Alaska sets ptarmigan limit at 20 a day, five after March 1

Hunters in Game Management Units 12, 20 and 25C can take 20 ptarmigan a day and hold 40 in possession from Aug. 10 through Feb. 28, then five a day and 10 in possession from March 1 through April 30, under an emergency order from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The limits cover rock, willow and white-tailed ptarmigan, and they apply equally to residents and nonresidents.

The order takes effect Aug. 10 and runs through June 30, 2027, unless it is superseded. It replaces the standing limit set in state regulation at 5 AAC 85.065(a)(3); all other ptarmigan rules stay as written. The same numbers already appear in the 2026-27 hunting regulations book.

This is a delegated adjustment rather than new policy. The Alaska Board of Game set framework bag limits for these units and authorized the department to move within that framework as bird populations shift, which is why the department, and not the board, issued the order for regulatory year 2026-27. A 2022 emergency order for the same units followed the identical structure.

According to the department, the limited access into ptarmigan habitat across the three units is likely to provide "large areas of refugia from hunting pressure," while areas near access corridors that stay hunted late in the season often show lower breeding densities. Seasons that extend into the breeding period increasingly target resident birds, the department says, as males defend territories and females arrive as early as late March; that is the reasoning behind the drop from 20 birds to five once spring begins. "Some late season hunting appears to be sustainable for ptarmigan in Units 12, 20, and 25C," wrote Jason Caikoski, the department's management coordinator, signing by delegation from Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang.

The order itself contains no comment from hunters or conservation groups, so the reasoning available here is the department's alone. In practical terms, resident and nonresident hunters in the three units can legally take 20 birds a day through most of the season, and the tighter spring limit is the department's attempt to hold harvest within sustainable bounds while the birds are breeding.

For anyone who wants the numbers revisited, the regular Board of Game proposal deadline of May 1, 2026, has passed. Agenda Change Requests are due Nov. 1, 2026, ahead of the board's Interior and Eastern Arctic meeting covering Units 12, 20 and 25, set for March 19 through 26, 2027, in Fairbanks.