The Fortymile road hunt lasted 48 hours, exactly as predicted

The road-accessible Fortymile caribou hunt near Fairbanks opened Aug. 20 and closed 48 hours later. Hunters who bought permits for a season running through Sept. 30 got two days.

Fish and Game closed Zone 1, reachable from the Steese Highway and Chena Hot Springs Road, and Zone 4 in the White Mountains, at 11:59 pm Aug. 21.

The department saw it coming. Area biologist Jeffrey Gross wrote in the closure order that the quota was expected to be met within the first 48 hours, citing where the caribou were sitting near the Steese Highway. The two zones share a fall quota of 190 bulls, with no cows allowed. The herd stood at about 27,000 this summer, below the 30,000 to 50,000 objective in the department's draft plan.

Federal hunters got a narrower window than planned. The Bureau of Land Management had set a Zone 1 federal opening for Aug. 16, four days ahead of the state, to give federally qualified rural hunters a head start. It pushed that to Aug. 18, halving the head start. The state hunt then closed after 48 hours, leaving federally qualified hunters Aug. 22 and 23 to themselves. Zone 4's federal season runs to Sept. 30.

Tanana Chiefs Conference said the overlap diminished the federal subsistence priority.

Zones 2 and 3 are unaffected. Successful hunters must report within three days of a kill, and unsuccessful hunters by Oct. 15 or lose permit eligibility next year.