I sure hope you find another ranch. Unfortunately as a controller were are working on issuing our financial statements so mid January through March I have a vacation freeze but i plan on retiring in two years or so and this hunt will be a definite for me.

If you fly into Fairbanks as the end of your commercial flights (which you probably would for North Slope or 40 mile caribou) trophy express is pretty much the best way to get antlers and meat home right now. Airlines are tightening down on flying antlers anymore. Alaska Air used to be really good, even just a couple years ago, but rules change all the time. Used to be $100 for the rack and $100 each for up to 4 boxes of up to 100 lbs each of meat, last time I did that with a moose was 2022. You need to check airline rules within months of traveling as it changes every year.


R

Would you select 14 or 16 strand FF in the calculation?
BW uses 15 strand d97 which is a slight variation in material from FF. I used 14 to be on the conservative side.

does anyone know how many strands of FF Gregg typically uses in his strings? just playing around with 3 Rivers spine calculator. @Maclean ?

I agree stick with the FF

Looking back, the Alaskan trips I made in '93,'95, and '96 are without  doubt my most favorite hunts. I don't think I've ever dedicated a story to somebody, but this one goes to "Bob" our bush pilot. Being an old salt in his profession, his opinion on whether weather conditions allowed for safe travel through the treacherous Lake Clark mountain pass was sought by all his pilot peers. He was the first to tell me that in the Alaskan bush flying business that there is a saying, "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots...but there are no old, bold pilots". Ironically, Bob was killed tragically along with his hunters when his bush plane flew into a mountain; three days before I could make the next hunting trip with him. This is Alaska...it's not for the timid. I hope you enjoy the story which will be posted over several days

Alaska is the last frontier....
Alaska is over twice as large as Texas and would have land mass stretching from Florida all the way to California if placed over a US mainland map. It has the lowest population density of any state and well over 70% of the state is public land...most of it available for hunting for the cost of transportation and a license. The old west had its cowboys and modern Alaska has its bush pilots. The only real difference is one rode a horse and one flies a plane of rusted bolts....most being built over 40 years ago. Fresh paint and duct tape keeps the plane looking good and in the air.....at least that was my impression when I saw them. Bush pilots seem to live life like every day is the last one.


I'm not sure how I got the idea that I wanted to undertake a 'do it yourself' Alaskan hunt. In reality, it really hadn't started out that way. I had hunted caribou with bow and arrow in '91 out of Schefferville, Quebec with some great friends and killed a decent bull. The Quebec hunt was semi-outfitted in that the bush flight and the sleeping quarters were provided. A caretaker was also provided in the hunt package to cook and to provide assistance as needed. I suppose with this Quebec experience under my belt, I was intrigued to see if something similar could be done in Alaska.  In '93, I was looking through a hunt catalogue from a hunting consultant and saw something that perked my interest. The recommended outfitter would provide the bush plane, a tent, all food/gear for the hunt, and fly us out of their base operation in Soldotna Alaska. Basically, all the hunter had to do was to show up with a bow, clothing, pack, and sleeping bag. I called the consultant and booked the hunt for that coming fall.  We would hunt the Mulchatna caribou herd in south central Alaska which was at an all-time high during that time period. Non-residents were allowed two caribou tags and the outfitter fee was $1600 (including the flight in the bush plane) and I remember thinking that seemed to be a very good deal at the time.


I needed a hunting partner to go with and when I didn't exactly find anybody willing to do that sort of thing around Brandon MS where I lived. I decided to call my old bear hunting buddy, Gibbs, from Beaufort SC that I had met earlier on the Alberta bear hunt. I didn't get the question completely out before he said...count me in. The phrase "fools go where angels fear to tread" was in my mind as we made preparations for the hunt. Gibbs had also went with me on the Quebec hunt so we knew each other well and I looked forward to the hunt; though I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. Gibbs traveled to my house in Brandon and we both boarded the plane in Jackson together


It was a beautiful flight that travelled just off the pacific coastline all the way into Anchorage Alaska. As we got closer to Anchorage (our last stop before departing the plane for a ride in a "puddle jumper" for the last leg of our journey into Kenai), the clouds has thickened from the air. I got my first dose of Alaska as the plane broke clear of the pea soup of the clouds and I saw the horizontal rain driven by a vicious north wind. The large Alaskan Airlines plane was being side-slipped by the wind and had a hard time staying straight for the landing. I thought about the fact that I had just left the hot summer days of Mississippi a few hours earlier and was about to be thrust perhaps into a pretty hostile environment. For the first time, I felt some uneasiness about the trip. I remember thinking that I hoped the entire trip's weather wasn't like I was witnessing as I boarded the next plane for the final leg into Kenai.

(Story to be continued)

got some pics from Gregg of my almost-finished Elkheart Magnum 52". hoo boy! he's shipping it either Thursday or Friday. 

myrtle burl and G-10 riser, stained olive ash limb veneers, moose antler overlays and tips. 51# at 28".

 

Congratulations on a fine hog  Enjoyed reading your great story over my coffee this morning

Duker

Quote from: Trenton G. on Today at 07:31:48 AMDid you guys fly your meat home or have it shipped?.

On all the caribou hunts both in Quebec and Alaska, the orphanges and homes for the needy met you at the docks and asked for the meat. You had a choice in Alaska to put out a blue tarp on the ground, and once spotted from the air, the taxi service would arrange to have a plane stop by for a meat pickup. All the taxi services helped each other out. They would ask you if you wanted the meat put in a cold locker or donated to the needy. I donated the meat for all three Alaskan hunts and the one Quebec trip.

SOP was to use heavy duty pillow cases to pack meat in which the taxi service put the meat in the floats and the antlers tied unto on the wing struts. I did keep three waxed boxes of the Quebec caribou and it was great eating. I put a 5 pound block of dry ice in each waxed box to keep the meat frozen until I got home. The airlines would give you a big plastic bag to put each meat box in to prevent leakage in the plane.

I might add back in the 'olden' days when I went, you could spend a fortune flying the antlers back on commercial flights (all wrapped up... with cardboard on each antler tip...or a half a fortune to split the skulls, nestle them together and wrap) Unless you planned to enter the animal in PY...there really wasn't much reason to ship the antlers back whole.

Things always change over the years and I'm sure what is described above probably isn't the way it is done today; but it was the way it worked back then.

My best caribou for the Alaskan and Quebec hunts made me happy; but fell short of my PY desire. My wife told me after the third Alaskan trip, and after the taxi crash, that I should put the air taxi hunts on hold until the kids grew up... as she didn't want to raise two small children by herself. You all know how that works...by the time they grew up, the herd had crashed and I didn't have the desire to chase them as I did in the past. I do have the below two Caribou mounted in my trophy room.