Alaska closes cow caribou hunting in Western Arctic as the herd hits 121,000

Alaska closed cow caribou hunting across northwest Alaska after the Western Arctic Caribou Herd dropped to 121,000 animals, the lowest count in decades. The state now estimates zero cows can be harvested without pushing the herd into steeper decline.

The closure affects hunters in the Seward Peninsula, Northwest Arctic Borough, and parts of the North Slope who depend on caribou for food and cultural practices. Resident hunters can still take up to 15 bulls during the season that runs through June 2027, but all cow harvest under registration permits RC800 and RC907 ends July 1.

The Western Arctic Herd has been falling since it peaked above 490,000 animals in 2003. The herd dropped from 164,000 in 2022 to 121,000 in the 2025 census, a 20 percent decline in two years. Alaska's management goal is 200,000 animals; the herd has been below that threshold since 2021.

The working group asked for a four-caribou limit with one cow in February, and the state responded four months later by closing cows entirely while leaving a 15-bull limit untouched.

The state reduced bag limits and cow harvest opportunities in July 2024, but those changes did not slow the rate of decline. Doug Vincent-Lang, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, signed the emergency order closing cow season on May 26. The order expires June 30, 2027.

The closure covers Game Management Unit 22 (the Seward Peninsula region, including Nome and surrounding villages), Unit 23 (Northwest Arctic Borough, including Kotzebue), and the portion of Unit 26A within the Colville River drainage upstream from the Nuka River and drainages of the Chukchi Sea south and west of and including the Kuk and Kugrua River drainages.

Hunters are reminded to report their harvest after hunting. ADF&G states that reporting allows the department to provide the maximum allowable hunting opportunity and that without it, the department must take a conservative approach to hunter harvest.