Game population status

Most of the fall hunting seasons are either over or seriously winding down. The general season for moose ended Sept. 25 and several of the caribou hunts have already shut down because reduced harvest quotas have been met. I recently spoke with an ADF&G game biologist about a general outlook on how various big game populations in the Mat-Su are doing, and this is what he said.

While there is some concern on the public’s part on the status of moose population numbers in Game Management Unit (GMU) 14A, the actual numbers of moose are doing fine. The Talkeetna caribou population is okay, but that’s a difficult population to get numbers on because their range overlaps a bit with the Nelchina herd, and the animals intermingle to some extent.

Moose numbers in GMU 16 are down somewhat because of low calf recruitment. This is thought to be primarily because of wolf and bear predation on the calves. Bear numbers, both brown and black, are up almost everywhere. If you’re of a mind to harvest a bear, now would be a suitable time to try. Unit 14A mountain goat numbers are doing okay but sheep numbers are low. Weather is considered to be the major factor in the lower sheep populations.

When I asked if there was anything we could do to help the department in their management efforts, like lobbying the legislature for more money, his comment was something I have heard before, dating back over 25 years ago to when I was still an ADF&G employee. He said money was not currently a major issue. He was reasonably comfortable with the funding he had been allocated.

He said the hiring of qualified employees was a big concern. There are, apparently, several open positions and finding a person oriented more toward managing rather than preserving animal populations was difficult. His limits were set by the amount of work the staff can do, not so much the funding for the projects. This same concern was voiced to me by a federal game manager way back when.

Many universities have shifted their wildlife management programs more toward preserving animal numbers rather than conservation of numbers. What does that mean? Conservation of a population means using various management tools to maintain a population within the range of numbers the habitat can support, allowing the harvest of excess individuals to minimize damage to the habitat and maintain the integrity of the population. Preservation of a population means doing everything possible to minimize or eliminate human harvest of animals from a given population and letting “nature” control things.

That’s a thumbnail look at big game in our area. So how does the small game situation look? As I’ve mentioned before, upland bird populations, grouse and ptarmigan, are down, again primarily because of the cool, wet spring and summer we’ve experienced this year. However, that depends on where you go to hunt these birds.

I’ve spoken with some folks who had good success harvesting grouse further north (GMU 13) while they were hunting moose. I have other friends who no longer take a shotgun when they run their dogs in the higher elevations for ptarmigan because of a lack of birds. They now take a camera instead. Another friend in the Interior reports low numbers of sharp-tailed grouse in the areas he hunts.

Word has it that folks are not seeing the numbers of spruce grouse they are used to seeing in a “normal” year around the Valley. I expected that based on our tough spring, which resulted in poor rearing conditions for the year’s new chicks. Waterfowl numbers are generally average, according to federal reports released earlier this fall.

One area where the public can help the department better manage spruce and ptarmigan populations is to turn in wings off the birds harvested. The biologists can age and sex the birds and get a better idea of population numbers so that hunting regulations can be formulated to reflect current species population numbers.

The Matanuska Susitna Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission is set to begin its 2023-2024 cycle of meetings beginning on Sept. 28th at 4:00 pm at the Borough building in Palmer. One of the agenda items, I expect, will be my reporting on these game situations to the commission. This will be more of a status report rather than an action item. I would expect some discussion to ensue.

It's nice to finally see some sunshine, however, we’re also seeing frost in the morning.