Successful moose hunt!

[Field-dressed]

Just got back from an island off the Bering River mouth in the Gulf of Alaska. There were four of us, two with cow drawing permits (not me, I'm never that lucky). On the evening of the first day my partners dropped a cow and a young bull within 30 yards of each other and our hunt was over. We had just enough daylight to gut and partially skin the beasts, then stumbled back to camp on the beach. Fortunately there's no bears on that particular island. We spent the entire following day skinning, cutting, boning and packing out the meat. We were only a mile or so from camp but we had to hump through 2 expansive marshes separated by a quarter mile of dense brush. Ouch! My legs are still protesting the atrocities rendered unto them. We got picked up on Saturday in a building gale. We weren't sure if we were waiting or hoping for the flying service to show up. It was blowing about 40 kts when the 2 airplanes touched down on the beach. Thank God for skilled pilots, would have been a miserable couple days waiting for that storm to blow through. This afternoon we have the delightful task (made so through the consumption of beer) of butchering and wrapping about 700 lbs of roasts, steaks and burger. Hmmmmm...moose.

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RKBA!

[BadMedicine]

Right On!! Congrats on your safe and successful hunt. We didn't get moose this year, but I plan to make up for it in varmint deaths this winter Yeah, packing meat is sometimes a pain. But atleast you have winter meat Were they actually "cow" tags, or any moose? Was it an any bull area, or was the bull shot on a "any moose" permit? Next year we've decided to do a 4-wheeler camp trip like 40 miles off the beaten trail for moose. They just get too much pressure around the road systems. It's good to hear that someone filled a tag. I think this season there were alot lower kill numbers than last year. We just didn't see near as many horns on vehicles. Ormaybe it was just the unit we hunted.

[jtduncan]

Congratulations:

Oh great hunter, could you please send me a pound or two?

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The Seattle SharpShooter - TFL/GT/UGW/PCT/KTOG

[Field-dressed]

BadMeds: 2 Cow drawing permits for Unit 6A, plus 4 bull registration permits. Worked out really well to split up the cow/bull and bull-only permit holders in this situation. You're right about the road system - in Unit 13 many fewer moose available because of wolf and brown bear predation. Anti's are limiting predator harvest (vote YES on Ballot Measure #1), ADF&G's management is limited as a direct result. This is no time to ignore the anti's, we gotta kick their a$$es!

JT - We don't deliver. Come and get it!

This took a long for me to type, but I've been cutting meat for 12 hours, and, as mentioned in my initial post, been swilling beer for nearly as long. And no major knife injuries. Life is good.

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RKBA!

[Keith Rogan]

I'm with you on ballot measure #1!!! Leave game management to the biologists, rather than to housewives in Anchorage.
I'm also voting Yes on Measure #6 - a yes vote defeats that same-day airborne hunting of wolves prososal. That is a BS proposal because no wolf is going to stand there while you land next to him and step out to shoot him. It basically opens the door to airborne shooting again, with all the abuses of rich a&&holes shooting up game from the air.
I'm also voting to legalize recreational marijuana <G>, because I'm tired of my tax dollars being used to harrass potheads instead of REAL criminals - ie; salmon poachers!

Keith

[BadMedicine]

Ditto.
On all issues.

[Field-dressed]

Uh, Guys? Check this out:
1. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Leave game management to the biologists, rather than to housewives in Anchorage.[/quote]

Actually, we have the most open process of game management in the country. Any resident or local Advisory Committee can put in proposals to the Board of Game for deliberation, who then makes the final decision. Game biologists provide the necessary scientific background but do not make the decisions. What #1 will do is stop the meddling from Outside anti groups who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in the media to dupe urban Alaskans into voting in their evil policies. No more ballot box biology.

2. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I'm also voting Yes on Measure #6 - a yes vote defeats that same-day airborne hunting of wolves prososal.[/quote]

#6 is ballot box biology, and you have been duped IMHO. Same-day airborne hunting for deer is allowed in Unit 6. Obviously, you can't land an airplane within rifle range of a deer and expect it to stand there. You need to land a quarter or half mile away and put the stalk on. Same thing for wolves only much harder and most times you fail, according to my "rich" (earning less than $40,000 per year) friends who own airplanes and use them to run traplines. As for shooting from an airplane, if you get caught you lose the airplane. Same-day airborne wolf hunting is an important management tool for biologists because, despite its difficulties, its the most efficient way to reduce predators. BadMeds indicated seeing fewer racks coming back from the field. Moose and caribou have been knocked way back in the Nelchina because of predation, and game biologists have their hands tied because of the ban on same-day wolf hunting.

