When fall begins to roll into the Last Frontier, it means one thing to me: sheep hunting. There are few experiences I look forward to all year as much as returning to the mountains to chase Dall sheep. This year my buddies Steve, Gary, Jeremy, and I returned to the same area we hunted last year in hopes of finding the rams that have been running through our dreams ever since.

Within a few hours of getting boots on the ground we were seeing rams, which is always an encouraging sign. You can’t fly and hunt the same day in Alaska, so after a long pack in and getting our spike camp set up at about 11 p.m. we were excited to see what the first day of hunting would bring.