04 December 2013

Only in Alaska: Bethel, Beware!

Here's something you won't often hear about:
Bethel, beware: muskoxen are near.




Bethel is a small community in southwest Alaska, about 390 miles west of Anchorage.

10 comments:

PioneerPreppy said...

I wonder what they taste like.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, we don't have too many muskoxen sightings here in Arizona.

Rattlesnakes, though...

gfa

Stephen said...

PP beat me to it...slow cooked with a glaze. Yum.

Rev. Paul said...

Preppy ... Natives sometimes eat musk oxen, but the meat is reputed to be very tough. Don't know that I'd want to try it.

Guffaw, no reptiles in Alaska. The bears are sufficiently predatorial to keep us on our toes, though. :)

Stephen, maybe. Moose is much much better, though.

joated said...

Musk ox are raised on farms for their fur. Very, very fine fur akin to cashmere and used in knitting. Very, very expensive, it is!

I wonder if these aren't escapees from one such ranch rather than free range, wild critters as Bethel seems a bit south of their native range.

BTW, how far from the Iditarod Trail is Bethel? Will/could musk oxen be added to the list of dangers a musher might encounter along the trail?

Rev. Paul said...

joated, Bethel is a couple hundred miles south of the southerly route. But could free range musk oxen be encountered along the trail?

Quite possibly.

Old NFO said...

500 Nitro Express looks about the 'right' caliber... Just sayin...

Rev. Paul said...

Might be a bit too much, NFO. They're big & slow, but only 900 lbs give or take. But that would definitely do the trick!

threecollie said...

Just another day in Alaska. lol

Rev. Paul said...

Too true, ma'am. :)