2017 Hunting Guide

HUNTING U I D E 2017 INSIDE: Sheep population recovering Habitat benefits of prescribed burns Coyote hunting with dogs in Delta ... and more Dick Bishop watches for moose along a well-maintained beaver pond on Sept. 10, 2009. SAM BISHOP/NEWS-MINER FILE PHOTO

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS Moose population and harvest ..........................................2 Hunting rules on Alaska lands ............................................2 Fish and Game FAQ.................................................................3 Season’s sheep preview ........................................................4 Highway hunting rule change ............................................5 Fortymile Herd wolf control ................................................6

Mule deer tick update ...........................................................8 Prescribed burns in bison habitat .....................................9 Big game hunters’ ammo .................................................. 11 Central North Slope caribou hunting ........................... 13 Legalized: coyote hunting with dogs............................ 16 Estimating wildlife populations ...................................... 20

Moose populations Plan ahead: Know private land rules strong in 20A, 20B

By Sam Friedman

SFRIEDMAN@NEWSMINER.COM

By Sam Friedman SFRIEDMAN@NEWSMINER.COM

The moose are out there, so the weather will play a big role in whether moose hunters around Fairbanks have a good year or a bad year, according to Tony Hollis, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game area wildlife biologist for Fairbanks.

Biologists weren’t able to conduct surveys last fall in either Game Management Unit 20B (the area that includes Fairbanks) and 20A (the area to the south across the Tanana River). However, based on mild winters the last two years, both areas are expected to to still have about 12,000 moose. That’s within the range that state biologists believe the area can support.

A calf study this spring contained some additional evidence that the moose populations are healthy.

Biologists study the twinning rate — the ratio of cows that have twins to the total number of cows who have calves — as a sign of moose population health. A 20 percent twinning rate is considered a good rate. This year,

unit 20A moose had a twinning rate of 19.8 percent, up from 11 percent last year, Hollis said.

A survey of the Minto Flats State Game Refuge, which is within Game Management Unit 20B, showed moose had a twining rate of 26.9 percent, Hollis said.

Most moose hunts around the Interior open on Sept.

1, although a few specific hunting opportunities open as early as mid-August.

Harvest success

About one in every four moose hunters around Fairbanks bagged a moose last year. A 25 percent success rate has long been about the average for Interior hunts.

Last year 26 percent of hunters around Game Management Unit 20 were successful. They bagged 1,966 moose. That harvest was just under the previous year’s total of 1,978. Across the state a similar proportion of hunters were successful: 21,368 hunters harvested 7,583 moose.

Contact Outdoors Editor Sam Friedman at 459-7545. Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMoutdoors.

Alaska is filled with wild places, but not all the open lands are open to hunting.

Lands that have restricted hunting rules can be found on maps available through the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. These are some of the restricted hunting lands in Alaska:

Native corp. lands

Many private lands in Alaska are owned by the shareholders of Alaska’s Native corporations. For the Interior, the regional corporation is Doyon, Limited, which owns 11.5 million acres of land, most of it encircling the 34 villages in the region. Doyon does not allow nonshareholders to use corporation lands for activities including hunting, fishing and gathering. Trespassing hunters hurt the corporation’s shareholders because it puts them in direct competition for game meat, Doyon spokeswoman Lessa Peter said. Most rural shareholders depend on hunting for their main source of protein because groceries are so expensive in rural Alaska.

Trespassing is perceived to have gotten worse in recent years because people have better offroad vehicles and boats that allow them to travel into more remote places, Peter said. For

In this undated photo, Ed Smith, right, draws back on his compound bow as his hunting partner, Dave Light, waits to shoot at a practice target along the Dalton Highway.

NEWS-MINER FILE PHOTO

more information on Doyon’s lands in the Interior, go to Doyon.com or call 452-8119.

Much of the road-accessible land in and immediately south of the Alaska Range is owned by regional corporation Ahtna Inc. With purchase of a permit, Ahtna allows non-shareholders to use parts of its lands for purposes including camping, bison hunts, and predator control. For more information call the corporation lands office in Glennallen at 822-3476 or go to permits. ahtna-inc.com.

Fort Wainwright training ranges The Army’s training ranges

near Delta Junction, Fairbanks and North Pole are sometimes open to hunting. But their schedules are built around when the military needs the ranges.

The military plans to have 2017 hunting season maps available on the website usartrak. isportsman.net in the coming weeks. Hunting on military training lands also requires a recreational access permit, which is free and is also available at usartrak.isportsman.net.

For more information about the Army training lands, call the Fort Wainwright Natural Resource Office at 361-9686.

The Army tries to accommodate hunters, but some trainRULES » 7

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

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HUNTING GUIDE 2017

JOHN WAGNER/ NEWS-MINER FILE PHOTO

Fish and Game FAQ Staff at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game get many of the same questions each hunting season. Wildlife biologist Laurie Boeck compiled this list from the hunter information desk.

Question: Does my Alaska resident child require their own harvest tickets?

Answer: Yes, starting at 10, children will need their own harvest tickets or permits.

Q: At what age are hunting licenses required?

A: Alaska residents need to purchase a hunting license when they turn 18 years old. Nonresident hunters of all ages need to purchase a hunting license.

