Brown/grizzly bears may now be taken while hunting over a bear bait

I was glad to see Andy Couch of Fishtale Guides return to the pages of the Frontiersman with last week’s column. Andy usually writes about the where, when, and how of catching fish around the Valley. I always read Andy’s column to learn where the fishing action is happening that week and to plan a possible trip to take advantage of his knowledge. If you enjoy sports fishing in the Valley, I recommend you do the same.

With all the hoopla surrounding the recent legislative fiasco concerning the recent confirmation hearings in Juneau, I’ve neglected to mention some annual outdoor happenings. For those who wish to harvest a spring bear, the baiting season opened back on April 15 and will continue through June 30 for units 14A and 14B. Unit 16 is similar, but also has a second open baiting period from July 1 to Oct. 15. You need to have completed the department’s bear baiting seminar and you must register your bait station sites with ADF&G.

All the rules governing bear baiting are contained in the current hunting regulations booklet. When I last checked (yesterday), the 2019 edition was not yet available, so refer to the 2018-2019 booklet version on pages 26 to 28 for the particulars until the new booklets are available.

Something new this year, if you plan to hunt locally, is that brown/grizzly bears may now be taken while hunting over a bear bait. Unit 14A was added to the 13, 14B, and 16 Game Management Units where baiting for brown bears is legal. You still need to have a locking tag and whatever else is specified in the regulation booklet if you take a brown/grizzly, so read the regulations before you continue with your hunt preparations.

While the new 2019-2020 regulation book isn’t available yet, Fish and Game does have a summary sheet of hunting and trapping regulatory changes adopted by the Board of Game at their recent meetings. Two notable changes for brown/grizzly bears were made in Unit 14C: first, all hunts that were listed as opening “the day after Labor Day,” will now open on Sept. 1, and, second, the bag limit has been increased to one bear every regulatory year from one bear every four regulatory years.

The BOG made a significant change in unit 16A for moose by establishing two new drawing permit hunts. One will be for any bull and the other will be for antlerless moose. Both permits will be issued for the first time for the 2020 hunting season. If you have access to either an airplane or a boat, this is a new hunting opportunity you might want to check out. See the summary sheet or the new regulation booklet or drawing permit brochure when they become available for details.

Fish and Game has issued a news release indicating that Alexander and Sucker Lakes, both considered remote, are closed to any sports fishing from May 1 through Oct. 31. The reason for the closure is to reduce the spread of the invasive plant Elodea.

Quoting from the news release: “Due to the frequency of floatplane traffic on Alexander and Sucker Lakes, and that elodea can reproduce from a single plant fragment, there is a high risk of elodea spreading to other waterbodies.”

The release continues: “Elodea was likely first introduced into Alaska via illegal aquarium dumps where it established populations in the wild. It has since been moved to other waters by human-mediated means such as entanglements on boat props and floatplane rudders. Alexander Lake is a popular summer fly-in lake for northern pike, which is also an illegally introduced and invasive species in Southcentral Alaska….”

Continuing, “Successful eradication of elodea from the Alexander Creek watershed is imperative to prevent the spread of this highly invasive plant and to prevent the threat on pristine fish habitat in Southcentral Alaska. Due to the location of these lakes, eradication will be expensive, and will require multiple years to complete….”

The news release concludes: “Fishing for northern pike will re-open for the winter when ice-cover minimizes the chances of spreading elodea. Some alternative fly-in northern pike fishing locations include Figure Eight Lake, Flathorn Lake, Arrowhead Lake, Whitsol Lake, Whitsoe Lake, Upper and Lower Vern Lakes, Ladyslipper Lake, Lockwood Lake, Trail Lake, Bulchitna Lake, Sevenmile Lake, Onestone Lake, Shell Lake, Whiskey Lake, Hewitt Lake, Chelatna Lake, and Trapper Lake.”

Our hunting opportunities seem to be expanding while our fishing opportunities are shrinking. Hopefully, the former continues, and the latter is ultimately reversed!