Two popular mountain goat hunts outside of Seward and Homer will close via emergency orders for the season in order to prevent overharvest.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game wrote in a release that after aerial surveys and already reported harvests, registration hunts in Game Management Units 7 and 15 will close at 11:59 pm November 11.
Mountain goat population calculations by the Department are calculated in “goat units”: one billy goat is counted as one goat unit while each nanny represents two goat units.
Aerial surveys are used to count mountain goats and set harvest quotas for hunt areas.
The harvest for the hunt outside of Seward was seven goat units – five billies and one nanny – as of November 9. The maximum allowable harvest for that hunt located between Resurrection Bay and Day harbor is eight goat units.
As for the hunt east of Homer on the far side of Kachemak Bay, hunters reported harvesting six goat units as of November 9 – four billies and one nanny. The harvest quota for that area is seven goat units.