Q: Do I need Hunter Education certification if I’m 16 years old but with a person who was born after Jan. 1, 1986?

A: Yes. Q: What licenses and tags do I need before I go hunting?

A: Residents 18 and older need a valid hunting license and the appropriate harvest ticket or permit for the species they intend to hunt.

Nonresidents need a hunting license, big game locking-tag, and harvest ticket or permit.

Q: Can I get my harvest tickets online?

A: Yes, at http://hunt. alaska.gov. Click on the “Get

Your Permit/Harvest Ticket” link.

Q: Where can I find maps for the area I want to hunt?

A: You can find hunt maps on the ADF&G website at http://hunt.alaska.gov.

Q: Do I need any special paperwork from ADF&G if I’m flying out of state with my moose meat and antlers?

A: No, but check with your airline for any requirements they may have for checked baggage.

Q : Is a n y e d u c a t i o n required for youth-only hunts?

A: Basic hunter education FAQ » 7

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Students in a basic hunter education class Perry Polsey, left, and Ping Lan listen as instructor Judy Johnson, not pictured, explains the numerous factors hunters must consider before they pull the trigger Aug. 25, 2007, at the Department of Fish and Game Hunter Education Indoor Shooting Range off College Road.

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017

Sheep slowly recovering from 2013 winter A dall sheep licks the minerals from the Alaska Highway at Sheep Mountain on Kluane Lake in the Yukon on Feb. 24, 2008.

By Sam Friedman SFRIEDMAN@NEWSMINER.COM

The 5,000 hunters who wanted a shot at a sheep in the Tok Management Area had slightly better odds to win a drawing permit this year, about 1.6 percent.

Thanks to gradually improving population survey numbers, managers drew a total of 80 drawing permits this year, instead of the 60 that have been available in recent years.

Sheep populations have gradually increased since a large die-off from the long 2013 winter in this popular sheep hunting area in the Alaska Range southwest of Tok. But the population is not yet at pre-2013 levels, said Jeff Wells, an assistant area wild-

SAM HARREL/ NEWSMINER FILE PHOTO

life biologist at the Department of Fish and Game office in Tok. Sheep take seven to eight years to grow to full-curl maturity. If the sheep population was stronger, the state could issue as many as 120 permits for this area.

A similar trend is taking place in the northern Wrangell Mountains in Game Management Unit 12, where there is a growing sheep population that’s still below the pre-2013 population, Wells said. The sheep hunt in GMU 12 is a general hunting season that’s open to both Alaska residents and nonresidents.

In Game Management Unit 20A — the Alaska Range due south of Fairbanks, the 2013 winter hit that year’s lambs hard, but didn’t hurt older

sheep as much as other parts of the state, said Tony Hollis, an area wildlife biologist in the Fairbanks office. Sheep hunting in GMU 20A is also a general season.

A survey of Unit 20A in July had some good news for the future of that sheep population. There was an average of 38 lambs to every 100 ewes, the highest rate that’s been seen in that area in five years, Hollis said.

Sheep seasons generally begin August 10, although new youth hunts begin Aug. 1.

Harvest results

Across Alaska, sheep hunters had their best year since SHEEP » 12

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Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017

New rule moves caribou hunters farther off highway

By Sam Friedman SFRIEDMAN@NEWSMINER.COM

This year hunters will have to walk about 50 steps before shooting at caribou along the Top of the World and Taylor highways.

This spring Alaska’s Board of Game asked state employees to create a new rule in response to complaints about hunters along the road making dangerous shots along roadside ditches and near campgrounds and private homes.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game staff finalized the new rule this summer, so it doesn’t appear in this year’s hunting regulations booklet.

The new rule only applies to the section of the Taylor’s “Y,” the fork in the highway where the Top of the World Highway splits off from the Taylor Highway. The rule covers all of the U.S. section of the Top of the World Highway and the Taylor Highway between 75.5 Mile (the South Fork

A caribou shakes off water on the banks of the North Fork of the Chena River off Chena Hot Springs Road on Sept. 29, 2003.

JOHN HAGEN/ NEWSMINER FILE PHOTO

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HIGHWAY » 12

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

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HUNTING GUIDE 2017

Fortymile Herd at crossroads Key Interior caribou herd numerous again. Does wolf control deserve any credit?

SFRIEDMAN @NEWSMINER.COM

Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game wants more time to determine whether its largest wolf control project is working.

Since 2005, state employees and private residents aboard airplanes or helicopters have killed more than 650 wolves on state lands east of Fairbanks with the goal of boosting the Fortymile Caribou Herd.

It’s part of a state mandate codified in the 1994 Intensive Management Law to increase caribou

and moose populations people rely on for food.

Not enough evidence exists to show 14 years of wolf control has helped the Fortymile Herd, said Darren Bruning, who helps manage the Fortymile Herd as regional supervisor for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Divison of Wildlife Conservation.

The department plans to halt wolf control after one more season and see how the caribou respond to a least two years of uncontrolled predation, Bruning said. The temporary halt is part of the state’s wolf control study

In this 2016 Alaska Department of Fish and Game photo, caribou bulls are seen on a ridge close to the Steese Highway.

PHOTO COURTESY JOHN WYMAN/ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME

and is not a concession to wolf control opponents who say the program is ineffective or the Fortymile Herd can’t get much bigger than its current population of about 50,000 animals.

