AK Hunt with Jonahs AK Outfitters
Contributors to this thread:Wild Sheep
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
I am returning from a great trip with Jonah Stewart, in the Brooks Range.
A friend and I booked with Jonah in early 2019, as usual the years flew by and it was time to go. After an early afternoon flight from the east coast we arrived in Fairbanks late evening, grabbed a rental car and headed north on the Dalton Highway for an overnight drive.
From: t-roy
28-Aug-21
This should be good!!
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
We arrived in Wiseman AK, about 8am, in time for a great breakfast at the lodge.
We were paired with our guides, Seth was to be guiding me, he guided 2 bowsiters to rams last year. Seth can cover more ground in mountains than any human I have ever seen, his knowledge of the area, the rams and what they might do next is incredible. My friend was rifle hunting was paired with Dan and packer Gabe. By early afternoon we started being taken out.
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
The weather on the first sheep hunt was very rough this year. We were on the second hunt, the weather was better but we still lost time to fog, with one 20 hour stretch in the tent with a couple other 12 hour stretches. We were covering ground as much as the weather would allow. Time was absolutely flying by, seemed that in a blink of an eye we were at day 6. In the 6 days I had seen a few wolverines, ewes and lambs, but I had not seen a ram. Seth had managed to spot a group of rams 2 times for about a minute each time which had brought us to our current camp location. On this day it was like a switch was flipped at 2pm, it went from thick fog that you couldn't see to the next ridge to crystal clear in 15 minutes.
From: Nick Muche
28-Aug-21
Great trip if I may interject before the story is over! Congrats Gene!!
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
And thanks to Nick for being the holding station for the prize at the end to make my travel home smoother.
From: Bowboy
28-Aug-21
Love all these sheep hunts being posted makes me want to book a hunt.
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
As soon as it cleared we headed up the mountain to the last spot that Seth had spotted the rams from a couple miles away. After glassing, climbing, glassing some more, Seth turns the rams up again, only 300 yards away this time.
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
We covered the first half of the distance at a walk because of the contour of the ground. After that we dropped our packs and started crawling. We spotted the first small ram at 100 yards, then more rams came into sight, 5 sub legal rams. We thought there were 7 or possibly 8 rams total, so we still had hope there would be a legal ram. As the rams fed they were coming up hill and were now even with us on the hill. Seth was in front laying flat, I was kneeling so I could shoot , but crouching as low as I could to hopefully not be seen. As the 6th ram came into view, Seth calmly says, that ram would be legal and called the distance, double checked to verify the distance, set my pin, drew and raised upright , as I settled in and set the pin , everything felt good. As I triggered the release, I was horrified to see my arrow go just under the rams chest into a clump of tundra. The rams jumped took a steps and tried to figure out what happened. As I was nocking the second arrow, Seth called the distance. Because of the contour of where the ram stood now I could only see the top half of his body, I put the pin were body and tundra met and triggered the release again. This time I heard the sound of broad striking animal, except I couldn't see the hit because the arrow fell slightly below my line of sight on the upper half of the ram.
From: Bowfinatic
28-Aug-21
Looking forward to following this as I post mine! Sheep hunt post thru the years have been my favorite threads on bowsite so happy to follow yours!
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
I really slacked off on picture taking on this trip, so to add atleast a couple pictures to this thread I'm going to post the awesome ram that my buddy rifle shot on this trip.
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
40 1/4"
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
After the shot the rams jumped over the edge, I wasn't exactly sure on the shot location, but knew it was in the front third of the body and felt the height was decent. We spotted the group of rams pop up on the opposite mountain, the ram I shot wasn't with them, good sign. Then we spot my ram much closer on a brush slope. After looking through the scope it appears the hit may have been a bit low. With daylight fading we decided to wait until morning to go after him.
