Public Media for Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Managers Ease Caribou Hunting Restrictions in Unit 18

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Caribou hunters in the YK Delta's Unit 18 can now fill both of their caribou tags with bulls at any time during the season. Managers say that this was done to simplify things for hunters, and because of the improving caribou population. 

Caribou hunters in Unit 18 used to have to make that they caught only one bull. Not only that, during a season that runs from August to the middle of March the following spring, they could not fill their second caribou tag before January. Phillip Perry with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says it’s now much easier for hunters.

“However you split out that bag limit, it’s two for the whole season. And if you shoot one earlier and one later, two earlier or two later, it doesn’t really matter," said Perry.

Before this, YK Delta hunters hoping for a caribou had to be careful not to mistake a cow for a bull since only one of the animals could be a breeding male. Perry says that this was because of a decline in the bull caribou population that they saw about 10 years ago. 

“When the Mulchatna caribou herd declined, one of the things we saw was that the bull/cow ratio got pretty low. I think it was about 15 to 16 bulls per hundred cows," said Perry.

Perry says that while hunting was not the main cause of the decline in bulls, managers put the restrictions in place so that it didn't become a contributing factor. Now the ratios are improving.

“The bull/cow ratios are better now; the herd is stable or increasing slightly. So we don’t have that same worry about that bull/cow ratio, so there was really no reason to keep that restriction in place," said Perry.

Perry says that last winter, the Board of Game reviewed the updated biological information and lifted the restrictions. The current caribou population in Unit 18 is right around 30,000.