Kyle Gemas | Mountain Hunting, Dall Sheep & Mental Toughness | Tom Rowland Podcast Ep. 1007

Kyle Gemas is a Texas-based outdoorsman who has completed mountain hunts in Alaska's Wrangell Mountains for mountain goat and the Brooks Range for Dall sheep, while also competing in 15+ tarpon fly fishing tournaments. In this episode, Kyle shares specific strategies from his September 2024 mountain goat hunt where he harvested his goat two hours before pickup after seven days in the Wrangells, his August 2025 Dall sheep hunt covering 85 miles over 10 days, and how lessons from saltwater fly fishing tournaments directly translated to his mountain hunting success. Kyle discusses his use of Leukotape for foot care, Peak freeze-dried meals, the mental challenges of crawling through claustrophobic alder thickets on all fours with a backpack, and his progression toward completing the North American Grand Slam of wild sheep with upcoming hunts in Kyrgyzstan for argali and British Columbia for stone sheep.

Key Takeaways

• Kyle Gemas completed a mountain goat hunt in September 2024 in Alaska's Wrangell Mountains, harvesting his goat literally two hours before the plane pickup after a seven-day hunt.
• The Dall sheep hunt in August 2025 covered approximately 85 miles of backpacking over 10 days, with 8 to 12 miles per day carrying 50 pounds, and Kyle killed his sheep on day nine.
• Kyle uses Leukotape proactively on his feet every day during hunts, applying it in the morning and removing it at night to let skin breathe before re-taping each morning.
• Mountain goats are easier to find but harder to kill because they live at the very top of mountains, while sheep live lower down and are hard to find but easier to kill once located.
• Kyle has competed in at least 15 tarpon tournaments over recent years and directly applied lessons from saltwater fly fishing competition to his mountain hunting preparation and execution.
• The Brooks Range sheep hunt covered 85 total miles of backpacking, and Kyle tripled or quadrupled his training time with a weighted backpack after learning from his goat hunt experience.
• Kyle is pursuing the North American Grand Slam of wild sheep, with upcoming hunts in Kyrgyzstan for argali and ibex, and British Columbia in August for stone sheep and moose, which will complete 50% of his Grand Slam.

From Arapaima to Alders: The Evolution of an Extreme Angler

When Kyle Gemas last appeared on the podcast, he had just returned from Guyana fishing for arapaima in the Amazon. That conversation also covered his Seychelles trip, establishing Kyle as what he calls "the long rod athlete" focused on fly fishing. But over the last few years, something shifted dramatically in his outdoor pursuits. Kyle got hardcore into hunting, specifically mountain hunting, which has become an all-consuming passion. In 2024, he killed a huge mountain goat in Alaska, and this past August in the Brooks Range, he harvested a really nice Dall sheep ram. Locally in Texas, he pursues deer hunting for axis and whitetail, along with turkey, dove, and quail. This evolution from purely fishing to embracing the full spectrum of backcountry challenges represents the kind of progression that happens when someone discovers their tolerance for suffering can be pushed far beyond what they imagined.

Why Mountain Goats Before Sheep: The Strategic Path to Backcountry Hunting

Kyle had always enjoyed backpacking with his college roommates on annual trips, and one day he had an epiphany: why not backpack and hunt? The problem was that sheep hunting is extremely expensive and requires booking two, three, or even four years in advance. Mountain goat hunting, however, provides the same essential components of backcountry challenge but at a cheaper price point. Kyle is part of the Wild Sheep Foundation, and every January in Reno, Nevada, the foundation hosts what is essentially the epicenter of mountain hunting. At one of these gatherings, Kyle lined up a mountain goat hunt for September 2024 in the Wrangell Mountains of southeast Alaska. This strategic decision to start with goats rather than sheep gave him the backcountry apprenticeship he needed without the financial commitment of sheep hunting. As Kyle explained, mountain goats live at the very top of the mountain while sheep live a little bit lower, and the Wrangell Mountains are notorious for being really vertical and nasty terrain.

The Wrangell Mountains Meat Grinder: Seven Days to a Buzzer Beater

The hunt took place in a remote area near McCarthy, Alaska, a little old mining town from the 1920s that was built around big copper mining operations at the Kennecott Mine. McCarthy sits right on the outskirts of Wrangell St. Elias National Park, the biggest national park in the United States at approximately 13 million acres. Kyle flew in via Piper Super Cub with just him and the pilot, which he calls "the Uber of Alaska." They landed on a gravel bar off a main river channel, a routine operation for Alaska's backcountry pilots who Kyle considers some of the best pilots on the planet. The seven-day hunt became what Kyle describes as an absolute meat grinder, and he harvested his goat literally two hours before the plane was coming to pick him up—a genuine buzzer beater. Between the riverbed and the mountain lay a thick belt of alder that Kyle found straight up claustrophobic. There were times he had to stop once or twice because every direction he turned he was getting whacked in the face by branches. At points he was on all fours climbing with his backpack, crawling through terrain that tested his mental limits more than his physical conditioning.

