Tundra 4WD trucks

[Ol Grouch]

Would someone please post the current status of the 2 4WD trucks stuck out in the tundra off the haul road. Have they been removed? If so, how? Action (s) taken against the guys? Ol Grouch

 

[Kort]

Tundra Trucks

Tundra Trucks

A friend of mine works with the guys who pulled this irresponsible stunt. Apparently no action is going to be taken on them. They harvested all of the meat from the animals they killed, were across the 5 mile line, and had appropriate tags and licenses. Sate troopers claim that there were no state laws broken, and would not be charging anyone. The BLM is monitoring the situation to ensure the proper removal of the vehicles. Since the incident they have had to go back up to the slope and hike in the gear necessary to jack the vehicles up off of the ground. When the tundra froze they were going up again to remove the vehicles from the tundra. These guys were apparently not very bright as they were completely unprepared for their hunt/ (gaggle*&%^). Apparently they didn’t bring much H2O, any sleeping bags, tents, or frame packs with them. Personally, I am disgusted with this whole thing, and can't believe that nothing is going to happen to them.

 

[Longhunter7]

Re.tundra trucks

Re.tundra trucks

I think they should slap these guys on the wrist by making them repair as much as posible any damaged tundra. A shure lapse in judgment to be shure. As it is these folks are the laughing stock of the Arctic Circle! What the tundra did to those trucks is more damaging than being placed in any police impound! The BLM should fine tune their REG;S however so the next folks who try maybe using the proper tires ect. can't use this non action as case law. Bill.

 

[Akres]

I can't understand the determination of some of the ethics police on this forum. Apparently there was nothing illegal about what they did, so why others are pursuing it, trying to make something out of it is rediculous. Just because someone doesn't like what went on, does not mean their actions were inexcusable. Leave the poor guys alone and let them deal with their trucks, as what they did and need to do, have all the blessings of the land managers and the state troopers. Can you imagine all the money spent on this non-event? The state and the feds have all been involved, at all levels, and no action taken. Leave it alone.

 

[AlaskaCub]

So it sounds like all a guy needs to do next year is, hike out kill a couple big Caribou with rifles outside the corridor, hike back to the highway unload 4 wheelers from the trailer, ride out and recover their harvest and they are good to go! Since there is no actual law against using a motorized vehicle inside the corridor? Boy this is a crock if I ever heard one! What kind of presedence are the brown shirts setting here? Is it law or not? I am not clear on what the law is, is it that your good to go as long as you use th eright tool out at the right distance is actually the law, and the motorized vehicle restriction is just BS? Sure would like to understand whats going on with this incident!

 

[Snowwolfe]

I do not know what the laws are concerning this hunt. But if they can take there trucks off the road to harvest meat does this mean people can take ATV's into the tundra 5 miles to get to hunting areas?

 

[Burton]

So it sounds like all a guy needs to do next year is, hike out kill a couple big Caribou with rifles outside the corridor, hike back to the highway unload 4 wheelers from the trailer, ride out and recover their harvest and they are good to go! Since there is no actual law against using a motorized vehicle inside the corridor? Boy this is a crock if I ever heard one! What kind of presedence are the brown shirts setting here? Is it law or not? I am not clear on what the law is, is it that your good to go as long as you use th eright tool out at the right distance is actually the law, and the motorized vehicle restriction is just BS? Sure would like to understand whats going on with this incident!

As I understand it, they were not charged with transporting game inside the corridor with a motorized vehicle because they never actually transported game. BLM is the agency which would deal with this situation.

 

[AlaskaCub]

Yeah but James what is says verbatum is "No motorized land vehicle may be used to transport hunters, their hunting gear,or parts of game, within the Dalton Highway Corridor Management area" , I'd say they were hunters, they had full intention of hauling their parts of game out and would easily assume all their hunting gear was in those trucks. I know its a BLM issue just seems like they dont have their you know what together and they are sending out a horrible message to other hunters.

 

[Bill S.]

If the feds and the state do not want those that will use every little excuse to use their four wheelers and their trucks in the corridor, then something has to be done. There is a law on the books that was accurately quoted that needs to be enforced. What they did was illegal. As I understaand it, it is a state law and those two at least need to have their day in court. Too many will use the excuse "Well, you didn't do anything to the last two guys, why are you picking on me?"

