Scouting for Sheep

I took the opportunity over Memorial Day weekend to do some sheep scouting with a friend. This spring I was notified that I had been drawn for a Dall sheep tag in the Tok Management Area. Only 5% of those who submit are selected each year. Earlier in the year I told Dianna that I had a better chance of winning the Iditarod Sled Dog Race with my 6 dog rec team than getting selected for that hunt. Guess I'm running the Iditarod next year.

Tok Management Area

This is Tom K. who agreed to help me out with this hunt. Tom is on a ridge looking for the elusive Dall sheep.

This is what we had to climb up to get to where we thought a lake (camping with water) would be. Unfortunately the lake was not where it was supposed to be, it was in the next basin to the west, and it was frozen.

Once we finally found camp we decided to glass for sheep, which for the most part means looking through bino's for white spots moving on the hill sides. I use the much more advance method of closing my eyes and listening intently for sheep moving. It looks a lot like sleeping.

This guy came by soon after we set up camp. It's not often that you get to see a wolverine because they aren't fond of people. He was running right at our camp when he saw us and looked quite surprised. I guess he doesn't see to many people in this neighborhood.

After 2 days of scouting we had to return to Fairbanks. We decided to take a different way down than the way up. This route was much more gentle but had a lot more snow on it.

Finally out of the snow and on our way back to tree line, great weekend in the Alaska Range.

All Photo's courtesy of Tom K.