Sheep with Bonus Grizzly

Jim Rockstad and I just flew into Fairbanks. The fall colors were too good to believe. His brother, Ron, picked us up and we were all excited and laughing. Jim said to Ron, “You won’t believe the lady Jaret met at LAX.” Jim continued, “We were checking in at LAX and Jaret was carrying a double wide gun case. This lady came up to Jaret and said, “Son, what musical instrument do you play?” Jaret told her, “This is a 375 Holland and Holland. A musical instrument of death, and a great instrument for bears in Alaska.” You should have seen the look on her face! She snorted and walked off shaking her head. Everyone was laughing.”

Ron had invited Jim and I to go on a sheep hunt out of Fairbanks. Ron was overweight, very smart and a self-made millionaire, always laughing and telling jokes. He had the gift of gab.  He could sell yellow snow to an Eskimo. He knew a really good super cub pilot that owed him a big favor. Ron talked to the pilot and convinced him to fly us and land on top of a mountain where there were some huge sheep. It was a very dangerous place to land and most pilots would not attempt to do it. The reluctant pilot flew each of us separately and it was very touchy and a precarious landing. It was very critical to have the wind in our favor to have a safe landing.

It was scary but the pilot got us in and we set up our camp and tents that evening. We went out glassing, but we did not see much. It was drop dead beautiful and very humbling to start on top of a mountain. I almost felt like I was cheating to fly in and not backpack to the top like I had always done before. However, it would be impossible to hike into this area as it was so far away and rugged.                                        

The next morning we saw two huge rams approximately 700 yards across the canyon and there was no cover for us to stalk in closer. They were heading for the ridge. I told Ron we need to let them go and hopefully we can find where they bed down and we can put a stalk on them later. Ron was stubborn and started shooting.  Jim started shooting too. It sounded like a war. Somehow Ron hit one of the big rams and he fell down. We spent a considerable amount of time hiking over and up the rugged terrain to get to the big ram. I caped out the beautiful ram that was over 38 inches. We pulled the back straps and quarters and boned the rib meat. We loaded our packs with the meat and then hiked back to our tent. Ron had a satellite phone and was calling everybody telling them about the nice ram he had just killed.  I was nervous about him wasting the phones battery.           

The next morning Jim and I went out looking for sheep.   Ron said the pilot would attempt to fly out and pick him up today. Jim and I saw some sheep but no good sized rams. We glassed down a very steep canyon and saw a silvertip grizzly. I tried blowing on my varmint call very loudly and the grizzly bear slowly started heading up the canyon towards us. Jim laughed and said you’re dreaming if you think that bear is going to come all the way up here for a rabbit call. I thought it was too far, but I kept trying. Jim thought I was nuts. I guess that is the reason for my success. I don’t quit until I am sure nothing is coming.  I called off and on for over 45 minutes then we decided to get something to eat. We both had a mouth full of granola when we heard the grizzly make a loud snort like blow. We both knew he was close. I spit out the granola and squeaked on the rabbit call and here he came running right to us. The grizzly had made the long climb and just cleared the horizon and was running in our direction approximately 50 yards away. What a rush. We were eating lunch and knew that bear was wanting us for lunch! Jim shot when the bear was approximately 40 yards away.  I shot about the same time and the bear went down. Most wild game, bear, boar, deer, elk etc. when downwind of you will smell the air and blow if they get your scent, then they usually run the opposite direction.   This bear not only got our scent but he didn’t run off.  I think he didn’t run off because he was hungry and wanted us for lunch. We skinned he bear out and loaded our gear and the skin into our backpacks and hiked back to our camp.  Ron had been picked up that morning.                                

The next morning the weather was good and our pilot made two trips and got us off the mountain.  It was a very scary take off taxiing uphill on a mountain.  The pilot turned the plane pointing downhill and gave it full power. The plane didn’t get airborne until we came off the ground as we went over the cliff. We instantly dropped over the edge but built up enough speed as we were falling to get control and fly safely back to town.  Looking back on this trip, and many others, I feel very fortunate to be here.

Ron picked us up at  North Pole Airport. Ron said in a serious voice, “Well boys, I have a confession to make. I am the greatest salesman in Alaska.  Even though our pilot didn’t want to fly us into this spot and knew better, I was able to talk him into it. But this time I almost got us and the pilot killed. When I called him on the satellite phone to come get me he really didn’t want to. The pilot told me he can’t take off with so much weight.  He said there wasn’t  enough headwind and that he’d come back tomorrow weather permitting.”

But Ron said he was able to tell the pilot how great he was and that there was plenty of wind.  Ron said he also lied about the weight of his gear and his own weight.  Well, it about got them killed. 

Ron continued, “Despite the pilot being dead set against taking off, we took off down the mountain full power and the plane never got off the ground until we went over the cliff.  Then we hugged the steep mountain picking up speed as we were flying about straight down.  He barely pulled up just before we ran out of air.  It was a miracle we didn’t crash and die. If we had there is no way you guys could have walked out of this country.  We were all lucky on this trip. The pilot will never talk to me again.”

While in Fairbanks a friend of mine invited me to go sheep hunting with him. I really wanted to go but I had already committed myself to go moose hunting with Jim and some friends. I told him not to go by himself as I learned the hard way myself on a brown bear hunt. It is much safer and more enjoyable to hunt with a friend, but I know it is hard to get the right people to go with you when you are free.                              

Ron had a nice cabin a hundred miles out of Fairbanks on the West Fork, which is a very beautiful, wild, special place. There is a book called Bows on the Little Delta that tells stories of Fred Bear, a great archer who loved to hunt in this same area. We were literally following Fred Bear’s footsteps.

The next day the weather was good and Jim and I flew out to Ron’s cabin on the West Fork. We had hunted there a lot and knew where to go as the moose were in the rut. We stalked in on a nice bull and Jim got in perfect range, about 200 yards. Jim said he was shaking so bad that I should shoot. I quickly shot the bull and then realized Jim wasn’t shaking at all, it was just his nice way of telling me to shoot the bull. He had shot lots of bulls and wanted me to get this one. I was really excited and the bull moose was just a hair under 60 inches and really had heavy horns and well balanced.

The fifth day our bush pilot flew in and we had all the meat and gear at the airstrip. It took him two trips to get us out, and then the horns were too big and awkward to put in a plane so I had to pay for a third flight to get them out. The only other option was to cut the horns in half and I refused to do that.     

Ron, picked us up at North Pole airport. He then told us that our buddy that had gone sheep hunting by himself was almost killed by a grizzly. I was sad to hear that and was concerned about him going off by himself and felt bad that I wasn’t there. I guess that’s another story for the future. Alaska is a beautiful place but can be very unforgiving.

Happy, and Safe, Hunting!

Jaret Owens - 805-551-6815