RACK ‘EM UP

WASILLA — With rifle season set to open on Tuesday, state and Valley wildlife officials are arming hunters with information to ensure their hunts are safe and legal.

On Saturday, state wildlife officials and Alaska Wildlife Troopers took their message to Sportsman’s Warehouse, educating hunters on how to tell if a sheep or moose is legal to take before shooting.

“There’s always something to learn, no matter how experienced you are,” said Wildlife Trooper Doug Massie. “I’m learning all the time. I think if we can offer some kind of information hunters otherwise may not have, that’s good.”

Some of the information includes the three ways to know if a sheep is legal to shoot, Massie said. Hunters can tell by looking at its horns.

“In this area, which is the Talkeetna Mountains, the first thing to look for is if (the horns) are full curl,” he said. “That means their horns have to make a complete circle when looking at them. That’s one way for it to be legal. Another is it has to be 8 years old or older, and you can tell that by the growth rings on the horn.”

A third indicator is if both horns on a ram are broken. Then, it’s legal to hunt.

“They both have to be broken, not just one,” Massie said.

As visual examples, wildlife officials had a table full of sheep horns and moose antlers — some legal, some not.

For moose, which is a more popular animal to hunt in the Mat-Su, many hunters misjudge whether an animal is legal, Massie said. Like with sheep, it’s all in the antlers. Regulations vary by game management units, but for Unit 14, which encompasses much of the Mat-Su, legal animals will have:

• A spike, which is one point protruding out from the head.

• A fork with at least two points.

• At least three brow tines on the lower palms of the antlers, which point forward.

• A rack at least 50 inches in width or larger.

The number of illegal animals killed each season fluctuates, Massie said. Last year was relatively quiet, but at other times troopers are kept busy writing citations.

“Last year wasn’t a real problem, but I remember working down here in 2005, and we had 50-plus sub-legal animals taken just in Unit 14,” Massie said. “That’s a lot just from the Palmer post.”

Whether hunting moose or sheep, one of the greatest temptations hunters have to fight is that initial rush of adrenaline when first sighting an animal, Massie said.

“As hard as it is to do, taking your time is the biggest thing (in not making mistakes),” he said. “I always tell people, ‘if you have to second-, third- and fourth-guess yourself, you probably shouldn’t be taking it.’ Don’t be in a hurry.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.