Outdoors in Alaska

In a little over a week, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) will be releasing the names of the lucky Alaska Permit Drawing Hunt winners for the 2026-2027 hunting season. These hunts are for bison, caribou, black and brown bears, moose, Dall sheep, musk ox, mountain goats, elk, and probably some other species I can’t remember off the top of my head.

I have applied for several of the hunts over the last forty years and have even drawn a few permits. If I were to average my success by receiving a permit over that time, I would probably average one permit about every five to eight years. I have drawn permits for bison, Dall sheep (archery), caribou, brown bear (also archery), and moose. I have successfully harvested both moose and bison. The other hunts have all been fun camping trips.

That archery brown bear permit still causes me to shake my head. My hunting partner really wanted that permit in the worst way and talked me into applying with him. I drew the permit and he didn’t. I’m still questioning my sanity for actually looking to harvest a brown bear with a sharp stick rather than a cannon. We went hunting, but I was hoping the whole trip that we wouldn’t see a bear. We didn’t, and I started breathing easier once the hunt was finished.

I have a couple of friends who drew a permit almost every year, sometimes multiple permits for different species in the same year. I envied their success and wished I was as lucky as they were; however, at my current age, I’m finding one permit a year very adequate for how much I can hunt now.

I looked at all the application money I sent to the department over my unsuccessful years applying as a donation to the better management of our wildlife populations. It was either that or I could start crying over all the “lost” funding. Anyway, I have been cutting back on what permits I apply for.

My mountain hunting days are behind me, as are any long treks into the “wilderness” by backpacking, so that begins to reduce the hunts and areas I can reasonably expect to hunt. My health doesn’t allow for packing a moose quarter five miles out of the “pucker brush,” but if I can reach my hunting area via ATV/UTV, boat, or four-wheel drive, I can handle the short hauls to get the animal back to the vehicle. I explained in last week’s column about the upgrades I made to my UTV specifically to support this type of hunting.

For the upcoming permit drawing hunts to be awarded, I only applied for moose in my local area and for a couple of bison hunts since a friend has the equipment and local knowledge for one of the hunts and I’ve done the other one before, so know what is needed there. In the event I don’t draw a permit (as usual), there are other options available.

ADF&G has announced several special permit hunts for Dall sheep, caribou, brown bear, and bison with drawing dates ranging from this coming March into May. The hunts are referred to as Governor’s permit hunts and are raffles where an individual can purchase any number of tickets to win. These raffled hunts serve as fundraisers for wildlife management in the state.

One caribou hunt involves tags for the Killey River caribou herd. The other involves an Alaska Range hunt. The brown bear hunt is scheduled for ten days in the Chugach area of unit 14C. The Dall sheep hunt is also scheduled for 10 days and is being advertised as the best sheep hunt ever. The Outdoor Heritage Foundation of Alaska sponsors the Governor’s 1403 Delta Junction bison tag. The Outdoor Heritage Foundation is also sponsoring a raffle for two brown bear viewing permits in the McNeil River area. The Kenai Safari Club International is also sponsoring a raffle for a plains bison permit in Unit 20D on the Delta Bison Range.

All these hunts come with extras like travel costs, a new rifle, hunting clothing, and other perks like cash to cover hunt expenses in addition to the hunt permits themselves. If you’re interested in buying raffle tickets for any or all these hunts, call your local fish and game office and ask how to find out about hunt details and purchasing raffle tickets. The winning ticket holder doesn’t need to be present at the drawing to win.