The winter moose hunt in Unit 17A, which includes the Togiak River drainage, wrapped up at the end of March. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game extended the season due to poor travel conditions earlier in the winter. KDLG spoke with John Landsiedel, the area wildlife biologist based in Dillingham, about how the hunt went and why reporting harvests is especially important this year.
Landsiedel: My name is John Landsiedel with the Alaska Department Fish and Game here in Dillingham, and the wildlife biologist for unit 17.
Sutherland: Can you tell me a little bit about this past hunt?
Landsiedel: Yeah, so unit 17A, which is a Togiak drainage, which has a pretty liberal moose bag limit and seasons, was extended by 30 or 31 days through the end of March. It was extended due to poor winter travel conditions in January and February, and that hunt has wrapped up.
Sutherland: What do we know about this hunt? How did it go?
Landsiedel: Not as great as it could have, but not because there aren't moose there. The 17 moose population is considered healthy and abundant and above our management objective, and that allows us to offer increased opportunity, so multiple moose bag limits and cow harvest.
That being said, because of the poor winter conditions, hunters were just unable to access the unit, and therefore we only have two reported harvests. I think there's probably a handful more out there but currently, there are only two people that have reported that they've harvested two cows.
We have, on average, harvested 56 antlerless cows or bulls, just antlerless moose, in the winter hunt, and this year we have two. So what that tells me is that the moose population is really important, especially in the winter for subsistence use, and we just weren't even close to meeting or achieving our average this year. And again, it was all due to poor conditions. It's still brown.
Not only has it prevented hunters the ability to get out, it's also prevented us from doing our surveys. So we work really closely with Togiak National Wildlife Refuge and we were unable to get a 17A moose population survey done. And we also had goals to do a 17B moose survey, which is the Tik-Chik River, the upper Nushagak and the Mulchatna watersheds. And we attempted to do so, but conditions never aligned for us to get one done. So snow is really, really important for moose management in western Alaska.
And there are still over 100 people that have yet to report. And I would just like to remind people that reporting is necessary for a registration permit in order to get another registration permit next year. Registration permits allow for increased opportunity in Unit 17, and it gives me good biological information that allows us to manage those hunts more appropriately. So just hopeful that people want to report and that they do report.
Sutherland: So how can people report?
Landsiedel: For those wanting to report, it should be on their report that they can go on to our website, or they're welcome to call the office where Eunice Evelyn and I work and ask for any one of us.
Sutherland: Great. Thank you so much. John.
Landsiedel: Yeah. Thanks. Margaret.
Hunters who received a permit for Unit 17A can report their harvest online or by calling the Dillingham office at 907-842-2334.
