BW sometimes you just have to forgive the idiots of the world.

If it wasn't for our evil fish and game, and hunting guides, why, I bet some non resident hunters could actually hit the game they were shooting at.

I am taking my neighbors boy hunting for the first time next week.I took him skeet shooting last week .He hit with my shotgun from the second shot on.I let him shoot my 20 ga ,375 jdj carbine ,my 454 pistol and 338 win mag with a boss.He is only 16 and 6'5" .I am going to let him shoot my 416 rem mag and 338-378 weatherby.He is taking his hunter safety course the next two days.I think I will let him hunt with my 338 win mag with the boss on it for moose and caribou.I am not going to let him be a small bore boy.He takes to shooting better than any kid I have ever seen to never have shot a gun much.I hope he get a caribou when we go.I hope that more people start doing thgis to save our sport.

I'm from the lower 48, but lived in and still come home to AK every year.
Allow me to give you boys a little advice: You are going about this reg thing and complaints of non recruitment entirely wrong.
first AK outfitters themselves priced NR out of coming to AK. At that point Res. hunters didn't care, hey more game for us was the attitude. Then the natives took to the courst. You Res. wanted support in your fights against what these so called natives claimed were "their rights". How on earthdid you ,expect support from hunters in the lower 48 when it no longer affected them?
Open your arms to NR hunters, get them vested in your fight for legislation that guarrantees hunters rights legally. Get their support for reasonble regulations and game laws. The strenght is still in numbers and each year your loosing the strenght.
To sit back and gripe among yourselves while gloating on the fact that most NR can not afford the outlandish outfitter fees. does nothing but leads you down a dead end road.BB

I'd venture to say that you are wrong about guides and outfitters pricing the non res hunter out of coming up. On the contrary, there are plenty of non-res hunters with the money to come up and hunt. Top guides are booked a year or more in advance for hunts that cost $12-15,000 for a single animal.

Yes, prices are high for the average guy, and most of them can't afford to come up and hunt, but that hasn't prevented tremendous growth in the guiding/transporting industry, especially transporters. Those transporter fees are also high for resident hunters. Prices are also high for guided or outfitted hunts in the lower 48.

The real issue is managing the game herds for maximum yield, as that benefits all hunters. Unfortunately due to political pressure that is not being done.

I still think population growth overrides all other factors and the future of alaska is easy to predict. All we have to do is look at the lower 48 and include the fact that carrying capacities are much lower at high latitudes. I was a kid in Pa and what exists there is what most hunters apparently want for alaska. Lots of development, hunters, abundant game, and roads everywhere. (There is no point further than 5 miles from a road.) Not a single clean river and none of those damned wolves. Paradise in Penns Woods.

"Your outfitters and the ADFG can screw some of the people some of the time, but you cant screw all the non- residents all of the time...."

Wrong again, Bill.

Not only can they screw ALL the non-residents ALL THE TIME, but they can include screwing MOST OF THE RESIDENTS ALL THE TIME as well.

I think you are venturing your guess on the same old false hopes. They being high fees = less NR - more game for Res.
Yes a $12000-15000 trip is way out of most hunters in the Lower 48, most families are 2 incomes trying to meet ends. Just what % would you venture your guess being can afford those fees? Mine stab would be <3% of them at best.
Alaska needs recruitment, workable regulations, etc. The Great Land's res. nos. are limited. That is fact,unless you attract a higher % of NR to become involved with your concerns your days are numbered .
What would be a step in the right direction is for the Outfitters themselves to quit raping the system. Police themselves. Res. need to stop the silly practice of substance (sp?) hunting. Cripes my old Granny still gets a permit for a moose each year free! She needs a moose each year like I need a whole steer each year for a 1 person family. This alone will increase animal numbers.
Most hunters that have traveled to AK see the res. as what they refer to here in the Lower as "Locals" basically slob hunters, take more than they need, hunt whenever,etc. Cripes look around Kenai, back of the airport. just on edge of town . It is a common sight to see a moose carcass cut up along the road, half the meat laying there to spoil. with magpie crap laying on it. and if a ner do well wants one of those big bull 'bou that are protected there they just go kill one. While there buddies sit back and keep their mouths shut. This is just a few examples.
What were the lyrics to that rap song awhile back???....clean up your own back yard before you go snooping around..." BB

I don't think that the high costs of guided hunting is having any deterent to folks coming up.

I'll have to do some research on numbers, but I believe that alot of game taken in the state is by non-res hunters. I wouldn't be the least suprised if in some areas where hunters are flown out, the majority of game is taken by non-res.

I really don't see how non-res hunters can be of much help in regard to hunting regs in AK. I'd venture to say those hunters interested in coming up from the lower 48 are outnumbered 100-1 by bunny huggers.

