Sheep Harvest

This has been a dream of mine the last few years.  Of all the animals of Alaska, I think the dall sheep is the most beautiful.  The chanllenge and effort of a sheep hunt really put it in a different category for me and many other AK hunters.

Ever since I drew the DS204 tag last February I have been obsessed with it.  It has just about dominated my thoughts for the last 6 months or so.  I have had sheep dreams, day dreams, spent countless hours on the internet planning this trip.  Well on 8/28/12 it all became a reality for me.  I took a dall sheep ram on the third day of my hunt with Jed. 



This was the first ram that we encountered.  We were going through a valley and I spotted him bedded down way low on the mountain.  We could see other rams behind him, but were afraid if we spooked this guy off, they would all jump and the game would be up....

We saw a lot of sheep while we were hunting.  We also saw a couple of grizzly bears on our first day.  but alas, this trip did not come out a double (griz / ram). 

The biggest thing to deal with was the weather. For most of the second and third days of our hunt we were 'weathered' in. We spent hours and hours huddled in our sleeping bags in our little tent. The mountains were almost completely fogged in. The night of the second day Jed and I were so bored we climbed up into sheep country late in the evening, but soon were forced to go back down the mountain because of the heavy fog. It was very steep and visibility was only probably 20 feet. We decided it was pretty unsafe to be on the mountain. Well the next day we woke up to SNOW! There was probably 3-4 inches on the ground. This made spotting sheep extremely difficult. We spent most of that day hunkered down in our bags. As evening started though, it warmed up a little. We decided to climb the mountain again and have a look..... 

 Jed spotted my sheep first.  He was with another ram about the same size.    I took him from 312 yards (horizontal distance).  I got him in the neck. I was shooting my Kimber Montana 300 WSM using 165 grain barnes TSX (this fall's bullet of choice).  He only fell about 20 yards down the mountain.  These pictures don't really do the angle justice.  Capeing and butchering on the side of this mountain was not an easy task.  We eventually got it done though, and headed down the mountain and were back in camp a little after 9PM.

 I'm not sure what the name of the glacier in the background is.  But it was a beautiful valley and home for a couple of days.  I am so happy that I was able to make this dream happen finally this year.  These majestic animals have the best meat!

 This pic was getting back to camp after packing him off the mountain.  Me and jed both had very heavy packs.  The steepness and snow (no crampons) made things 'interesting'.  I"ve spent a good many hours this week taking care of the meat.  A lot got made into Jalapeno and Maple sausage (both excellent) and some into stew meat, and of course BACKSTRAPS baby!

Next week is Moose hunting..... so wish me luck.

First animal of the season

Yes I know I have a lot of catching up to do, with summer vacation pictures and everything. But I just got back from a great hunt with my dad and some of my friends, and was excited about it so I wanted to put a pictures up of that first. This was yesterday.

I shot him very close to Logan's Valley.  Initially about a 300 yard shot.  He dissappeared for a while in some bushes and me and my buddy went looking for him.  Well I jumped him about 10 feet away, and he popped up and ran about 20 yards.  Then a clean shot through the lungs and he was done for.  About a hour and half later and me and dad were on our way back to camp, loaded down with meat.

 Here are a few of the trophy pics.  This was shot with my  Kimber Montana 300 wsm, 165 grain TSX bullets.  Granted I haven't harvested a ton of caribou, but this is the nicest one yet!  He is very symetrical, and has a double shovel.  Big bull too, I could barely lift his ribcage up.  I'm guessing 140 lbs of meat off this guy.  Got him hanging in the garage at the moment.  can't wait to get more as my freezer is pretty bare bones at the moment.

 I know what your thinking what a horrible cape job, well I didn't keep the cape, just the antlers.  Hes just not quite big enough for a shoulder mount.  But I plan on doing my own little mount with his antlers in velvet.

 Finnegan was pretty excited and curious about the caribou.  He can't wait for his turn when he is older to feed the family.  Think he needs to start out with some rabbits first though.  Hopefully not to much longer.

Summer Vacation 2012

Fresno Family Photos

While visiting my Grandparents in Fresno my Aunt Karen was able to get some good shots of Finn smiling at his dad from the pool. The next day when she got home from work she took some family shots for us and they look pretty good. Hope fully if she come up to Alaska in August we can get some more and I will not have crazy hair and the sun won't we making our eyes water.  Hopefully in the near future I can get all the pictures from our vacation and the time Bryce was in texas loaded into the computer and up on the blog for all to see!

Easter 2012

This is Finn's Easter outfit that Grandma Lisa got him. Wish I could have seen it on him instead of just a picture. Sure am missing that little guy while I am down here in Texas. Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Finnegan Pics from Dec. 2011

Finnegan looks just like his grandpa Terry. He loves grandpa very much.

