What's the toughest hunt in Alaska?
As hunters finish gearing up for the fall season, any number of them are sitting around campfires and Internet forums asking some version of this age-old question. But what most of them quickly find is that when you ask people who have hunted a range of Alaskan game species, you tend to come away with more questions than answers.
In a forest or swamp? Rifle or bow? Alone or with help? Freezer-filler or trophy? On foot, horseback or four-wheeler? And do you mean tough as in physically demanding or tough as in requiring mental fortitude and grit? Such variables matter in the field. A lot.
"It's almost like apples to oranges," said Anchorage anthropologist and avid backcountry hunter Jake Anders. "A winter bison hunt in Delta Junction has its own variables and challenges versus a sheep hunt at a high elevation."
Or as Alaska Department of Fish and Game information officer Ken Marsh put it, "Just about every critter up here can present serious challenges."
That is true, but it can still be a topic worth exploring before heading into the field. Here's what some hardcore backcountry hunters, guides and experts said when asked about the toughest, most grueling hunts.
Dall sheep
Dall sheep hunts are notoriously difficult. Sheep live among the precarious hills on Alaska mountainsides and can "skyline" you -- spot you on the horizon at incredible distances. After hiking steep alpine inclines, navigating old rockslides and talus fields, and crawling on your belly so you don't get skylined, the sheep may have moved over a ridge. Any sheep hunt is a matter of trudging up and down unforgiving mountains -- and up and down again.
"You have to go where nobody else goes, which can be tough. You can't be in a footrace to the sheep," said Roy Roth, a Wasilla-based bowhunter and guide.
"I'll watch these rams for three or four days and never even make a play on them because of the wind or where they're at. I won't even go after them. I'm a get-high guy. I hunt down because most of the time they're looking for danger from below," he added.
Hunting one sheep took Roth three days, during which he had to stalk the ram eight times, he said. The hunt was successful only once some fog rolled in, providing cover.
"I've actually killed nine Dalls now with my bow and I feel lucky to be able to hunt them every year," Roth said.
Once a sheep hunter navigates all that rough terrain, getting close enough for an effective shot, there's more work to do -- dressing the downed animal and packing it out.
According to Alaska game regulations, a large ram could yield almost 80 pounds of meat. That's not light but it's also not heavy enough to justify two trips in the mountains. So most hunters throw it on their back and pack it out in one.
Mountain goats
Some people lump Dall sheep and mountain goat hunting into the same category because goats are also found on mountainsides above tree line. But hunters who have hunted both tend to think one hunt or the other is tougher.
Roth considers sheep "cagier" and more difficult to hunt than goats. But Cam Rader, an Anchorage attorney and long-time guide, sees things a little differently.
"I would say goat hunts would tend to be tougher than sheep hunts because the terrain the goats are in is usually vertical and they tend to get to a place where they're near the top of the brush on a cliff face. They like that kind of spot because they have escape cover a few steps away," Rader said.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Dave Battle said it's difficult to describe the difference between sheep and goat terrain for people who have never seen it.
"A lot of time people say goat country starts where sheep country ends," Battle said, explaining that goats tend to pick their way through "steeper, craggier terrain."
"Some of the goat country is stuff you wouldn't want to climb without technical climbing gear. They're just incredible climbers," Battle added.
According to the game manual, a large billy might yield almost 100 pounds of meat, 20 more than a large sheep. So the successful hunter has to navigate less-forgiving territory with a heavier load.
Moose
A big bull moose can weigh more than 1,600 pounds. Such a moose may yield almost 600 pounds of meat and a rack exceeding 50 pounds. In some of Alaska's Game Management Units, regulations require the hunter to pack the meat out on the bone. That could mean as many as eight or ten trips packing more than 100 pounds of meat and bone.
That may not seem so hard if you shoot a moose beside a trail or a waterway -- or if you have a friend with a jacked-up swamp buggy that includes a boom and a winch. But every person interviewed for this story made the same point: If you skip the mechanical aids and get too far away from roads or waterways, dealing with a downed moose becomes a Herculean task.
"You're dealing with something that's the size of a cow and you're going to take it apart in the woods by hand on uneven terrain and you're going to pack it out, possibly on your back, said Fish and Game biologist Cindy Gardner. "If it goes down in a swampy area, you have to get it out of the swamp before you can start to process it and the logistics of moving an animal over 1,000 pounds out of water onto swampy terrain by yourself is really difficult."
Rader, 61, said he still hunts sheep and goats. Getting to the animal remains the hardest part, and he can still do that, even when not in tip-top shape. But he will no longer hunt, or even help hunt, a moose that isn't easily accessible with a vehicle. That quickly becomes a grueling endurance test, back and forth through uneven, swampy land with 100-to-200-pound packs.
And don't forget: The more trips it takes to pack out the whole moose, the greater the chance you might return to a thousand pounds of grizzly bear guarding what used to be your meat.
Other considerations
A hunter's own adventurousness may be the biggest factor.
"You can make hunts as tough or as easy as you want," Roth said. "Most of the toughness is in your head. You want to be in shape and do what you can, but if you're not … mentally fit -- if you're the kind of person that'll take no for answer -- it's not going to happen."
Several sources said responsible hunting practices can set you up for success, whereas recklessness tends to make hunts either difficult or dangerous.
"You can turn any hunt into an ordeal or a death march by wounding an animal by taking a shot at too great a distance or at a moving animal," Rader said. "Once that happens, it doesn't make any difference if it's a sheep, goat, moose or anything else. You have to follow it and they tend not to go to the easiest spot you'd pick."
Then again, maybe the toughest hunt in Alaska requires an entirely different kind of toughness.
"The bison could be the hardest one of all because you can't draw the tag," Roth said.
Shane Castle is a freelance writer who lives in Palmer.