One goat closes the Point Windham goat hunt for the year

Mountain goat hunters with permits for the Point Windham area of Unit 1C have lost the zone for the rest of the regulatory year — after a single goat filled its entire quota. Fish and Game closed the area by emergency order on Aug. 8, a week after the season opened, and it stays closed through June 30, 2027.

The closed zone sits north of Windham Bay, near Endicott Arm in Southeast Alaska. As of Aug. 7, one male goat had been harvested there, the only animal the area can support, the department said. The rest of the hunt, and other Unit 1C goat areas, are unaffected.

The department closed the same zone last September, and it is not the only one. This summer the state also closed the South Baranof zone in Unit 4, citing low goat numbers and easy access, and part of Unit 5A near Yakutat, where counts had fallen from 122 goats in 2006 to as few as 12 in 2010, though a 2025 tribal survey counted 75.

Some hunters have criticized the pattern, arguing that repeated one-goat closures of tiny zones overly restrict opportunity and that the quotas should be reconsidered.