My Dall Sheep taken with my Grendel

[feetpiece]

The only other hunt photo's are getting developed as our digital camera's didn't survive the trip - dead batteries.



I took him near Healy, AK two days ago and just dropped the head at the taxidermist. It was no small feat getting to within the roughly ~240 yards of him to take the shot as can be expected the4 factory 123gr A-Max got the job done although it wasn't a clean kill. It was a frontal shot that hit bone which shattered the bullet which pulverized the mean in his neck, punctured his left lung. fragments made it through lengthwise and damaged his left back-strap and hindquarter. Judging by how difficult it was to move him he was easily 250lbs and then some. I'll have to verify my grids but my Fortrex 401 indicated the shot/kill altitude were around 4500ft. DNR measured him at 15/16ths full curl and gave me a warning - I'll post more on the story here shortly.

The rifle/optic was my SAOD Hunter 20" Upper and IOR 2-12X32 and was zeroed at 110 yards. I was using the only ammo available which is the factory Hornady loading which I have no doubt will take anything its pitted against. Next up for the Grendel this year is moose and black bear.

[bwaites]

Congrats! I'm not even a big game hunter, but taking the sheep has always been interesting to me.

I know stokesrj has the North American Grand Slam.

It will be interesting to see who does it first with a Grendel, you've got a head start!

[Whelenon]

Congratulations on a great hunt

[stokesrj]

Great going, did they age him? He looks like a 7 year old to me but the pic isn't ideal for aging. I took my first Dall on the Brooks range in 1977. It took me until 2002 to complete my Grand Slam, which is 25 years. Let's see if you can do it with a Grendel in less time.
Bob

[Von Gruff]

Well done. A very nice full curl ram by the look of him.

[DW61]

NICE! Congratulations!

[hm2 clark]

Beautiful trophy sir, just beautiful. But.....you say your next Grendel goal is a moose?

[echo-7]

Nice sheep!! Congrats!! mike

[wiuprof]

Congratulations on a beautiful trophy! Great going. What load are you planning on using for moose?

[bwaites]

Beautiful trophy sir, just beautiful. But.....you say your next Grendel goal is a moose?

Been done several times. There used to be pics on the AA website of one of them, I think.

[Northwind]

makes me tired looking at him. once he is shot then the real work begins... how far did you have to pack him? waiting for the rest of this story.

i have been debating the proper bullets for some of our Alaska game for me is Caribou... i did order some of the 123 gr A-Max but had read somewhere about them being fragile on bones if i recall correctly... the Hornady 129 SST people seemed to have less reports of it blowing apart... and i have been hoping also the Nosler 130 gr Acubond will perform well that is the one i am banking on. we will see. Good luck to you on you next challenge.

[LRRPF52]

Awesome harvest! That is great to watch the story develop, as you were talking about doing this, then show the results like this. Excellent pics and beautiful animal. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

[ricsmall]

beautiful trophy feetpiece! I interested in the rest of the DNR story.

[feetpiece]

Thanks all - it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. I was forced to run a cross country marathon (5th SFG-ABN) and I didn't hurt as bad then as I do now and I don't regret a second of it.

The fine folks at the DNR office in Palmer, using Jurassic Park scientific instruments (4" PVC tube with sharpie markings) determined that my Ram was seven years old and a C-Hair under a full curl... Easy enough to do from four feet with a $1 improvised tool versus a $1K scope from 600+/-. IMHO it was an obvious scare tactic on their part since I made it clear that this was my first hunt. On the other hand they were a little less prepared when I offered my assistance in documenting the sheep population where we had taken him. In the end they gave me a "verbal warning" which sounds an awful lot like "just the tip". I have no intention of going after another Ram but if I do I'll be sure to have still/video used to determine the animals age and size prior to setting the Grendel loose.

As for pic's, due to tech difficulties :

As he Fell:



More to follow...

[feetpiece]

He was "litter urgent" but immobile in the picture above.

This was taken after finishing the job via CRKT and prior to cleaning. My Grendel was two drainage's over and did not get any closer as getting to him required 3/4 points of contact at all times. Had it not been fo his location I would have saved his hide but it was impossible given the balancing act required.