He says, "No. These mountains are way too low to see sheep this time of year." Less than thirty minutes later I look up and spot a beautiful Dall ram bedded beneath a ridge.
"What's that white spot up on the slope?"
"Dang! That's a sheep....a ram!"
I'm sure that ram didn't have half the horn measurements of the one pictured above. It didn't matter. My buddy and I were floating a remote Alaskan river and observing a wild dall ram bedded in the waning sunlight of a beautiful Alaskan fall evening. The moment was priceless!
Inches of horn cannot amount to the value of that moment in time. Inches of horn are not worth arguing about. We need to support one another so our kids and grandkids can experience a priceless moment of the kind I shared with a buddy last month.
arctichill's Link
My best trophy to date is the cow elk I killed when I was 15 years old.
There is certainly a place for measuring and scoring trophies. That dall ram deserves special recognition. My son is six years old now. I thought I could take him to Alaska when he turns 10, but the wife seems to be squashing that plan. It may be 10 years from now before I can take him with me on a month-long, remote trip through Alaska's backcountry. I'll spend the next ten years fighting like hell to make sure that opportunity doesn't disappear.
To me, that's a much more important battle to fight than arguing about how many 180" rams have been killed in recent years.
I do not want to sound like the "holier-than-though" preacher here. Rather, I am thanking you for the initial post and simply hoping that I have the chance to take my son to visit your great State and pursue one or more of the magnificent animals that call Alaska home.
Hell of a ram regardless how many others are out there.
Or somebody has a hunt planned there for their own 180 incher and wants it kept quiet? I don't get it?
Personally I think it's great some folks don't hoard their animals and adventures from those of us who aren't as fortunate.....
