Hey, I saw this on Men's Journal and thought you’d be interested in it: http://www.mensjournal.com/fea...825?utm_source=email

This is the letter I just emailed the magazine.

Just read the story by Saki Knafo and have to ask a few questions…. He ends the story with a confession of killing a caribou while riding a snowmachine.
I am an avid hunter and conservationist. I have paid the state of Alaska many hundreds of dollars for the privilege to shoot a caribou. I also paid an outfitter, a pilot, and a shipping agent. My hunt was conducted completely under the Alaska Fish and Game rules for non-resident hunters. I am a hunter and proud of it. I expect the same ethics from magazine writers. Maybe, Mr. Knafo changed from journalist to poacher the moment he pulled the trigger.

Did Mr. Knafo receive special permission from Alaska Fish and Game to harvest the caribou? Was he in possession of a valid caribou tag? Was Mr. Knafo exempt from the non-resident requirement because he is a native Alaskan? Your response will dictate the tone of my call to enforcement in Alaska.

Maybe some of the locals can explain how he gets to shoot a caribou.

Thanks,
Ski+3

You don't need a guide to hunt caribou in Alaska. As long as he had a license and it was legal to hunt, he's good.

Hmmm. Interesting. The Unit 23 regs (in which Kivilina is located) says Bull only for Non-Residents, and the season only goes from August 1st to Sept 30th). He says he shot a "doe", i.e., a cow. You can shoot from a snow machine, but not a moving one.

Take a look at the AK regulations. I would have to say, he's an idiot to have taken a shot with an open sighted rifle (with the "back half broken off" as he says) when he claims not to have shot a rifle in ten years.

Don't read like they were sitting still.
More like running and shooting, just blasting away til the cow dropped from a hip shot, then had to go finish her up.
This part was at the very end of the article.

George

To me this reads like he took literary license. A lot happened in the short time he was in the village. Sounds like he heard a bunch of stories he was told and wrote them as if he was there.

M

well Ive seen the Hailstones on TV kill caribou from their boat as the Caribou were swimming across the river and they shot a bunch of them. A sporting venture is was not,not intended to be, it was survival apparently..

Did it bother me, not really, they are allowed to do so Im told as they are Eskimos and live on what they can shoot for the most part..

Im sure its a pro and con subject...

If I lived in a remote village in the far North and that's all I had to eat, you can bet Id be filling my larder every year.

Ray,

There are no Eskimos that HAVE TO live off caribou. Game and fish are a supplement plus hunting and fishing is a deeply ingrained cultural activity but not anywhere near a necessity for survival. A lot of people would change their outlook on the indigenous people of the North if they saw these folks buying stacks of pre made frozen hamburger patties to take back to the village when you know they have a 30 cubic foot freezer full of moose, salmon etc. Living in the bush is a real eye opener.

Mark

No arguerment here, but I think you might be a little bit overboard on the subject when you say all. What I don't like to see is when they kill and then barter the meat and hides, I won't judge them but I dislike the idea, but then Im not up there trying to survive.

Some still cling to the old ways, many others are just alcoholics, I see the same on the reservations in the US..but to each his own on that subject..

I was under the impression that the native Alaskans were eligible for food stamps and government assistance. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Food stamps are based on income and I suspect the income in remote villages is such that they do draw the maximum amount of food stamps. Possibly would feed a family that lived in a city. But there is a high shipping fee on everything brought to a village, so I would suspect food prices so high that food stamps only supplement a small amount of the necessities and the bulk of the food is dependent on hunting. I doubt you see them shooting animals and taking the antlers only.

I have reported wildlife violations written in magazines to the Alaska and Wyoming game departments. Neither one got back to me.

Nor did I ever hear anything about it written anywhere else.

Good luck to you, but the odds are highly against anything happening.

Unless the laws have recently changed food stamps could be used to purchase guns and ammunition for subsistence purposes villages.
And at times the amount of pure wanton slaughter and waste of game is appalling, But on the other hand "hunting ethics" are not designed to put food on the table.