FORTYMILE » 10

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017

ing must occur during the fall season, because it’s the main time when the sky is dark enough and it’s warm enough to do required nighttime training exercises, said Army spokesman Capt. Richard Packer Some military lands are permanently closed to the public because they contain explosives that have not detonated.

Other federal lands

Many other federal lands such as national wildlife preserves and Bureau of Land Management lands are generally open to hunting.

National parks, however, prohibit hunt-

FAQ Continued from 3 is required for all youth-only hunts. The

Mental Health Trust lands

The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority owns about 1 million acres in Alaska, which were given to the state to generates income to support mental health services.

Mental Health Trust lands can be used for hunting and fishing, but are open to day use only, and only to non-motorized transportation, according to the trust’s website. For more information call the trust land office at 269-8658.

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Contact Outdoors Editor Sam Friedman at 4597545. Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMoutdoors.

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Continued from 2

ing except for some locations that allow hunting by federally-approved subsistence users. Hunting is allowed on national preserves, which are also managed by the National Park Service.

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RULES

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017

Prescribed fires help improve bison habitat ALASKA DIVISION OF FORESTRY

Lighted drip torch in hand, Sue Rodman tipped the head of the torch toward the ground and began walking across a corner of the Delta Junction Bison Range. A line of flame followed her as a combination of diesel fuel and gasoline dripped from the burning torch onto a mat of dead grass and willow staubs cut the previous fall.

“We’ve got fire on the ground,” burn boss trainee Gabe Pease-Madore from the Alaska Division of Forestry announced into his radio.

And with that, the first prescribed fire on the Delta Junction Bison Range in five years was underway.

Assisted by a slight breeze out of the southeast and dry fuels, the fire took hold quickly. Within a few seconds, the flames crackled and sizzled.

The breeze pushed the fire toward a snowdrift at the edge of the field, precisely where it was supposed to go — and stop.

“Nice,” Pease-Madore said as he watched the line of flame trailing Rodman grow.

Rodman and a handful of state forestry firefighters repeated the process multiple times over the next two days, burning off small chunks of grass, aspen and willow to ensure the fire remained under control. By the end of the weekend, more than 800 acres of the bison range were blackened by fire.

ADF&G has wanted to reintroduce prescribed fire to the bison range for several years to improve habitat for one of Alaska’s largest big game animals. Created by the Alaska Legislature in 1979 to perpetuate free-rangBISON » 14

The Alaska Division of Forestry and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, with help from the Bureau of Land Management’s Alaska Fire Service, burned about 800 acres of the Delta Junction Bison Range in April 2017 to enhance habitat for wildlife. PHOTO COURTESY ALASKA DIVISION OF FORESTRY

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By Tim Mowry

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017

Fish and Game: No evidence of tick on NP mule deer

By Sam Friedman SFRIEDMAN @NEWSMINER.COM

A mule deer is seen Nov. 20, 2009, in the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. RICH KEEN/DPRA

There’s been no evidence that a mule deer found near North Pole this spring had a feared parasite, according to Tony Hollis, an area wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Common in the western Lower 48 states, mule deer aren’t native to the Fairbanks area.

Recently, stragglers from a population around Whitehorse, Yukon, have been moving north and west toward the Interior.

Wildlife biologists worry that when they do, they’ll carry parasites that will

infect Interior moose, especially the moose winter tick, an arachnid that’s blamed for major moose die-offs in New Hampshire.

In April, a dead mule deer that had been hit by a vehicle was reported at the Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus bridges near North Pole. It wasn’t immediately clear if the deer was infected because the timing of the deer’s death wasn’t known. The ticks are tiny in the fall and hard to see. They can swell to the size of grapes after a winter of sucking blood from their hosts.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game staff have now inspected the dead mule deer and didn’t see

any evidence of the tick, Hollis said last month. It is possible the deer carried the tick into Alaska and that the parasite fell off before the deer died, he said.

Department staff had hoped to get information from the public to determine if the deer died in winter and was beginning to thaw when it was spotted in the spring or if it died in the spring. No one has been able to confirm the date of the deer’s death, he said.

Contact Outdoors Editor Sam Friedman at 459-7545.

Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMoutdoors. A version of this article was previously published July 18, 2017.

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Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017 In this 2016 Alaska Department of Fish and Game photo, caribou — including a bull collared for research purposes — cross the Steese Highway.

FORTYMILE Continued from 6 “ Wo l f c o n t r o l i s not being suspended because of a biological trigger or any new research findings,” Bruning said in an email last month. “Suspension of wolf control is just part of our adaptive management process to evaluate management actions and assess if they are contributing to meeting management goals.”

PHOTO COURTESY MIKE TARAS/ ALASKA

Important herd

OF FISH AND GAME

herd has grown nearly every year for the past 50 years and now exceeds 50,000 animals. Hunters who faced heavy restrictions when the herd struggled have been able to harvest at least 1,000 caribou every year since 2011.

Whether predator control deserves credit for the growth of the Fortymile Herd and other caribou and moose populations is one of the most contentious debates in Alaska wildlife management.

