I arrived from Altai, spent one night in Moscow and flew to Alaska. The jet lag was really tough. The time difference was + 4 hours from Moscow time when I arrived from Altai, and immediately flew to - 13 hours. My way to the hunting ground, located near the border with Canada in the Wrangell and St Elias park, consisted of 3 transfer flights, while I got to Fairbanks, one night there and 250 miles drives’ plus 1,5 hours flight on Cessna 206. At last we arrived. All hunting trips, organized by that outfitter are always booked in 2 years ahead. He gets not more than 4 males per year though his hunting ground is about 500 sq. miles. Fortunately, one of his clients couldn't arrived and we used the chance. It was a spontaneous decision to take that offer but none of us regretted about it.
We used the rifles, offered by the out host. They were two old Winchesters 6,5х55 (Sweden Mauser) and 300 H&H with a low-quality optics. The weapon was tested on 200 yards. The gun’s testing showed that it worked well for the distances to 300 meters and we agreed to approach the animals not less than 200 m or closer. Our host and the guide in one person told us that the group of sheep males was seen on the nearest mountain. It wouldn’t take much time to look for the sheep, he assured us. He didn’t lie. Next morning, we left the camp and rode just about 2 hours when detected the herd in 3 km from us.
It's so easy to find Dall sheep on the landscape. The ascent took us almost all day hours, though we rose just 500 vertical meters. We climbed taking into account how the animals moved, the wind and physical condition of our hunters. The total number of the animals feeding on the slope was 24 individuals. We identified the group consisted of adult males and tried to approach it using any landscape features. The guide asked to take and to put on the white camouflage gowns when we came close. He said it worked there. We looked like four snowdrifts on the green grass or like four Dall sheep, as we calmed ourselves. We drew near the sheep on 200 m. They were in the gorge under us. It’s very important to define the trophy size. If the sheep was smaller than the legal size the guide would have lots of problems.
The trophy had been chosen - the hunter confirmed that he understood what male he would fire- the shot- the hit - the trophy is taken by the second shot. The sheep didn’t understand from what side the shot was done because of the mountain echo and began to move up slowly along the opposite slope. The first hunter crawled back and another one took his position. It took 20 sec to define and to confirm the second target. The sheep went up on 300 m. Two more shots and the second trophy was got. We had worked as a team without any mistakes and took two good and same size sheep. Both trophies were 10 years old. The left horn of one of the males was longer and the second male’s right horn was longer too.
Then we tried to hunt for bears but the weather became worse. We hunted five days but without the result. Bear hunting wasn’t so comfortable as the sheep one and we enjoyed the north wildlife to the fullest.
And then we flew back to home.