I was under the impression that the laws against wanton waste were strictly enforced in Alaska. That is a lot of country to try to patrol though.

quote:

Originally posted by 458Win:
Unless the laws have recently changed food stamps could be used to purchase guns and ammunition for subsistence purposes villages.

I've been in too many country stores in the lower 48 and watched food stamps used to buy beer, gasoline, smokes, etc to be surprised.

Guys,

I lived and worked with 4 of the 11 Alaskan native groups over 22 years while I lived in Dillingham. AK and worked at the Native Health Service hospital there. On a daily basis I interacted with natives in an area covering of 40,000 square miles taking in the whole of AK Peninsula and a large piece of Western AK. None of those native people lived a "primitive" lifestyle or lived off the land. They lived almost exclusively in stick built homes, most had cable TV, a truck, car, or 4 wheeler, color TV and/or a computer, a boat and snowmobile. The picture of these people being solely dependent on game and fish for survival is completely false and I never heard of any of the native folks I know "bartering the meat and hides".

Oil and commercial salmon fishing plus good investments by the native corporations brings a lot of prosperity to much of Alaska's natives. in the Interior there are communities that have little local employment and government assistance is more important but even these folks are not dependent on Dad being able to kill a caribou in order for them to eat.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:

Oil and commercial salmon fishing plus good investments by the native corporations brings a lot of prosperity to much of Alaska's natives. in the Interior there are communities that have little local employment and government assistance is more important but even these folks are not dependent on Dad being able to kill a caribou in order for them to eat.

Mark

Mark,

I was with you until you used the bolded term. I'd love to hear what your cut off point is for a "lot of prosperity".

No doubt some native corporations, such as CIRI of Cook Inlet, had some great investments with large dividends for their shareholders.

Yes the natives get lots and lots of social program benefits from food stamp cards, free healthcare, Alaska PFD (that we all get), Hud housing, price cost equalization for utility costs, bypass bulk mail reductions to make shipping supplies from Anchorage cheaper (non-native people also benefit) etc.

I would venture to say I did far more village travel in my 8 years in Dillingham actually delivering healthcare and medivacing patients than you did in your employment though you did communicate and expedite regularly with village health aides needs. Joyce spent many nights in every single village while administering the immunization program for four years.

I'm not disagreeing with you as far as living a subsistence only lifestyle, HUD stick housing, and the "toys" such as skiffs and snogos. I also have no "Noble Savage" delusions. I hunted in winter on snogo with natives from Dillingham. Trash such as pop cans tossed off the machines and questionable, for me, practices of taking Caribou from snogos was enough for me not to hunt with these folks again.

That said, all the meat was salvaged and much of it shared with households not partaking in the hunt.

Fish are put up en masse every summer at fish camps and shared with elders not physically up to the task.

I would say, depending on the personal definition, subsistence is definitely part of the culture. But no, the Yu'Pik are no longer living in sod huts and running dogs.

BTW, when we left Dillingham fuel was $1.36 a gallon. Do you know how much it is in the villages now?

What is your definition of prosperous?



Respectfully
Jim.

quote:

at times the amount of pure wanton slaughter and waste of game is appalling

Unfortunately that seems to be the norm in my experience, not the exception. When I lived in Nome the population of St Laurence Island was about 800, and they were killing 2000 walrus a year in the name of subsistence and claiming it was only to put food on the table. That's 2.5 2000lb walrus per year for every man, woman, and child. It must taste REALLY good! Either that or the ivory is worth a lot, one or the other.

It got so bad the Russians complained and the USFW guys had to cease stopping in Nome for gas enroute on investigations as phone calls would be made to the island and the perps would clear out and everyone got their stories straight before the plane could land.

I challenge anyone to go to a village in spring and then tell me about subsistence. On my last visit to one town I counted 13 polar bear hides hung on porches in various shades of green-gray-black as they rotted, but plenty of claws for sale. Walk around Shish in the spring and see and smell the stinking piles of rotting seal meat (for dog food, but you can sell the hide) stacked high in front of many houses. And I still grate my teeth about a teenage punk who bragged to me about sinking 16 beulgas with his 30-06 and killing wolves with a screwdriver in the ear after running them to collapse with a snowmachine. Because he could. Very traditional.

