Sheep Hunt...again

I managed to get 5 days off and I wanted to try again to get a sheep. I started at the same drainage that I went to in August. Very little sheep. Maybe 15. One of those was a half curl ram.

So I moved to Caribou Trail after one night at Lost Creek. This is a panoramic view of one of the valley's on the other side of the mountain from Caribou trail. You may not be able to see them here, but there's 12 sheep in this one valley, one is a near 3/4 curl ram that would be legal, IF it's a 3/4 curl.

You can see forever.

That's a ewe and 4 lambs 209 yards away. Easy shot. Good eaten'. Jail bait.

No meat on this hunt, but I did find this trophy.

Meg's Bear Mountain hike

Meg's school takes the sixth graders out every year on a hike up bear mountain. We had overcast skies, but it was clear north. You can see Mt. Mckinley pretty well.

Looking down from here, you can see Mirror Lake and her school, Mirror Lake Middle School, on the other side of the Glen Highway.

This is just sweetness. Colt sleeping.

And Justice with a "Two Dog Sleeper Hold".

Sheep hunt

This is where we stashed our extra food and other supplies. We started hiking from the entrance to this valley about 2-3 miles away. We had very little time that was this pretty. Most of our time was rain and clouds on the deck.

One nice thing about the trip was this pair of caribou sheds. Very nice. We found lots of shed, but didn't see a single caribou.

I didn't get completely skunked on the trip. I got this ptarmigan with my trekking pole. That's why the tip is broken on my pole. We cooked it over fire for breakfast the next morning.

This is John's pack. I call it, "The Clampetts Go Sheep Hunting."

And this is the ram we harvested. Very nice specimen.

The climb!

This picture shows two things. First it shows the mountain we climbed in the background. Second, you can just see bill in the bushes. That's where Meg was walking back from when I saw the moose and calf and then the bear that I shot. You can see how a bear could get around without being seen. Kind of nerve rattling.

Mmm, blueberries.

We're taking a break here. My truck is on the road just to the left of Bill's shoulder. You can see Bill's camera on the rock by Bo. That's where he left it. We had to come back for it.

Takin' a break at the top. Lots of caribou sheds.

Awesome picture.

Whittier fishing trip

Just a quick break in the family visit to bring you an update on Edlin6.

A family we go to church with took us halibut fishing on their boat in PWS out of Whittier. Turns out nothing is free, they made Colt drive. Justice was navigator. It's a 36 ft cat. with twin straight 6 diesel engines. It's alright for a starter boat.

While we were out we caught some shrimp (about 150). But these are the biggest "shrimp" I've ever seen.

I got a little kiss from this Irish Lord fish. Talk about a face only a mother could love. I'm talkin' about the fish!

Meg caught her first halibut. She brought it up all on her own.

And Colt caught his first halibut. 93 lbs. I might have helped a little.

Back to family visit.

I took a short break from my sheep hunt for a bit, so I'm gonna post some more while I can.

This was on the Denali Highway. We're looking towards the Alaska Range.

This was not taken to prove Chase brushed his teeth, it was 11:30 P.M.

Denali camp.

This is on the Parks Highway at Hurricane Gulch.

This was on the Denali Highway also.

On the way home we went to Whittier. This picture was for Boyd, we talked about him getting on with the Alaska Railroad.

This was in Whittier.

On the way home after Whittier, there was a wreck and we were told it would be a couple of hours.

So we made the best of it. That's a pistachio shell in the foreground. They became projectiles.