Sheep hunts take place in unit 26C in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The camps are spread along the Kongakut River about 40 miles from the Arctic Ocean. Peterson is the only outfitter licensed to hunt in this area. He only takes six to eight sheep hunters each year, so the area is not overhunted, and the remote location keeps resident hunters to a minimum.
Sheep were very plentiful, with my guide and I spotting legal rams every day during two days of pre-season scouting and three days of hunting. All four hunters in Peterson's camp during this eight-day hunt took legal rams. My ram measured 30 x 29. Other rams were taken up to 36 inches. Two hunters filled out the first day of the season, I filled out on the third day and the fourth hunter filled out on the fifth day. Had we all chosen to prolong our hunts, we each would have had many opportunities for full curl, legal rams. The shooting distances for the rams taken was anywhere from 150 to 375 yards.
On opening day, my guide and I stalked a monster ram that he estimated to be 42 inches on one side and 38 inches on the other. Unfortunately, we could not get closer than 700 yards to this ram. As you can see, the area affords excellent quality trophy animals.
Peterson also offers caribou hunting out of these camps, but none of us had tags. Caribou sightings were scarce during the hunt, with less than 10 being seen by all four hunters. We all had wolf tags too, but none were taken or sighted.
Access to the camps is by bush plane, which Peterson arranges out of Fort Yukon.........(continued)
