Board of game finishes up Wasilla meeting

WASILLA — The Alaska Board of Game finished its Central/ Southwest Region meeting Friday leaving numerous unresolved issues. Several proposals were tabled or deferred to the Southcentral meeting in Anchorage next month.

Public testimony ran longer than originally scheduled and, combined with staff reports and other business, delayed the beginning of the board’s proposal deliberations until the fifth day of the meeting. One controversy surfaced during that first day of deliberation that resurfaced later in the meeting.

Under 5 AAC 98.005 (areas of jurisdiction for antlerless moose seasons) the law states that “antlerless moose seasons require approval by a majority of the active advisory committees for the affected game management unit or subunit.” In Game Management Unit 13, there were three advisory committees submitting comments on the department’s proposed renewal of the antlerless moose hunts. One committee supported renewal, one opposed, and one took no action (the Copper River advisory committee) on the state proposal because they had submitted their own version. The board voted down the committee’s proposal but, with no majority support, could not address the state proposal.

The Copper Basin committee was able to hold a teleconferenced meeting the next day and voted to approve the state’s Unit 13 antlerless moose hunt proposal with substitute language. Two days after the board had originally addressed the Unit 13 antlerless moose hunts, the board was able to revisit the issue and they voted to accept the substitute language and ultimately approved the Unit 13 antlerless hunts unanimously.

A similar problem arose later in the meeting when the board addressed renewing the 16B Kalgin Island antlerless moose hunt. A majority of committee’s had failed to address the proposal. The board deferred taking action until the March Southcentral meeting, hoping the committee’s could meet in the interim and take a position on support or opposition.

At this point, board chairman Ted Spraker expressed frustration, saying “Sportsmen need to look at this and see if this is serving conservation. A lot of people where I live depend on this hunt. Now we’ve lost another hunt because committee’s haven’t voted.” Spraker believed it was incumbent upon the hunting public to become more involved with the committee’s that represent them to ensure that inaction does not result in hunting opportunity loss.

As the board moved into addressing the various community subsistence harvest proposals, further controversies arose. One concern was the lack of definitions in regulation of what a “community,” and “individuals, families,” or “other social groups” meant in relation to a subsistence hunt. The board passed a community definition. The board voted to require participants in the community subsistence harvest program to commit to participation for a period of two years or more and set the season dates as Aug. 20 to Sept. 20.

The board deferred implementing a system to ensure communities or groups approved to participate in the moose and caribou community subsistence harvest meet the intent of the Board of Game findings for the community subsistence harvest program until the March meeting to receive new language from the Subsistence Division. A proposal requiring harvest reporting within 24-hours of taking a moose under the “any bull” hunt in Unit 13 was passed. The board also passed changing the “any bull” hunt in Unit 13 to a drawing hunt for 5 tags in addition to community subsistence harvest, with the season to run Sept. 1-20.

When the proposal to review and amend the predator control program in Unit 16 was moved forward, a spirited discussion among board members ensued. The disputed points centered around whether trapping and snaring of bears was an appropriate tool to be used in a predator control program. The board passed substitute wording allowing the continued use of traps and snares 6-1.

Several of the sheep proposals were deferred to the March meeting in Anchorage to allow more public discussion and input. However, the board failed the proposals asking for nonresident caps on permits being issued and returning hunts in Unit 13 and 14 to full curl requirements.

On a less contentious note, the antlerless moose hunts in Units 14A and 14B easily passed. A unanimous vote supporting the addition of lands to the Palmer Hay Flats also carried, but the state legislature ultimately must pass legislation to accomplish this expansion. The board established the Hatcher’s Pass Youth Management Area in Unit 14A, for small game hunting.

A vote to allow brown bear to be taken over bait in Unit 14B passed with the requirements including that meat must be salvaged for consumption the same as black bear and the hide and skull must be salvaged for sealing. Both a spring and fall season for brown bear baiting was established. The fall season included black bear as well.

Much other work was addressed at this meeting.

For a complete explanation of changes to regulations, call your local Fish and Game office at 746-6300, or stop by and pick up a “cheat sheet” identifying the changes made. Give the department a couple of weeks to develop their summary before requesting the information.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation Information Officer Ken Marsh contributed source materials for this article.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.