Bruning, at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, sees the issue of the Fortymile wolf control as separate from the larger issue of predator control in general. In other parts of Alaska, studies show wolf control projects in Alaska have definitely increased prey populations, he said. But in the case of the Fortymile Herd, biologists need more data. In particular, biologists need more information on the weight of caribou calves and information

about how they die, he said.

Before temporarily halting the program in 2018, department staff will do one more year of wolf control so seven years of data on “high intensity” wolf control (2012-18) can be compared with seven years of data on “low intensity” wolf control (2005-2011), Bruning said.

“The pre-control information is becoming more and more distant in the past,” Bruning said. “By suspending operations, we can do evaluations during a time of no control.”

Knowles favored nonlethal predator control during his tenure from 1994 to 2002.

During that time, biol-

ogists sterilized wolves in the Fortymile herd area instead of killing them. The current lethal wolf control pro-

Contact Outdoors Editor Sam Friedman at 459-7545.

Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMoutdoors.

A longer version of this article was published in the July 23, 2017, edition of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

NOTICE TO HUNTERS: SETH-DE-YA-AH CORP. lands are private property.

Future of the Fortymile Herd Predator control is a high-profile issue that’s tied to politics as well as biology. Decision-making power over the policy comes from gubernatorial appointees: Alaska’s seven-member board Board of Game and the state Fish and Game commissioner.

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Named for the Fortymile River north of To k , t h e h e r d i s a n especially important herd for Interior hunters. Its migration route between the Taylor and Steese highways puts it within range of hunters who lack airplanes or riverboats. Its calving grounds are in the Ta n a n a H i l l s i n t h e upper For tymile and Tanana river drainages.

L i ke o t h e r c a r i b o u herds, the For tymile has a histor y of dramatic booms and busts.

In the early 1920s, the herd was considered the largest caribou herd in the state, estimated at more than 568,000 animals, although population estimates from t h a t l o n g a g o a r e n’ t considered nearly as precise as today’s numbers. The population dropped dramatically between the mid-1960s and 1973, when it was estimated at an all time low — not much more than one one-hundredth of its 1920s peak. At its nadir, the herd stood at between 5,700 and 8,600 animals.

T he good news for caribou hunters is the

DEPARTMENT

gram started during the administration of Frank Murkowski and has continued under the Sarah Palin, Sean Parnell and Bill Walker administrations. The state’s policy occasionally gets national attention and led to statewide tourism boycotts led by animal rights advocates in the early 1990s and 2000s.

The current Fortymile control plan expires in June 2020. After that, Alaska’s Depar tment of Fish and Game will make a recommendation to the Board of Game on whether to continue the program.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

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HUNTING GUIDE 2017

What ammo did hunters use to bag big moose?

(SAM FRIEDMAN / NEWS-MINER)

By Sam Friedman SFRIEDMAN@NEWSMINER.COM

Y

ou asked for it: More info about what moose ammo others use People say they like hunting stories, but they seem to really want gear stories.

That’s the feedback I got from readers last year when I neglected to mention what type of ammo people used in all but a couple of the 18 hunts I described.

Sorry about that, folks. Point taken. To make up for it this year I made sure to ask every hunter what type of ammo was used and have compiled the results here. I even made a chart of the results online at newsminer.com. This isn’t a scientific sample; it’s a self-selecting group of hunters who shot big moose and chose to send their pictures to the newspaper. But I think

it’s interesting to see what hunters are using and if it’s changing over time.

I was particularly interested in ammo choices this year after reading a column by Field & Stream gun writer David Petzal, who encouraged hunters to drop the size of their hunting ammunition.

Thanks to recent improvements to range-finding tools and bullet quality, ammo doesn’t have to be as big as it used to be to kill effectively, Petzal wrote. Previous generations of hunters preferred heavier bullets because lower-quality bullets exploded on impact and didn’t penetrate game animals. Hunters preferred faster ammunition because lacking today’s range-finding lasers, they needed a flatter trajectory.

Petzal predicted more ammo AMMO » 18

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Some common cartridges used for moose hunting are seen at Frontier Outfitters in this photo taken for the 2016 Sixty Inch Club

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

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HUNTING GUIDE 2017

SHEEP Continued from 4 2,011 in 2016. Hunters last year took 769 sheep with a success rate of 34.4 percent.

Among sheep hunts closest to Fairbanks, hunters were particularly successful last year in Game Management Unit 20A, where 47 percent of hunters were successful, har-

vesting a total of 139 sheep.

North of Fairbanks, hunters in the White Mountains and Brooks Range were 34.6 percent successful and took 136 sheep. Among the lucky draw permit hunters in the Tok Management Area, 49 went hunting and more than half were successful.

Contact Outdoors Editor Sam Friedman at 459-7545. Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMoutdoors.

HIGHWAY Continued from 5 Fortymile River bridge) and 115.4 Mile (the Alder Creek bridge).

During the state hunting season for caribou, hunters in this section must be 100 feet from the highway before shooting. An adult with a fairly short stride

walks more than 100 feet by walking about 50 steps.

There’s no similar rule for other parts of the Taylor Highway, or for the Steese Highway where the caribou also congregate. However, throughout Alaska, it’s illegal for hunters to shoot from a road, down a road, or across a road.

Last year most Fortymile caribou hunters were

unsuccessful during the fall season, because most animals were far from either the Steese or Taylor Highw a y s . Ho w e v e r, w i n t e r hunters in December had better luck, harvesting 568 caribou in a three-day season.

