Whenever I tell a fellow hunter about “Mission Dall’s Sheep” the first question most often asked is, “Who are you hunting with?”
Well the outfitter we’ll be with is Hunt Alaska which has been operated by the Umphenour family since 1991, though patriarch Virgil Umphenour has been hunting and fishing all over the state since moving there in 1971. They guide hunters for sheep, moose, grizzly, black bear and wolf. You can check out their website at: http://www.huntalaskawithus.com/index.htm. I find myself day dreaming there a lot these days, so we might end up there at the same time.
We’ll be flying into Fairbanks, taking a bush plane from there to land on a remote strip in the mountains. From the strip it’s a 3-hour ATV ride to base camp. Each base camp has multiple spike camp locations at which we’ll likely spend 2-3 days at a time. That’s all I’ll be able to reveal about location as one of the prerequisites for Eric Umphenour allowing us to tape the hunt is that we don’t reveal the precise hunting location.
The opportunity to make this Dall’s Sheep hunt came by the way of invitation from Federal Cartridge, one of our best and longest sponsors of “North American Hunter Television.” My hunting partner for the trip will be Mark DeYoung who runs Federal for Alliant Tech Systems (ATK). It will be a great opportunity for both of us to put Federal’s newest ammo to the test in some of the most challenging conditions in the world. I’m just incredibly appreciative and humbled that they asked me to make this hunt!
Well, here’s the weekly workout and weight report: I only dropped a pound this week, down to 214.
And I sort of hit the wall on the treadmill and other cardio workout machines. It came at eight weeks straight without a missed day. So Emerson and I set up another session with the personal trainer who took us through a low-weight, high-rep weight program to alternate with the cardio days. Problem was, I started one of the exercises with too much weight, and did a little damage in my left arm. Nothing ice and ibuprofen can’t cure though, so I’m back in the game.
She also told us to knock off one day a week so we don’t “over train” and get burned out. With my “all or nothing” personality, that will be hard to do, but she’s the professional, so I’m going to try – now which day a week do I pick?
Bill Miller
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