Bummer!! - NO Reg Goat Hunts on the Kenai

[chugach6]

News just said that AK F&G just cancelled all Registration Hunts in Units 7 & 15 for Goat this Nov. I'm bummed !
They said that they were afraid a registration hunt would exceed their harvest quotas.
I'm wondering how, since it seems to me that the draw hunts down there this year were quite unsuccessful with all the bad weather. Go figure!

 

[Blink]

yeah there also the same ones who say there arent that many brownies on the kenai. Kinda makes you wonder doesnt it.

 

[homerdave]

so, how many people do you think would go?

so, how many people do you think would go?

think about it...one reasonable weather window and an unlimited number of permits...there are a lot of guys who would love to give it a try...way more then used to be willing to go...
just lots more hunters then there used to be.
also, how much fun would it be to be in a competetive scramble for a goat you ...and 10 other guys...all want to kill.
people would get hurt, too many goats would be taken, and with the competition more nannies might get shot...
i doubt we will ever see the registration hunts we used to...

 

[Brian M]

think about it...one reasonable weather window and an unlimited number of permits...

Dave - The permits weren't unlimited last year, at least not for some of the areas. I tried to pick up a permit for the bowhunt next to Tern Lake last year on the 2nd day the permits were available. They wouldn't give me one, as they were limiting the # of hunters chasing goats at once in order to no overshoot their harvest objective. Not sure why they're not taking the same approach this year. I had already arranged to take a day off of work, too. I'd just go black bear hunting instead, but with this cold air mass that has moved in, I imagine they're going to bed pretty soon. Bummer indeed.

-Brian

 

[homerdave]

i didn't know they limited reg hunts...

i didn't know they limited reg hunts...

but i am afraid that i still stand by my post....just too many people wanting too few animals.
a shame that that is the way it is...this is not the alaska i moved to anymore, and it's been less then 20 years...
still would't trade for anywhere else though!

 

[theilercabin]

Feeling the same way

Feeling the same way

I feel the same way. This is getting a bit sad. Everywhere you turn our opportunities are fleeting. I don't know what more I can say about it.


So there are no registration hunts at all in November in Seward even though it's in the reg. book? I was going in tommorrow to register and talk to Fish & Game, so now nothing. It is getting as bad as anywhere in the lower 48.

 

[BRWNBR]

lets do the dividend pay out so folks will stop moving to alaska....

 

[fullkurl]

crocodile tears....

crocodile tears....

"lets do the dividend pay out so folks will stop moving to alaska...." lol!
You guys crack me up. Many places in the state boast excellent game populations that are up or stable--as are harvests--Moose, sheep, deer, bear, caribou--fleeting opportunities?? You've got to be kidding!
The fact that goats are being closed down there isn't the end of Alaska as you know it.
I've always wanted to goat hunt the registration hunts there--for years. I couldnt pull it off with my schedule as a school teacher.
Fellas are finally taking advantage of something that a relative few have for years.
Hang in there, maybe next year will be different.

 

[tccak71]

Where is the local biologist getting his info?

Where is the local biologist getting his info?

This is interesting. All summer we hear about encounters on the Peninsula yet another brown bear season has been closed (and has only been opened twice in 6 years). And now..no registration goat hunt. Wow. Is the biologist just taking a wild guess at the goat/bear numbers? Is the biologist not given the resources to conduct population estimates? This sucks.

