Four Kodiak mountain goat hunts open Nov. 1; four stay closed after high hunter success

Four Kodiak Island mountain goat hunts open to Alaska residents Sunday, Nov. 1, and permits are available now, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Tuesday.

Four others won't open at all this season. Hunters in the earlier drawing hunts had optimal conditions and high success, so the harvest goal in those areas has already been met, the department said. Wild Creek-Center Mountain, Crown Mountain, RG479 and North Road System stay closed for 2026-27.

The hunts that open Sunday are Hidden Basin and Uganik River, which run through Jan. 31; Kiliuda Bay, through March 31; and South Road System, a bow-and-arrow-only hunt that closes Dec. 15.

Permits for Hidden Basin and Uganik River are available in person at the tribal office in Port Lions, and for Kiliuda Bay at the tribal office in Old Harbor. South Road System permits are available online or at the department's Kodiak office, and only to certified bow hunters.

A fifth hunt, in southwest Kodiak, has been open since Aug. 20 to residents and nonresidents and runs through March 31 unless closed early. Hunters there may take two goats, only one of them male.

The hunts are managed with harvest quotas, and the department encourages hunters to call its Kodiak office at 907-486-1880 to check a hunt's status before heading out. Goat hunters anywhere in Alaska must pass the department's mountain goat identification quiz before hunting and carry proof in the field.