Who has an Eklutna Lake sheep permit?

[Matt]

Just curious if anyone on this forum drew a permit for up there. I spent the 4th of July weekend camping and fishing up there. Actually, the g/f got tired of me looking behind my spotting scope so much staring up at the sheep. (grin) If the sheep I saw (which was a bunch of them) all stay up in the same areas come opening, I feel bad for you permit hunters. Those sheep are very high and in tough spots.

Though, I did scope an outstanding lone ram in a good location that left me drooling.

 

[kkhamil23]

I drew the tag for Aug 23-Sept 10. Hope they come down a little by then.

 

[Matt]

Is that the any sheep bow only permit that you got? All the sheep I saw were on Twin Peaks.

 

[kkhamil23]

No I got the one that is from 23 Aug -10 Sept. It is either full curl or ewe and it is rifle.

 

[Carnivore]

I was thinking that the only sheep hunts in Eklutna Bowl were archery, and I think the line is drawn just up the valley from Twin Peaks where quite a few rams like to hang out. There are rifle hunts in East Eklutna (different than Eklutna Bowl) and 14C Northwest where you can hike over to the Knik side of the mountains from Eklutna Lake. Am I wrong, or is your hunt for an area other than Eklutna Bowl?

-Carnivore

 

[Kurt S]

What hunt number did you draw? I have hunted the ridges in the past on a drawing, the Hunter Creek drainage.

kurt

 

[jpost]

I did, I did!

I did, I did!

I drew the unit 14C West, Oct 1-10, archery only, any sheep permit. Whew, that's a mouth full. I know next to zilch about the area. It was my 3rd choice and of course that's the one I drew. I have heard it's common to take a motorbike or 4 wheeler up some trail a ways and hike from there. Lot's of good rams, lot's of hunters, and poor success is what I heard. Any advice would be great. I live in Fairbanks, never even been to Eklutna Lake. Thanks.

 

[Carnivore]

ATV access used to always be from Sunday through Wednesday only. Been a couple of years since I did it, so check with the park service. Never had any trouble with leaving my ATV there for a couple of days but always worried about it. The Park Ranger drives in on a daily basis and writes down the registration numbers of who is in there. He keeps real close tabs on whats happening in the area which probably helps curtail vandalism. Plenty of ways to get up in the high country from there. A bicycle can be taken back on the triail any day of the week.

-Carnivore

 

[AkHunter45]

Eklutna Sheep

Eklutna Sheep

Carnivore is right, you can only ride wheelers from Sunday to Wednesday and it is roughly 16-17 miles to the glacier. That is a tough hunt, the sheep will be skittish from all the hunters before you but their in there. Also keep an eye out for brown bears, i've seen some real monsters in there and in the fall they tend to be up high eating berries and ground squirrels. Lots of black bears too. I'd take the whole 10 days off for that hunt.

 

[Kurt S]

In 1991 I drew the Hunter Creek permit. We biked into the Bold Mountain trial a couple times and hiked into the area on scouting trips. The day before my permit period, we took a canoe up the lake to the trail head and hiked in from there. Not a bad 7 mile trip but on our return the wind was whipping up the lake fairly good and it's a little tough when your tired.
In 1992 I again drew the same permit. This time we went up on the Saturday before the hunt window and biked in with 40 pound packs and hiked 4 miles up and stashed the packs. On the following Monday we took the other 40 pound load in on a four wheeler and stashed the wheeler in the trees off the trail. We then hiked up to our earlier stash and combined the loads and went in the rest of the way, camping on the North side of Bold Mountain. In the morning we hiked the ridge to the North and spotted the rams on the Hunter Creek ridge to the East. Staying low on the south side of the east / west ridge we intercepted the north south boundary of the unit, intending to turn north along that ridge and come up on the rams from that direction. Along the way, a young ewe joined us and walked along with us (10 feet from us) the whole way. When we got to the boundary ridge, we had 23 ewes and lambs coming at us along the ridge on our south side and 5 large rams to the north....we were getting squeezed. We quickly picked out a ram and dropped it before either group got wind of us.
We were back down at camp within 4 hours and to the wheeler the next afternoon.
I planned for 6 days, so we had more to pack out than we expected and the wheeler was a great sight. It's a great hunt, fantastic area, but you have to have patience if they are not on the ridges when you are. They move around alot, criss cross the valley floor and show up when you least expect them. In those days, it was any ram, now it's full curl of course so things have changed somewhat.
Mine was a 7/8 curl, 8yrs old and typical Chugach beauty.

Have fun, it's a great hunt!

kurt

 

[Alpine]

Eklunta Sheep

Eklunta Sheep

I am far from an expert on Alaska sheep hunting but here is my 2 cents.

KKhamil - I think you drew DS128 which is an East Eklunta area hunt from Aug 23-Sept 4. This area is south of Eklunta Lake in the East Fork of the Eklunta River drainage so it is quite a distance from the Twin Peaks area where Matt saw the sheep. I don't know much about the area but it is a long hike from where you can park a vehicle. As mentioned in earlier replies, bikes, boats and ATVs can be a big help.

Jpost - The DS140 tag allows you to hunt in all of the 14C hunt areas except the DS123 area. This is a very tough hunt with about a 3% success and sometimes only about half of the permit holders even hunt in a given year. It is very weather dependant so try to get information on the most hospitable sheep holding areas in all of 14C at this time of year. The advantage of hunting the West Eklunta bow only area during your DS 140 hunt is that these sheep never get rifle hunted. They have, however, been stalked pretty heavily by the 35 DS 141 permit holders during the month of September.

There is a nice Chugach State Park Map from a company called Imus that has a ton of info on how to get around in the park. I highly recommend it.

Thanks to Kurt S for the great hunt story. I'll be sniffing around that area myself this fall and I'm hoping for a similar outcome!

 

[johnmful]

Ds131

Ds131

I have drawn DS131 8/23 - 9/4. I would appreciate hearing thoughts on this hunt and area. Anybody hunted this in prior years?

 

[cold zero]

14c

14c

i have drawn d.s. 139 for the last hunt. has anyone drawn that tag before?

good luck to all who drew.