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Hunting Alaska News & Tips
August 2005

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Alaska hunting got under way during August, and hunters are now afield for caribou, Dall sheep, deer, goat, moose and more.  Hunting intensity builds in September and some seasons continue until late into the fall.  Alaska is big country and hunting seasons, bag limits and methods vary widely. 

We have implemented a solution to speed up forum posting.  This should take care of most of the pressing forum speed problems, although there remain a few slow functions.  OutdoorsDirectory.com is serving 55,000+ pageviews per day right now, so the server is under a fairly heavy load.

We have an interesting change ahead on OutdoorsDirectory.com This will be of particular interest if you hunt out of state.  I'm not going to be more specific than that, but we're excited about it.  Watch for it in the weeks ahead.

Best of luck with hunting this season.....David

David M Johnson
Publisher / OutdoorsDirectory.com
PO Box 609
Delta Junction, AK 99737

NEWS: August 26, 2005 -- The Fairbanks Daily News Miner reports that the Fortymile caribou hunt near the Steese Highway north of Fairbanks is going slowly. As of 25 August, hunters had reported taking fewer than 1/10 of the 230 caribou quota.

 NEWS: August 26, 2005 -- The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is reminding goose hunters heading for the Alaska Peninsula, the Aleutians, and Western Alaska a to check their waterfowl regulations for changes in hunting seasons and bag limits. (GMU) 9, the Alaska Peninsula, and GMU 18, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, have reduced harvest opportunities but GMU 10, the Aleutian Islands, will be open to hunting geese for the first time in 30 years. For more complete regulations online, see www.wildlife.alaska.gov/

RESOURCES: August 23, 2005 -- Author and publisher Tony Russ has released a new book, Upland Hunting in Alaska: A Bird Hunter’s Guide. This is a detailed manual from veteran Alaska bird hunter and writer Jim McCann on how to successfully hunt the seven species of grouse and ptarmigan in the state.

NEWS: August 18, 2005 -- The Taylor Highway registration hunt for caribou (RC860) ends on Friday night August 19.  Caribou hunting in other parts of the Fortymile Herd range continues.

NEWS: August 17, 2005 -- The Federal Subsistence Board is accepting proposals through Oct. 21, 2005 to change subsistence hunting and trapping regulations on Federal public lands in Alaska. This is the first step in the development of regulations for the regulatory year starting July 1, 2006.

NEWS: August 17, 2005 -- Federal agencies and the state of Alaska have closed mountain goat hunting for subsistence hunters on federal lands in a portion of GMU 5A.  The state hunt is closed in this same area.  Mountain goat populations are continuing to decline in this area. 

NEWS: August 16, 2005 -- A non-resident bear hunter was killed west of Anchorage as he stood up suddenly in the trajectory of a guide's bullet.  The guide was attempting to finish off a wounded brown bear. 

NEWS: August 13, 2005 -- August and September antlerless moose hunts have been closed in western interior Alaska by emergency order to conserve breeding females in an area where populations have declined in recent years.

NEWS: August 13, 2005 -- March and April bag and possession limits for ptarmigan have been reduced in three Interior Alaska Game Management Units by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

NEWS: August 13, 2005 -- The state's plan to allow the harvest of 800 antlerless moose on the Tanana flats south of Fairbanks during the 2005 season does not set well with all hunters, the Fairbanks Daily News Miner reports.  The harvest is designed to reduce the overall population because of nutritional stress.

NEWS: August 10, 2005 -- Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski recently signed legislation to promote and protect hunting, fishing, and trapping as important elements of Alaska's heritage.  Previous statutory language had not specifically given the state administration the mandate to promote these activities.  The Alaska Outdoor Council suggested this possibility to Representative Mike Kelly, who crafted language based on similar legislation in Michigan.

NEWS: August 10, 2005 -- State biologists are asking Dall sheep hunters to leave pack animals at home.  The risk is transmission of domestic animal diseases to populations with little or no resistance to common diseases among domestics. Dr. Kimberlee Beckman says that domestic goats and llamas could carry these diseases.

NEWS: August 9, 2005 -- The Alaska Board of Game is accepting proposals for changes to Arctic and Western region regulations.  Proposals are due August 19, and comments due October 28.  The board meeting will be in Kotzebue November 11-14, 2005.

NEWS: August 8, 2005 -- A recent mule deer sighting in the Salcha area is not the first in Interior Alaska.  Other unusual wildlife have been seen many times over the years as well, the Fairbanks Daily News Miner reports.

NEWS: August 8, 2005 -- The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reminds hunters with registration permits that failure to report harvest results within the required time will result in ineligibility for drawing or Tier II hunts in 2006, and could result in a fine.

RESOURCES: August 4, 2005 -- The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has added additional information to its Dall sheep hunting pages to help hunters better evaluate ram horn size.

Alaska hunting news from July 2005 >>>

NEW ON OUTDOORSDIRECTORY.COM

PRODUCTS: 12 August 2005: Upland Hunting in Alaska. A definitive book on upland bird hunting in Alaska. Learn the secrets to finding and hunting the grouse and ptarmigan of Alaska.

MAGAZINE: 13 August 2005: Subsistence--Lessons from Canada by Patrick Valkenburg is an article written about the path subsistence has taken in Canada. Alaska faces a subsistence issue as well; here Valkenburg provides insight and a  warning to what racism has done to Canadian subsistence hunting.

PRODUCTS: 12 August 2005: Alaskan Honeymoon Adventure.  Who would have thought that a chance correspondence would lead to a honeymoon trip; caribou hunting, on a remote hilltop, in Alaska.  Elaine's story began to take the form of a testimonial: rewards given, for chances taken!  To inspire just one person to follow their heart, and find adventure, would be rewarding enough for her.