Alaska tips and tricks

[Nuts]

Meat processing and transport:

• Processing
  • Take it somewhere. Pay and trust they do a good job. Don't steal meat. And get it done on time.
  • Do it yourself. I have had guys do this with caribou and fish. They bring vacuum sealers etc
  • Challenges
    • When you do it yourself
      • Moose is a huge undertaking
      • All areas I hunt do not allow deboning in the field. So there is processing scraps to get rid of. Hotels frown upon putting in their dumpster
      • Vacuum sealers can be bulky and difficult
    • When you pay someone. I have seen some problems
      • Their vacuum sealer was not working properly. Quite a bit not sealed
      • Meat not separated properly
      • Meat missing
        • a moose that didn't produce near as much as it should
        • A fishing trip where fish were stolen
          • We paid to have them cleaned and then paid to have them sealed and frozen. We sent 2 your kids to pick them up at the prearranged time from the freezer company. When the kids arrived the place told them they could have the frozen fish now for $25 or wait till 8am for free. It was all arranged the day before and paid for. I noticed when we were in there that they had frozen fish for sale but thought little of it. The kids got back later then they should of due to having to deal with staff. The parents didn't have phone service so we didn't know till they got back and in order to make our plane couldn't take the time to go confront. Flew home with 150lbs of fish. After having processed
            • 12 Halibut
            • 4 Ling Cod
            • 22 Cod
            • 16 Rockfish
  • Solution I found
    • We connected with a local family through a Fairbanks church associated to a local church at home. They have limited resources and get food from the local food bank. When we come out of the bush we take everything to their house. They provide the grinders, vacuum sealers, freezers and 6-8 people to help. Everyone pitches in with an assembly line. The older ladies are the best. They are picky and will let you know when what you did doesn't meat the standard. When we are done we give a good portion to them. 1 year they shipped me an additional box of meat as they thought I shorted myself. They are also a great backup plan for transport or if we get ourselves in a pickle and need help. We also have gotten good info from other locals while eating out or out and about. They can be great sources of info. Truck drivers as well.
    • Getting meat home-I book first class on the way home and with my Alaskan Airlines card get a discount on 3rd+ check in as well. Frozen meat is normal to them and they do fairly well. There is also freezers at the airport. I am an approved shipper but have never used it. Horns and antlers can be brought on Alaskan as oversized and cost is pretty minimal. I like the idea of getting home and having everything right there. If you use fish boxes with the Styrofoam liner. I add cardboard between the box and the Styrofoam. I also duct tape the corners of the Styrofoam as well as the cardboard. I write on the outside of the box exactly what it is. How many lbs, how many steaks or how many filets. This has seamed to help with the possible theft of a couple individual items. And helps when loading/organizing the freezers at home.