Hi Again,

As mentioned previously, my brother and I are hunting the Brooks Range in mid-late August for caribou. I've done a fair amount of research on game care but mostly I see arguments and incomplete or out of date advice.

First, let's talk about field care. We've got game bags from AlaskaGameBags.com on order. We chose these primarily based on reviews. Good choice?

We are planning to debone all the meat, double bag it in heavy duty zip lock bags, place those bags in contractor bags and then put the contractor bags in the water for the purposes of cooling and fooling the bears. Obviously we'll want to make sure nothing leaks because water can ruin the meat. Does this sound like the best practice? If it's colder, say highs not reaching 50, would we be better off not doing this?

Also, I've seen salt, pepper, citric acid and a few other things recommended as preservatives for the meant. What are yout recommendations?

Next is getting the meat home from Fairbanks. Due to the facilities in Bettles and the limited timeframe we'll be dealing with, it's not likely that we'll be able to freeze the meat, probably not even partially.

It looks like the best way to get the meat home from Fairbanks will be to ship it via Alaska Air freight. I've seen recommendations for Rubbermade Action Packers, large coolers and wax boxes as far as what to pack the meat in. I've seen arguments for and against dry ice.

What say you?

Also, is there a recommended game processor in Fairbanks that will process our meat there and ship it home for us if we want to go that route?

Similarly, I've always taken my deer from the field to the butcher to the taxidermist and never had to worry much about cap care other than not to screw it up during field dressing. I know the about splitting the skull, but if we want to do head mounts I would assume that there's special care to be taken when taking the hide off the skulls.

I've probably field dressed around 50 deer and pronghorn in my time, but I've only had to skin one deer out of all of them. If anyone knows a great step by step guide for field care, quartering, deboning, etc. of a caribou something like "Caribou Field Care for Dummies" that would suit my dumb ass perfectly.

Thanks again for all of the feedback.