Some tips for hunting season

Early fall is rapidly descending on us here in the Valley!

The Alaska State Fair opened yesterday and the high school football season is in full swing. The general moose hunting season opens Monday and, according to the Fish and Game weekly fishing forecast, coho fishing is still good, but has slowed some from what it was last week.

I like fishing but I enjoy hunting more, so let’s talk about the mistakes hunters commonly make while hunting. All this information is available in the current hunting regulations booklet or on the Fish and Game Facebook page or their website.

Hunt planning is a vital activity when preparing to hunt in Alaska. Part of that preparation involves learning the “Do’s and Don’ts” while out in the field. The following is a partial list of common hunting violations taken from a recent Fish and Game posting:

• Party hunting (filling another person’s bag limit or sharing permits and tags);

• Failure to know where you’re hunting (wrong unit, closed area, controlled use area, etc.);

• Failure to notch or validate harvest ticket or permit before leaving kill site;

• Failure to return completed harvest or permit report;

• Shooting from, on, or across a highway;

• Shooting from a motorized vehicle while it is in motion;

• Failure to salvage or possess the edible meat of a big game animal or wild fowl;

• Failure to return specimens required for some hunts (teeth, horns, antlers, skull, etc.);

• Failure to identify game (shooting wrong-size or wrong sex sheep and moose);

• Aircraft misuse (same-day airborne hunting, aerial spotting or herding, etc.);

• Using a harvest ticket in a permit hunt area;

• Exceeding the bag limit by herd shooting and by being confused about hunting in single- and multiple-bag limit areas;

• Failure to leave proof of animal’s sex attached to meat or hide as required;

• Failure to sign duck stamps;

• Shooting waterfowl before and after legal shooting hours;

• Shooting an unplugged shotgun at waterfowl;

• Using artificial lights for hunting big game and furbearers.

Some other fairly common violations include transporting antlers or horns out of the field prior to retrieving all the edible meat. If you can fit the rack on your last pack of meat, that is legal. Any transport of the rack before all the meat is out will get you a citation.

Boning out the meat is often another problem. The regulations require a close trimming of all edible meat from the bones, if you are hunting in an area where boning is allowed. Some areas and species hunts require that meat be left on the bone until removed from the field. What is a close trimming? I’ve been told by wildlife troopers that if they can run a knife down the bone and recover a normal serving size portion of meat, then that constitutes wanton waste.

You may not use an electronic caller for hunting moose. If you’re hunting in a weapons-restricted area, you must have the proper hunter education certification prior to going hunting.

If you bowhunt, there are requirements on the draw weight of the bow and length and weight requirements for the arrows. Beginning July 1, 2016, all bowhunters hunting big game anywhere in Alaska must have the bowhunter education certification or you could be cited for illegal hunting. Muzzleloader hunters also have requirements to follow in terms of minimum caliber and when scopes are allowed.

Something most folks don’t seem to be aware of involves the transfer of possession of game meat or antlers when transporting from the hunt area back to one’s home. For example, you shoot a moose early in the hunt and stay to help another hunter get a moose. Your buddy offers to haul your moose home since he needs to leave early to go back to work. Your buddy is stopped on the way home with an un-notched moose tag, a truckload of moose meat and the story that the moose belongs to his buddy. Guess what happens?

This is all easily avoided by filling out a transfer of possession form located on the inside back page of the hunting regulations booklet. The whole process will take you maybe five minutes and protects all parties involved. Remember to bring a pen to write with!

With a little time invested in reading the hunting regulations, you can avoid all this nastiness. It’s not really as complicated as it sounds!

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.