the best for scouting sheep. Over the course of the weekend, it was either really rainy, or extremely hot. There was no happy medium. 

We were determined to cover as much ground as possible. I had a couple routes planned depending on the weather and actual terrain, but our goal was to cover 35 miles. We ended up traveling 45 miles total and didn't really hike on Sunday. We covered the intended Plan A route and were too tired to extend the trip further, so we got done late Saturday, and planned to check out new areas from the truck and take our time driving home.

We saw a total of 98 sheep on the trip. This sounds like a lot, but honestly, I expected to see more. There was a bunch of extremely good sheep terrain that was completely void of sheep for no explainable reason. Another thing I observed was the uncharacteristic pattern of sheep (lambs and ewes included), at the top of the mountains and not feeding lower. This was concerning because it meant the sheep I saw likely would not be in the same place come hunting season. I’m not 100% sure what all sheep were so high, but I suspect it was due to the horrible mosquitos at that time.

Overall, it was a successful trip with appropriate intel gathered on the new area. The trip didn’t really assure me of a successful hunt in August, but familiarizing myself with an area saves me valuable exploration time during hunting season. It was a tough call, but this will be the area I hunt sheep in this year. 

A quick selfie at the start of the hike. 

My guide showing me the way.

This is the first group of sheep I saw... about a dozen lambs and ewes.

Caribou sheds were everywhere. I would normally grab as many as possible, but I couldn't afford the extra weight. 

One of Tundra's most favorite things in life is SNOW! He was a happy pup when he found the many patches of white gold. If there was snow nearby, he made a B-line straight for it!

We hiked up and over a handful of passes. Tundra was a trooper and his paws held up well on the sharp shale. His pads were beat up by the end of the hiking, but he never got cut. 

Another group of lambs and ewes.

A third, large group of lambs and ewes. 

This guy watched me hike under the ridge he was hanging out on. I couldn't get a good side view of him before it started raining really hard, but from the front, he appears like a legal ram. 

Admiring the rainbow in the valley. 

Looking for sheep across the valley. 

We had some visitors running and feeding around us. They really liked this are because they refused to leave, even with Tundra eye-balling them. 

Tundra really wanted to chase the caribou, but he refrained.

This was one of the oddest things I have found in sheep country. Under these tarps is a 6x6 atv. I have absolutely no idea how it got there because the valley it is in, is surrounded by impassible mountains and the rocky valley turns into a canyon with a deep and fast river. This makes me believe that it got there from an airdrop. The valley was perfect for a tail dragger to land in, easily allowed an ATV to ride up and down it. Because the ATV was there... it made me want to avoid this area during hunting season.

The treasure at the end of the rainbow is TUNDRA!

There was a bunch of snow still on the mountains. Tundra sure didn't mind :)

Tundra volunteered to hike out a heavy moose rack for me... not really. This shed was left in the field; we couldn't afford 20 more pounds on our backs. 

These four rams were massive! They were located about five miles away from where I was glassing, and in a spot that would be absolutely impossible to access. They got big for a reason... because they are smart and know where to stay alive. 

Meerkats? Nope, just a bunch of marmots. These guys would tease Tundra during our entire hike. He tried catching one but wasn't fast enough. 

The mosquitoes were so bad, Tundra buried his head under my rain pants to get away from them while napping. 

Anytime we stopped, Tundra would take a power nap. 

More sheds.

We had a beautiful sun set one of the nights. This is actually at 1AM when I got up to go pee. 

Nothing beats a good moose spine snack.

On our way out, I decided grab two of the sheds to take home. I only carried them the last 8 miles. 

Fishing the Salt

The last three years, our household has been severely lacking halibut in our freezer. We were the unfortunate victims of bad luck each consecutive year and non producing charters. This year was different!

Our buddy Wilbur bought a boat after a long stretch of being boat-less (he was too busy building  cabin). He asked myself and a fellow pharmacist, Matt, if we wanted to head out to Montigue Island to target some halibut and rock fish. Of course we couldn't pass that opportunity up! If you don't know where that is, it's about a 3 to 3.5 hours boat ride our of Seward, in the Gulf of Alaska. It is known for bigger halibut and is a destination for many charters when the water is calm.

Well to combine three trips (between mid June and early July) into one story... we killed it! We caught fish all three times we went out there. The funny thing is Matt has never really fished for halibut until going with us... and he caught the most and biggest fish on each trip! The joke is that we have to take him if we want to catch fish.

It's a really fun time every trip we go out. We make a really great trio, all pitching in and helping out, sharing burdens, bounties, costs, and everything else. Lots of fish are caught and lots of laughs are had.

Needless to say, we won't have to worry about not having enough halibut now.

** I'm pulling a classic Danielle here... the below pics are out of order and all three trips are blurring together... but here they are.

We caught a bunch of small sharks. Apparently they are common, but this was a first for me in Alaska. 

On our first trip out, the anchor got stuck on the bottom and broke off. Before our next trip, we didn't have the required gear to connect the newly braided rope to the chain, and the chain to the anchor. We spent hours improvising and this is part of what we came up with (multiple bolts here). If we would have waited until the store opened the next day, we would have missed out on 3 hours of fishing!

Another improvised pic... carabiner and loop bolt. The anchor ended up working perfectly and we didn't lose a second one!

Dennis came with us on our second trip. The seas were really rough and we were only functioning on a couple hours of sleep. I put him through the ringer on this trip and he took it like a champ (minus a little chumming). 

A good haul of fish!

Dennis's big sea bass. 

This is Matt... notice his shirt. Apparently he has some good buddies that go to DMU, and they know my sister Jessi. What a small world!

This is called a skate. Basically it's a cross between a halibut and stingray. They get huge and are extremely hard to real in. They are not good to eat, so they're considered a nuisance fish. We caught three of these on this trip. It's really disheartening to reel in a fish for 20 or 30 minutes, hoping it's a large halibut, and then finding out it's a darn skate!

Skate release party! The guy on the left is Wlibur's brother who was really sick and couldn't work ;)

Matt battling his 165 pound halibut.

The first peak at his monster. 

One of the many skates we brought to the surface... ugly things with huge mouths. 

Here is the boat's Captain, Wilbur. Again, another skate fooled us!

Filleting the 165 pound halibut. The Fillets were 4-5 inches thick!

For the large halibut, you have to kill them before they get in the boat or they will flop around, hurt people, and fling things out of the boat. Our method of choice is a .44 handgun. I found this jewel (art of the bullet) in a halibut cheek I was snacking on for lunch. It's not common, but I thought it was worth sharing. 

Another full fish hold. 

Like a pro!

The fish hold was too full to fit our largest halibut. That's Matt's 165 pound halibut laying next to my 90 pound halibut. 

Tail pic.

We launch at 4AM to beat the crowds and charters.

Here is the biggest halibut from the first outing, 50 some pounds. 

This is Wilbur's cabin/house he built. It's beautiful with an amazing view. I love visiting!!

Matt doing what he does best... being small, I mean, catching fish. 

Another nice haul.

Leaving the dock... until next time.

Wilbur's biggest halibut of the trip, north of 40 pounds. 

Here I am next to the 165 pound halibut. Judging by my 6'8", this guy looks to be a little over 6 feet long. 

This is Matt with his 165 pound halibut!

The crew with the monster. 

Here is my 90 pound halibut... bullet wounds make it a little bloody :)

Check out that butt!