Fish and Game reopens Baranof Island's Necker Bay goat zone after clerical error

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reopened Baranof Island's Necker Bay mountain goat hunt zone Sept. 8 after finding that a clerical error had assigned two harvested male goats to the zone; in fact, zero goats had been taken there this season. The zone is scheduled to stay open to RG150 registration permit holders through Dec. 31, with a limit of one goat per hunter and a prohibition on taking nannies with kids.

A Sept. 1 order had closed the zone after reporting two male goats harvested against a combined quota of two males or one female. The reopening order does not explain how the error occurred.

The department's mountain goat harvest data comes from a mandatory hunt report tied to the registration permit. Successful RG150 hunters must file that report and present the horns within five days of the kill. Alaska News previously covered the Sept. 1 closure. The department also closed the Redoubt Bay-Necker Bay zone by emergency order in 2011, after hunters reported taking three female goats.

Other Baranof Island RG150 zones closed this September: Lisa Creek, effective Sept. 13, after two males reached its quota of two males or one female; Bear Mountain, effective Sept. 18, after two males and one female were taken against a quota of three males or one female; and Indigo Lake, effective Sept. 18, after a single female was taken against a quota of two males or one female. South Baranof closed July 31 because of historically low population levels and high accessibility, a closure the Federal Subsistence Board mirrored for the federal subsistence season. The Sept. 1 order said managers would reassess zone quotas after updated surveys this fall.