Fish and Game closes eastern Afognak elk hunt Wednesday as harvest nears objective

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will close the late registration elk hunt on eastern Afognak Island at 11:59 pm Wednesday, after hunters reported 15 elk there against a harvest objective of 16.

Hunters are still in the field, and more elk have likely been taken but not yet reported, the department said in its emergency order. The objective also covers the area's earlier drawing hunts. The department estimates the area's herds at 160 elk and set the objective to keep them stable to slightly increasing. Going past it could hold back herd productivity and growth, the order says.

The area covers Afognak east of the 1100 Road, the island's main north-south logging road, from the Danger Bay logging camp north to Discoverer Bay. Its late season, part of registration hunt RE755, opened Oct. 23.

The late season never opened on western Afognak this year. The department kept Southwest Afognak and the area west of the 1100 Road closed after hunters there reported 51 elk against an objective of 54.

The department also closed the eastern Afognak hunt early in 2020, on Nov. 1. That year it estimated the area's herds at 235 elk and set a harvest target of 24.

The registration hunt remains open on Kodiak, Ban and Shuyak islands through Dec. 31 unless the department closes it by emergency order.