My favorite tagged animal story came from a friend of mine. It was a radio collared caribou, that he had helped release on a transplant some 50-60 miles away just a couple months before.
She was probably trying to go home, some 500 miles away, but ran into an arm of the ocean, short-stopping her intention even before he legally collected her from a different, already established and huntable herd.
No reward, though she was wearing a $1500 collar. He felt kind of bad, F&G having gone to all that expense only to have a collared animal killed that soon after the transplant, even if she was off her grounds.
The first caribou I ever killed came from that same established herd, a few years earlier, and was ear-tagged, showing she was one of the original transplants to establish that herd 13 years before. She was 15, old for a caribou, teeth very worn, fat and calf-less in mid-August.
A 12 mile pack out, more or less downhill... fair horse trail for 5 of that, good FS trail for the last 7..but we had horses that time. I killed a few more over the years back there, and back-packed them out.
I was much younger then.....
I;ve been using snow machines and an ATV for the last 10 years. Mo better!
