Rodgers four: Alaska "The Last Frontier"

My hubby and I were sharing our last cup of coffee, the morning of August 21st, before his 10 day hunt. I was very excited for him to go on this hunt because he works so hard and deserved the time away!!! He will be telling the story and describing the following pictures.

Here are a few pictures from the 757 mile trip north on our way up the haul road.

Here is a picture of the pipe line and one of the pump stations just outside of Fairbanks.

After the long drive we finally arrived at the pick-up point @ 4 p.m. on Aug. 22nd. Mark couldn't wait any longer so he grabbed a beer, sandwich, and the home made pot then sat down right in the middle of the road/airstrip.

I hope he finishes quick because here comes J.R. to take us to the, soon to be set-up, hunting camp.

Here is camp the next morning. It took 5 trips to get all 8 guys and gear in the first night.

First morning, Aug 23rd, Doug drew first blood and I followed right behind.

Two small bulls but it got everyone in the hunting mood. I was out for meat first and horns second.

Here is most of the group standing around the campfire. If you noticed the are no trees, so we brought in a couple of cases of fire logs.

Here is one of my favorite shots of the great sunset with a set of antlers I found.

Day three we woke-up to frost. You can see it on the rain fly of my tent.

This picture was taken by Doug on one of our daily 7 to 10 mile hikes.

Here is Scott, J.R.'s good friend up from Calf., with his first caribou.

Too bad Musk-ox wasn't open, this one walked within 200 yards of camp.

Who said we just go on these hunts to shoot things??? We also catch our fair share as well. This is Gary (holding the fish) and Brian with 2 Arctic Char. Gary lives in Fairbanks and Brian was up from Spokane, WA.

Finally some larger bulls started showing up. This one was spotted, what ended up being 2.86 miles from camp, at 9:30 p.m.. Mark and myself hiked, stalked, shot the caribou, field dressed it, and were back in camp by 12:30 a.m. I guess Mark is a better photographer than me because the picture of him and the caribou didn't turn out.

Here is a better picture of him the next morning.

My pack filled with 2 hind quarters, head, cape, and horns.

Everyone in the group already has a caribou mount, so this rack will be going on my wall. It was the largest of the hunt.

The last day of the hunt I flew out with J.R. We had the plane loaded and the only place the antlers would fit was strapped to the outside.

Check out J.R. refueling the plane before he makes his 5 hour trip back to Anchorage.

Did I forget to mention we had 200 gallons of aviation fuel in the back of the truck. Oh, and 130 gallons of diesel for the trucks. After everyone was out of the field it was time to load the truck and trailer and hit the road.