Fish and Game closes Hodzana Hills caribou hunt as Dalton snowmachine access opens

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will close caribou hunting in parts of Units 24A and 25D at 11:59 pm Saturday, Oct. 31, to protect the small Hodzana Hills herd, under an emergency order announced Thursday.

Hunters have taken an average of 8.7 Hodzana Hills caribou a year since 2020, below the herd's harvestable surplus of about 20 a year, according to the order. The order attributes that to the Dalton Highway Corridor Management Area, which prohibits motorized access within and across the corridor for hunting. Starting Nov. 1, snowmachine use is authorized on RS 2477 trails each year through April 15. With that change, the department said, the winter harvest has the potential to exceed the harvestable surplus, so the hunt closes the night before.

The winter access followed a land transfer this spring. According to the order, the Interior Department conveyed about 1.4 million acres along the Dalton Highway Corridor to the state, and winter snowmachine use was authorized alongside it. Ten conservation groups are challenging the transfer; a federal judge let much of it go forward in July, and the groups have appealed, Alaska News reported in August.

The Hodzana Hills herd is small and non-migratory, numbering 400 to 600 animals, the order says. The department's Galena-area management report, covering 2012 to 2022, lists the herd's most recent survey as May 31 and June 2, 2017, when biologists documented 46 caribou from five active radio-collar locations.

The closed area covers the herd's range: the part of Unit 24A south of an east-west line from the South Fork Koyukuk River at the Dalton Highway crossing, and the part of Unit 25D drained by the west fork of the Dall River, west of 150 degrees west longitude.

Hunters may take Hodzana Hills caribou until the closure. The season opened Aug. 10. The department is preparing an Agenda Change Request asking the Alaska Board of Game to consider making the herd's season Aug. 10 through Oct. 31.