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
The next morning we get on the ram and Seth was able to keep him spotted while trying a finishing stalk, as the day went on it appeared the ram may not be hurt that bad, not good. We played cat and mouse for the next 36 hours with the ram. Finally we locate him in a cliff band, in an unorthodox move we decided to try him from underneath the vertical cliffs. We get to where we think the ram is and can see just the top of his horns, the range is set, release on the string and the ram won't stand, he thinks he is hidden from us. Finally the ram stands, arrow is on the way, thwack solid shoulder hit, he staggers to a thin ledge, Seth calls the distance again, next arrow is on the way. As the second arrow strikes the rams falls forward for about a 200 foot free fall to the ground...thud.
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
It was far from the perfect hunt that we all hope for, but after a lot of hours we had him on the ground. I'm saying we, because Seth's skills no doubt made the difference on the outcome of this hunt.
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
From: t-roy
28-Aug-21
Perseverance says a lot! Way to stay with it, and congrats on your sheep, Gene!
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
After such a big fall I was surprised to see the cape was in perfect condition and both horns were still intact with only minimal damage to one of them.
From: Scott/IL
28-Aug-21
Way to stay after, congrats to the both of you! That’s a dream hunt there!
I talked to Jonah in ‘19 also. Ended up getting cold feet and didn’t book, this is a nice reminder that I screwed up!!!
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
After the sheep hunt ended there was still a little time to caribou hunt, after a quick visit at camp the caribou plans were set in action.
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
From: 'Ike' (Phone)
28-Aug-21
Outstanding…
From: huntinelk
28-Aug-21
From: JohnMC
28-Aug-21
Sounds awesome!
From: JL
28-Aug-21
Cool stuff!!!
From: SDHNTR(home)
28-Aug-21
So awesome! Congrats
From: kota-man
28-Aug-21
Congrats Gene…Awesome stuff…
From: Kurt
29-Aug-21
Great!! Nice ram Gene! Way to go!
From: Bowfinatic
29-Aug-21
Way to go! Great Ram
From: HUNT MAN
29-Aug-21
Congrats Gene
From: huntinelk
29-Aug-21
We were up going shortly after daylight on the first day of caribou hunting. I had never had an opportunity to hunt caribou where there were trees and bushes for cover, I was really looking forward to it. This day definitely didn't disappoint. The first couple hours we spotted maybe 50 caribou, but then made our way into another valley and the number of caribou was incredible. After looking over a lot of bulls , a bull with some of everything was spotted feeding on the edge of a large brush patch. I was able to stalk into 36 yards on the quartering away bull and made the shot.
From: huntinelk
29-Aug-21
From: Royboy
29-Aug-21
Great rams thanks for sharing
From: huntinelk
29-Aug-21
From: huntinelk
29-Aug-21
From: tkjwonta
29-Aug-21
Awesome stuff Gene, congrats! Can't wait to hear about the rest of the hunt.
From: BULELK1
29-Aug-21
Man-o-Man!!!
You guys did great,
Robb
From: Shug
29-Aug-21
Great stuff… congratulations!!!
From: Bowboy
29-Aug-21
Congrats Gene! Your guide and you never gave up and got the job finished. Beautiful ram and caribou.
From: Oryx35
29-Aug-21
Fantastic, thanks for sharing!
From: Moosemania
29-Aug-21
That's awesome, congratulations! I booked with Jonah a few more years and I hope to have similar results.
From: sticksender
29-Aug-21
Great hunt Gene!
From: Shrewski
29-Aug-21
Fantastic. That’s one of the places I still need to get to in Alaska. Really want to see the Brooks Range.
From: standswittaknife
29-Aug-21
What an amazing hunt!!!!
From: Kurt
29-Aug-21
Great job on the Barren Ground Caribou too! What a hunt!
From: Dale06
29-Aug-21
Congrats on some great trophies.
Wish I was 20 years younger, would chase a dall with my bow.
From: Southern draw
29-Aug-21
Congrats!
From: SteveB
29-Aug-21
Congratulations! At my age I doubt I ever do this so I really enjoy these stories!
From: huntinelk
29-Aug-21
Thanks for all the comments, it was a great trip with several emotional highs and lows that all worked out in the end.
Does anybody know what's up with the pic rotator now? Used to be very simple to use.
From: drycreek
29-Aug-21
Congrats on the sheep, and the bonus caribou ! Determination won out…..
