Make your voice heard

Last week, we started discussing some of the moose proposals coming before the Board of Game (BOG) at its Game Region IV meeting scheduled for Feb. 8-15 at the Best Western Lake Lucille Inn in Wasilla. I mentioned the antlerless moose hunt renewal proposals and why I support them. I also touched on a proposal regarding data collection on bulls harvested in Unit 14A.

If you go to the BOG website and look at the documents posted for this meeting, you will find department comments on all the submitted proposals. Comments on this two-year data collection proposal are “do not adopt.”

Say what?

Here’s a proposal from the public asking the department to check hunters’ bull kills (the lower jaw and antlers) from Unit 14A so the department can collect real information on the antler configurations and age structures that really exist in the unit and the department says no. Why?

The department comments state that had this proposal been in effect from 2007 to 2010, 478 hunters would have had an “increased burden of compliance” in reporting their kills — a whopping 120 hunters per year, on average. The department further claims much of the information is already included on the individual harvest report the hunter files. The number of points and size of the rack, sure, but not the age of the animal. I’m surprised the department does not want to take advantage of a chance to collect data, even if that data only further supports management decisions already made. Is there a chance the data won’t support some of the regulations in place? We won’t know that until information is collected.

Another proposal would extend the current “hot shot” registration hunt format in Unit 14A into Unit 14B to address vehicle collisions and nuisance moose issues in that game unit and reauthorize the 14A hot spot hunt. This is a department proposal so, naturally, they support it. I do also, as long as the biological data is in place showing the population can support however many moose the department feels are necessary to remove from the populations in Units 14B and 14A.

This type of hunt is advantageous from a number of perspectives, including giving a local hunter another opportunity to fill a freezer. Controlling the numbers of moose along our highways is always beneficial to drivers and reducing localized moose populations can help the moose and protect the local habitat from overbrowsing and damage.

Most of the rest of the moose proposals listed under the Palmer Area (Units 14A, 14B and 16) section of the proposal book deal with antlerless moose hunt reauthorizations, season lengths, date alignments between resident and non-resident seasons, the use of four-wheelers and other issues in Unit 16.

There is a proposal to establish a drawing permit hunt for caribou in Unit 14A. That one shouldn’t be too controversial. However, deliberations on the proposal to review and modify the Unit 16 intensive management program should be interesting to listen to and will probably be somewhat contentious. This is where the wolf and bear predator control programs come into play, so you can imagine why the controversy.

Proposals addressing snaring bears in Game Region IV will be discussed and one proposal asks that brown bear baiting be allowed in Unit 16. There are general proposals to restrict the number of non-resident permits issued and to open resident seasons earlier than non-resident. Dall sheep are addressed by several proposals specifically requesting earlier resident opening dates and a fixed small percentage of permits being available to non-residents.

Coyote and wolf hunting is addressed in several proposals — some asking to extend the hunting seasons to year-around and others looking to prohibit any harvest outside of a November to March window.

I’ve confined my comments to proposals addressing Units 14A, 14B and 16 because that constitutes the bulk of the Mat-Su area. However, lots of folks hunt outside these parameters. Game Region IV includes Units 9, 10, 11, 13, 14A, 14B, 16 and 17. There are numerous proposals addressing similar issues in the other units. If your hunting interests involve those other areas, you might want to review the area specific proposals and either attend the meeting, submit written comments or do both to see that your interests and concerns are properly addressed.

It’s a new year! Make sure you have a current 2013 hunting, fishing or trapping license before venturing out. It’ll save you a lot of grief.

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.