quote:
Originally posted by themax:
Brentenman, I couldn't tell if he had double shovels or not. I have never had any wild game that wasn't better than anything, bought at a grocery store. Congrats on a nice boo
Single shovel. His right one is a spike. Double Shovel caribou racks are highly desirable and rare. This one, however, is in full velvet, and cream colored at that. The taxidermist who mounted the rack (German style, just the antlers...after humping his head and about 70 lbs of meat through the muskeg for about two miles, I decided enough was enough and I whipped out the bone-saw and took off the skull plate....) said that cream-colored velvet is very rare. Most are black in color, like the other 4 hunters with me whose caribou racks they got, they were all black.
I got him just north of the Brooks Range, near Attigun Pass, near Pump Station 3 or 4 if I remember correctly. I was just outside the 5-mile mark according to my GPS and maps we had. You had to be 5-miles minimum away from the Aleyska pipeline and Dalton HWY to legally shoot a caribou (they don't want holes in the pipeline and cause a massive spill...). Our camp was 2 miles off the road, and we humped 3 miles further to hunt. Doesn't sound much, but according to our GPS's, we were going from 2500 feet of elevation to roughly 4000 feet of elevation....LOTS of work. No roads, no trails, snow (even in August), and muskeg to walk through. Oh, and before you can take the rack, you MUST take all edible meat out with you. Hence, we would shoot 2, quit for the day, and continue this for another 2 days until all 5 of us got one. Lots of work and teamwork on this trip. No be-bopping in the woods, shoot, field dress, then haul it out with an ATV or 4x4 truck.