Hold on to your GMU 23/26A Shorts boys

[kwackkillncrew]

its the way we have always done it

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Last week's meeting reinforced the herd is around 155,000 caribou and they voted to restrict caribou hunting on all levels. They'll f/u with proposals to the BOG to restrict non-local hunting and decreased take by local communities.

Locals continue efforts to restrict hunting to protect Western Arctic caribou

Game managers will consider several proposals to limit hunting this winter and spring.

www.adn.com

This isn't yet the final ruling since all proposals have to go through the BOG for approval. We'll all have to wait to see how the many proposals will be weighed against non-local harvests, but it ain't lookin good.

 

[arctichunting]

Last week's meeting reinforced the herd is around 155,000 caribou and they voted to restrict caribou hunting on all levels. They'll f/u with proposals to the BOG to restrict non-local hunting and decreased take by local communities.

Locals continue efforts to restrict hunting to protect Western Arctic caribou

Game managers will consider several proposals to limit hunting this winter and spring.

www.adn.com

This isn't yet the final ruling since all proposals have to go through the BOG for approval. We'll all have to wait to see how the many proposals will be weighed against non-local harvests, but it ain't lookin good.

I’ll feel less salty about it if they restrict resident harvest also. At least then it seems like it’s actually about the herd and not politics


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[kwackkillncrew]

I’ll feel less salty about it if they restrict VILLAGE resident harvest also. At least then it seems like it’s actually about the herd and not politics


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FIFY

 

[Larry Bartlett]

What I hope is not lost on the BOG is to understand that if the Western Arctic Herd declined to 152,000 caribou down from one year ago at 164,000 will they acknowledge and account for community harvest of 7,000-10,000 annually in that range (GMU 23/26A mainly). If so, is the herd rapidly declining or are we counting ALL the caribou harvested by locals? 164,000 - 152,000 = 8,000 fewer caribou in roughly 12 months.

I call BS on this scheme otherwise.

In my heart of hearts when natives stop killing cows and calves and harvest quotas are recorded and enforced, we'll start seeing a rebound appropriate for everyone to hunt caribou in this region.

 

[arctichunting]

FIFY

Yes that is what I meant..


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[AlaskaMark]

I’ll feel less salty about it if they restrict resident harvest also. At least then it seems like it’s actually about the herd and not politics

The proposal from the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group IS to restrict/limit all resident harvests (including locals) to 4 caribou per year, only one of which may be a cow. It is currently 5 per day

 

[z987k]

The proposal from the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group IS to restrict/limit all resident harvests (including locals) to 4 caribou per year, only one of which may be a cow. It is currently 5 per day

That actually sounds reasonable considering.

 

[arctichunting]

The proposal from the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group IS to restrict/limit all resident harvests (including locals) to 4 caribou per year, only one of which may be a cow. It is currently 5 per day

Yes I understand but I’m talking the scenario where it stays as 5/day but non res is closed as well.


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[Catag94]

Before the closure of federal lands through SWA-21A, the Working group I believe recommended a limited cow harvest I think I recall. I believe the recommendation was to focus on bull harvest.
I just wish they’d remember that Non-residents are only harvesting bulls and their harvest is under 400 annually. Seems like the wrong hunting group is being targeted to me.

I know the subsistence hunters rely on the game and fish species. But, as Larry so well pointed out in 2017, they are also wasteful of the resource. I also know no one wants to eat a rutting bull caribou, but don’t they have freezers in which they can keep bulls harvested during other times?

I also really appreciate Larry’s concern that the local harvest isn’t even quantified/reported.

If we (all hunting groups) are serious, we would be reporting all harvests and welcoming efforts to maximize the resource for all. In this case, it seems a compromise is attainable. For example: maximum of 4 cows per year for local hunters. Addition of 1 bull per month and nonresidents can also hunt bulls during the August/September season.

This would be a tremendous relief to the herd and include everyone.


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[GnarlesBarkley]

Following as we have rolled from 2022 to this year for our group to hunt out of Kotz. Sounds like we will know end of Jan, but it doesn’t sound good according to GEO and this post. Suspect we will give up on this hunt if it brings more closures, not going to let this mess interfere with planning other hunts and don’t want to risk coming up to be hunting on top of everyone else if available land mass gets small.

Can anyone confirm when this will be finalized for 2024? Hopefully before western state draws start.

 

[AlaskaMark]

Can anyone confirm when this will be finalized for 2024? Hopefully before western state draws start.

We should know after the Board of Game meeting in Kotzebue end of this month.

 

[william schmaltz]

We will know if the proposals for changes to state regulations will pass at the end of the month.

WSA21-01 was approved through RY 23/24, so technically expires June. If they don’t get their way through the board of game to eliminate NR tags, I’d say there’s a fairly high likelihood that they submit a new proposal through the FSB for another federal land closure. That’s just a personal assumption that I hope is incorrect. If NR tags survive the BOG this month, it doesn’t mean that it will be back to the way it was necessarily.

It’s worth noting that for all the finger pointing and R/NR fighting that happens here, it would be easy for nonlocal AK residents to just get on board with eliminating the NR tags and in turn save themselves from being locked out again by another federal closure. But most nonlocal residents are indeed advocating for keeping the NR tags.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

i wonder of all the non local harvest, how many of them are ak residents i cant imagine its more then 1/3 of the total non local harvest. Maybe residents dont want to get on board with Non resident tags being eliminated because then the locals up there are one step closer to eliminating non local resident tags as well.

 

[william schmaltz]

I’d guess it’s less than 1/3. The residents I know who are opposed to the proposed tag allocation have no intention of hunting 23. I hunted 23 the first year the FSB had a closure, but the unit isn’t on my radar. I prefer hunting different animals in different regions annually.

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the state can manage general tags by local/nonlocal within a GMU without going to a tier system. A tiered system would make for much more stringent regulations for locals.

 

[AlaskaMark]

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the state can manage general tags by local/nonlocal within a GMU without going to a tier system. A tiered system would make for much more stringent regulations for locals.

That is correct. But the Tier system is not technically a local/nonlocal benefit, though in most instances it ends up that way. Any resident who has longevity hunting a population, time in the field there etc, can qualify.

 

[GnarlesBarkley]

I’m the event NR tags are available, is it a legitimate concern that maybe all the transporters have 2 years worth of clients they are trying to get into the field. I have never been up there so no perspective on crowding and what a normal year looks like. Maybe more people came to hunt state lands or high water marks than I would have thought.

 

[william schmaltz]

anyone out there got their ears on?

edit to appear less like a crazy person:
Anyone listen in to the BOG meeting? Mixed feelings about it. They saved it from going too off the rails.

 

[AlaskaMark]

I'm at meeting. The proposals to eliminate nonres caribou hunters DID NOT PASS. And fyi RHAK opposed them.

 

[arctichunting]

I'm at meeting. The proposals to eliminate nonres caribou hunters DID NOT PASS. And fyi RHAK opposed them.

How soon before the federal subsistence board has another meeting and extends the special action though


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