The funny thing about Anchorage from the last time I lived in Alaska until now is pretty much the same.

Head out of town north or south, and within a few minutes of driving towards Seward or driving out into the valley and it's like having a happiness readjustment.

Took the kids to the zoo yesterday, and then the wife wanted to drive towards Seward so we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Consrvation Center. So we pull in and it's $18 for the carload (military), pretty good bargain at that.

Why are they putting elk on the Aleutians?

And how long before we can start hunting wood bison? $10,000 in the Yukon for one is a lot of coin.

Not sure about the rest of your post, but as for the Wood Bison they are currently working out the logistics (who pays for) of shipping them out to the Innoko River. Once there they will need to do their thing and reproduce before a season starts. I believe subsistence hunting by local communities will start first and then when populations levels reach a point draw opportunities will start.

Brett

Sometimes I drink and surf AR.

Makes for some combined topic reading.

Thanks for the notes on the wood bison.

Still weird about elk out there in the Aleutians. Kind of a long ways to go to kill an elk.

Are you sure you're not thinking of reindeer? I know they have reindeer, but I've NEVER heard of elk on the Aleutians.

Brett

There is a big sign at the Alaska Wildlife Center about the Roosevelt elk from Santa Rosa that are there.

They are putting them on an Island in the Aleutians next year.

Hmmmm......I'll have to ask around. Thanks.

Brett

Pretty strange, but interesting.

Never heard exactly what happened to the Elk of Santa Rosa, since the F&&&&&ing park service wanted them off the island.

Would be nice if some of them ended up here.

Well, there are elk on Etolin and some other PWS islands, but haven't heard about sending some imports to the Aleutians - I'd think that would be some big news. The wood bison problem has been in the news for years. AK finally got the go ahead to re-introduce them.

The Alutians should be good elk habitat as long as once in a while they introduce some new genes.

I remember twenty years back, there was talk about reintroduction of elk into central Ak. Bunch of people were against it for all kinds of crazy reasons, but mainly they didn't want another species available for the hunters.

There are elk a few hundred miles across the border in Canada, we see whitetails near the border from time to time, but they never seem to stick around. Local Indians have stories that wood bison were near the border in the 1800s.

F&G does a pretty good job sharing the resource with the demands they face from all user groups. The feds are forever talking to local subsistence users about restricting atv/trail access so as to lock out the influx of urban hunters. Their point is always if we can keep these people out, they'll be more moose for the locals, no joke. The feds actually invite certain people that usually are receptive to their message and completely forget about the average hunters; no joke; always during the winter when roads are closed.

You'd think they'd try to grow the resource, kill more wolves, or make it more affordable for the locals to snare more wolves. When gas is over 5 bucks, people don't joy ride or trap like they did when it was more realistic; just can't afford it on a subsistence lifestyle.

I'm afraid the end result might be restrictions that will limit the urban users access in rural Alaska. Been the process since the 1980s on many caribou migrations.

Any new game species introduction would be great for Alaska just the same.

I thought I remember years ago reading that they had Elk on Afognak Island?
Even remember a picture of an overweight Bull someone had killed.
What Island is the rumored transplant of Elk in the Aleutians?

The elk at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage are scheduled to be transplanted to Akun Island. It is 10 miles across and 64 square miles and is southwest of Unimak Island. The island is private land owned by natives. There is a population of 1,200 cows on the island that roam free at the present time.

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Originally posted by Snellstrom:

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thought I remember years ago reading that they had Elk on Afognak Island?

They're still there.

As far as needing an attitude adjustment in Anchorage, I've found all you need to do is hit the trails or parks.