This was Finnegan's first bath at home (instead of a wet soapy towell wipe down). He loves getting baths, the warm water and smelling clean. Rachel is really good about giving him baths.

Rachel ordered this wonderful wall decal for Finn's room months and months ago. We litterally spent 4-5 hours putting this thing up, it was such a pain in the butt!!! and guess what happened the next day! we woke up and half of it had decided it did not want to stick to the wall and fallen over and stuck to its self. Luckily we were able to get the money back, but we wish it just would have stuck on there cuz it was really cool.

Finn doesn't wear hats as much as he used too. When he would fall asleep he would constantly be pulling them down over his own eyes. Maybe he just didn't like the light... sure is a cute little bugger though.

Finnegan is almost 3 months old!!!

I can't believe our little man is going to be 3 months old this saturday. He is getting so big. I thought I would put a few pictures of him up that I really like before I have to leave for work. There are many others ( and I will try to put more up) but these are some of the favorites for now.

Im soooo tired mommy! can't keep my eyes open.....

I'm pretty sure this pic was taken right after he got fed. He passed out.....

Rachel thinks this looks like a funeral picture. I think its adorable
abut the last month or so finn has started smiling alot. he loves to have his chin tickled. and he loves having his feet played with. his laugh is soooo hilarious.

Denali - "oh Finnegan, I love you! I want to give you kisses! oh and please scratch behind my ears."

Firehouse pets...

So every fire station needs a pet right? Most people would think dalmations, but not the AAPF Dept. We have mice, and lots of them! they have been working on the problem for a couple of months now, and it seems to be getting better. For awhile, the mice were so mild that they would just let you pick them up. I think they have got the idea that we are at war now though. Usually when I get them alive I just throw them outside in the snow, I don't really want to get my boots bloody by stomping on them I guess.

Sure they look cute, but we have seen them in our kitchen, and that is NOT cute.

Christmas 2011

I know that this post is well over due, but better late then never I suppose. We had a wonderful christmas this year, with lots of good presents and family. I had to work all the holidays (thanksgiving, xmas, xmas eve, new years.....) this year, but we found a little time to squeeze in a little family christmas. This was Finn's first christmas! and althought I"m sure he will have more enthusiusm in the coming years, I know he loved being cuddled and kissed by everyone. Finn got to dress like his buddy santa this year, and oddly enough we don't have any pictures of him in that outfit. maybe we can get a few from my mom... hint hint.

This was one of my xmas gifts for rachel this year. It is a .308 Kimber Montana. Guess what her valentine day gift was???? if you said scope, then you are correct. It was a new Ziess 3-9x40 and I purchased light weight tally rings to mount it with. All together her rifle weighs 6 lb 3 oz. For those of you that don't know, and have not had the privledge of carrying a rifle all day, that is extremely light weight. for example, my .338 Remington is 8.5 lbs..... I was really hoping rachel would draw a valley cow moose tag this year, or a denali highway caribou. but no such luck. I guess I took all the draw tag luck this year :)

I can't wait to work up some loads for her .308 and test them out (her test them out).

Ok so this is Finn with his xmas gift from daddy. He got to open the first present. I got him a high capacity magazine for his 10/22. He loved it!!! said it was the best xmas gift he has ever gotten. and he can't wait to go rabbit hunting with his daddy.

I don't have pictures of them, but I got some great gifts as well. My dad handed down his browning 44 mag lever gun to me, which I was really excited about. Rachel got me a new reloading kit and a meat grinder, both of which will be getting a lot of use this upcoming year. And Rachel's mother got me a RCBS die set for my 300 WSM. So now I can work a load up for my sheep hunt. I think i'll be going with 168 grain barnes TTSX, we'll see. Now I just need to make some room in the garage.....

more pics of Finn

I know its been awhile since we have put some pictures up of Finnegan. so i thought I would add a few. I have some really cute ones of him recently, I just haven't uploaded them yet. so these are all from his birth / December.

This is literally his first bugger! Rachel didn't want me to take a picture, but I know the important stuff when I see it.

This was Finn's first day home with me. I'm pretty sure we were watching a football game at the time. I know it looks like we are all sleeping, but this is how we watch football these days.

This is one of the first pics of me holding Finn at Providence. I'm sitting on the couch of Rachel's room the morrning after his birth. The couch is really comfortable to sleep on by the way.

Finn had his 2 month doctor appointment yesterday. It was his 'shots' appointment. He did really well. He cried like he was being tortured when they put the needles in his legs, but then ten seconds later, after being held and soothed, I think he totally forgot about the whole thing. He weighted 12 lbs 3 oz. which they said is the 50th percentile. And he was in the 75th percentile for his length (23 inches i think it was) and head size (40 cm).

I'll try to put some pictures on here from X-mas and this month. Rachel got a new camera for christmas that she has been using, and I have some real good ones on my cell phone too that I need to download to the computer.