re: We all need to GTG and go on an Alaskan hunt or file a gold mine claim.

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Why wouldn't I just fly up there and complete DIY for that amount of service?

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Depends on what you're hunting. For some game, you need a guide or an Alaska residence to be with you.

Also depends where you hunt, the troopers and coast guard make a living rescuing people unfamiliar with the terrain.

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So you just decided Alaska is where you wanted to live. Cool.

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Yep, even when I was a kid I knew I would someday live in the mountains. Figure it would be Colorado, or Montana. One day when I was about 12 I saw a picture of a ship in a fjord, which is about 40 miles south of here and I knew this is where I wanted to be.

I graduated HS, got married, went back to college, worked as part owner of a business for 10 years and just one day it hit me I was miserable and wanted a change. Started doing some research and everything brought me back to Alaska. Couldn't stop thinking about it and stayed awake nights thinking of ways to make it happen. Took two years to convince the wife, sell the house and make other arrangements but we did id. Packed the kids in an SUV and pulled a homemade trailer 4,000 miles to Haines, Ak where we put the car on a ferry for the final 90 miles to Juneau.

It was home the moment i stepped off the boat. Everything i have dreamed. Never was a struggle, I've found work when I needed to, and found free time when i needed that. Just got tired of living the life others had laid out for me, and wanted to do something very different.

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That's my goal. Gonna make some changes as soon as my girls are out of college if not sooner. Wish I knew 20 yrs ago what I know now. Chased the wrong things for awhile. The stuff I really enjoy doesn't cost much at all.

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Funny, the times I've done best financially are the times' I've been the most stressed. you can find a balance where you find peace.

One of the sad facts about life is most people don't figure it out until it's about over. folks get hung up on insecurities and let fear drive them, I believe.

I've got a 5 year window to stay here in JNU, then I'm off to Haines to semi retire. If Haines isn't heaven, it don't exist.

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Caribou would be a good one. After that ill go do archery for elk and muley.
Whats a caribou taste like?

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Caribou is best served as sausage IMO. It's hit or miss, but not a fan personally

Hunting Caribou isn't difficult, shipping the meat back is. You can drive to several areas and hunt Caribou, like the Denali Hwy.

An interesting place to hunt would be on Adak Island in the Aleutians. Used to be an old military base there now few people live there. You can camp out in the old military bunkers for free.