Koyukuk River
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Fish and Game closes Hodzana Hills caribou hunt as Dalton snowmachine access opens
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will close caribou hunting in parts of Units 24A and 25D at 11:59 pm Saturday, Oct. 31, to protect the small Hodzana Hills herd, under an emergency order announced Thursday.
Hunters have taken an average of 8.7 Hodzana Hills caribou a year since 2020, below the herd's harvestable surplus of about 20 a year, according to the order. The order attributes that to the Dalton Highway Corridor Management Area, which prohibits motorized access within and across the corridor for hunting. Starting Nov. 1, snowmachine use is authorized on RS 2477 trails each year through April 15. With that change, the department said, the winter harvest has the potential to exceed the harvestable surplus, so the hunt closes the night before.
The winter access followed a land transfer this spring. According to the order, the Interior Department conveyed about 1.4 million acres along the Dalton Highway Corridor to the state, and winter snowmachine use was authorized alongside it. Ten conservation groups are challenging the transfer; a federal judge let much of it go forward in July, and the groups have appealed, Alaska News reported in August.
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