Tim

 

[homerdave]

as a matter of fact, no.

as a matter of fact, no.

the bio's do not have anywhere near the resources needed to do accurate census of goats....let alone BB, but that is for another thread.

and i can assure you that one of the major factors is anticipated hunter effort, not just goat numbers.

remember, those of us on this forum are but a tiny fragment of the hunters out there.

suppose (for instance) that F&G opened 3 areas, and the allowable harvest was 9 goats, or 3 each, to keep it simple. we get 45 hunters (15 each) and there is great weather starting on a thursday afternoon. conditions are optimal and our hypothetical hunters have a 50% success rate. now, from looking at harvest reports it is not out of line to assume that 1/3 of the kill is nannies, but the results of the hunt don't get reported to F&G until monday....21 goats, of which 7 are nannies which "count" as 2 for biological reasons, so 28 goats out of an allowable take of 9. and on top of that, there were adozen hunters that waited until monday to head into the field...fish and game closes the season by E.O., but 6 guys dont hear about it in time, and kill 3 more goats. in addition to added mortality, they all get cited by the troopers for taking goats in a closed season.
result...these 3 goat hunt areas don't open at all for 5 years

i know this reads like cheap docu-drama, "based on the possibility of things that MIGHT happen", but this is the sort of situation that F&G needs to consider.

 

[Brian M]

It is disappointing for sure - I, like many of you, had already made my plans to be in the mountains on the 1st. That being said, I will always support conservative management of our game. I'd rather give up a hunt now to ensure healthy populations than hunt next week and risk population depletion. The answer is to provide F&G with the necessary resources to do its job, but in an era of misdirected government spending, I don't know how likely that is.

-Brian

 

[BRWNBR]

i was "mostly" joking about the folks moving to alaska...
alot of people are now starting to hunt on a budget so to speak. opportunties that don't require an airplane are few and far between so they'll naturally get hit harder than others. i have no problem with the bio's decision on the goats, the brownies on the other hand....hummm
as with many things ,money rules the world, you ain't got it, you ain't hunting. you've got it and theres an unlimited supply of resources, areas, game choices, season and what not in front of you. so work hard, fly farther and you'll have better hunting that those of us who ain't got the green and hope for anything to be the fasted guy up mills creek, in snowshoes! lol
no worries, now we can all hang on a thread till januray. i gotta say, i wouldn't trade living up here for anything, no mule deer, antelope, elk or whitetail would sway me from just having the hope of hunting mt goats or dall sheep, the brownies and moose...i'll be patient with fish and game. to bad they aren't better funded...

 

[homerdave]

as an aside...

as an aside...

F&G is working on a new approach to managing brownies down here, as soon as i hear about it i will let y'all know what i know....

 

[blackfoot]

Brownies

Brownies

I would hope so. I thought it was interesting that the biologist admitted int he paper that the evidence points to an increasing brown bear population on the peninsula, yet they still closed the season. The reason was they say too many people are killing them in spite of Fish and Game because they haven't had a season. All I know is they estimate only 277 brown bears on the peninsula. Anybody that has lived here for any amount of time knows that is rediculous. The chances of seeing so many (not counting around the salmon streams), would be like seeing a sasquatch if there were only 277 on the entire peninsula.

 

[fullkurl]

+1 Blackfoot

+1 Blackfoot

Great point, Bf. The 277 brownie estimate sounds laughable...

 

[Alaskacanoe]

laughable

laughable

From the boat we saw 9 Brown bears on Tustemena lake in a two hour boat ride this fall.
The Photographer that I dropped off over at Bear creek said he and his wife stayed in the Electric fence I put up most of the time, as the place was covered up in bears, ( Kantaro was filming Salmon not bears, but the bears are pretty wild on Tustemena and are agressive towards humans)He saw 4 different bears in two days at bear creek, and he was supposed to stay a week. He flagged down a passing boat and had them Cell call me and have them picked up asap. sighting that the wife was in a panic as the bears were unafraid and came near the fence and camp at all hours of the day.
277 bears huh??, with the 9 we saw at places other than Bear creek, and the 4 that Kantaro saw that makes 13 individual bears spotted in 2 days from just our little party,, and we weren't looking for bears..
Max

 

[Blink]

Hey canoe, that pretty much accounts for all the brownies they say there are. I see it as approx 150 bears spread out from johnsons pass to devils, 100 or so in the kenai refuge and the bears on tustamena.

Stay out of these 3 areas and you wont have a problem, the ones on the kenai and russian are figments of everybodies imagination.