Look out for hot spot poachers

Before I address the main topic related to hunting this week, here’s a reminder of a couple of fisheries items. First, the Mat-Su Kids Ice Fishing Derby will be held on Finger Lake this Sunday beginning at 10 a.m. Registration will be by the Elks Lodge, along with access to the lake. This derby is a benefit for the Alaska Make-A-Wish Foundation, so bring your kids or at least buy a ticket for the adult prize raffle.

Second, Three Rivers Fly and Tackle is recruiting students for its fly tying and rod building classes. If you’re looking for something to do between now and breakup, you will enjoy learning these skills. For more information or to register for a class, stop by the store in Wasilla or call 373-5434.

Now, here we go! I’ve mentioned the hot spot moose hunts happening here in the Valley on several previous occasions. This is a registration hunt the Fish and Game wildlife managers are using to reduce local populations of moose within two miles either side of the major highway corridors within the Mat-Su to decrease moose/vehicle collisions. The hunt also serves a secondary purpose of helping reduce the GMU 14A moose population, which is currently estimated to be about 1,500 animals above the maximum number the available habitat can support in a healthy condition.

A large number of Valley residents were apparently unaware this hunt existed and had called to report poaching activity when they encountered a hunter with a valid permit harvesting a moose. As a result of the public’s lack of knowledge, Fish and Game embarked on a public relations campaign a few weeks ago to try to inform folks about current events. I remember seeing articles in both this newspaper and the Anchorage Daily News and a story on KTUU television news.

This was a two-edged sword for the department. Now a lot more people know about the hunt, which is a good thing. However, now a lot more people will probably register for the hunt next fall, including non-locals who are unfamiliar with many of the settled areas along the highway corridors. This could pose a safety issue if hunters fail to follow safe hunting practices around homes and other structures – that’s a potential bad thing.

There’s also a development happening that could spell the eventual loss of this hunting opportunity altogether. I’m hearing rumors that Alaska Wildlife Troopers, in responding to calls from the public regarding poaching activities as mentioned, are finding about half of the calls investigated really are poaching activities. Apparently, some criminal types are going out without a permit and shooting moose, mimicking the hot spot hunt situation, and if approached by a local resident, telling that person they are legal to harvest the moose.

Initially, I was viewing these public complaint calls as just a pain for troopers and game managers, but it turns out that because of these criminal poaching activities, in my opinion, the calls are justified. I would suggest, in light of the illegal poaching that is occurring, for folks who see someone in the act of harvesting a moose to report it to authorities. The troopers can then determine if the incident is a legal harvest or poaching.

Now, having said all that, here’s what I did when I harvested my hot spot moose this past Monday. The first thing was to make sure the moose was down and humanely harvested. The next step was to notch out my permit ticket with the month and day of the harvest. The third thing I did was to call Mat-Su Dispatch to inform the troopers that I had just taken a moose under a hot spot hunt permit. I told dispatch who I was, where I was and what I had done. I was asked for a description of my vehicle so troopers could check up if they wanted to.

The dispatch operator thanked me for calling and I got the impression she really was appreciative to get the notification. Perhaps Fish and Game might want to make a phone call reporting the kill before any part of the moose can be removed from the kill site as a mandatory permit requirement. This would help troopers coordinate between public complaint calls where a hunter is legal and a criminal who was poaching — especially since only a few permits are issued each week for each of the four identified corridors.

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