Late elk hunt won't open on western Afognak after hunters near the harvest limit

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said Tuesday that its late-season registration elk hunt won't open on much of Afognak Island this year, because hunters have already reported 51 of the 54 elk the department planned to allow there.

The emergency order closes elk hunting at 11:59 pm Thursday, Oct. 22, in Southwest Afognak and in the part of the island west of the 1100 Road, Afognak's main north-south logging road. The fall drawing hunts there end that night as scheduled, and the RE755 registration hunt that would have followed on Oct. 23 won't open.

Hunters "took advantage of favorable conditions this fall," the department said in its announcement, and some are still in the field. "It is likely additional elk have been taken and not yet reported," it said.

The department estimates the elk in the closed areas at 535 animals. It manages Afognak elk with guidelines for each herd and a 10% harvest objective for the overall population, and it set this year's objective for the area at 54 elk. The order says the goal is "to maintain a stable to slightly increasing population," and the department said harvest beyond its objectives "may impede herd productivity and growth."

RE755 still opens Oct. 23 and runs through Dec. 31 for elk of either sex in East Afognak and on Kodiak, Ban and Shuyak islands. Raspberry Island hunts, which use separate permits, aren't affected.

It isn't the first time the department has held back parts of the hunt. It kept portions of RE755 closed in 2023 and 2024. Last year, it closed part of the hunt early, in an area north and east of Back Bay, after hunters reported 51 elk there against an objective of 44.