Will the new AK subsistence board changes impact sheep hunting?

[CJ19]

i see a new rule has come down that will increase size of AK subsistence boards by 3 members. If i understand this rule correctly this is a move to ensure more equity for AK natives and requires the 3 new board members are tribal members or tribally recommended.

Can some folks with more AK knowledge weigh in if this is likely to take more sheep hunting opportunity on public lands off the table for non subsistence users?

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

i see a new rule has come down that will increase size of AK subsistence boards by 3 members. If i understand this rule correctly this is a move to ensure more equity for AK natives and requires the 3 new board members are tribal members or tribally recommended.

Can some folks with more AK knowledge weigh in if this is likely to take more sheep hunting opportunity on public lands off the table for non subsistence users?

Based on the amount of tribal land that is off limits to even non tribal members, unfortunately your assumptions about its implications are probably correct.

 

[CJ19]

Based on the amount of tribal land that is off limits to even non tribal members, unfortunately your assumptions about its implications are probably correct.

Thanks. I havent seen any of the "hunting conservation" groups talk about this rule change which is interesting bc it seems like we see chunks of land by the millions of acres becoming inaccessible to public land hunters.

Here is the rule if people are interested.

Federal Register :: Request Access

 

[FAAFO]

Subsistence is a joke in modern times but yet is the biggest threat to AK hunting and fishing. No other state has a subsistence board/program.

 

[yycyak]

If your State has the guts for it, fight back as much as you can.

Canada has a "two-tier" system, dictated mostly by skin colour. If you're in one group, you can hunt year round and kill whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want. If you're the other group, you have seasons and tags and zones etc.

It plays hell on management of game when one group follows rules, bag limits, zone limitations etc, and the other group can ignore it all.

I appreciate that there is nuance here, but there's also reality.

 

[fatbacks]

I wonder if our Wildlife Troopers would even enforce any of the subsistence closures? Subsistence boards are already out of control and this will likely make it worse.

 

[CJ19]

I wonder if our Wildlife Troopers would even enforce any of the subsistence closures? Subsistence boards are already out of control and this will likely make it worse.

I understand what you are saying. I am not sure but as a general rule I do not ever want to rely on some officer not enforcing a law or being able to get away with something. I just try to obey the law everywhere i go. I have been putting small amounts of money away for years and am continuing to save because an alaskan hunt would be a 1 maybe 2 in a lifetime dream hunt for me. I am certainly not going to spend years worth of savings to go to alaska to break the rules and hope some officer does not enforce them. So this would be hunting opportunities off the table, likely forever once these boards decide close down an area to certain groups of people.

 

[FAAFO]

I wonder if our Wildlife Troopers would even enforce any of the subsistence closures? Subsistence boards are already out of control and this will likely make it worse.

Only one way to find out!

 

[yycyak]

If it's anything like our system, you bet they will. And it will be framed by them as "We are just doing our jobs and following what the law says. Call your Congressman if you want it changed, blah blah blah"

If I sound cynical, it's because I am. What group of people got to hunt our National Parks last year? What group of people got to hunt in Cadomin on the hush-hush last year? Both of these are violations of the law, but went unenforced, because the politicians okay'd it. (I realize this is a post about Alaska, but humour me.)

Push back on this where you can, because once it's in place, the bloat and two-tier nonsense just escalates. And no politician will touch it, because the optics aren't favourable to them.

(Excuse me - I'm off to yell at the sky and shake my fist.)

I wonder if our Wildlife Troopers would even enforce any of the subsistence closures? Subsistence boards are already out of control and this will likely make it worse.