From: JTreeman
29-Aug-21
What a couple bad asses. Both Gene and Seth! Nothing like chasing sheep isn’t he mountains.
Jonah runs a great outfit and Seth is a great archery guide (if you can keep up).
Congrats again, —Jim
From: t-roy
29-Aug-21
Congrats on an epic hunt, Gene! Some great critters, as well!
From: Pete-pec
29-Aug-21
Well good stuff!
From: rjlefty3
29-Aug-21
Great ram and bou! That country looks incredible!
From: JG
29-Aug-21
Awesome thread Gene. Thanks for sharing and congrats
From: huntinelk
29-Aug-21
From: huntinelk
29-Aug-21
Chevy Malibu, a very underated way to explore the Dalton Highway....
From: huntinelk
29-Aug-21
One trip through here and it was like it never happened.
From: Zackman
29-Aug-21
Congrats on a great archery ram!
From: JTreeman
29-Aug-21
I won’t tell if you don’t! ;)
—Jim
From: Footshooter
29-Aug-21
Congrats on a great trip and couple animals!
From: Stekewood
29-Aug-21
Excellent! Congrats
From: Dennis Razza
29-Aug-21
Congrats Gene!
From: T Mac
29-Aug-21
Nice work and beautiful ram congrats!
From: Ron Niziolek
29-Aug-21
Congrats Gene! Beautiful ram and bou!
From: pav
30-Aug-21
Congrats! Great ram and bonus bou!
From: brettpsu
30-Aug-21
Congrats Gene! Hell of a start for what should be an epic year for you.
From: Adrenaline Russ
30-Aug-21
That's so awesome Gene!! Congrats!!
From: spearfisher
30-Aug-21
Congrats!! I am booked with Jonah for next year and absolutely cant wait!!
From: Beav
30-Aug-21
What a trip! Congrats on the accomplishment!
From: loesshillsarcher
30-Aug-21
Incredible! congrats!!
From: huntinelk
30-Aug-21
Forgot to add, the rifle ram was 11 years old and my ram was 9 years old
From: Leo17
30-Aug-21
Seth is the man. he guided me to my archery sheep last year
From: darktimber
30-Aug-21
What a great trip! Congratulations!
From: jrbunn
30-Aug-21
Dream trip. We’ll done!
From: DEMO-Bowhunter
30-Aug-21
Well done!! Congrats Gene!
From: Ambush
31-Aug-21
A ram that tips the magical 40" mark and a top notch caribou!!
Congrats on two very fine trophies and keeping after it to the end!
From: iceman
01-Sep-21
Congrats! Awesome trip!
From: huntinelk
25-Oct-21
Official PnY on the ram is 140 1/8 gross, 139 2/8 net.
The caribou is still in AK, will be a while before I get the numbers on that.
From: Potro
25-Oct-21
Very good ram Congrats
From: Chief 419
25-Oct-21
Congrats Gene! Great write-up.
From: kota-man
25-Oct-21
Congrats again Gene. Great write up…Great hunt.
From: WV Mountaineer
25-Oct-21
Don’t know how I missed it the first time.
I love it. Congratulations!!!
From: Treeline
26-Oct-21
Not sure how I missed it either! Congratulations on a great ram and caribou and congratulations to your buddy for his 40 incher! Awesome hunt for sure!
From: BOWNBIRDHNTR
26-Oct-21
Glad this popped back up. I remember starting to read it right before my elk hunt. Didn't want to just rush through it and decided to wait until I got back but apparently missed it. Congrats on everything, terrific hunt!!
From: No Mercy
26-Oct-21
congrats on a phenomenal hunt!
From: huntinelk
29-Oct-21
Why do I have a picture of Nick Muche holding my caribou with a score sheet in his hand??
Because, Nick volunteered his time to go to where my caribou is and measure it for PnY and also turns out for BC too...
Huge thank you to Nick.
402 3/8 gross
381 3/8 net
From: huntinelk
29-Oct-21
From: Treeline
29-Oct-21
Awesome! Hell of a ‘bou!
Amazing that Nick didn’t bust the camera with that mug though…
