Due to increased security over the years, we are used to arriving at our departure airport an hour before flight time. Kathleen told me that it needed to be even earlier when leaving Fairbanks this time of year due to cruisers.
Well, we definitely needed to arrive at least 90 minutes prior to take off, but there were no cruise ship folks with souveniers to be seen. Instead, we stood in line with hunters. Fashion of the day was camoflage or plaid.
Can you see the tall steel case in his left hand and the green one in his right? Those are big guns, my friends. And they had to have keys and forms completed before going on.
Many also had numerous coolers getting checked on.
Signs of a successful hunt-- from the human point of view, that is.
At 4:45 AM these hunters surrounded us. And, at the risk of sounded offensive, their odor was. They'd been out in the bush for who-knows-how-long and rather smelled like the game they had been searching for. I was so relieved to sit with 2 pleasant women on the flight to Seattle. whew.
I asked permission before photographing this man.
He confessed that there was no seafood in these boxes and coolers. Rather, they were filled with moose meat. His visit to Alaska was, in his words, "a good one".
I realize this is a hobby and adventure but, economically, when one adds up the cost of the airfare, the equipment, the shipping, any guides, etc., I wonder what that meat actually costs per pound?
I guess only a non-hunter would dare ask that question.
It's all about male-bonding, I suppose.
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