RANDY NEWBERG SHARES ONE OF THE HARDEST HUNTS HE’S EVER DONE


My 2018 Alaska Dall sheep hunt was one of the hardest I’d ever done. Backpacking 13 miles to basecamp through the extreme terrain of the Wrangell Mountains, continual rain that flooded our designated trail, and health issues exacerbated by heavy exertion contributed to a challenge I’ll likely never encounter again. But the story of that hunt, and some of its difficulty, began a long time before the year I went…

Nothing’s easy about Alaska’s Wrangell Mountains.

My grandfather was one of my fishing and hunting mentors, and in 1994, I had a chance to hunt Dall sheep with him. We ended up cancelling, saying, “We’ll go next year.” But his health began to deteriorate, and next year never came.

Just getting to basecamp was an effort in itself.

So this sheep hunt was a little about making good on that trip with my grandpa. And while he wasn’t there to join me, I thought of him every step of the way. The trip definitely wasn’t easy, but it ended up being a kind of tribute and honor to him and all that he had taught me.

There’s no escaping the natural world when seen through the eyes of a hunter.
Hunting provides a sense of responsibility and offers opportunities to challenge oneself.
”What I love is hunting. What I love is being in the natural world.”

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