It has been said that a Dall sheep hunt is the pinnacle of big game hunting in Alaska. Is that true? I don’t know. For a few years now I’ve been walking around in the country they inhabit and rubbing elbows with those in the know and I feel like I am beginning to understand where this notion comes from.








Dall sheep country can vary from place to place based on the mountain range they call home and the time of year. There are 8 mountain ranges that hold sheep in Alaska. For the most part the sheep zone is where green turns to gray and brown, and where the terrain goes from steep to steeper in the high alpine. Rugged peaks, glaciers, deep river valleys, soaring ridges and gnarly faces are all hallmarks of sheep country.



In my story last year about moose hunting I said that the easy part is getting a moose on the ground. With sheep hunting, I am not sure there is an easy part, it is all hard. To go after the king of the mountain you are going to pay, usually in more ways than one. Sheep hunts are long, arduous, often expensive, and most usually involve a significant element of danger.






Sheep hunting, in Alaska at least, is often a hybrid of mountaineering and hunting with a little bit of bushwacking, death defying aviation, and river navigation tossed in for good measure.

The animals themselves are extremely sharp and notoriously hard to get close to even in relatively benign terrain (where they are rarely found). It is a spot and stalk game for most and stalking usually involves many days, hours, miles on top of miles, and thousands upon thousands of feet of elevation gained and lost. The odds of success are relatively low, usually in the neighborhood of 25% statewide, much lower in some areas. Generally speaking you can’t drive a 4-wheeler to sheep country and you can’t land a plane near a kill site and so for most the name of the game is large loads in big packs and long walks for days at a time. Good old-fashioned blood sweat and tears style work.






Put all of these factors together and it becomes more clear why a successful sheep hunt could feel like the pinnacle of a hunting career. The harder something is to attain, typically the more value or meaning we assign to the achievement.

This fall I was finally able to set aside a few days to hunt sheep and here is the story of a week I spent in the hall of the mountain king.
























On the way to sheep country you often encounter other wildlife in the lower elevations.




























Gandalf: I am looking for someone to share an adventure that I an arranging, and it has been very difficult to find anyone.

Bilbo: I should think so in these parts. We are plain quiet folks and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things, make you late for dinner. I can’t think what anyone sees in them.

Gandalf: You will have a tale or two to tell when you come back.

Bilbo: Can you promise I will come back?

Gandalf: No. And if you do, you will not be the same.




More to follow.