Contact Outdoors Editor Sam Friedman at 459-7545.

Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMoutdoors.

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017

Subsistence board votes against North Slope caribou closures SFRIEDMAN@NEWSMINER.COM

The Federal Subsistence Board isn’t repeating last year’s western North Slope caribou hunting closures with new closures in the central North Slope and Brooks Range, at least not this year.

The board announced last month that it would not close federal public lands in Game Management Units 26A and 26B to hunters who don’t qualify as subsistence hunters under federal rules. The board decided against new federal restrictions in light of other new restrictions by the Alaska Board of Game.

“The (federal subsistence) Board concluded that recently enacted conservation actions by the Alaska Board of Game and Board for the Western

Arctic, Teshekpuk and Central Arctic Caribou herds need to be given time to determine if they are effective in reducing the caribou harvest, and in slowing down or reversing the population declines in these caribou herds before additional closures are enacted,” the news release states.

If it had been enacted, the closure would have begun July 1 and would have affected hunting rules in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and parts of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve and parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Caribou hunting would have only been open to federal subsistence users, residents of small communities of the North Slope, Brooks Range and the Dalton

In this undated photo, a pair of caribou from the Nelchina Caribou Herd graze along the Parks Highway just south of Cantwell.

TIM MOWRY/ NEWSMINER FILE PHOTO

CLOSURES » 22

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By Sam Friedman

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017 Sue Rodman puts fire on the ground with a drip torch.

The Alaska Division of Forestry and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, with help from the BLM Alaska Fire Service, burned about 800 acres of the Delta Junction Bison Range in April 2017 to enhance habitat for wildlife. PHOTO

BISON Continued from 9 ing bison, the Delta Junction Bison Range encompasses nearly 90,000 acres north of the Granite Mountains between Granite Creek and the Little Gerstle River, about 20 miles east of Delta Junction along the Alaska Highway.

The last time prescribed fire was used on the bison range was in 2012 but that fire burned only 39 acres. In the three decades prior the 2012 burn, prescribed fire was used regularly to maintain productivity on the bison range. But changes in policy and staffing prevented ADF&G from maintaining that burn cycle and Mother Nature began to take over as willow and aspen trees sprouted and grew. It wasn’t until this year that ADF&G dedicated funding to return prescribed fire to the landscape.

With assistance from the Division of Forestry, and technical expertise from the BLM Alaska Fire Service, ADF&G developed a burn plan to support the production of graminoids (grasses and sedges),

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

15

HUNTING GUIDE 2017 Continued from 14 important food sources for bison, and hardwood regeneration for moose, along with providing habitat benefits to sharp-tailed grouse.

Rodman, program coordinator for ADF&G, said the goal of the burn was to burn up grass and brush that was overtaking the bison range.

“When the fields were cleared many years ago, the intent was to manage them for graminoids to attract bison south of the (Delta) agricultural project,” Rodman said. “Over time, the willow and aspen regeneration caught up to prescribed burning and mechanical tilling, eventually surpassing our annual treatment capability when we stopped using pre-

scribed fire on a regular basis.”

The plan for the burn contained specific parameters to be followed in terms of maximum and minimum wind speeds, temperatures, relative humidity, fuel moisture codes, rate of fire spread and flame lengths. In addition, a 20-foot fuel break was tilled around each burn unit to prevent the fire from spreading into the surrounding forest.

Conditions for the burn were ideal for the most part. While there were still patches of snow on parts of the burn area, most of the grass, aspen and willows were dry enough to provide good fuel consumption.

“I’m ecstatic,” Rodman said, smudges of dirt and ash on her face as she watched a section of grass go up in flames. “I’m so

happy this is working so well. It’ll be patchy, which is just what we want.”

Prescribed burning is more effective and efficient than mechanical treatment because it is a natural process that stimulates regeneration of grass and hardwoods. Burning is also cheaper and faster than mechanical treatments. “ Me c h a n i c a l b r u s h hog treatments can only accomplish so many acres annually, based on the budget for the bison range,” Rodman said. “Tilling and planting happens every year, but we focus on those acres that are maintained.

“Once the brush has established itself in an area because we couldn’t treat it for a few years, then it is much harder to get back into a condition where we can till and plant it back to grass, oats or turnips,” she

said.

While the Division of Forestry executed the actual burn, providing personnel and equipment to support the operation, the Bureau of Land Management’s Alaska Fire Service also played a key role by offering technical expertise, logistical help and consultation. AFS supplied a qualified burn boss for the burn and other AFS personnel used an unmanned aerial system (UAS, commonly known as a drone) to capture aerial footage and images of the prescribed fire to document fire behavior and operational procedures. It marked the first time the agency has used a drone on a fire in Alaska.

UAS pilot Kato Howard said use of the drone — a 3DR quadcopter with a GoPro mounted gimbal — was a huge success, both

in terms of the quality of video and pictures, as well as illustrating the potential for UAS use on wildfires, something both AFS and DOF will be experimenting with this fire season.

“What amazed us is you get a totally different view of the fire than you get on the ground” said Howard, a fuels management specialist for AFS who took classes this past winter to get his UAS certification.

