The price of guided hunting in Alaska is obscene. It has turned into a rich man’s adventure. The cost of air taxi alone (not even a guided hunt) has become priced out of reach for any one of ordinary means. I have been an Alaskan resident and hunter for many years and I say without hesitation that the quality of fish and game management in this state is questionable at best. Our numbers are way down on salmon, caribou, moose, sheep, pretty much everything. Environmental factors surely contribute but overharvest has been a major issue. Predator control is a valid concept, but having state agents killing bears by the hundreds from a helicopter while the state is simultaneously selling the “opportunity” to hunt the same animals (with extremely expensive guides being required for non residents) and the whole thing reeks of mismanagement. The Fairbanks area had A LOT of moose a couple decades ago, to the point moose/car collisions were getting problematic. I would see moose along the road almost daily. Then the state decided on a winter hunt for cow moose (about 15 years ago if I recall correctly) which killed way too many. I only rarely see cow and calf moose around here anymore and have personally not seen a bull within 100 miles in several years. The numbers have not recovered and our recent winters have been extremely hard on these animals. They are built for cold but the recent trends of mid winter warmth bringing heavy snow and freezing rain has been very hard on the calves. Caribou are not doing better. Look around the state at the Mulchatna herd, Nelchina herd, Fortymile herd… all way down, and in some cases critically. Really a few years ago the harvest quota for the Fortymile herd was 10,000 but this year is well below 1,000. Are we to believe this is all the work of bears and wolves?
