South Tracy Arm goat hunt closes Friday night after hunters reach harvest guideline

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will close mountain goat hunting west and south of Tracy Arm in Unit 1C at 11:59 pm Friday, Nov. 13, after hunters took the area's full seasonal guideline of nine points, the department announced Thursday.

The closure covers part of RG013, the state registration permit hunt for this area. The rest of the RG013 hunt area and all other Unit 1C mountain goat regulations stay unchanged, unless a separate emergency order already closed them. In the closed area, a goat taken at or after 11:59 pm Friday falls outside the season.

Under the department's point system, a billy counts as one point and a nanny as two. That means nine points can be anywhere from five to nine goats, depending on how many were nannies. The department said it is closing the hunt now to help preserve the area for future goat hunting.

The 2026-2027 Alaska Hunting Regulations list the RG013 season as Aug. 1 through Nov. 30, so this area closes 17 days before the printed end date.

The closed area starts at the point on the mainland east of Harbor Island and runs up the bay to the South Sawyer Glacier, then up the middle of the glacier to the Canadian border. It also includes all the land north of the ridgeline that separates drainages flowing into Tracy Arm from those flowing into Endicott Arm, from that same point east of Harbor Island to the Canadian border.

Area Management Biologist Carl Koch issued the emergency order under delegation from Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang. It expires June 30, 2027.

The same area closed early last year too. A 2025 emergency order shut South Tracy Arm at 11:59 pm Nov. 15, 2025, under the same nine-point guideline, after hunters took seven billies and one nanny.

Two other Unit 1C goat areas have closed this year. The Point Windham zone closed Aug. 8 after a single goat filled its one-goat quota. The Eagle Glacier to Sawmill Creek area closed Oct. 4, with the department citing low population counts.