State closes Unit 14A Chugach goat registration hunts Tuesday night, weeks early

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will close mountain goat hunting in the Chugach Mountains portion of Game Management Unit 14A at 11:59 pm Tuesday, Oct. 13, after hunters took 11 of the year's 12-goat quota.

The emergency order, issued Monday, ends the registration hunts, RG890 and RG891, 18 days before they were scheduled to close. It applies to resident and nonresident hunters.

The registration hunts opened Oct. 2. The department offered the permits because hunters in the September drawing hunts had taken only seven goats, leaving five on the table.

Registration hunters took four of them by Monday. The year's total stands at nine billies, one nanny and one goat yet to be determined, according to the order.

The department is closing the hunts "to prevent exceeding the goat harvest quota," the order says.

That quota is set by a formula. Managers conduct minimum counts of goats each year and set the quota at 7% of the adults seen, averaged over the last three full surveys. That average is 171 adult goats in the Chugach portion of Unit 14A. Nannies are capped at 30% of the quota, or four goats this year, to maintain the population.

Every permit holder has to report, whether or not they got a goat. Successful hunters have two days to report a kill and 10 days to bring in the horns for sealing. Unsuccessful hunters and those who didn't hunt have 15 days after the season closes.