Brooks Range Sheep Hunt 2010

My buddy Keith and I took off for the coveted Dall Sheep on August 12th. I met him at his work camp 300 miles north of Fairbanks on the famous Haul road, aka the Dalton highway. The scenery on the way up was spectacular.
We got up and had our last shower and coffee until we planned our return 4 days later. We loaded up our packs so we could be self sufficient and walked out to attack the Brooks range. This type of hunting is not for the unfit. This was some of the most grueling and treacherous hiking I could have ever imagined. In many places one false step could lead to a dangerous or even fatal fall, and that's not even considering the wildlife.

We had not even left the bunkhouse yard when we ran into a Grizzly sow and 2 cubs. We yelled "hey bear, hey bear" and she looked at us with total disinterest. She was about 100 yards away and she was close enough that we had to draw our pistols. We hadn't even left the yard yet! In a few moments she led the cubs down the creek bed and disappeared into the distance.

Keith and I headed up the first hill. This is the kind of climbing where you pick a spot and walk to it and the rest for a minute. The hills were vicious. We had ascended about 400 yards from the bunkhouse when the sow and cubs decided to come in for another look at us. She came to within about 75 yards this time and again we yelled
and tried to scare her off. In a few minutes she disappeared but was clearly not scared of us.
Our pistols were out again already. Crazy! Little did I know that our bear run-ins were only warming up.

After hiking for about 8 hours we had achieved 4 miles into the back-country. We set up
our spike camp near the merging of 2 major drainages and decided that we would spend
one day hunting each drainage. We saw plenty of lambs and ewes, but no legal rams.
The lack of legal rams didn't bother us in the least. We were just happy to be hanging out in beautiful country and roughing it.

On Sunday morning we made one last hike up a drainage and came across a fresh bear dig and some big berry patches. All at once I heard Keith whisper "bear" and then I saw it. It was a large male grizzly and he was at no more than 60 yards and he had no idea we were there. We raised our walking sticks and yelled "hey bear" just like the advice suggests. The next part suggests that the bear will be scared and run away. BS!! When he located us and our sounds, he smelled a snack. He began walking and then bounding straight for us. He was also slobbering up a storm and all prickled up. Classic attack signs.
We drew our guns and Keith fired a shot over his back. He kept coming. I heard Keith fire another shot as he didn't slow at all. He was above us on a ridge at this point and turned broad side as he was about to start down a very short path toward us. At this point he was 20 yards away! Keith yelled, "fire one just off his ass", so I did. Something about that
zinger made him change his mind. You could see his gears turning in his head. He was leaning downhill and ready to bear down on us, but at the last second he sauntered off. We kept our guns trained on him until we could no longer so him and then proceeded down the trail. It was classic....two steps forward and then look back and watch as he was behind us at this point!

We finished our sheep hunt and then decided on the way back that we would hunt that bear.
He was clearly in the area and very close to our camp so we thought he might be more safe as a rug. We looked for him on the way back to camp but were unable to locate him. Our camp was still in one piece (as we suspected he may have gone there to trash it since we shot at him) so we were thankful for that, but nonetheless we packed it up and decided to walk out.

The Brooks Range is a wild, unforgiving place. I have a whole new perspective on the dangers of hiking/hunting in regions like this. The one thing I have taken away from this trip is that I will NEVER go into the wilds of Alaska without my gun on my hip. It's just not safe without it and you never know when you might be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can assure you that I would not have felt nearly as safe with pepper spray. In fact, it may have made me taste quite spicy.

Alaska is always teaching you something about yourself. I think it is the challenge of it all. I got to experience a face to face encounter with a grizzly and I actually was able to observe our physiology in such an event. There was no fear. None. It was just absolute clarity and focus. There is truly nothing else to think about at a time like that. What a wild, primitive experience. I will never forget it!