Caribou hunt on remote Unimak Island reopens Nov. 15 after fall quota goes unmet

Caribou hunting on Unimak Island, the easternmost of the Aleutian Islands, will reopen Nov. 15 because hunters didn't reach the 100-caribou limit this fall, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said Monday.

Residents can hunt through March 31 and nonresidents through Dec. 31, unless the department closes the hunt sooner. Each hunter can take up to three caribou.

Unimak sits just off the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. It covers about 1,500 square miles and is home to Shishaldin, the tallest volcano in the Aleutians. False Pass is its only community. It's also the only Aleutian island with native caribou, brown bears and wolves, according to a 2020 department report.

The herd has had hard years. It fell to about 200 caribou by 2011, and hunting on the island was closed for years, the report says. A June 2025 survey counted at least 704, which the department called "continued growth." Its goal is 800 to 1,000 caribou. Unimak's herd rises and falls in cycles, and hunting is important "to stabilize the herd before a significant decline occurs," the department said in this year's hunting order.

Few permit holders actually go. Last year, the department issued 60 permits, but only seven people hunted and one caribou was taken, according to its harvest records. The island is remote and hard to get around, the 2020 report says. Most local hunters can reach only the coast by boat, while most caribou stay higher up.

The winter season was part of the plan from the start. When the department set the fall hunt in July, it said the hunt would reopen Nov. 15 if the limit wasn't reached. The same thing happened last year.

Hunters need a 2026 Alaska hunting license and a separate RC205 registration permit for each caribou, available online or at the department's King Salmon office. Nonresidents also need a caribou locking tag. Hunters who get a caribou must report it within two days.