Moose Meat Reality...

[BuzzH]

Calvin,

I agree that many are accomodating, thats why I used "many" instead of "all" or "most". I also know that many would rather not see another NR ever hunt Alaska without a guide.

Trust me, the APHA doesnt care about the meat...and they dont care about wounding loss either. They care about getting more guided hunters...period.

Its also apparent that the Residents are either not doing anything to stop the foolishness like the drawing for unguided bear hunters...or they are largely unsuccessful in efforts to stop it. I'm also not letting the NR's off the hook either, as they could definately do more for their own cause via commenting, making phone calls, etc. But, as everyone knows, NR's just flat dont carry the clout as the AK Resident hunters...exactly like most other states.

 

[Calvin]

Its also apparent that the Residents are either not doing anything to stop the foolishness like the drawing for unguided bear hunters...or they are largely unsuccessful in efforts to stop it. I'm also not letting the NR's off the hook either, as they could definately do more for their own cause via commenting, making phone calls, etc. But, as everyone knows, NR's just flat dont carry the clout as the AK Resident hunters...exactly like most other states.

If you treat an Alaskan hunt like you would an African hunt, the majority of residents up here will just let the AHPA do whatever it wants and you guys will be sol. That's just reality. Most AK residents don't understand the concept of trophy hunting.

Not many SE residents stood up for the DIY hunters because they didn't remember the good DIY hunters that showed up. They remembered the idiots who showed up with little or no respect for the locals or the resource.

 

[BuzzH]

I wonder if SE residents realize that a vast majority of the guided hunters are "trophy" hunters?

I guess the game changes and the NR hunters are "better" when they pay an outfitter?

 

[fowladdict]

Calvin,

Do they believe the NRs are responsible for the wounding loss? If this is true...what BS. Unless AK Guides have the African "you wound it, you buy it" mentality I would bet that guided hunters wound more animals than an OYO hunter.

 

[BuzzH]

Calvin,

I should probably explain a bit more...so you know what really bothers me.

If bear populations in SE AK are in some sort of trouble, need to be managed better, etc. I have no problem imposing further restrictions on bear hunting. Further, I dont have a problem with putting limits on NR hunters FIRST if its biologically needed. I do care about the health of the animal populations FIRST, above the "needs" of hunters, outfitters, guides, landowners, etc. etc.

But, what I do have a problem with is when restrictions are put in place simply to restrict a perceived problem...like NR's not being good enough hunters to safely hunt sheep, brown bears, and goats. Or to put restrictions on NR's because of a small, but vocal and self-serving group are looking out ONLY for their best interest. Its a shitty way to "manage" both wildlife and hunters (R as well as NR). Or because someone saw a NR wound a bear one time, or because a NR gave away some meat.

I see the same thing in Wyoming with the wilderness guide law...restricting NR's because they arent "safe" in a wilderness area without a guide. Never mind that the guide your with could be seeing the country he's guiding you in for the first time in his life.

The AK guide laws are welfare for outfitters...just the same as the WY wilderness guide law is welfare for our outfitters. Both are equally ridiculous and have absolutely nothing to do with managing the resource or doing whats best for the wildlife. Neither keep idiots from being idiots and the DIY hunter is the only loser.

 

[Calvin]

Calvin,

Do they believe the NRs are responsible for the wounding loss? If this is true...what BS. Unless AK Guides have the African "you wound it, you buy it" mentality I would bet that guided hunters wound more animals than an OYO hunter.

I'll have to look up the exact wording of the proposal the the APHA put forth, but I'm pretty sure it said "could be in excess of 50%". I posted a thread on it on the 24hourcampfire. A guide showed up on the thread. Got interesting.

I unfortunately had the displeasure of doing more than a few halibut charters for visiting bear hunters. Some really good hunters, but the majority seemed to be very inexperienced hunters. As a result of the inexperience, the sow harvest was way too high. Something like 70% of the bears taken in the fall were sows. Bears are way down on POW as a result of decades of that.

 

[Calvin]

Buzz,

I agree with you. My moose hunting partner is a NR. I wish we could do some sheep hunts together. That law makes no sense to me. Now that many parts of AK are having predator problems, why not open up griz/brown bear in those areas to NR via a drawing since the AK residents are willing to keep those populations under control and help the moose populations?! Makes no sense to me.

Also agreed that the bios screwed up in SE AK. They let it go way to long before doing something. I am all for going to a drawing for black bear. I was very much against guaranteed tags for guides. The guides automatically get 100 tags. I doubt they are going to issue more than 150 tags. That leaves 50 for the OYO NR guys. Not right, in my opinion.

 

[Bambistew]

I don't think a lot of resident hunters have a clue what happens in this state. Most are lucky to make it out of the house for a weekend. I've heard many times that by forcing NRs to use guides it limits the take. I never looked into it before, and am bothered by the trend I see. If anything it has the opposite affect.

Heres a breakdown using numbers from last year as a percentage of total harvest. (For clarity, say 100 moose are killed 89 were killed by residents, 11 by NR).

-------------- res-------------NR
Moose-----89%-----------11%
Sheep------57%-----------43%
Goat--------73%-----------27%
Brown------42%-----------58%
Black-------63%----------37%
Caribou-----86%---------14%

 

[Calvin]

Since we were talking bears..

In unit 2, (Prince of Wales) in 2009, Non Residents killed 137 bears. AK Residents killed 30 bears. Out of the 30 killed by residents, only 10 were killed by residents of Prince of Wales. Locals don't bear hunt much...(grin)

Unfortunately the only data they have is on 2009.. (year they started the harvest reports) 2009 was a slow year for the Non Res.