Ovis...

[Oak]

I think this is a great hunting photo:

That gallery of photos from that sheep hunt has some great pictures. Too many times people forget to take pictures of the hunt. I'm guilty of often ending up with nothing but kill shots. Nice job.

 

[Ovis]

Thanks for the compliment, Oak. I'm at fault for singling out trophy shots as my favorite photos. This one sends a message though; two friends ready to scarf down some good ol freeze dried after a calorie intensive day. Like you, I favor it as well.

This one I like as well. I remember counting my lucky stars we wore our hippers through the muck until we started to climb upon which we ditched them. On the return leg we came down a different route, about a half mile (one way) south of where we stashed them. I recall not wanting to bushwack for the retrieval...I think my dogs were on fire. Any how, my sherpa (pictured) went and fetched his and my pair and brought them back to me.

What really makes these pictures special is it is the only thing we have to show for our hunt. The mutton didn't last long, the horns were swiped (either by man or beast...I believe the former) and the cape was sold once we knew there was no hope of ever getting the horns back.

 

[Dinkshooter]

How did you get your horns stolen? Cripes!! That is awful!!!!!!!!!

A picture I call the "Bananna Looking at the Bananna".

A little dall ram was knocking rocks down the hill one morning, my brother got out of the tent to see what the rukus/noise was about.

 

[AkBearHunter]

LOL.......thats a funny pic, good one!!

 

[mtmiller]

I couldn't find the original story of your ram hunt, but the pictures took me back. Great experience for you and great share for us.
http://www.hunttalk.com/forums/gallery/browseimages.php?c=180&userid=

 

[Ovis]

How did you get your horns stolen? Cripes!! That is awful!!!!!!!!!

Had the skull submerged in a creek near our camp. The meat was in game bags cooling under some brush not 10 yds from the skull. We were away from camp looking for a second ram. We thought we were the only ones on the mountain.

Returned to camp later one evening to find the horns gone, but the meat untouched. A little later that evening a suspicous guy came walking through camp. We actually noticed him earlier that day in the peaks of an adjacent ridge. We spoke with him for awhile and even asked him about the horns. He (supposedly) knew nothing.

As it turns out he was an assistant guide for a well known guide in the area (Greg Boyd...some of you may know) and was running around the mountain solo looking for sheep. He had been with Greg and a client, who were on the mountain shortly, but soon left after seeing us. We never seen them on the mountain. This was all told to us by the A.G.

When it came time to pack out. Greg's assistant followed us out...literally walked out with my buddy and I. The guy gave me the creeps and I felt very apprehensive when he walked right behind me as we crossed a section of cliff ledges.

I had the displeasure of meeting Greg a day or two later at the pick up point. He was very confrontational with some other guys there. Supposedly one of the guys there used to be good friends with Greg and Greg was quite pissed about his pressence (and his posse) in "his" secret hole. What was funny was these guys were there bear hunting. They had absolutely no intent of climbing the mountains in search of sheep.

So the bottom line is Greg and his assistant guide didn't give me a warm fuzzy. I absolutely feel like these guys had something to do with the horns disappearing. If it were a bear or a wolverine it would have at least investigated what was in the game bags, but more than likely taken what was in them. My guess is Greg's assistant guide stashed them up in the crags and later went back and retrieved them.

Here is a pic of the prime suspect. Tell me he doesn't look like Ted Kaczynski.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Looking at the picture I would say your right. Yeeks, that is why you carry a sidearm in Alaska, for the 2 legged vermin.

No chance it floated/washed away? Creek to small for that?

 

[Ovis]

Looking at the picture I would say your right. Yeeks, that is why you carry a sidearm in Alaska, for the 2 legged vermin.

No chance it floated/washed away? Creek to small for that?

Just deep enough to submerge the entire skull until we could cap it out. No way it floated out. That being said though, we considered all possibilities, no matter how ludicrous, and combed the mountain over for them.