So. On the one hand you want to ban ballot box biology, on the other hand you you want to use ballot box biology to ban a valuable game management tool. Hmm.

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RKBA!

[Keith Rogan]

Sorry Field, I just disagree. You're just wrong on prop 6. Nobody ever landed a Beaver on a frozen lake and snuck up on a wolf.
What you had was people flying around banging them from the air and then coming back and saying they landed and "snuck up on them". And any jackazz that will shoot a wolf from the air will shoot a 70" moose without a thought.
If you think theres too many wolves in the Nelchina basin, then prop 1 should give you the tools to do something about it without a bunch of whiney PETA types interfering through the ballot box.
What I don't want to see is Dr. Frost and his buddies zooming around the tundra again shooting everything that moves on the ground.

For those that don't know who Frost is, he's a rich Anchorage doctor with his name plastered all over the B&C records who got busted for shooting game from the air because the former law (which they are trying to reinstate) gave him a legal loophole to claim he landed and shot the animals.

If people can't get out on the land and hunt their quarry, they should find a different sport. It's called "hunting", not target practice.



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Keith
The Bears and Bear Maulings Page: members.xoom.com/keithrogan

[Field-dressed]

Keith, What you're saying is that all of ADF&G's data on wolves taken same-day airborne are lies, they were all shot from the air. I don't know anyone who uses a Beaver to run their trapline. Only Supercubs Citabria's and Scouts. These are quiet airplanes. I've circled wolves in a Scout and didn't even get a second look. I could have easily landed a mile away in the direction they were headed and waited for them to come in. I don't understand why you don't believe that this works, must be those rare and whiley "Kodiak Archapelago" wolves, eh?. And just explain to me how another law will stop bozos from doing their thing, its already illegal to shoot from the air. You missed my point about Prop. 6. According to the area biologist in Unit 13, same-day airborne hunting is the just about the only tool left to deal with the problem, other than annually reducing the harvest on moose and caribou (which he's already doing) and watching the populations slide into the toilet (already doing). That's why the Board of Game singled out Unit 13 as one of 2 areas in the state needing predator reduction, and approved a same-day airborne wolf hunt. Go ahead and take that tool away from the game biologists via the ballot box. The anti's will be pissing themselves with glee.

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RKBA!

[Keith Rogan]

I'd rather F&G shot the wolves themselves, or poisoned them than give the means to airborn hunt again.
And yes, I do think the F&G stats are wrong if they think those wolves were being taken legally. Undoubtedly, SOME were taken legally but most were just potted from the window of a plane.
You're blurring two issues here. I oppose airborne hunting because it violates every tradition of fair chase that I hold dear.

That however, has nothing to do with the killing of wolves per se. If you as a biologist decide to cull half the wolves in unit 13, I would have no problem with you licensing an individual to do that in any manner thats deemed efficient - but not under the hunting regs where you open the door to every rich yahoo with an airplane to help himself to game.



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Keith
The Bears and Bear Maulings Page: members.xoom.com/keithrogan

[BadMedicine]

I think field dressed is joking around, cuz there aren't wolves on Kodiak, right? Yeah, I really don't want them to open up same day airborne, for things like wolves. I'd rather see them open up different methods, like spot-lighting, for a couple years (varmints only) to get the #'s in check. But Airborn is going to cuz too much trouble.
This year when we were hunting moose, this same small plane keep flying over, low and slow, and we could see it criss-crossing the whole area, occasionally dipping his wings. I KNOW they were radio-ing with somebody on the ground, telling them were to hunt. I wanted to shoot the SOB out of the sky. If I'd have had a CB and could have confirmed my suspision for certain.....

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IF you're not willing to die for your rights/beliefs, don't try to take mine.

[bronco61]

I agree with you FieldDress.
1. Shooting from a plane has ALWAYS been illegal.

2. I believe this new law will ENCOURAGE people to illegally shoot from a plane. Before this law was passed yesterday (ballot box biology hard at work), hunters could spot a wolf, land and hope/pray the wolf stumbles upon them. NOW, hunters can't spot the wolf beforehand, so now if they see one while in the air they will be more inclined to feel "well, this might be the only chance we get to see one and we certainly won't be able to hunt it because it will be looooong gone by tomorrow so lets just take the shot".

3. We pay wildlife biologists for a reason. I haven't been given any reason not to trust the many hours they spend out in the field while I sit at my job.

4. I don't believe for an instant the "most" wolves are being shot from the air right now or even a small majority of them. I know many pilots here and NONE of them are willing to trade their plane in for a wolf pelt should they get caught. ALso, look at reason #1 above.

