The Alaska Board of Game wrapped up its recent meeting in Anchorage on Friday after voting on some changes to statewide hunting regulations.
The board heard roughly 70 proposals and only a little over a dozen passed.
Here are just a few:
Among the changes was a clarification on definitions related to moose antlers and their points, brow tines and forks, which can determine whether a moose is legal to hunt.
The board also voted to ban the use of “air bows” for hunting big game in Alaska. Using compressed gas, air bows fire an arrow with enough power to take down game as large as a bison.
In another example of keeping up with advances in hunting technology, the board decided to update rules around the use of electronic devices in hunting, things like game cameras that can now transmit real-time images to cell phones. The board voted to prohibit the use of wireless communication in the taking of a specific animal until after 3 a.m. the day after the use of the device, in most cases.
The board removed a restriction it put into place in 2012 that limited applications for bull moose permit hunts to three, agreeing with the Department of Fish and Game that the restriction had come with the unintended consequence of voiding some applications.
The board did not pass proposed changes to the point system for Tier II subsistence hunts, or a proposal to combine regulations on allowing the take of big game for religious ceremonies and ceremony potlatches, among many other proposals.
And, a follow up to a story on a proposal to allow Alaskans to own small, hedgehog-like creatures call tenrecs: The board did not approve tenrecs as pets. They will remain prohibited in Alaska.
A complete list of the game board’s decisions, including more details on the preliminary regulation changes, can be found here.
Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him atcgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Caseyhere.
