State closes Unit 6B bull moose hunt near Cordova Wednesday night

Bull moose hunting in Unit 6B closes at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, September 16, cutting short a registration hunt published to run through October 31, which the state can close by emergency order once a harvest cap is reached. Hunters camped on the Copper River Delta have roughly one more day in the field.

Hunt RM164 closes under Emergency Order R2-5-26, issued at Cordova Tuesday under AS 16.05.060 by Area Wildlife Biologist Charlotte Westing on delegation from Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang.

The department set a maximum allowable harvest of 25 bull moose for the 2026 season, and reports put the current take at 24. The closure is to prevent overharvest. The order says only that 24 bulls are reported and hunters are in the field. It runs through June 30, 2027, unless superseded.

Unit 6B covers Gulf of Alaska and Copper River Basin drainages west of Palm Point near Katalla, east of the Copper River's west bank, and east of a line from Flag Point to Cottonwood Point. The 2023 population point estimate for the unit east of the Copper River Delta, including the Martin River Valley, was 260 moose, 90 percent confidence interval 211 to 309. All other Unit 6 moose regulations are unchanged.

Copies are at Fish and Game offices in Cordova, Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks, and the order goes to Cordova and Valdez radio stations, the harbormaster and wildlife troopers.

The state closed the Eklutna Lake bow hunt after two bulls were harvested against a three-bull limit. It closed the Unit 22D Remainder hunt in late August and the hunt west of the Darby Mountains on September 13. All four follow one method: a quota set in advance, a running count, closure as the count nears it.