Alaska closes spring bear

[BackcountryBloodline]

Subsistence is based solely on where you live

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Thanks for clarifying, sounds like a much better system than the one in place here.

 

[rclouse79]

they really should have left it open to residents... I understand non residents that are flying in, but residents should be able to hunt.... sucks

I think most people would agree with this. Sadly this feels like dominos with other states to follow.

 

[Nick Muche]

There will likely be some changes coming soon.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

Changes to what?

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[Nick Muche]

Changes to the closure as it pertains to residents not being allowed to hunt spring bears. Closing spring bear to residents, state wide, is a ridiculous measure and unnecessary. Closing Kodiak and the Pen, completely understandable. But statewide? I'll never agree that it was necessary.

For perspective, I can go hunt a spring caribou right now, but i can't shoot a bear if I see one? Laughable and I am certain, based on his demeanor while announcing this in the press conference that he misspoke, then F&G sent out the EO based on what he said. All the talk the past few weeks was to address unit 8 and 9 spring seasons, due to the amount of NR that participate in those hunts, not a statewide closure and certainly not a closure that eliminates resident participation.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

I hope your right. I didn't see the speech you're talking about

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[Nick Muche]

He was stumbling on his words, it was right in the beginning of the 5pm press conference last night and his comments were directed towards a question from someone in Kodiak the evening prior and I believe he meant to only address Kodiak/Pen, not the entire state. Who knows, but I do know that their email inboxes are full this morning and I bet the phones are ringing off the hook.

If you are interested, please email the following folks and provide your thoughts.

[email protected]
[email protected]

 

[rickiesrevenge]

Who are those people?

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[Nick Muche]

The Commissioner and the Director of Wildlife Conservation.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

Just got off the phone with the commissioners office. They are drafting something to explain the reasoning. BUT the gal on the phone said they did intend to close it to residents

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[Nick Muche]

Yeah, quite possibly they meant to close KODIAK and the PEN to residents. There's no way they'll ever convince me that a statewide closure to all residents was necessary.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

Oh, I agree. It makes no sense to close the entire state to residents. But the gal on the phone said that is what they intended to do for the whole state. Said they were drafting a release to explain their position.

 

[Nick Muche]

Just called them too.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

I found the press briefing online. He sure did stumble a bunch.

dunleavy briefing

He addresses the bear hunting around the 2 min mark

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[VernAK]

If you read the actual closure statement:

"all subsistence hunts will remain open....for residents .....to provide for families"

"the Dept of F&G will work with the BOG to identify future options...........Expect to hear more from the Dept in the near future and please be patient......"

Hardly caste in concrete yet!

 

[william schmaltz]

There are all kinda of rumors out there going either way based on what someone at ADFG said. I would be careful who you get your info from. I work for the state, and although our admins are excellent at their job, they are in NO position to be talking policy. Ever.

I’ll let it play out. There will be more info over the next week or so and hopefully they come up with something. They just better have a damn good explanation if they move forward with closing it to everyone. And they need to be consistent across the board. Last weekend there had to have been over 50 vehicles at the Eagle River NC trail head; yesterday on the FAA Portage Glacier web cam the whole parking lot was full; every snow machine trailhead I drove by last weekend was packed. Someone needs to explain how that’s ok but resident bear hunting isn’t.

I’m also on board with shutting down NR hunts especially in places like Kodiak and the Peninsula to keep the virus out of remote villages, but on the other hand they still plan on letting thousands of outsiders flood them villages this month to staff boats and canneries. Someone explain that logic.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

Thats the part that gets me the most. It seems to be an attack on bear hunting specifically. All other outdoor activities are ok. Just not hunting bears. You can hunt any other animal that there is an open season for. Maybe they don't have the power to keep people from doing all those other things. But that can't be true either. Because they could have closed all hunting and fishing. But they didn't. They chose bear hunting.

 

[skierhs]

I wish they would just close it to NR. I get the logic of people coming into the state bringing stuff but the residents live there and can freely travel there anyway.

 

[akhunter87]

There are all kinda of rumors out there going either way based on what someone at ADFG said. I would be careful who you get your info from. I work for the state, and although our admins are excellent at their job, they are in NO position to be talking policy. Ever.

I’ll let it play out. There will be more info over the next week or so and hopefully they come up with something. They just better have a damn good explanation if they move forward with closing it to everyone. And they need to be consistent across the board. Last weekend there had to have been over 50 vehicles at the Eagle River NC trail head; yesterday on the FAA Portage Glacier web cam the whole parking lot was full; every snow machine trailhead I drove by last weekend was packed. Someone needs to explain how that’s ok but resident bear hunting isn’t.

I’m also on board with shutting down NR hunts especially in places like Kodiak and the Peninsula to keep the virus out of remote villages, but on the other hand they still plan on letting thousands of outsiders flood them villages this month to staff boats and canneries. Someone explain that logic.

I would agree with the bulk of this. I also agree with Nick on what he has said.

However, in the government, logic seems to be followed very rarely, so I'm just waiting to see what happens next.

 

[PablitoPescador]

He did mention potential difficulty in enforcement. I wonder if the rationale is that canceling the season will allow law enforcement to focus on a potential uptick in crime if things get really bad? That’s the only sense I could make out of his statements.

I feel bad for people wanting to hunt bears in Alaska and I’m hoping they don’t follow suit here in Montana. Not sure my sanity could handle not being able to hunt spring bear...