I've made it back to Fairbanks and have some time to post about the hunt. I got an inreach message from the outfitter the day before I was leaving, and he said they got a whopper on the first hunt, but sheep are slim and we will have to work hard! Right on! In under 24 hours, I go from PA to stepping foot in the Brooks Range. The next morning another plane is coming in, so we are in no hurry to get going. I setup the spotter and look around early and spot a few rams. After the plane leaves we head to a drainage the way they fed over the mountain. After about 3 hours, and working our way up the drainage, I look straight up and see a ram bedded. We are about 700 yards straight underneath him. We try to stalk up to a spire that would put us at about 300 yards, but the loose scree on the near vertical slope just was too loud and they spooked. After some rest and further exploring the rest of the drainage, it is now late afternoon. I'm figuring the day is done and we head back to camp to regroup for tomorrow. Along the way we try a shortcut between some spires and the main mountain. We go over 3 of them before coming to an open route to camp. Going across the tundra, we stop one last time to look things over and bang. About 2 miles away, a white dot fairly low. We down a little water and some energy chewies and take off. We come around a peak and spot a bedded ram about 1,000 yards. With plenty of ground between us, we are able to peak out at 485 yards. My guide is worried about recovering him should we kill him. After maneuvering around while staying hidden, he comes back and says he is 90 percent certain that we can recover. I said, "your 90 percent certain and I have plenty of time. Let's take him." With that we only have to wait for a couple of minutes for the ram to stand. He is legal in every way possible. A smaller ram had fed out of that drainage and we did see the third ram anywhere, but these had to be the rams from the morning and that we spooked. The ram went down and held tight for a minute before taking a very "controlled" roll of about 200 yards down the slope. I look at my phone and it said 10 PM! We gather up and head to camp to get a good night's sleep. The next morning we head up to him and except for a tough vertical descent/climb back out at the bottom of the drainage, we get him back to camp after taking pics and breaking him down. What a way to get kicked out of the less than one club. We got him plugged and measured at the fish and game office and his horns are 40 inches on the right and 37 inches on the left. Bases are all but 14 inches and he 9 years old. I am truly blessed.
