newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — A reduced harvest quota will make for a quick Fortymile caribou hunt this winter.

The hunt opens Monday along the Steese and Taylor highways and with a small number of caribou lingering along both road systems, state game managers don’t expect it to take long for hunters to fill the allotted harvest quota of 141.

In fact, the state issued an emergency order on Wednesday that limits the season along the Taylor Highway north of milepost 60 to just one day. The season will close at midnight on Monday, giving hunters only about six hours of daylight to bag a caribou.

Chances are the season won’t last too much longer in the Steese Highway hunt.

“There are a few more caribou over there but hunters are going to have to work for them,” Jeff Gross, Tok area biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said of the situation on the Steese Highway north of Fairbanks. “Hunters are going to have to work for caribou in both places. Neither area has a lot of caribou.”

As of Wednesday morning, the department had issued 519 permits for the hunt, said Doreen Parker-McNeil at ADF&G in Fairbanks. Last year, there 1,603 permits issued for the hunt.

The harvest quota for the winter hunt is normally 210 or higher but hunters exceeded the fall harvest quota of 640 by 69 caribou, which was subtracted from the winter quota. The winter quota is split 60-40 based on where the caribou are most accessible. This year, the Steese quota is 85 and the Taylor quota is 56.

“The Steese Highway had just a few more accessible caribou than the Taylor,” Gross said.

The vast majority of the herd is nowhere near either road, he said.

“Ninety-nine percent of the herd is probably going to be inaccessible” when the hunt opens Gross said.

With only about a foot of snow on the ground in both places, hunters on snowmachine should expect and be prepared for rough going, Gross said.

“Up in the Steese Highway area it could be real rough,” he said. “It’s windblown and there’s not a lot of snow.”

Hunters who kill a caribou must report to the Tok Fish and Game office within three days.

Fish and Game personnel and Alaska Wildlife Troopers will be on the ground monitoring the hunt along both the Steese and Taylor highways.

“Hunters can anticipate being contacted by Fish and Game or troopers on both ends,

Hunters also need to be aware that hunting on the Taylor Highway will be closed south of milepost 60 because a large number of Nelchina caribou moved into the area. The federal season for Fortymile caribou was closed in that area several weeks ago.

“There are a lot of Nelchina caribou in the area that hunters are going to have to drive by,” Gross said. “Troopers will be monitoring the lower end of the Taylor Highway to make sure hunters are complying.”

Signs will also be posted on the highway alerting hunters to the closure.