Well hello folks. Been a while. Haven’t touched a trap in quite a few years. But plan to make a recreational return this winter and can’t stop thinking of the sharing opportunities starlink will provide from the line.
I knew a day would come that internet would become available in my tent anywhere I chose to make camp.
The time is here. Last spring I took my new snowmobile from Nenana down the Tanana all the way to the Bering Sea. 1500 miles and I had internet the whole trip.

Again this fall I had it at hunting camp.

My intentions are to hunt and trap in Early December as well as trap during the winter.
I plan to take trapperman along with me posting from the line and camp.
Curious what seems to be to go to photo hosting site now? Or is everyone using trapperman to host photos?

Welcome home, missed you.

I'm using Trapperman for photos.Looking forward to your new adventure.Welcome back.

It's about time you showed up again ! Ha ha I've missed reading about you're adventures and the ride alongs on your trap line .

Allan

Hey FT, good to see you back on here and that you’re trapping this year. Haven’t seen you in a while and was wondering how your summer went. Looking forward to your posts

Look forward to it Len. For us non facebook few share a couple pics of your antler business if you would.
Thanks !

Good to see you back FT. Brings back memories reading your posts some time ago. I will be waiting for your future expeditions and catches.

Thank You

Glad to see you back Len. Also saw you had signed up on the ATA FB site as well.

Pete

Great news!

Good !

Looking forward to updates from the line.

Always learned a lot from you FT.

Thanks everyone. Just some updates on my life.
I have left the tech field and have been operating my antler business as pretty much my full time job. Buying and selling as well as cutting dog chews. Chews Alaska. Cut Moose antler. I create some crafts but primarily move whole antler and supply dog chews.
Still living in Homer but operate out west off and on buying antler and hunting. And this year returning to the trapline.


L

You have been busy FT , I'll agree ! That's quite a selection of horn road ghat there !

Looking forward to your posts this season.

Good to see you back! Look forward to seeing and reading about your adventures this year!

Good to hear from you. That's a pretty good looking pile of bone you have there. I heard that you might have found a potential world record rack out there in your wanderings?

Good to see you back, Len!

It will be fun to see what you catch out there.

Hey Len !! Really glad to see you back on here !!

Welcome back, Len. Looks like you might need a bigger boat!

Awesome to see you back. Who'd of thunk a teacher would end up a horn buyer. Bringing money to western Alaska. Will you be using the area you used to? Somewhere around KSM?
Looking forward to your adventures!

Curious to hear about those moose antlers and that potential WR!

Yes I was able to broker the new world record shed set and single. It was found in unit 18 in December 2022 side by side.
I was not able to get my hands on it until March. Photos had not done it justice. The thing was gargantuan.
I took it to Alpine Wyoming in June of 2023. The bidding didn’t start until it was officially scored. The bidding came down to two different bidders. The winning bid was over $20,000
The left side antler is the world record single. Score 97 3/8
I have been responsible for putting quite a few in the record books in the last 5 years. Many of them nontypical moose. I work with my shed hunters. If they find trophies. I broker them for them the best I can.

Awesome.Congrats

WOW now that's impressive to say the least ! Good for you to share the wealth !

Allan

That was (is!) an amazing bull! Wonder how old he is?

Pete

Dang....I can just imagine the beastie strolling with swag , sporting those antlers...

Those inspire me to draw them on a big bull , sometime.

So much for the number of brow-tines meaning anything. Amazing set of antlers.

One of the bummer parts to this process was I had it score two inches higher. Approx. give or take a few 1/8s.
Which amazed me. Due to the shape of the antlers there was definitely some judgements calls. It was not really straightforward due to the curve of the paddle.
When it was all said and done the official scorer called this brow time nontypical. Costing me a point. As well as a point I had given for it. Meaning had it not been a nontypical I was spot on.

Western AK sure is pumping out giants.

Bummer about the score system. B&C has always perplexed me in deducting an animal for antler growth.

In my opinion, a random point on a mostly typical animal should just not be counted towards net. For instance a 4 X 4 70" moose that scores 240" but it had a small 3" kicker brow tine on one of the brows (like yours) is now 237"

It's still a 240" moose with extra growth outside of the typical frame.

I don't make the rules, but it's silly.

B&C only deducts a point per tine. No inches measured as SCI.
Ya it should get extra points if it has them! somehow give credit for extra growth. ;0)
But they love their symmetrical adherence.

Be careful out there Len. It ain't like we are young anymore. You didn't miss much the last 5 years. Pale marten struggled and found record low prices at Auction, It is getting better, so if you catch pales like you used to you shouldn't be really disappointed.

Good Luck!

P.S. Junked out two late 80's Bravos and snagged two better bodies out of the boneyard and made two rebuilt ones this fall. The dents had dents and the patches had patches on those 30 plus year old trapping machines.

FT - glad you are back. I had always enjoyed following your adventures.

Welcome back Len trying to spend a little more time on here myself these days

To officially score, BC, the antlers still had to be attached to the skull? The pic shows the antlers removed from the skull. Apparently you sold them that way?
Do the rules regarding sale of wildlife parts in the state an animal was harvested in apply in other states.
I bought and sold wildlife parts for several years and have wondered about laws following a part outside of the state it was harvested in. You, Len, got me started in that business.

Len were you able to drive the boat loaded down with antlers like that?

Twice a year. fall and spring I load it about like that. Slows me down but can still get on step. I start about 100 miles away and load as I go. That load had to still be run about 50 miles.

The shed record books uses the same rules as the B&C records. Shed Records have set up their own nontypical moose recording method.
I do not know about rule following. I know if I bring an attached set of antlers to sell in Wyoming I have to have them sealed. I have not done that yet. But Alaska has begun issuing permits to sell trophys. There is an application and it has to be in the state of being able to display. A rack with a skull needs to be ready to hang on the wall for example. So it is doable. Word is there trying to get rid of the process all together allowing the sale of antlers on a skull.
I will attached a few photos of the large nontypicals I have brokered.

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/Ni8tym1rXlk?si=uYT1wVWd1kMWnl5s[/video]



This shed was the world record nontypical a few years ago. But believe it fell to #3 now.

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/nzvJjOWIOm0?si=YJqZrl1z5SVwaZkP[/video]

Nice sheds