The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is preemptively canceling the Nelchina caribou hunt, one of the most popular hunts in the state,The decision affects the Nelchina herd, which migrates through a swath of Alaska partially accessible by roads, including the Denali Highway that runs from Cantwell to Paxson. The game management unit includes several roadways crisscrossing between Alaska populations centers, drawing hunters from the Interior and Southcentral regions.
The state regulates a unique hunt in the unit covering much of the Nelchina herd’s range, allowing a high number of residents the opportunity to harvest one caribou in exchange for forgoing other permitted hunts.
“Overwinter mortality of adults and calves was high, resulting in a population decline and low recruitment of 2021 calves into the population,” the department wrote. Fall 2022 brought swollen creeks and river crossings that impeded migration, and another winter of deep snow followed. Of the calves born in 2022 that managers tracked with radio collars, 87% died, according to the department.The state’s target population range for the herd is 35,000 to 40,000, enough for a harvestable surplus of 600 to 1,000 animals.
Residents who applied to hunt Nelchina caribou in Game Management Unit 13 under the Tier 1 and Community Subsistence Hunt programs are released from the conditions of their permits, according to Fish and Game.Zachariah Hughes covers Anchorage government, the military, dog mushing, subsistence issues and general assignments for the Anchorage Daily News. He also helps produce the ADN's weekly politics podcast.