Keep an eye on the FBI

We’ve been hammering on fisheries issues and how Fish and Game has messed up board regulations and the like for several weeks now. I think it’s time to go a different direction. We’ll be touching on several different topics in this week’s column.

First, if you don’t already know, the general moose hunting season opened yesterday in Game Management Units (GMU) 14A and 14B. Three friends and I are planning a 10-day hunt in 14A. The planning for this hunt began informally two years ago because one of those friends is a nonresident whose scheduling requires a fairly long lead time.

I’m really looking forward to this hunt because the companionship and camaraderie is grea, and just being out in a hunting camp in the early fall has always been a treat for me. Add to that the fact that I missed last hunting season entirely with knee surgery and only got out one day the season before that and you understand my anticipation for the upcoming hunt. But time is getting short and my preparations may keep me up to the wee hours the next couple of evenings.

Having a hunt destination is obviously a critical part of hunt planning. We’ve gone from a caribou hunt on the Dalton Highway to a moose hunt in 14B before we determined exactly where we were going. The caribou hunt got axed because of the cost of gas just to access the area. Weather caused us to rethink our original 14B moose hunting destination. With the nearly constant rains for the last couple of weeks, some of the areas we would pass through to get where we were going went from relatively dry to mud holes under significant water depths. I never learned to shoot while breathing through a snorkel!

Our new destination involves mostly dry ground and “high class” camping accommodations. I can’t go into more detail, but you can appreciate that getting to the area in a relatively dry condition and having a warm, dry place to sleep at night has become significantly more important to me as I get older. You young guys will figure it out.

I received an email from Neal and Lindy Moss, founders of the Brianna Gregory Foundation. Lindy tells it better than I can so I will quote her. “The Brianna Gregory Foundation is at it again with their sixth murder mystery event! The 2011 Murder Mystery Dinner is scheduled for Oct. 22 at Best Western at Lake Lucille. This year’s mystery will be over-the-top!

“‘The Case of the Interrupted Opera: a Sherlock Holmes Murder Mystery and Masquerade’ is set in 1911 in London. It is opening night at the Royal Opera House where a performance of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ has suddenly been cut short in the final act without explanation, but with apologies and a promise to extend a free voucher to all ticket holders for a future performance. However, the Annual Opening Night Gala hosted by the Duke and Duchess of Northhampshire at their mansion, Rosemont Hall, is still on, and this is the scene our guests will enter. In honor of ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ the Hostess has asked her guests to bring or wear a mask to this elegant event, which adds to the mystery. Luckily, Mr. Sherlock Holmes and his intrepid assistant, Dr. Watson, are on hand to help unravel the unfolding mystery. There will be a sumptuous dinner, of course, and a string quartet playing discreetly in the background. And so the evening begins …

“Tickets will be $55 per person or $400 for a table of eight. Our murder mysteries are interactive for all guests, and costumes are strongly encouraged. There will be fine art auctions, dessert auctions, as well as raffles, door prizes and opportunities to support our foundation. The Brianna Gregory Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit and we raise money for Children’s Hospital at Providence and Alaska’s children with life-threatening diseases and chronic illness. Tickets may be purchased online through PayPal for a nominal fee, at Neil’s Lock and Safe, or Valley Dental Clinic in Wasilla. Please call 373-0961 or visit our website at briannashope.org.

“Garry Forrester of Valley Performing Arts has agreed to be our Sherlock Holmes. We anticipate an exciting and highly entertaining evening of role-playing and intrigue! Please call to reserve your character today! Seating is limited to 200 guests. Script is being written as we speak, and will be finalized by Sept. 30. Please see the website for costume suggestions. Call Carolyn at Best Western for special room rates for this event. Please contact us with any questions or to volunteer to help with this event. It’s going to be awesome!”

And finally, the federal government is at it again. The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Denver has distributed a handout to military-surplus stores in the area. The handout asks store operators to report people who buy full-capacity magazines for AR-15s, bipods for long-range rifles, ammo cans or meals ready to eat (MREs). The FBI describes these purchases as “suspicious” and “potential indicators of terrorist activities.” The handout also instructs surplus storeowners to consider as “suspicious” anyone who “demands identity ‘privacy’” or anyone who expresses “extreme religious statements” and anyone who makes “suspicious comments regarding anti-U.S., or radical theology.”

This is on top of the “Operation Fast and Furious” activity the BATFE recently engaged in that let thousands of firearms cross the border into Mexico, with some of those weapons involved in the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

If the FBI gets away with doing this in Colorado, what’s to stop it from doing the same here in Alaska? I think it’s time these federal agencies started getting some adult supervision.

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