I won't even get into the whole flakey "technique" of shooting swimming walrus by timing their breathing and going for CNS hits at a full breath so that "hopefully" they stay afloat that I've be regaled with in several villages. If it doesn't quite work out, well, there are usually dozens more and the rotted carcass will eventually wash up with the ivory still intact, so there is THAT.

Ask me how I really feel.

Bob

Any of us who have spent time in any village have stories like Bob's, and like all small villages there are no secrets - but when questioned by F&W enforcement no one know anything - except that it was most likely done by outside guides and hunters.

OBob:
Very educational, enlightening, and sad.
Cal

quote:

Originally posted by Omnivorous_Bob:

quote:

at times the amount of pure wanton slaughter and waste of game is appalling

Unfortunately that seems to be the norm in my experience, not the exception. When I lived in Nome the population of St Laurence Island was about 800, and they were killing 2000 walrus a year in the name of subsistence and claiming it was only to put food on the table. That's 2.5 2000lb walrus per year for every man, woman, and child. It must taste REALLY good! Either that or the ivory is worth a lot, one or the other.

It got so bad the Russians complained and the USFW guys had to cease stopping in Nome for gas enroute on investigations as phone calls would be made to the island and the perps would clear out and everyone got their stories straight before the plane could land.

I challenge anyone to go to a village in spring and then tell me about subsistence. On my last visit to one town I counted 13 polar bear hides hung on porches in various shades of green-gray-black as they rotted, but plenty of claws for sale. Walk around Shish in the spring and see and smell the stinking piles of rotting seal meat (for dog food, but you can sell the hide) stacked high in front of many houses. And I still grate my teeth about a teenage punk who bragged to me about sinking 16 beulgas with his 30-06 and killing wolves with a screwdriver in the ear after running them to collapse with a snowmachine. Because he could. Very traditional.

I won't even get into the whole flakey "technique" of shooting swimming walrus by timing their breathing and going for CNS hits at a full breath so that "hopefully" they stay afloat that I've be regaled with in several villages. If it doesn't quite work out, well, there are usually dozens more and the rotted carcass will eventually wash up with the ivory still intact, so there is THAT.

Ask me how I really feel.

Bob

Bob,
Although I can't dispute any of your claims, I am skeptical.

Last summer a local teenager similar to the one you describe regaled me with fishing exploits he commanded on a local river that I know and fish well. As with you, I couldn't dispute his claims, but I'd had as much actual "boots on the ground" experience as anyone else there and had not observed or participated in anything like he described. Certainly an exaggeration in my teenagers case and I'm guessing in yours too.

Killing wolves with a screw driver thru the ear seems a bit far fetched. Have you ever pursued wolves via snow go? Teen agers killing them with a phillips?

As to your other claims of polar bear , walrus and seal slaughter, well who knows. Marine Mammals are under federal management and protection and my experience is that in villages although the trust of "Outsiders" like law enforcement officers can be slim, theres usually several within the village ready and eager to squeal on that cousin or neighbor their mad at.

Can't prove you wrong, but I doubt it.

I do have village subsistence experience, in the spring, fall and otherwise. Yes there is and can be waste, at times wanton waste. However I have observed by living and participating here in the village for 20 years that waste is the exception, not the rule. Moose, and sometimes several moose are killed and shared between a family or several families. Salmon and waterfowl the same. Recently I have known of several cases of hunters taking game by Proxy in order to fill freezers and dinner plates for elders or others unable to hunt for themselves due to physical disability.

How does Marine Mammal taste? I dunno and don't want to. There are some seals killed around here as well as Beluga and walrus. I can tell you I've never seen any of it end up in the landfill or dumped on the beach. Looks to me like it gets digested.

