A man who told investigators he left dead caribou to rot on the tundra after a July 2008 hunt says he was tricked by Alaska State Troopers into confessing. And although a judge agrees the state's tactics were upsetting, he's allowing statements made by Aqquiluk Hank, a caribou hunter from the Native village of Point Hope who faces criminal charges of wasting edible meat, to stand.

"I am upset by the strategy the state used," Superior Court Judge Richard Erlich told prosecutors at a hearing Tuesday in Kotzebue, referring to phone calls made by a former Point Hope resident to hunter friends back home in the village as troopers listened in. The series of calls led investigators to three suspects they had previously been unaware of in the so-called "caribou massacre."

Despite his displeasure with the state's investigative approach, Erlich agreed to let at least one of Hank's two confessions remain in evidence and denied Hank's request to dismiss the case.

The first confession, made to an informant as troopers listened in, was suppressed in October when Erlich tossed out the incriminating phone call and others made between some of the defendants and estranged Point Hope villager Godfrey Tuckfield. Because a trooper listened in without a search warrant on the very first call made by Tuckfield, the judge ruled it out, along with any calls made afterward with search warrants that relied on the call.

Still, the calls led investigators to three hunters they weren't even investigating at that point -- Hank, Roy Miller Jr., and Chester Koonuk. Five other hunters were already under scrutiny, and with Tuckfield's cooperation, three more entered the picture. The two hunting parties were on separate outings, and collectively none of the kills add up to the total amount of carnage -- dozens and dozens of wasted caribou -- troopers claimed to have found.

The first call to Hank came Aug. 14, when Tuckfield managed to reach Hank at the grocery store in Point Hope where he worked. In the nearly six-minute call, it's clear the men haven't spoken in a while.

Hank, upon realizing who's on the line, greets Tuckfield happily.

"Hey! How the heck are you," he asks.

"I'm all right, surviving in Anchorage," Tuckfield answers.

Tuckfield, working through the aftermath of a recent DUI and recently busted trying to import booze to the village, then spends a few minutes settling up business at the store. He doesn't mention his criminal woes, or his perk for working with the state -- no jail time in the importation case. He asks Hank if his mom has made payments on her store charge account, and promises to pay off his own bill, also overdue, as soon as he can get back to work. He asks about the weather.

About four minutes into the conversation, Tuckfield remarks that the Point Hope caribou case is "all over the papers" in Anchorage, and tells Hank it makes him missing hunting and his gun.

Soon afterward, Hank tries to get off the phone and back to work when Tuckfield blurts out, "Hey, you got any caribou?"

Tuckfield says he is worried about whether his mom has enough for herself. Hank tells Tuckfield he has some caribou meat stored in a relative's freezer, and he'll ask around to see how Tuckfield's mom is doing.

Nearly five minutes into the conversation, Tuckfield prompts a 30-second exchange that troopers would later use to reel Hank in. In the excerpt below, Tuckfield tells Hank he'd spoken to Koonuk, another caribou hunter in troopers' sights, just a few days earlier.

Tuckfied: "Chester was told me you guys catch caribou and--"

Hank: "Yeah?"

Tuckfield: "How many you guys get?"

Hank: "Um, I don't know, I took four of them--"

Tuckfield: "Oh yeah?"

Hank: "--four of them each day for two days."

Tuckfield: "Oh yeah? Were some of them sick or what?"

Hank: "Ah, that one was--"

Tuckfield: "Oh yeah?"