“We were surprised at what we could see beyond the line of sight of the UAS itself.

“The camera can get good, quality images at a distance,” he said, adding that he was also impressed at the clarity of the images and how stable the drone was in the wind.

From a fire viewpoint, Delta Area Fire Management Officer Mike Goyette said the prescribed burn

was a success and provided good training for Division of Forestry personnel.

While the original intent was to burn as much as 3,600 acres, some of the ground and fuels were too wet and the size of the burn was scaled down. But the burn laid the foundation for more prescribed burning on the bison range in future years, Goyette said.

ADF&G will monitor and evaluate the vegetative response to the burn later this summer to measure mortality and what grew back in the form of grass, aspen and willow.

“For the most part, we expect positive results from this burn,” Rodman said.

Tim Mowry is the statewide public information officer for the Alaska Division of Forestry based in Fairbanks. This article was originally published by Fish and Wildlife News.

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BISON

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017

Game board approves hunting coyotes with dogs in Delta area A coyote confronts a dog in a 2009 Creative Commons photo. A new Alaska Board of Game regulation permits the use of dogs for coyote hunting in the Delta Junction Area.

NICK FULLERTON PHOTO / CREATIVE COMMONS FILE PHOTO BY JIM

By Sam Friedman SFRIEDMAN@NEWSMINER.COM

Alaska’s Board of Game legalized the use of hunting dogs in the pursuit of coyotes this year, but restricted the technique to the Delta Junction area.

At a meeting in February, board members expressed some puzzlement about how exactly dogs will be useful for coyote hunting, before narrowly approving the new rule.

Board members generally liked the proposal because it might remove more coyotes — which prey on other animals targeted by hunters. The proposal was supported by four regional Fish and Game advisory committees and opposed by none.

However, the Alaska Trappers Association expressed concern hunting with dogs may interfere with trapping.

The newly legalized hunting technique isn’t expected to be widely used, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s analysis of the proposed rule. Dogs are widely used for hunting upland birds and waterfowl. They’re allowed for

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017

This column was originally published in October 2016 as part of the Sixty Inch Club. Look for the 2017 60 Inch Club at the end of the hunting season.

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downsizing is in the future thanks to the popularity of the AR-15 and its imitators.

“It may be a bit down the road yet, but I think one of the results of the AR boom will be a generation of shooters that regards cartridges of .223 length and size as standard—and anything bigger as freakish,” he said in the January 2016 Field & Stream. The article is online at bit.ly/2eyLsED. But Petzal was writing for an audience of Lower 48 hunters who go after smaller game. I was interested to learn whether there’s been any evidence of people picking smaller ammunition for a 1,500-pound bull moose.

The official Alaska

the most popular moose rounds. The staff was nice enough to open a half dozen ammos boxes for me, but were rightly skeptical of my ambitions to learn something about moose hunting trends from the 60-Inch Club.

Manager Kurt O’Leary said there haven’t been any obvious patterns in the types of ammunition moose hunters use.

In general, hunters buy ammo that works with the rifle they already have, which can last for decades if taken care of.

As much as I’ve enjoyed learning about different cartridge sizes and styles this year, I shouldn’t read too much into the results.

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AMMO Continued from 11

Department of Fish and Game website (online at bit. ly/2eyMNva) offers advice similar to Petzal’s.

Some hunters use heavier ammunition than they need and aren’t able to shoot accurately because of heavy recoil, it warns.

“Only consider using a .300, .338 or larger magnum if you can shoot it as well as you can the .30-06,” according to the website.

But the members of this year’s 60-Inch Club certainly don’t show any preference for lighter rounds. If anything, this year’s sample skewed toward the larger rounds. Four hunters used the .338 Winchester Magnum, making it the most popular. I was surprised to see that only two hunters used the versatile .30-06.

I went by the gun counter at Frontier Outfitters to take a photo of some of

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017

How biologists estimate populations of animals ALASKA FISH AND WILDLIFE NEWS

One of the great perks of living in Alaska is sharing our space with a variety of wildlife.

Whether we are curious about our next hunting opportunities, or eager to watch wildlife, we often wonder about the animals living in our own backyards. Have you ever considered how many bears are hibernating near you on cold winter evenings?

When you see a moose outside your window do you imagine there might be more you do not see? Wildlife managers and researchers

work diligently to find out how many individuals of a particular species live in a certain area. Their jobs are necessary to ensure the conservation of wildlife, particularly for animals that are hunted.

Tim Peltier, a biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) in Palmer, explains one of the reasons why biologists have such an important job.

“We count moose, caribou, sheep, and to a lesser extent bears and wolves,” he said. “The Board (of Game) has determined the popula-

A large bull moose feeds in a pond just north of Delta Junction along the Richardson Highway on July 19, 2010.

TIM MOWRY/ NEWS-MINER FILE PHOTO

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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

21

HUNTING GUIDE 2017 Continued from 20 tion and harvest objective in each area and we are tasked with determining how close we are to those objectives. We need to have an idea of the population size.”

How do biologists determine the number of animals living in an area? A variety of methods are used to determine populations. A biologist must consider the ecosystem, terrain, the species being counted; and must also factor in weather, costs, and time.

It would be ideal to see and count each individual animal in a population.

This is called a census.

