ADF&G asks Kenai bull moose hunters for tissue samples within 24 hours of harvest

Kenai moose hunters asked to deliver samples within 24 hours

Kenai Peninsula hunters who take a bull moose this fall are being asked to get four biological samples into state hands within 24 hours of the kill, a window that will shape how some hunters plan the drive out of the field.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday that research biologists in Soldotna want both testicles and scrotum, feces if present, a portion of the liver, and a section of lower jaw with front teeth from bull moose harvested in Game Management Units 7 and 15. Results will be used to investigate variation in essential minerals associated with health and physiology in moose, according to the release. Participation is voluntary, and sample kits will be available in Soldotna, Homer, and Anchorage. Wildlife biologist Marjorie Cox, based at the Kenai Moose Research Center, is the contact for kits and instructions.

Hunter-supplied specimens are not new here. Units 7 and 15 already require an online Moose Hunter Orientation before hunting, and the DM508 draw hunt in Unit 15B requires a 5-inch section of lower jaw with front teeth reported in person within 10 days. The department's roadkill program on the western Kenai has long asked for whole, uncut femurs and jaws, and states plainly why: cutting the bone compromises the marrow sample.

Here is what the release does not say out loud: the 24-hour clock is the real ask. Meat care, a long haul to town, and a sample cooler now compete for the same afternoon, and the department is betting hunters will make room.