Currently the Board of Game is holding meetings in Wasilla for the Central/Southwest Region. The Southcentral meetings will begin March 13 in Anchorage.
Board of Game Chair Ted Spraker of Soldotna said one of the main proposals to be discussed will be how to manage brown bear hunts on the Refuge versus other areas.
Spraker: “I feel that it should be managed as one population, personally I’m not in favor of splitting this into front country and back country and having a fleet of confusing proposals for the public, I’m not in favor of that. I’m willing to take a very close look at the number of adult females to be taken, I think we need to take a very scientific based look at that and see where we are, I think there may be some room for negotiation there. As far as the total of 70 I’m not fearful of that number at all.”
He said that some items may also carry over from the ongoing meetings in Wasilla, such as the dall sheep discussions which the board held a special work session on last Friday.
Spraker: “Some of the big issues are allocation, there’s some concern about crowding that there’s too many sheep hunters especially in the first part of the season, there’s been some concern about aircraft spotting sheep during the season, that’s been a huge issue, there’s been concern about harvest by non-residents compared to how many are taken by the residents.”
He also encouraged the public to submit comments on the Southcentral Region proposed changes before the February 27, 2015 deadline.
The Board of Game meetings for the Southcentral Region will be held March 13-17 in Anchorage at UAA in the Student Union.