Unfortunately, there is no simple way to do this.

Animals move from place to place, they hide, they

hibernate, and they are often camouflaged and difficult to see in their environment. The closest thing to conducting a census in Alaska is counting caribou such as the Western Arctic Herd on the North Slope. During the summer, caribou huddle up on snow fields for relief from mosquitoes and other insect pests. Viewed from above, the brown caribou on the white, snowy background are relatively easy to see. Biologists fly over these groups of caribou, systematically taking pictures as they go.

Back in the office, every picture is analyzed and biologists zoom in and count each caribou individually. It is an important and time consuming project – hundreds of thousands of caribou can be counted in more than 1,000 pictures.

Another efficient metho d r e s e a r c h e r s h av e developed to estimate populations is called “capture-mark-recapture.”

Instead of trying to count every animal, biologists randomly capture a sample group of the population, mark it, release it, and then do a series of recaptures that will allow them to estimate the entire population in a particular study area. One easy way to understand this method is to see how Alaska teachers are learning to use ADF&G’s curriculum Wildlife for the Future in their classroom lessons.

Last fall in Nome, 16 teachers were each given a container filled with beans. Their first task was to write down the number of beans they thought were in their container.

The teachers used a vari-

ety of strategies to come up with their visual estimates. Many took random guesses without much forethought, some relied solely on their sight by counting as many beans as were visible to them, and others counted the rows and columns of the beans and multiplied to determine their estimate.

Then they applied the “mark-recapture” technique. Each teacher reached into the bowl of beans to “capture” a handful of “animals.” They counted the captured beans and recorded this number on a data sheet.

Before putting the beans back in the bowl, they “marked” the captured beans by replacing them with the same number of beans of a different color – these then became the “marked animals.”

After thoroughly mix-

ing the beans they did a series of “recaptures” by again grabbing a handful of beans, counting the total number of “animals” captured, recording that number, and then recording the number of marked “animals” in each recapture. They did this 10 times. Once all 10 recaptures were finished they calculated the average number of beans for the recaptures and then the average number of “marked,” or different colored beans, in the recaptures. They put these two averages along with the number in the first sample count in to a mathematical formula and calculated the scientific estimate of the population of beans in the container. Finally, they dumped the beans out and counted each individual bean for an accurate count, or census, of the

bean “population.” Nearly every teacher came up with a less than five percent error rate between their scientific estimate and the actual count, a much narrower margin of error than their own visual estimate.

State wildlife biologist Stephen Bethune, based in Sitka, explains how this works in real life. On Baranof Island mountain goats are captured and fitted with bright red or orange collars and ear tags.

“We know we never see all the goats in a given area, but having marked goats on the landscape allows us to determine the sightability of goats during that survey,” he said. “For example, if there are 10 marked goats in an area and we see seven, we ESTIMATE » 23

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ESTIMATE

22

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

HUNTING GUIDE 2017

COYOTES

Continued from 13

Continued from 16

Highway corridor.

Last year, the federal subsistence board closed nonsubsistence caribou hunting on federal lands of the western North Slope.

The North Slope Subsistence Regional Advisory Council requested the new rules this year for the central North Slope, citing concern about the declining Western Arctic Herd, which was once Alaska’s largest herd.

In addition to its desire to study the results of the state of Alaska hunting restrictions, the Federal Subsistence Board cited a concern about possible unintended consequences of a new rule: Closing federal lands to urban hunters could push them onto state lands, which are close to villages in some cases.

The Federal Subsistence Board is an eight-member board that consists of five regional directors of federal agencies and three public members appointed by the secretaries of the U.S. Interior and Agriculture departments.

black bear hunting under restricted conditions.

The new rule took effect July 1.

Alaska’s seven-member Board of Game sets hunting and trapping rules for the state. Coyotes are canine predators about a third the size of wolves. Coyotes entered Alaska through the southeast part of the state early in the 20th century and have gradually moved north to Southcentral and later Interior Alaska, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

In general, Alaska’s administrative code prohibits using dogs to hunt fur-bearing animals such as coyotes, wolves, lynx and wolverine.

The Delta Junction Fish and Game Advisory Committee asked the Alaska Board of Game to make an exception for hunting coyotes, because coyote numbers are strong despite liberal hunting

Contact Outdoors Editor Sam Friedman at 459-7545.

Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMoutdoors.

This article was previously published in the June 23, 2017, edition of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

seasons and bag limits on the animals.

“If nothing is done, coyote hunting will continue to be underutilized,” according to the proposal.

The proposal identifies benefits and costs of using dogs for coyote hunting. “ T hose who will benefit are hunters who wish to hunt coyotes with dogs and hunters of small game that are preyed upon by coyotes. Those who will likely suffer are those opposed to hunting coyotes with dogs and those wishing to have more coyotes.”

No one from the Delta Junction advisory committee was present at the Board of Game meeting to answer questions about how the dogs would be used.

When asked by the board how dogs can be used to hunt coyotes, law enforcement liaison Lt. Paul Fussey said he knew three techniques: scent hounds that track their prey by smell; sight hounds that see and chase their prey; and the use of female dogs in heat to attract coyotes.

As written, the proposal would have affected all of Game Management Unit 20, a wide section of the Interior and Alaska Range.

