Hunting sheep in the high country is adventure enough on its own, but what if a bush pilot dropped you and your partner off on a glacier in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains? How about if that glacier wasn’t your intended destination, but a forced choice due to bad flying weather? No problem, you’d go about your hunt and the pilot knew where to come and get you at the agreed upon date. But what if the pilot never returned? What if, unbeknownst to you, he never made it home the day he dropped you off and the mounting search parties could find no trace of him or his plane?
The steep rocky terrain that sheep call home can be extremely hazardous. What if, after a successful stalk and shot, you and your hunting buddy are packing a sheep back to camp and he takes a fatal fall down the side of a cliff? These are the days before personal locator beacons and satellite messenger services. You wait for the pilot’s return. Days overdue, he doesn’t show. Maybe you stay out in the elements too long, in a state of shock over your hunting partner’s death, and you freeze your feet. In order to survive, you have to amputate part of one leg. Food is getting low and you can’t move around very well. Winter is setting in on the high country, with snows piling up. The food supply is playing out. It’s clear that nobody is coming for you. They must assume you went down with the pilot, who remains missing.
Think the odds could be stacked any further against survival? How much of a test would it be to stay alive and make it back to civilization on your own? How unbelievable would it be to beat the odds and get through an entire winter with one leg, some matches and a few rounds of ammunition? How close could you get, and how easy would it be for one slip up to end it all?
Just some things to think about. I’m not saying any of these events took place in Jack Whitman’s 2017 fictional book, “The Last Hunt”. After all, I wouldn’t want to be a spoiler. But if they did, it would make for one heck of a captivating story, with an ending you’d never expect!
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