The Mental Game: When Your Mind Quits Before Your Body

Kyle's guides consistently emphasized that the bigger killer on these hunts isn't physical capability—it's mental toughness. Mental limitations ruin more hunts than physical ones. Kyle worked out year-round but recognized he was at a disadvantage starting at sea level. His training included running hills and hiking stadium stairs with his backpack loaded. Physically, he felt prepared going into the mountain goat hunt, but mentally he didn't know what to expect. The first few days of that hunt became the most challenging thing he had ever done. From the claustrophobic alders to cowboy camping under a tree on the mountain, Kyle experienced one of the first times in his life when he felt that urge to snap, break, or crack. But he pushed through. That experience reset what he calls his "suck-o-meter"—establishing a new top-end reference point for difficulty that makes everything below it not as big a deal. This psychological recalibration provided both perspective and confidence that proved invaluable for his subsequent Dall sheep hunt.

The Brooks Range Dall Sheep: 85 Miles and a Day Nine Ram

Kyle had his Dall sheep hunt booked for over three years before finally heading to the Brooks Range in August 2025. Drawing from his mountain goat experience, he tripled or quadrupled his training time in a weighted backpack and started using Wilderness Athlete supplements after being dehydrated and dying every day on the goat hunt. A 10-day hunt is a marathon, not a sprint, and Kyle approached this one with that mentality. The hunt covered 8 to 12 miles per day with 50 pounds on his back, totaling approximately 85 miles of backpacking over the course of the trip. Kyle killed his sheep on day nine. His guide Blake employed two key practices that Kyle adopted: taking his boots and socks off every time they stopped to glass, going barefoot to let his feet breathe, and constantly snacking between meals rather than waiting for designated meal times. Kyle also implemented his Leukotape strategy, proactively taping his feet every morning and removing the tape at the end of each day to let the skin breathe before re-taping the next morning. His boots were water-resistant, and when crossing creeks with gaiters, his feet stayed dry throughout the expedition.

The Midnight Ram: Northern Lights and a Hundred Yard Crawl

On the afternoon of day six during the goat hunt, Kyle and his guide spotted really good goats on a ridgeline. That night around midnight, Kyle woke up to find the skies lit up neon green with northern lights everywhere. At that moment, he told himself that tomorrow was going to be a good day. They woke at 5 AM and started grinding. About noon they located a billy goat. Kyle's guide Ben pulled out white painters overalls, and Kyle found himself walking on all fours simulating a goat to close the distance. The billy was about a hundred yards across a little gorge that separated them. Kyle crawled up into a prone position and put one round from his 300 Win Mag into the goat's shoulder, following with one more shot for good measure. The goat fell about 500 yards down into the timber. With their inReach device, they were able to communicate that extraction was possible, and in Alaska, where weather changes quickly, if you can get out you should take the opportunity. This successful stalk came after passing on two, three, or four goats earlier in the hunt because they simply couldn't get to them—mountain goats are easy to find but hard to kill.

Tarpon Tournaments as Mountain Hunting School

With probably at least 15 tarpon tournaments under his belt over the last handful of years, Kyle has learned lessons from saltwater fly fishing competition that he directly applied to mountain hunting. His first tarpon tournament was such an eye-opener about preparation, mental approach, and dealing with adversity that it fundamentally changed how he approached challenges. The mountain goat hunt served as his primer for the sheep hunt in the same way that early tournament experiences prepared him for later competitive fishing. Kyle emphasizes the clear parallel: just as tournament fishing requires specific preparation and mental frameworks, mountain hunting demands the same disciplined approach. When Kyle heads to Islamorada next month, he jokes that thankfully there are no alders there—just fish that don't like to eat flies, which presents its own kind of technical challenge that requires the same persistence and problem-solving he developed in the mountains.

Final Thoughts from Tom

Kyle's progression from fly fishing exotic species to conquering some of the most demanding mountain hunts in North America demonstrates something I see in all the best outdoor athletes—the willingness to find where your breaking point actually is. That moment in the alders when he felt claustrophobic and wanted to crack, but pushed through anyway, that's the moment that defines whether you're going to achieve these goals or just talk about them. The fact that he took lessons from tarpon tournaments and applied them to sheep hunting shows the cross-disciplinary mindset that separates people who collect experiences from those who genuinely learn and evolve.

What strikes me most about Kyle's approach is the strategic thinking behind starting with mountain goats before committing to the full expense of sheep hunting. That's smart planning. Too many people jump into the deep end without testing their tolerance for that level of suffering first. His mountain goat hunt gave him the data he needed to properly prepare for the Dall sheep—tripling his training time, dialing in his nutrition and hydration strategy, learning the Leukotape system for his feet. That's the mark of someone who learns from experience rather than just accumulating stories.

Kyle's pursuit of the North American Grand Slam with hunts lined up in Kyrgyzstan and British Columbia shows he's not slowing down. There's something about these backcountry experiences that provides mental clarity you can't get anywhere else. When you're in a tent in the middle of nowhere in the Brooks Range, the noise of daily life disappears and you can actually think clearly about what matters. Kyle mentioned wanting to lead by example for his daughter and eventually putting a fly rod in her hand—that's the real legacy of these pursuits. Not the mounts on the wall, but showing the next generation what it looks like to push yourself beyond what you thought possible.