The next Board of Game meeting to discuss regulation change proposals is March 21-28, 2025. Public comments are due by March 7.
Based on the last few meetings it seems like the BOG is poised to adopt the proposal re: 19C authored by Mike Litzen, guide and member of the "19C Sheep Working Group."
Again that proposal is as follows:
Modify the resident and nonresident hunt structure for sheep in Unit 19C, and establish a guide concession pilot program as follows:
The Unit 19C Sheep Working Group requests a closure for 2025 to all general season hunts except the RS380 subsistence hunt.
In 2026/27 there will be a temporary draw hunt with a sunset clause after two years where 80% permits are allocated to residents and 20% to nonresidents, with a 5% cap for second degree kindred (2DK) nonresident hunters, coming out of the nonresident allocation. The 2DK hunt sponsor shall also notch harvest ticket for bag limit.
We request Unit 19C be used as the pilot program for the guide concession program, implemented by 2028. In 2028, if the guide concession program for Unit 19C is in place, then residents and nonresidents will go to harvest ticket hunts.
What is the issue you would like the board to address and why?
Declining sheep populations in Unit 19C. We remain concerned primarily about the health of the sheep population in Unit 19C. Please refer to the charge statement of the working group, the results of the working group meeting in October 2024, and the letter submitted with the agenda change request. This approach prioritizes the well-being of the species over the distribution of hunting opportunities. The primary goal is to balance the interests of conservation, local communities, and economic factors. These adjustments are about managing the resource sustainably rather than just allocating hunting rights. If the problem is not solved prior to the regular meeting cycle, the Unit 19C Sheep Working Group will not achieve our mandate. The board deferred all proposals for sheep hunting in Unit 19C out of cycle to allow the sheep working group to submit a proposal which is timely with the other proposals. The closure was a temporary measure put in place, and we are now in a position to create future hunting opportunities for multiple users. The Unit 19C Sheep Working Group will not achieve our mandate. In this time of uncertainty, we are trying to ensure the healthy sheep populations in Unit 19C.
I am still firmly in the camp that we can't manage animals, only hunters. As such, this proposal feels like a loss of opportunity for resident hunters with no real benefit to the animals. I also don't buy the "we are doing it for the animals" schtick. What Litzen and the other guides in and around 19C are trying to do is, through the concession program, carve out their little piece of the sheep pie and guarantee themselves X number of sheep hunts each year and a reasonable chance of success at killing rams for their hunters. Simple as that. The resident opportunities are a distant afterthought if a priority at all.
In 2024, 47 resident hunters killed 10 rams in 19C. Under this proposal and assuming roughly the same number would have hunted 19C in 2025, these displaced hunters will wind up competing with others in increasingly smaller pockets still holding sheep and the potential for legal rams. Crowing is already a problem without additional hunting area closures and more displaced hunters.
Losing the opportunity to hunt this specific area would also be a hard blow to many who have developed a deep connection to the western Alaska Range, low as their chances of killing something may be.
I still feel like the starting point in any more restrictive measures should be guides and non-residents, as is the case currently in 19C. Loss of resident opportunity, in my opinion, should be a last resort when there is little left to give by the commercial interests. The 80/20 split is OK. I rather see 90/10, but that is just me being greedy.
Comments can be submitted and the other proposals can be viewed here:
Alaska Board of Game meeting information from the Alaska Department of Department of Fish and Game.
www.adfg.alaska.gov