 

[akhunter02]

Yep

Yep

They have set a precedent with this one, whats to stop anyone from loading some camping gear on a ORV and heading out across the Tundra to do some camping. You will have a defense already lined up because no one wanted to press charges for these two.

 

[Burton]

I agree... sort of. I think the way it must have been looked at is that the caribou were already dead and therefore, the transportation of the hunters and their gear did not facilitate the taking of animals... hence why they weren't charged by the State. I was surprised that the hunters were not charged as well, before I learned more to the story. The question I had at the time was if the "hunting" has already taken place and they are merely making an attempt to retrieve game, does it still fall under the law AlaskaCub highlighted? I don't think anyone has a really clear answer on that.

I feel confident that the troopers would have charged them had they used motorized vehicles to get to the spot where they killed their caribou if it had been done before the critters were killed. I believe that there is a title 12 D.O.T. statute that is pretty close in line with BLM's blanket law that prohibits the use of motorized vehicles within the corridor. However, the DOT statute has no penalty clause allowing for fines etc. As for why BLM hasn't done anything, I don't know. There are very few exceptions to their regs, one is for people who live within the corridor in places like Wiseman, and the other is for the use of snowmachines along traplines (but I think you still have to get a permit). Outside of that, I don't know how you could get around their laws. I think that this is a better issue for BLM than the State to try to enforce under these specific circumstances.

 

[Burton]

Roland, I want to add that I agree that this sends a terrible message to hunters. It looks pretty lame that something wasn't done. For clarification, no part of me agrees with what these guys did. I'm just trying to present some information as to possible reasons why they weren't charged. I certainly don't have all the facts, so this is the best I can guess.

 

[AlaskaCub]

Yeah its just seems to me like BLM doesn't have it together. They have no problem handing you a $350 ticket for accidentally leaving a mostly burnt diet coke can covered by ashes in a fire pit where you camped(happened to a buddy of mine) but two morons in full size trucks blaze out across the Tundra committing nothing but illegal actions and intentions and there response is go ahead and jack your trucks up and you can drive them out when the ground freezes? I smell one of two things, a little military influence on the Feds, or the sympathy thing for the soldiers. I dont know which one it is but its BS either way! What they are setting up is what is called past practise, and any good lawyer will pick this case apart should someone do something stupid on down the road. What they should have done was use whatever resource neccessary to remove the trucks, fine the soldiers and have them foot the extrication bill and make sure everybody knows what their consequences were and move on. This thing made news nationwide and the antis are just itchin for this kind of stuff. Sad!

 

[Bearbait 1]

I was thinking that BLM might be waiting until the trucks were out before they decided what to do so they could see what the total damage is.

 

[TILT]

Load up the 4-wheelers!It must be on that plan that Seekins wanted.
Wow,this could start a mighty big problem.It is good like it is or was.The motorized stuff surely ruin it all.Too bad.

 

[Daveinthebush]

Game Regulations

Game Regulations

The regulations in the regulation booklet are: ".... an interpretive summary and contains rules which affect most hunters which have been simplified for your convenience. It is not a legal document and it not quoted verbatim from state law."

Unless you go to the Title 5 and Title 16 Alaska Administrative Codes you do not know what the actual laws says.

 

[fullkurl]

Ummmm...

Ummmm...

So........ what DOES the actual law state?
Do you know, Dave?

 

[AlaskaCub]

Thats a darn good question Frank. So the term full curl on page 28 of the regs, can actually mean something else, ummmmm............. like 7/8 or maybe 3/4......

 

[kenaifoto]

I have a theory that the reason these guys aren't being fined by the BLM is because they are military and sometimes the Military will punish worse than the civilian courts. I have seen this happen with the Military at Ft. Richardson while I was stationed there.

 

[fullkurl]

military discipline

military discipline

Thats well and good, Kf, but I'm thinking like some of the other posters here. This may well set precedent encouraging intellectually challenged fellas to try a similar act due to the lax punishment--or unreported punishment. Am I mistaken?

Human nature and all.....