Hunting
RSSHunting in Alaska is the regulated pursuit of big game, waterfowl, and other wildlife across the state's game management units. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Board of Game set seasons, bag limits, draw permits, and closures. It also covers subsistence rights and hunter education.
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Mountain goat hunt south of Tracy Arm closes early after hunters reach limit
Mountain goat hunters have reached this season's harvest guideline south of Tracy Arm, the glacier-lined fjord south of Juneau, and the area closes to goat hunting at 11:59 pm Friday.
That's 17 days before the season was set to end on Nov. 30. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said it is closing the hunt to help preserve the area for future goat hunting, according to its emergency order.
The guideline isn't a simple number of goats. The department uses a point system: a billy counts as one point and a nanny as two. The area's guideline is nine points, so it could take as few as five goats or as many as nine to reach it, depending on how many were nannies. The order doesn't break down this year's harvest.
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Stories on what’s next
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Effective: Alaska; Wildlife, Harvest, and Access
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Latest
Week of Nov 9
Fish and Game takes caribou permits to three Bristol Bay villages
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by Maggie AlaskaNews3d ago3 min read
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by Bill AlaskaNews4d ago2 min read
Week of Nov 2
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Prince of Wales trappers get their usual 31 days on wolves this winter, though the wolf estimate slipped below the state's new target of 200 to 300.
by Bill AlaskaNews6d ago2 min read
State asks Board of Game to restore wolf removal for Mulchatna caribou after court ruling
Fish and Game wants wolves back in the Mulchatna predator control program after a court struck them out. The Board of Game decides Dec. 2 whether to take it up.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Week of Oct 26
Group asks Alaska to close Western Arctic caribou hunting if herd falls to 75,000
A Western Arctic caribou group asks the state to close its hunting season if the herd, counted at 121,000, falls to 75,000. The Board of Game meets in January.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago5 min read
Four Kodiak mountain goat hunts open Nov. 1; four stay closed after high hunter success
Four Kodiak Island mountain goat hunts open to Alaska residents Nov. 1. Four others stay shut because hunters already hit the harvest goal in the drawing hunts.
by Bill AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Fish and Game closes eastern Afognak elk hunt Wednesday as harvest nears objective
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Week of Oct 19
Fish and Game and Forest Service to hear public Nov. 2 on Prince of Wales wolf trapping
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More from Hunting
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Fall hunters topped the Fortymile quota, but a 100-bull winter hunt still opens Oct. 27
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by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Fish and Game offers 20 permits Wednesday for a Resurrection Peninsula goat hunt
Fish and Game opens 20 permits Wednesday for a November goat hunt on the Resurrection Peninsula. Take a nanny and you're out of goat hunting for five years.
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Week of Oct 12
Yakutat-area moose hunt west of the Dangerous River closes after hunters reach 30 bulls
Thirty bulls down on the west side of the Dangerous River, and that's the limit. Moose hunting there, near Yakutat, ends Saturday at 11:59 pm sharp.
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Fish and Game closes Hodzana Hills caribou hunt as Dalton snowmachine access opens
Winter snowmachine use opens on Dalton corridor trails Nov. 1, so Fish and Game is closing the small Hodzana Hills caribou herd's hunt the night before.
by Bill AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read
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About Hunting
Hunting in Alaska takes in the regulated harvest of big game, small game, waterfowl and furbearers across the state's game management units. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Board of Game set seasons, bag limits, draw and registration permits and closures.
Many hunts run on quotas, and the department closes them by emergency order once hunters reach the harvest limit, sometimes weeks early. Moose, caribou, mountain goats and Dall sheep draw close management, and hunters must carry licenses and harvest tickets and, for some hunts, pass tests.
Alaska State Troopers enforce the rules, citing hunters for wanton waste, out-of-season kills and false residency claims. Subsistence rights, predator control for caribou herds, guide licensing and access to Native corporation lands connect hunting to wildlife management and land ownership.
More from Hunting
Three Northwest Alaska advisory committees elect members, weigh caribou cuts
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by Maggie AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read
Fish and Game opens registration Nov. 12 for $25 Trapping 101 class in Fairbanks
Fish and Game will teach you to trap for $25, which happens to be what a resident trapping license costs. Registration for the Fairbanks class opens Nov. 12.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read
Federal board declined to start Unit 13 moose closure early as rule stays unpublished
A federal board voted in April to reserve some Unit 13 BLM land for subsistence moose hunters. The closure still isn't in effect, and an early start was denied.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Healy shooters likely to lose gravel pit range to state road work next summer
Healy shooters are losing their gravel pit range to state road crews. Now residents are talking about a sportsman's club and a real range instead.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Board of Game moves Ambler Road hunting closure up to a Nov. 20 web conference
The Board of Game shelved the Ambler Road hunting closure until its January meeting in Kotzebue. Now it's Nov. 20, online, with no testimony taken.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
State closes Unit 14A Chugach goat registration hunts Tuesday night, weeks early
Fish and Game is closing Chugach goat registration hunts in Unit 14A at 11:59pm Tuesday, cutting short a season set to run through Oct. 31.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Fish and Game offers women's concealed carry course in Fairbanks Oct. 24-25
Fish and Game's Becoming an Outdoors-Woman program holds a concealed carry course Oct. 24-25 in Fairbanks for $215.
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Week of Oct 5
Y-K Delta hunters face lower white-fronted goose limits as the Pacific population declines
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Week of Sep 28
Eagle Glacier to Sawmill Creek goat hunt in Unit 1C closes Sunday night
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Troopers cite Soldotna man for leaving edible moose meat on carcass
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Registration permits open Friday for Chugach mountain goats after drawing hunt falls short of quota
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Mountain goat hunt south of Port Valdez closes Thursday night after hitting harvest limit
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Two Ninilchik men charged in alleged illegal bull moose harvest on Brody Road trails
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Lake George mountain goat hunt closes early Tuesday after hunters reach harvest limit
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Troopers say Eagle River hunter used a $5 license he did not qualify for
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by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
State extends Unit 9B resident moose season to Sept. 30 after bad weather limited hunting
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by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Federal board gives subsistence hunters 10 more days to hunt moose in the Tetlin refuge area
Rural subsistence hunters near Northway get 10 more days to hunt moose in the Tetlin refuge area, after warmer falls made moose harder to get, the board said.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Board of Game proposals would cut Western Arctic caribou limits further as the herd declines
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Bering River moose hunt closes after hunters reach 15-bull cap
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A teen moose hunter was flown to a hospital after a tree stand fall near Fairbanks
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Troopers cite a Wasilla hunter over evidence of sex missing from his moose
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