VBM - Way to go! Even with the ass-kicking, sounds like you had a good time getting your 5x5. The pics tell the story about what the country was like! You got to participate in a " legs and lungs" check, right?

phish-on- what do you have down there for snow?
have you been out for deer yet?

NIM - No snow down here, yet. . .its supposed to get chilly later this week - northerly winds with some high pressure building up in Canada north of Haines and Skagway. We have only had rain here so far. We have had snow down to about 1,800' elevation a couple of times, but we broke a Juneau record for high temp last weekend so the snow melt filled up the creeks and what was left is back up to about the 2,500' level. I wouldn' t mind some down here this coming month so I have an excuse to go out and wander around with a rifle in the deer habitat. I' m working on a trip to the Sitka area around Thanksgiving - it would be nice to have some snow for background contrast in the woods. (I' m having trouble readjusting to the hunting mode - I' m still locked-in on the Winter King and halibut fishing.) [8D]

PHISH-ON; BESURE TO POST PIX OF YOUR DEER WHEN YOU BREAK AWAY FROM THE FISH. I WAS WONDERING ABOUT GOAT HUNTING DOWN THERE BUT I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO GO UNTIL DEC AND THEN THE ARCHERY AREA WILL BE CLOSED. PROBABLY JUST AS WELL IT COULD BE DARN NASTY BY THEN[X(]

You Northerners...afraid of a little rain. How silly. [&:] It' s been cold (SE cold, not Slope cold ) and clear here the last few days. Spectacular!

RAIN IS PART OF GOAT HUNTING SO WE TOLERATE IT SNOW IS A BAD THING ...WE HAVE ENOUGH SENSE TO NOT ENJOY THE RAIN BUT THAT IS PROBABLY A WEBBED FOOT THING.[][>:]
JUNO GRL HOW ARE YOU DOING, HAVE NOT SEEN YOU BY HERE MUCH

Hi guys! Been away for a while and besides e-mail, my computer has been used for work. We are finally done with the merger of the labs, and I' ve been dealing alot with the transition.

Finally got out caribou hunting today and wouldn' t ya know it... I GOT ONE! 2 weeks and a day after pulling the trigger on an elk in Colorado, I' m 30 yards from a caribou and squeezing off the release. Perfect double lunger and he made it about 12 steps before collapsing. I thought it was a cow, which was what I was after, but ended up being a small bull. The larger bulls were running him off, and I passed on the larger bull while he came by. I' ve shot bigger, so I wasn' t worried about the rack, but the bou were rutting pretty good, so I didn' t want to risk bad meat, so I took what I thought was a cow. We' ll find out tomorrow night how he tastes while we fry up some butterfly backstraps. I shot him about 900 yards from the road, and drug him whole the entire way back. Since there was snow it wasn' t too bad, but I' m feeling it in my back and shoulders now. I' ve got all but the hind quarters butchered up and in the freezer/fridge already.

Pretty cool hunt, my first stalk since getting back up here, and it works out. Just in the right place at the right time. I even found my arrow. Full pass through with the shockwave mechanicals. Put him out for the count quick!

Hi Nim...doing really well. Starting to feel like my achilles might actually heal. Coming up on my second surgery (on my left achilles this time) December 10. I keep focusing on the prospect of feeling good...some day! Haven' t been able to get out much...SeAk and I took our shotguns for a boat ride a couple of weeks ago, in the hopes that we' d be able to get out and shoot at some ducks. I only shot once, and the duck escaped with his life in tact. [&:][>:] He and the kids will be here later this month, so we' re hoping to get out and see if we can find some ducks or a deer. Looking forward to it!

By the way, Nim, I can' t remember the last time we had rain here! It' s been gorgeous....this morning' s sunrise was flaming pink. Yes, it' s our own little slice of heaven down here!

Nice caribou ABM!! Yum!

ABM - Boy, you' re putting the pressure on me! I went out and tried the halibut grounds on Sat., but I don' t think they were very hungry - there were ' way too many other things under the boat to chow down on. Some of the densest (is that a word?), most dense schools of big hog herring I' ve seen in awhile. We jigged-up a dozen and brought them home to freeze for bait for the next excursion. We had a great day, even with no fish because we were surrounded by whales feeding on the herring the whole time. Lots of heavy breathing!!

Juno grl - Give us a call, we are in the book - you' ll have to come over and check out the new heater.

Just got the rest of the bou wrapped up and in the freezer, I love taping that final package! I was glad that I held off on the hind quarters till tonight. We fried up the backstraps tonight and although very good and tender, a little stronger flavor than what I' m used to on the caribou. I made a few roasts and steak packages, but most is ready to be ground into sausage, and marked as such. Got plenty of meat to head south to Juneau to feed the extended family. My dad brought up some meat from town, and I have two boxes full in the freezer from the July hunt. Some of this is going south with me though! I' ll get a cooler full right at 50 pounds and have seak take it south with him on the 17th or 18th of November.

I kept the cape on him too, full from the knees up to the ridge of the neck behind the ears. Gotta figure out what to do with it now. Leave it outside for the winter or try to get it to the tannery. Guess it' s not going anywhere. It' s all fleshed out, but not salted, should it be okay?

Sorry for the previous picture, I' ll make sure to post one from the field once I get the film developed, but that will probably be a few weeks.

Nimrod, guess I' ll be seeing you before that, are you springing for dinner next week?