The board was wavering on the proposal when Vice Chairman Nate Turner, of the Kantishna River area, suggested a compromise: narrowing the proposal to affect only Subunit 20D, the area around Delta Junction.

The amended proposal passed 5-to-2 with Tok board member Teresa Sager Albaugh and new board member Larry Van Daele, of Kodiak, voting against it. “ I t ’s n a r r o w e d d o w n . I t ’s a very small area. It’ ll be a good experiment; we can learn something from it,” said Chairman Ted Spraker, explaining his vote in favor of the proposal after it passed.

Contact Outdoors Editor Sam Friedman at 459-7545. Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMoutdoors.

A version of this article was originally published in the Feb. 20, 2017, edition of the News-Miner.

F18521514

CLOSURES

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

23

HUNTING GUIDE 2017 A spruce grouse takes flight from a spruce tree in the Isberg Recreation Area on March 31, 2010.

ESTIMATE Continued from 21 would apply a 70 percent sightability correction factor to a survey. So if we counted 50 goats, applying the correction factor we can estimate there were 71 goats in the area.”

Biologists then use the collars to conduct what are called aerial surveys, where they monitor survival and kid production to help build population models. “The more sightability surveys we conduct, the more refined our sightability factors can be calculated,” Bethune said. “We are able to monitor the general health of the population to help set appropriate harvest quotas in hunt zones.”

Other animals, such as brown bears on Kodiak Island, are surveyed from

Ivotuk Airstrip

ERIC ENGMAN/ NEWS-MINER FILE PHOTO

above. Biologist Nathan Svoboda uses intensive aerial surveys (ISA) to derive estimates for brown bears on Kodiak Island.

His goal is to manage for a sustainable harvest and population and, “to ensure a healthy, robust, viable brown bear popu-

Ivotuk Hills

lation exists in perpetuity, as brown bears are the cornerstone of ecological integrity on the archipelago,” he said.

These ISA’s must be done after bears exit winter dens in the spring, but before vegetation greenup so surveyors can iden-

tify both individual bears and family groups without vegetation obstructing their view. Time is of the essence. In recent years, earlier green-up than normal has presented some challenges for biologists.

They must start surveying earlier in the year while

Killik River Valley

making sure they acquire accurate estimates of all bears, as some bears may not have exited dens yet, specifically females with young. In spite of challenges, Svoboda continues managing for a sustainable harvest and sustainable population and is investi-

gating options to develop a robust population estimate for the Kodiak Island brown bears.

Obtaining a population estimate is a big job for management and research biologists.

Whether conducting a census, an aerial survey, a capture-mark-recapture survey or one of the many other methods used to obtain an accurate estimate, each one provides important information to better understanding wildlife. So, next time you see a moose outside your door and you wonder whether more are out there, rest assured Alaska’s wildlife biologists are curious about that too. And, they will continue to work to help keep Alaska’s wildlife populations healthy and sustainable, now, and for future generations of wildlife enthusiasts.

Killik Airstrip

Elusive Lake

NOTICE TO AIRMEN, GUIDES, OUTFITTERS, RAFTERS & SPORT HUNTERS Large tracts of land on the Western and Central North Slope are owned by the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC). Entry on these privately owned lands requires the consent of ASRC. Sport hunting and fishing are prohibited on ASRC lands.

Within ASRC lands in the Central and Western Arctic are a number of gravel airstrips that are closed to public access. Entry on the following airstrips requires the written consent of ASRC:

AKULIK 69°00’02”N 163°26’33”W; EAGLE CREEK 68°40’46”N 162°39’13”W; KILLIK 68°27’15”N 154°17’43”W; TIGLIKPUK 68°25’25”N 151°27’26”W; TULUGAK 68°59’36”N 151°11’42”W; *IVOTUK* 68°28’42”N 155°45’50”W; Airstrip is public but please be aware of ASRC’s ownership of apron, road, and drill site.

These airstrips are subject to periodic surveillance by ASRC. Trespassers will be prosecuted.

Certain easements are reserved for the public in various locations on ASRC lands.

These easements are owned by ASRC and are reserved for public use for limited specific purposes. These easements are reserved to allow access to lakes by float plane, temporary overnight camping at specific 1 acre sites near the lake shores (not to exceed 24 hours), and to allow for trail access to adjacent public lands. Some specific areas that require the proper following of easements are: Elusive Lake, Shainin Lake, Chandler Lake, Udurivik Lake, Imiaknikpak Lake, and Windy Lake.

Any deviation from easement stipulations will be considered trespass and is criminally punishable under Alaska Statute11.46.330. Sport hunting and fishing are not allowed on these easements.

You are highly encouraged to contact ASRC if you are planning a float trip on the Kukpowruk, Kokolik, Utukok, Okokmilaga, Chandler, Anaktuvuk, Kurupa, Killik, or Colville Rivers.

Each of these waterways have unique circumstances or restrictions that must be followed to prevent trespass. In addition, North Slope Borough, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and/or National Park Service permits may also be required for commercially operating on adjacent public lands. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permissions and permits to access these areas.

3900 C Street, Suite 801 Anchorage, AK 99503-5963

907 339-6017

www.ASRC.com/landinfo F12521462

For more information contact: Arctic Slope Regional Corporation Land Department

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

F17521190

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