In 1991, I started applying for bighorn sheep in Colorado. Ten years later, I had a sheep tag in my pocket. That is when the addiction started. After a summer’s worth of scouting, Vince (my brother), Mark (my good hunting buddy), and I backpacked in 14 miles and I killed my first ram on opening morning. Four years later, I was fortunate enough to draw a Colorado Desert sheep tag in a unit where, at the time, the herd was suffering from pneumonia. After 15 days of hunting and countless hours of preseason scouting, I was able to take my Desert ram. Fast forward to 2017 when I drew yet another Rocky tag in Colorado and harvested a nice ram on day 29 of a 30-day season. Throughout these hunts, Vince and Mark were with me every step of the way.
I had always dreamt of going on a Dall sheep hunt but never thought I could afford it. In 2018, I lost my brother, best friend, and hunting partner, Vince. This made me realize that life is short. It was time to book a hunt. I booked a hunt for the 2019 season for a Dall sheep in Alaska. Before I knew it, I was on a plane headed to sheep camp with Mark. He had harvested a great Dall ram in 2018 after winning the hunt on a raffle, and he was hooked too. He was coming along as a non-hunter. This would turn out to be one of the tougher hunts I have ever been on. We backpacked for 10 days in some of the most difficult country I have ever seen and only saw one legal ram, which happened to be a stud. We had to climb close to 4,000 feet of elevation to get within range of him. After a long, hard stalk, I was set up on the ram. Boom! I blew it on a dream ram. It was a long, very emotional trip back home empty handed. Even though I was not successful on my dream ram, this was one of the most incredible hunting experiences I have ever had. Knowing this was such a huge dream of mine, my wife, Stacey, and daughter, Taylor, were pushing me to go back before I had even made it home.
After a few months of reflection and consideration, I decided to book a hunt for 2020. This time, I would be going with the outfitter that Mark had won his raffle tag with in 2018. Once again, my hunting buddy, Mark, was going to accompany me. Traveling to Alaska during Covid was very stressful, right down to the last minute of getting on the plane. Once we boarded, it was a huge weight off my shoulders. It wasn’t until this point that I knew we would be able to get to Alaska despite all of the restrictions.
The hunt would take place an hour’s flight out of Fairbanks in the Central Alaska Range. This would be a horseback and backpack hunt with a cabin for base camp. The 2020 sheep season in Alaska would prove to be a tough one. They had a really harsh winter in 2019 that killed a fair amount of the mature rams. We spent many hours on the back of a horse traveling through some of the most incredible glacier country I have ever seen. We would see sheep every day but could not seem to find a legal ram. There were many ups and downs on this hunt.
On the eighth morning of my 10-day hunt, we left spike camp to hike a few hours into a hidden basin. We took a break as we were crossing a crystal-clear creek for some water. As I was taking my pack off, my gun slipped and fell onto a rock, landing right on the scope! Luckily, Mark had his gun with him because he was wolf hunting. We decided right then and there that if we saw a ram, we wouldn’t take a chance on using my gun and would use Mark’s instead.
We pushed on, and as we crested over a ridgeline putting the hidden basin into view, I immediately spotted several rams appearing out of the creek bottom. We hunkered down so we were not exposed and got the spotting scope on them. It would turn out to be seven rams together, and we studied the largest one to confirm that he was legal. In Alaska, a ram has to be at least 8 years old, full curl, or broomed. The biggest of the group would turn out to be a beautiful, double broomed 9 1/2-year-old. I grabbed Mark’s .300 Win Mag off of the back of his pack and set up for the shot. We had a heavy crosswind, and the sheep were moving away from us. Mark tried to convince me to drop down into the canyon and try to get closer to the rams, but I felt confident that I could make the shot even with the winds. Mark was lying beside me, ranging the rams as they fed away from us. I kept the crosshairs on the large ram for what felt like an eternity while waiting for a clear shot. The ram eventually stepped broadside at 500 yards. I squeezed the trigger, and after the recoil, I was right back on him, only to see four legs sticking up in the air. Mark yelled, “Holy smokes! Good shot!”
I lay there watching through the scope for a few minutes, letting everything sink in. Once we worked our way across the canyon and made it to the ram, I was finally able to put a set of Dall sheep horns in my hands. It is hard to put into words the emotions that came over me. I finally did it! Mark was as excited as I was. After sitting and admiring the ram and taking everything in around us, we took a lot of pictures and started breaking down the ram to pack him out. We would have to pack him out on our backs for a couple of miles to get to the horses. The ride back to base camp came with a great feeling of accomplishment. That night, we would all celebrate with Alaskan surf and turf, Dall sheep steaks, and halibut. My lifelong dream of harvesting a Dall ram had come true.
I’d like to thank all of my friends and family who helped me on this journey. Thank you to my in-laws, Gran and Glenda, who sparked this passion after years of sharing their own sheep hunting experiences with me. Thank you to my incredibly supportive wife, Stacey, who encouraged me every step of the way and understands the love of sheep hunting after bagging her own Rocky in 2013. Thank you to my daughter and son-in-law, Taylor and Tyler, for supporting me with my dream and countless hours of scouting. Thank you to Mark for always going above and beyond throughout all of my hunts to be there by my side. Finally, and most importantly, thank you to my brother, Vince, who is no longer here, but I have felt him with me on each and every hunt since his passing. This one is for you, brother.
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