Bering River moose hunt closes after hunters reach 15-bull cap

The Bering River bull moose hunt, in the drainages between Cape Suckling and Palm Point, closes at 11:59 pm Friday. Fish and Game shut it down because reported harvest reached the ceiling of 15 bulls, the same day the season was scheduled to end, and the closure holds through June of next year so it cannot reopen.

Fifteen is not much of a ceiling, and it was set that way on purpose. The department estimates 213 moose in Unit 6A West this year, somewhere between 117 and 292 depending on how the survey numbers fall. Its objective for the area is 300 to 350, a target the herd has not met in at least 15 years. Surveys counted 269 animals in 2016 and 204 in 2019.

The department has already cut the allowable harvest here to 15 bulls and is withholding the area's lottery hunt entirely until the population turns around.

Hunters are still in the field, so more animals may have been taken than have been reported. Other Unit 6 moose hunts are unaffected. The Cordova office takes questions at 907-424-3215.