Hold on to your GMU 23/26A Shorts boys

[Larry Bartlett]

FYI, my guess is the FSB moderator for the public testimony will limit each person to 2 min or less (normally 3 min). I highly suggest anyone planning to testify should prepare a 90 sec to 2 min speech, which is 275-280 words max.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Bambistew, there already exists a minimum population threshold for harvest restrictions concerning the Western Arctic Herd, and that number is a population of 200,000 caribou with a calf/cow recruitment of <80%.

You might recall they passed WSA16-01 when the caribou count was 201,000 animals. However, the 2019 census counted 244,000 caribou and the current census count is due out this month. The fact that the FSB nor the proponent of this proposal desires to wait until that count is released speaks to their true intentions to refute science and biology but rather use the federal system based on anecdotal beliefs of locals who simply don't want non-locals to hunt in GMU 23 or 26A.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

FSU, that's a great question. These proposals come around almost annually so your transporter is schooled in the process if a closure occurs. They will likely concentrate their hunters on state land. However, it will still be legal to hunt and camp in the proposed closed federal lands BELOW the high water line.

 

[soggybtmboys]

FSU, that's a great question. These proposals come around almost annually so your transporter is schooled in the process if a closure occurs. They will likely concentrate their hunters on state land. However, it will still be legal to hunt and camp in the proposed closed federal lands BELOW the high water line.

Yep, we are developing a contingency plan to float thru the area where we are primarily wishing to drop camp.

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[OXN939]

Yep, we are developing a contingency plan to float thru the area where we are primarily wishing to drop camp.

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Bet there will be a ton of float traffic if this goes through. Event set on my calendar to call in.

 

[119bowhunter]

I've been following this issue closely as we are booked to hunt next September, my partner and I will definitely be calling in to testify and hope that there's as much opposition as there was this past spring

 

[Clarktar]

I will be calling in again. It's really hard for me not to form an assumption based on the updated population count later this month and the fact that they are hosting this meeting before that information is available.

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[eamyrick]

Also booked for September after going this August on a fishing trip. 2 things I noticed were a general lack of people in the backcountry and a ton of dollars getting left in Kotz by hunters/fisherman. Seems like shutting down hunting in 23 would be a loss for the community.

 

[bgalloway01]

Thanks for the updates guys. We have a trip planned in late August of 22' with RAM Aviation. Just emailed them to confirm these are the units they use and see what their contingency plan is if this were to pass.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Crafted a 2 min speech the last couple days, felt like college! Spoken outloud vs reading in your head is not the same....

FYI 242 words for me is 2 min 2 sec. daddy better not stutter on game day!

 

[Cheechako]

Larry, those “muther fuckers” are looking our for their people and rely on moose and caribou for food.
Federal lands in that area are traditional inupiaq territory transferred to the federal government after ANSCA. I think it’s worth being cognizant of the privileges you have as a US citizen to hunt and enjoy that land.

You should be more respectful of the rights and opinions of a people who have lived there for thousands of years and predate the state of alaska, the United States, or adfg’s caribou counts.

You by no means need to agree with them, but you do owe them respect.

 

[LongWayAround]

Larry, those “muther fuckers” are looking our for their people and rely on moose and caribou for food.
Federal lands in that area are unceded inupiaq territory. I think it’s worth being cognizant of the privileges you have as a US citizen to hunt and enjoy that land.

You should be more respectful of the rights and opinions of people who have lived there for thousands of years and predate the state of alaska, the United States, or adfg’s caribou counts.

You by no means need to agree with them, but you do owe them respect.

We have federal land here in Colorado with about the same number of elk as the western arctic caribou herd. Nobody here is trying to lock out non-locals. That's the thing. We do have the right to hunt on that land as American citizens. So lace up your mukluks and come to Colorado.

I don't have much respect for anyone who intends to infringe upon my/our rights.

As was shown by the same attempt this spring, there is no data to support the idea that non-locals interfere with subsistence hunters ability to harvest caribou. Non-locals kill a few hundred, subsistence kill thousands. It's not even comparable. Also, shown in Larry's video from the 2017 round of "shut down the outsiders", rotting caribou carcasses all over around folks' homes and on vehicles with plenty of previously edible meat. But when you can wack several a day, all year, wanton waste is somewhat inevitable it appears.

They have more rights to it than we do and I respect that right. Unsubstantiated opinions are worthless for my money though.

 

[bgalloway01]

I spoke to Bryan at RAM yesterday and he said and I quote "It won't happen, it's all BS. We go through this every few years."

 

[Cheechako]

I’ll just reiterate that people in bush alaska rely on these animals in a way that’s very hard to understand as someone who lives outside. I grew up in Montana eating wild game but had no real concept of subsistence until I lived in the bush for 6 months.
Subsistence is fundamentally different then sport hunting. It’s purpose is to provide food and maintain relationships between the people and the animals. It’s not a luxury or a hobby.
I understand that adfg’s data and previous studies do not support the position that non rural resident sport hunters are negatively effecting caribou numbers or subsistence harvest.
But the local people who rely on these resources have seen a disruption and feel like it’s negatively effecting their ability to provide for themselves. In my opinion, that should be respected. Again you don’t need to agree with them, but try to understand their viewpoint and engage in an honest conversation instead of dismissing them.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

But the local people who rely on these resources have seen a disruption and feel like it’s negatively effecting their ability to provide for themselves.

how many caribou do you think get taken from non locals? i would bet its minimal to the amount of animals that get taken by the locals. So if the locals are shooting more animals then the non locals how can the locals blame in on the non locals for changing migration routes (easy cop out answer). I find it very hard to believe that the non locals are changing migrating patterns of the caribou. Look at how many people go out on the 40 mile caribou hunt and turn the road into a slaughter year after year. Guess what caribou still hang out around the road the next year. I simply see it as the residents up there do no want non locals around them any more.

 

[AlaskaMark]

We all have different styles...but I think it's helpful when testifying on this and other WSAs to be knowledgeable on the biological info. And use that in your comments. Avoid race, blame, etc etc.

Here are the ADF&G comments in opposition to WSA 21-01, with the biological and harvest and migration data, on why this WSA is not justified: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/home/news/pdfs/memorandum_temporary_special_action_wsa21-01.pdf

I'm as frustrated as others with these continual WSAs without any real biological justification or real proof that subsistence needs are not being met. The one regarding deer hunting on Admiralty is a piece of the same.

The Fed members on the board will listen to the biological and harvest data. Stick with facts, that's my advice fwiw.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Ah Cheechako, I'm am thankful someone here is at least sympathetic to subsistence and also has obvious respect for the land, animals and people in rural AK (and MT). Thank you sincerely for your input. In no order I'd like to engage with you on some of your valid points.

1. "those mutherfuckers" should have been more clearly defined by me as any rural subsistence user of Alaska resources using the federal system (financed by all tax paying Americans) to unnecessarily restrict non-local tax payers the right to gather food resources without provocation or legitimacy.

2. Subsistence hunters rely on meat the SAME way as I do. My zip code defines me as "sport hunter" yet my physiology defines me as a selective and effective hunter gather. That's social politics and it is what it is. Intentions prove the weight of a man's soul and I have been engaged with these issues for more than a decade and have met complete resistance from NW locals because I am white and not right. My 3-year term serving a chair for Fairbanks Hunters on the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group opened my eyes to how and why the system was designed, how it works and how it is currently being manipulated to illegally thwart transporters and non-local hunters by falsely interpreting ANILCA Title 8 and using the federal system as a means to effect their agenda. Your point was that subsistence is different than sport hunting because it provides food and maintains relationships with the people. We are not people to those rural communities, we are obstacles and perceived nuisances, and we are sport hunters and not non-local subsistence hunters because that's what they like to use for wrapping up the context of a non-local hunter. That sir, is driven by prejudice not equality and not subsistence. I've left more antlers in the field than I can count, so what makes me a sport hunter?

3. If the locals anywhere in the region, which is the geographical size of at least 5 (five) US states, has evidence of a "disruption of subsistence ways of life" I assure you that it has not been submitted. No photo yet everyone above the age of 12 has an i-phone. no video, no police reports, nothing. Every shred of complaint against non-local hunters is anecdotal and social gossip with a chain of local support to believe such nonsense is real. Their ways of life have not been disrupted, sir, they have been boosted by not only the municipalities and jobs created by federal presence, water, sewer, airport maint...typcial stuff where our tax dollars are spent, but also several attempts have been agreed upon to appease their anecdotal complaints by way of NO HUNTING SUPPORTED ACTIVITIES along the first 120 miles of the Noatak River. They have been granted extensions of this corridor over the decades to the point where non-local hunters simply do not exists within a hundred miles of their hunting and fishing camps during season. The only disruption that is definable and tangible is that taken from federal public land owners and their right to access remote hunting opportunities for their food (a state resource) on shared public lands.

4. If non-local hunters have "affected their ability to provide food for themselves" where is the proof of our wrong doing? They cut the backs of skinny caribou shot in the kobuk river, and if the fat isn't thick enough they let that carcass float down the river and collect like rotting driftwood. Thats not what ancient NW hunter gathers did before zip codes were created. That is behavior the modern rural Alaskan has adopted because they believe those caribou and moose are theirs, and they are constitutionally wrong. It's "ours" and that requires some effort on both parties to understand when there exists a shortage of resources, and that's why ANILCA was created. The state and federal biologists study these animals and make suggestions on bag limits and harvest quotas to the Alaska BOG. ANILCA doesn't do that and it should not be used by subsistence peoples to defy science and state law just to prove those animals are theirs. It's a dangerous precedent to set, period.

5. Be cognizant of our privilege to hunt that land? Yes sir, I am not only cognizant but also willing to defend my rights to hunt that land the same way I have for 26 years, when those rights are unfairly in question of disappearing year by year and mile by mile.

6. Show respect for people who lived there thousands of years. I agree. No one in that region can name a relative who lived there before the Russians and European whalers and fur hunters arrived 150 years. We are now living with a peoples lacking the same lifestyle opportunities and methods of operation than ancient Native Alaskan. Respect is earned. Respect is shared, not proprietary and not decided by the color of your skin or the zip code in which you live. If they want respect, share the resource and allow the system to remain a tool for guidance and authority when times are truly dire; but don't assume people owe you respect for deciding to live in a rural community where caribou live hundreds of miles from your zip code and then complain that you can't reach them and they wont come to me. That's not hunting, that's waiting for a hand out. You want caribou, go find them like we do. I won't buy a $4000 four wheeler or $25,000 jet boat to get them like they will, but I'll hire a transporter to get me over Native lands and onto my lands. That doesn't make me a sport hunter it makes me determined.

 

[ppumil]

I think to say subsistence is different is correct and by definition in Alaska law it is but Larry is pointing out that this group has decided they are somehow entitled to game when they are not in jeopardy. I am a Non-resident but you know what my money is used for federal land too. I have as much right as any American to it. For the government to allow one group to impose restrictions on me without any scientific evidence is the the problem here. The state already has mechanisms in place that will remove my hunting right first and then residents and then subsistence if needed to preserve the animal. This is the blatant misuse of laws to try to get control of a natural resource.
You can argue all you want about the past but we are in the present and the real issue is not the 165 caribou reported taken by outsiders. Really!!! As hunters of any sort we need to protect the resource and not squander it over pettiness. People fought over who had the right to fish steelhead as the population went down and they never addressed the issues so the Endangered species act closed all fishing down. Use the science and make smart decisions based on that. It proved affective in getting the numbers back up and some fisheries are open again. We should be addressing the bigger issues as a united front and the point is there is a group that does not want to do that. Good for the state of Alaska stating it is discriminatory to go by zip code. You are all Alaskans. I am a US citizen and that makes federal land mine also.
The fact that they targeted transporters and me as a non-resident is very obvious. I am going to go look at the land we have and I am going to hunt it. This proposal comes from locals who don't like outsiders. Wait! This is the essence of racist and discriminatory. Have we not learned that by now. You cannot say it is your right to keep everyone out what is ours.
I am going to enjoy my family and this weekend and do hope that we can come to an understanding and save the resource we all want to use. I fear there may not be herds for my kids to see on THEIR land.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

I think to say subsistence is different is correct and by definition in Alaska law it is but Larry is pointing out that this group has decided they are somehow entitled to game when they are not in jeopardy. I am a Non-resident but you know what my money is used for federal land too. I have as much right as any American to it. For the government to allow one group to impose restrictions on me without any scientific evidence is the the problem here. The state already has mechanisms in place that will remove my hunting right first and then residents and then subsistence if needed to preserve the animal. This is the blatant misuse of laws to try to get control of a natural resource.
You can argue all you want about the past but we are in the present and the real issue is not the 165 caribou reported taken by outsiders. Really!!! As hunters of any sort we need to protect the resource and not squander it over pettiness. People fought over who had the right to fish steelhead as the population went down and they never addressed the issues so the Endangered species act closed all fishing down. Use the science and make smart decisions based on that. It proved affective in getting the numbers back up and some fisheries are open again. We should be addressing the bigger issues as a united front and the point is there is a group that does not want to do that. Good for the state of Alaska stating it is discriminatory to go by zip code. You are all Alaskans. I am a US citizen and that makes federal land mine also.
The fact that they targeted transporters and me as a non-resident is very obvious. I am going to go look at the land we have and I am going to hunt it. This proposal comes from locals who don't like outsiders. Wait! This is the essence of racist and discriminatory. Have we not learned that by now. You cannot say it is your right to keep everyone out what is ours.
I am going to enjoy my family and this weekend and do hope that we can come to an understanding and save the resource we all want to use. I fear there may not be herds for my kids to see on THEIR land.

You know this would effect residents of alaska who don't live in the villages up there as well correct. It's just not non residents. 99% of alaska residents who dont live in those villages are on your side.

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[Larry Bartlett]

The sickening fact that COVID concerns caused more than 50% of the 2020 hunters to either post pone or cancel resulted in FAR fewer non-local harvests and travelers through Kotz. Kramer's initial proposal was to make the closure based on COVID, but that was deemed invalid so the OSM helped wordsmith and push this closure forward with proper language and which was adopted by the NWRAC (Kramer is 2nd Chair BTW).

Now, this was in January and then March 2020 (2019 proved a banner year for caribou population and subsistence harvests) AND before anything was known about 2020 hunting traffic or caribou migration timing. So, the NWRAC pushed this proposal through with the intention to limit "those air planes and sport hunters so we get ahead of da problem" despite '19 being a great year and 2020 played out with <45% of its normal non-local traffic.

Guess what? Caribou stayed in the hills longer and natives struggled to get caribou in '20, but that had nothing to do with non-local traffic or the total population of available caribou. Just what caribou do sometimes. Right now caribou are already in Nulato hills and the noatak and kobuk hunters are all eating well too. The herd is growing with a healthy recruitment of cows and calves. What's the real problem?

It's all non-sense and forces us to be reactive instead of proactive. It's unpleasant and flat wrong.

I too expect this not to pass, but if we stay nice and play nice, we'll get bullied.

Be informed, stay involved.