3-Day Caribou Season to Open along Taylor Highway

This 3-day hunt is not expected to affect the quota for the usual winter hunt, RC867, which typically opens December 1. Permits for the 3-day hunt (RC857) are now available online at www.hunt.alaska.gov, and in person in Eagle and at the Tok Fish and Game office.

The Alaska Board of Game endorsed the Fortymile Caribou Herd Harvest Plan (harvest plan) as a means of guiding harvest of the herd from 2012 through 2018. One of the provisions in the plan calls for opening a 1- to 3-day season, prior to the opening of the winter hunt, in years with low fall harvest in zone 3 and when caribou are present in the zone during late October or November.

“Fall harvest in Zone 3 was low this year and we currently have caribou moving through the zone headed for Yukon, so we have both criteria needed to open a 3-day hunt in Zone 3 at this time,” said Tok Area Biologist Jeff Gross.

The annual Fortymile caribou harvest quota is allocated seasonally: 75% to the fall hunt and 25%, plus any surplus from the fall quota, to the winter hunt. During the fall 2017 season, resident hunters only harvested 91 caribou out of the zone 3 fall quota of 340.

The winter quota is further divided between the 2 road-accessible portions of the hunt area, the Steese Highway–Chena Hot Springs area in Units 20B and 25C (zone 1) and the Taylor Highway area in Unit 20E (zone 3). Sixty percent of the harvest quota is allocated to the road-accessible zone with the most caribou within reach of hunters immediately prior to the season opening.

These changes only apply to state caribou hunts in these areas. The federal caribou hunt on federal lands is not affected by these changes. Hunters with questions about federal subsistence regulations should call (800) 478-1456.

Successful hunters must report within three days of the kill on the internet at http://hunt.alaska.gov, or in person or by phone to the ADF&G office in Tok (883-2971). Hunters who report by phone must also mail their permit reports or drop them off to the Tok ADF&G office.