Syracuse.com - Plainville man, 70, successfully hunts a dall sheep in Alaska

[HuntingNY-News]

Jack Duger, a lifetime hunter, has traveled to Alaska five times during the past two decades, hunting successfully for a variety of animals. However, a dall sheep and a grizzly bear has eluded him.

Submitted photoDuger finally got his dall sheep, which traveled up and down four mountain sides before he finally shot it. Jack Duger finally shot a dall sheep in Alaska this past August.

“Well, I can check that off my bucket list,” said the 70-year-old Plainville resident.

Duger, a lifetime hunter, has traveled to Alaska five times during the past two decades, hunting successfully for brown bear on Kodiak Island along with black-tailed deer, moose, caribou and other game at other locations. However, a dall sheep and a grizzly bear has eluded him.

“I went on a sheep hunt when I was 68 and didn’t get one,” he said. “I decided to wait until I was 70 to prove I could still do it.”

“Doing it” in regard to hunting dall sheep involves hours upon hours of hiking and tracking the animals over miles of steep mountainous terrain — hardly an easy task.

On Aug. 18, Duger arrived at the Stony River Lodge, a hunting camp some 200 miles west of Anchorage.

“It’s a nice place. There’s a big, main lodge and cabins, and the owner lives there year-round,” he said.

The next day, he flew to another small cabin alongside the Post River and then started hiking about 4 to 5 hours up the mountainside with a 40-pound backpack on, accompanied by a guide and an assistant. They set up camp with small tents. At that point, they spotted a caribou.

Submitted photoDuger with his caribou.After tracking him for 3½ hours, Duger and the guide crept close enough to get a shot. Duger took him with his Weatherby 300 Winmag rifle.

A shoulder mount was taken off the animal, and for the next two days, the guide and the assistant carted the meat down to the camp by the river to be flown back. “You can’t leave any meat out in the field. The rib cage, everything went back to the lodge,” he said.

When they returned to their small campsite, the threesome discovered a wolverine had tore up things — clawing big holes in the main tent.

“I had my clean underwear in there and now I have under shorts with claw marks from a wolverine,” he said.

After picking up things and patching the tent, the three left at 7 a.m. the following morning. They hiked about 5 miles up the side of the mountain and set up an observation point. The guide went ahead and spotted a dall sheep. What followed was a cat-and-mouse game of trying to get close enough to get a shot. The sheep didn’t cooperate.

“He ended up traveling up and down four different mountains and we lost him,” Duger said. The sheep ended up doubling back and finally Duger got close to take a shot.

“Once I got him (it was about 5:30 p.m.), we caped him and took the meat and headed back toward our campsite, arriving at about 10:30 p.m.,” he said.

The following morning, the three headed back down to the base camp by the river and flew back to the lodge.

For the next two days, Duger flew out again to another site to hunt black and grizzly bear. He ended up bagging a 350-pound male black bear, but couldn’t cash in on a grizzly.

Submitted photoThis black bear weighed 350 pounds.“The black bear squared at about 6 feet and had a white diamond on his chest. That was kind of different,” he said.

He went back to the lodge, with two days remaining.

“At that point, I was pretty wore out,” he said. “I gave up on getting a grizzly and they took me out salmon fishing.”

The first time out, he caught his limit of silver salmon in about an hour. Duger said the fish were taken and donated to a nearby village, after which Duger returned to his fishing spot.

“We caught and released fish the rest of the day. I was using a light spinning rod and threw red and white Daredevil lures, along with silver and gold colored spoons. They hit anything we threw at them,” he said, adding he also reeled in a number of northern pike.

The trip ended Aug. 30. Duger has arranged for the capes and horns from the three animals to be shipped to Clingerman Taxidermy in North Rose, where three shoulder mounts will be prepared. All three will go in his game room at his house.

Duger figures he has one more Alaskan hunting trip left in him to get a grizzly. And the torn undershorts that were ripped apart by the wolverine?

“I’ll probably hang them up in the game room, too,” he said, laughing.

One more thing.

“Don’t wait until you’re 70 to hunt those sheep,” he said.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog