The Alaska Board of Game adopted regulations to provide bear hunting opportunity to hunters who were unable to hunt in the spring of 2020 due to COVID-19-related restrictions.
The action opens a Spring 2021 brown bear registration unit in Game Management Unit 9. It also provides resident brown bear hunters in Unit 8 the opportunity to use drawing permits in Spring 2022. Additionally, non-resident black bear hunters in Southeast have the opportunity to use drawing permits in Spring 2022. Non-resident brown bear hunters in Unit 22 have the opportunity to use drawing permits in Spring 2021.
The board did not take any action on drawing hunt in Units 14C and 26B, which was the request of Ryan Scott, Assistant Director with the Division of Wildlife Conservation: “Proposal Two would provide the Commissioner authority to transfer Spring black bear drawing permits for Units 1 – 3 and 14C JBER and Spring brown bear drawing permits for Units 4, 8, 10, 14C, 22, and 26B to future hunting seasons. The department’s recommendation is neutral on this proposal, however, we would also recommend omitting Game Management Unit 14C and 26B.”
The department will contact each of the impacted hunters with specific information and to determine if hunters plan to use the additional opportunity provided by the board. Hunters that participated in a hunt, whether or not they harvested a bear, are ineligible to move their hunting opportunity to a later time. Hunters will be required to indicate if they participated in their specific drawing hunt in Spring 2020, and to confirm they plan to use their drawing permits in future years.