[BadMedicine]

I voted for it. So did my family, and here's why.
First of all. The alaskans passed a law that said "No same day air wolf shooting." Then the campaign against this proposition said "the legislator over turned it." That is FALSE. The legislature added to the bill/law/whatever, that fish aand game could, same day shoot, or allow same day shooting, IN CERTAIN PROBLEM AREAS!!! These are the areas were the natives and subsitance people are getting ousted by the wolves and other predation that are distroying the caribou herds, and the moose population.
So, people tried to say the legislater overturned it and opened it up for hunters. WRONG. It is still illegal to same day airborn hunt ANYTHING exept red squirrels, and coyotes(oops, never mind, those are the only furbearers you can same day shoot. any small game, and birds are legal same day, but NO big game.) , AND THAT"S ONLY IN CERTAIN UNITS!!!! These greenies are pulling the wool over peoples eyes. %The only time this is legal is when biologists say that the predation is threatening the heards, or other populations, and then they themselves can do it, or in extreme cases, they can open certain areas to it. I'm glad I voted for it. Because the natives can't eat wolf, and that's all that would be left if somebody didn't step in to help.

[This message has been edited by BadMedicine (edited November 09, 2000).]

[Field-dressed]

Kieth - Same day airborne (SDA) for wolves has as much to do with fair chase as trapping. Its not suppose to be fair, its suppose to be a management tool to kill wolves as efficiently as possible ONLY in areas identified by the Board of Game (BOG) as having a biological emergency (currently 2 areas, Units 13 and 19). BTW, poisoning is illegal, irresponsible, and immoral: too much bycatch.

BadMedicine - Check your "facts". Same day airborne hunting IS allowed for abundant big game species including: deer on Kodiak, all of SE Alaska and southcentral AK, and caribou in units 9B, 17B and 17C. Don't believe me? Check page 14 of the regs. Wolves are abundant in Units 13 and 19 but we can't allow SDA because of alledged abuses. Funny, we never hear about alledged SDA abuses for other species, only the one that greenies love.

Guys, ADF&G used to have the authority to control wolves in limited areas. The BOG gave us the nod to control wolves in Units 13 and 19, but the governor won't let us. WE CAN'T DO IT! Besides, have you seen our budget lately? (My annual budget is $55,000 for 10,120 sq. mi. for 5 big game species). So how about allowing SDA for wolves and have hunters PAY US to control wolves in these areas? Nope, the wolf-hugging public doesn't like that either. Well, what about this wolf sterilization like we're doing for the Forty-Mile caribou herd? No way, far too costly on a large scale. ADF&G spent more than my annual budget just to try to stop the spread of lice in wolf packs in the Mat-Su Valley.

Where does that leave us? We have no more options. The biologists in Unit 13 (Nelchina) are certain that the moose and caribou populations will continue to decline, and they will simply close the seasons. Anchorage hunters and the media will SCREAM at ADF&G despite our warnings and pleadings during the last 5 years. Mark my words carefully, this is going to happen. In the more remote Unit 19, native groups have already said they will do what they've been doing for thousands of years when wolves get too numerous: go to the dens in the spring and kill the pups. Bush folks are also adept at running wolves to exaustion on their snowmachines and killing them. So much for careful management of our valuable wolf resource. But they may save their moose population.

But all of this is a moot point. The urban public has once again spoken through ballot box biology. Obviously they know more about wolf management than biologists and rural folks who rely on big game populations for their livlihood and lifestyle. We'll just sit back and watch the sparks fly. This is a dead horse.

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RKBA!

[bronco61]

Exactly Field-Dress. What REALLY gets me is the people who voted FOR prop1 and STILL voted for prop6.

[BadMedicine]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Field-dressed:
BadMedicine - Check your "facts". Same day airborne hunting IS allowed for abundant big game species including: deer on Kodiak, all of SE Alaska and southcentral AK, and caribou in units 9B, 17B and 17C. Don't believe me? Check page 14 of the regs[/quote]

My this crow is tastey

I do remember now (I can't find my regs, but I believe you, something about deer and 'bou. This is probably because they aren't in great danger. Kodiak is having a boom of deer, and as far as caribou go, when they're migrating by the thousands, you can get'bou today, or you can get them tomorrow, cuz when the herds in, it's in. There are's one unit (I'm fairly sure, common guys back me up ) that allows caribou all year, with no limit. I'll check my regs later, and get back on that.
But I was right about the squirrels and coyotes rights guys? Guys right??



[This message has been edited by BadMedicine (edited November 09, 2000).]

[Field-dressed]

You are correct, Sir! Small game and coyotes are legal SDA. Unit 26 (land of the Porcupine and Western Arctic Caribou Herds) has year-round open season with a 5 caribou PER DAY limit!