Necker Bay's goat zone closes after two billies fill the quota

Two billies closed Necker Bay for the year.

The mountain goat zone on Baranof Island shut Friday night after hunters took both male goats the zone's quota allows. The quota was two males or one female, combined, and either outcome ends the season there.

That structure is deliberate. Fish and Game closes a goat zone the moment a single female comes out, because losing a nanny costs a herd far more than losing a billy. The department says the approach has cut female harvest sharply while keeping male opportunity high.

Necker Bay draws the tighter management for two reasons: the population is low, and the bay is easy to reach. Sitka area management biologist Stephen Bethune confirmed both goats were males.

It is the second Baranof zone to close this season. South Baranof shut July 31, for the second year running, over the same combination of low numbers and easy access. Elsewhere in Southeast, a single animal closed the Point Windham zone in Unit 1C last month, and part of Unit 5A near Yakutat closed the same day as South Baranof.

The department has not flown an island-wide goat survey since 2023, and held quotas near last year's levels in the absence of one. Managers plan new surveys this fall and say they will adjust quotas and close zones during the season as counts come in.

The rest of Unit 4 stays open until each zone fills its own quota or the season ends, which means longer trips out of Sitka. Hunters have five days to report a harvest.