 

[TBinKodiak]

Just deep enough to submerge the entire skull

I'm thinking if you would have shown old Teddy exactly where you had left the skull you may have been able to refresh his memory a little.

 

[Ovis]

I'm thinking if you would have shown old Teddy exactly where you had left the skull you may have been able to refresh his memory a little.

A real close look of where they were, eh?

 

[AkBearHunter]

Sorry to hear about your horns Ovis, them damn things don't come easy. Just looking at the guy makes me believe that he took them but unfortunatley we will probably never know for sure. Did you report them being stolen to F&G?

 

[Ovis]

Sorry to hear about your horns Ovis, them damn things don't come easy. Just looking at the guy makes me believe that he took them but unfortunatley we will probably never know for sure. Did you report them being stolen to F&G?

No...didn't have solid evidence they were stolen. I know better next time to leave horns in the open. Even when you think nobody is around.

 

[muskeg]

Bears or Wolverine can do funny things.

While guiding on the North Slope years ago, we had a pile of meat sacks and a sack containing the Moose cape stacked against the tent. Hopefully to protect them a little. During the night ... quiet enough to not wake us ... a Bear picked through the meat bags and took the cape bag !!!!!

Just recently we lost a Mt Goat cape to a Wolverine ... he didn't touch the meat bags, in fact had to move them out of the way. Ripped the head (and both front hoofs) right off the the whole body cape and took of with it.

Strange things happen !!!!!

 

[Dinkshooter]

By the way Ovis, what kind of camera do you use? The colors in those pictures are unreal. Even the one with Ted, maybe he could be photoshoppped out.

 

[Ovis]

Johnny

Thanks for the story. Because I do understand strange things happen I have not entirely ruled out some strange paradox. Though only .0001%

Dink

The camera is a Sony F707. Once upon a time, it was the must have top of the line prosumer camera. Now it is dated. I will probably jump on the Xti bandwagon before much longer. Problem is, this thing still takes great pictures, but I keep telling myself I'm missing out on all the new technology.

BTW, I snapped this pic of Ted without him knowing. My buddy, Greg (pictured, not to be confused with the guide Greg) is talking with him before our descent off the mountain. It was what we thought would be the last time we would see of him and Greg is asking a final time about the horns. What we didn't know was he was going to follow us off the rock.

 

[ELKCHSR]

Ovis...

This really sucks (of course you already know that)

The pics aren't showing up, maybe you could repost them

I hope you get another chance to go back and get another one some day

 

[northwestalaska]

missing horns

Hi guys: Sorry about your missing rack. It is not uncommon to have bears take things like capes and leave meat. I don’t know why but it must be something about mineral/vitamin needs.

2 years ago I was hunting Bou up the Noatak River about 40 miles out of Kotzebue. My partner and I were stalking a group of 50-60 Jr. bulls with the hope of finding some nice mature bulls in the back of the group. Just as we were about to give up on the group 8 grand daddy’s walked up behind us and we took 2 monsters at less than 40 yards. It was less than 1 hour until sundown and we would only be able to pack 1 animal back to the boat (about 1 mile of tundra) and gutted and covered animal #2 with the cape from #1. The next morning we got back to the kill site and found a missing cape and a ravaged gut pile from animal #1. After looking for a short time we found the cape under a huge scrape and it was still soft rather than frozen like everything else.

Long story short we were nervous knowing well that the bear was still close and we made two quick trips and got the hell out of Dodge. The second animal was not touched but the cape was removed and taken, why was the meat left?? I don’t know. A buddy was flying that day and told me that he saw a sow and 2 cubs sleeping less than 400 yards from where we were cutting meat… Too close!

Don’t assume the villain was 2 legged, could have been the 4 legged type.

Walt
Northwest Alaska Back Country Rentals
Your best bet in raft and camp rentals in all of NW Alaska
www.northwestalaska.com