Yes, any resident with a hunting license can get a moose tag, which allows the taking of one moose per year in areas open to harvest. That said, only 20% of resident hunters are successful per year. When you narrow it down to spike forks, or 50+" 3 brow tine (for many areas) you really narrow down what can be harvested. F&G manages to allow aproximately 10% of moose kill to be by hunters, predators and mother nature get the other 90%.

If you consider most resident hunters as slobs, then you are as ignorant as your posts seem to indicate. Yes, we absolutely have slobs and poachers, just as everywhere else in the world. What this really comes down to is petty jealousy and a vast misunderstanding of what resident hunting is really like.

Sure, we can get over the counter tags that would allow us to take 1 moose, 3 blackbears, 1 grizzly, 5 deer, 5 caribou per year. There are also permit hunts for other species. The question is, who has the several months free, and 10's of thousands of dollars to fly around the state to harvest those animals? Precious few people.

About the only difference between res and non res is cheaper license and tags, and no round trip ticket up here. Other than that it is very expensive or time consuming to hunt in this state.

Paul H: Reread my post I said MOST hunters in the lower think...slobs,etc. Hell I'm from Alaska myself,least I was for 41 yrs till I got transfered down here. But I come back to my home (which I still own outside of Sterling) 2 weeks every three months, sometimes more.
I am well aware of the problems in Ak, both on the Res. and NR sides.
Most people living in Ak now came from "somewhere else".
I do not agree about the high costs of hunting for the res. trailer a boat up and get on the Yukon River, hunt moose. Drive along the Chugach Mts. hunt EVERYTHING from where the road ends,etc. Not all hunting is flyout or fishing for that matter. Run aboat over to Haines, hunt for weeks off a good road. Yes I've done it and continue to do it. No big deal to catch a float anywhere, or get ran to Kodiak, etc.
Heck last year I saw an add in at flight service for $150 to fly out to the 'bou and haul your "5" back.
But the topic was how to save hunting in AK. And to do that you'll need numbers of NR to come up and have a vested interest in the state. Not just NR's with the attitude "hey I'm paying $10 K for the next 10 days and I do not care what happens to these people on the 11th."
Call me ignorant.could be but I've been in Ak alot more than...what you say ? you were here for 7 yrs???????

in a crab shell we are asking them to help us to get workable regulations in place for hunting/fishing. A set regulation that can be interpeted by someone without a couple framed certificates in his office.Cripes just on the Kenai River alone the regs are overwhelming. I say the Kenai cause I know it. Also helping keep the hunting heritage alive. As you know or should know our recruitment is slipping with the younger generations.

Ballbuster,

I'm all for simplifing life, hunting regs included. Add in the Federal Subsistence Regs, and it gets worse.

However, I find you statement vague and lacking in substance. Has someone written a simpler reg book which covers all the important points? A book we can refer residents and non-residents towards when they ask "what can I do to help?" Without intial guidance, nobody is going to be able to help.

Personally I don't think things are all that bad. A quick call to the ADF&G has always cleared up any questions I may have about the regs. Hunting regs have never stumped me completely. Although I did have to cancel a hunt (a few months out) when I realized the Feds had restricted the area to local hunters only. Fishing regs however, have caused me to call and get clarification several times.

Great posts PaulH and Bw ,

I lived in Alaska most of my life and have recently moved to Virginia. Like you BW, I'm not sure that most lower 48 states have "simpler" regulations. In Viginia and Maryland firarms laws can vary from county to city, and so do deer seasons, accidentally step accross the county line (which are not all that big down here) in deer season and you could be poaching...

I completely agree with your earlier statement Paul about the high costs of big game hunting for most residents. Myself, my brother in law (whose on this forum) and my brother all lived in Fairbanks for several years, and we did amazingly little big game hunting. As a student/food service worker I just couldn't afford even simply dorp off hunts. Road hunting in most places just doesn't work (there are exceptions like in Southeast/central). So we spent most of our little free time small game and bird hunting. Non-residents do have a much higher success rate than residents.

Just my 2 cents.

dgr I got news for you...hunting is not becomming a rich man's sport only in AK! Try buying into a top deer lease anywhere in the lower 48. It could easily run you $1000S/yr. The alternate is use public land which is for the most part over hunter,over regulated, over crowded and on a lottery system for the tag.
Hunting today is not like it was 25-30 yrs ago ANYWHERE!!

Know what else I don't understand?? Every year we read that hunter numbers continue to decline. Also as a group we are growing older. But each year the numbers of tags continue to decrease and those that are issued are given out at much higher prices. Could it just be that the Game Depts of each state are looking at easy money?BB