Yeah, we Rural AK residents can buy beef, tuna in a can too. No we don't need to subsistence hunt to survive the day. Why would we buy beef though? We have caribou. Last night I had nacho's for dinner. Store bought cheese, beans, cilantro, sour cream, olives, onion, Tortilla chips and ground moose burger, no beef or pork fat added, just 100%moose meat, fried in store bought olive oil. I'm guessing most you city folks living on the road didn't eat moose last night. My moose historically has been and expensive affair, float planes, jet boats, weeks off of work, and a Cabelas purchase all make the moose price per pound exceed the cost of Angus. This year it was three days, ten gallons of gas, a few groceries in a cooler and Bud lite. Cheap eats I think.

Finally, I think I read recently you city folks run over more or less a thousand moose a year on AK highways. 1000 moose under the tires, off the fenders and bumpers. In the village we don't hit any with our cars. How much of that harvested by Buick moose would you say is wasted? Half? 3/4? Of the 1000 moose you crumple radiators around would you say 500 of them are "left to rot"?

I think your exaggerating and simply wrong on your facts Bob, 'sides, looks to me like you've got plenty to clean up in your own backyard/ roadside.

Jim,

I don't know what your real point is. Prosperity can be a relative term in this case like anything else. The living conditions for Alaska Natives are not dramatically different now than they are for folks living in the rest of rural USA. My point was to dispel any notion that AK natives are living in the house built into the ground, wearing animal skins 24/7 and living off the land solely. Are you challenging my understanding of the Natives way of life? Jim my first job in AK was putting a cellar under a Native's house and they considered me family from that point onward. My first hunting and fishing experiences there were with my native friends and 22 years working with and for AK natives is 22 years experience rather it be in Dillingham or brief visits to other villages. yeah! Joyce traveled all over and so did Sadie as a field coordinator for CHAP and out patient ER manager. Your point is?

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by Omnivorous_Bob:
[QUOTE]at times the amount of pure wanton slaughter and waste of game is appalling

I'm guessing most you city folks living on the road didn't eat moose last night.

Nope, I changed it up, had sheep instead....

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Jim,

I don't know what your real point is. Prosperity can be a relative term in this case like anything else. The living conditions for Alaska Natives are not dramatically different now than they are for folks living in the rest of rural USA. My point was to dispel any notion that AK natives are living in the house built into the ground, wearing animal skins 24/7 and living off the land solely. Are you challenging my understanding of the Natives way of life? Jim my first job in AK was putting a cellar under a Native's house and they considered me family from that point onward. My first hunting and fishing experiences there were with my native friends and 22 years working with and for AK natives is 22 years experience rather it be in Dillingham or brief visits to other villages. yeah! Joyce traveled all over and so did Sadie as a field coordinator for CHAP and out patient ER manager. Your point is?

Mark

Simply the definition of "lots of prosperity". I never thought of many villagers as "prosperous" but your mileage may vary.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Adventure907:

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by Omnivorous_Bob:
[QUOTE]at times the amount of pure wanton slaughter and waste of game is appalling

I'm guessing most you city folks living on the road didn't eat moose last night.

Nope, I changed it up, had sheep instead....

We did have Moose last night but we are trying to finish it off since it's from 2015 so we can start decimating this years Caribou.

Being there don't make anyone a expert. Just experienced. And everyone has different experiences. Saying another is wrong or right based off your own experiences is a dead end road.
I'm not gonna blather into my experience with rural Alaskans or village life to try and convince anyone here that my opinion of their experiences is more accurate than their first hand account.
Strictly based off what my friend in the village have told me about how meat
Is cared for in some situations, it's appalling and disappointing. A native guy from the village said they dump the freezer each year to fill it with fresh meat. Trashing whatever they had from the year before. The pt hope caribou and walrus killings are examples of the judgment applied to animal harvest in some situations. But situations are many and very few alike.

quote:

Originally posted by Fourtyonesix:
Being there don't make anyone a expert. Just experienced. And everyone has different experiences. Saying another is wrong or right based off your own experiences is a dead end road.
I'm not gonna blather into my experience with rural Alaskans or village life to try and convince anyone here that my opinion of their experiences is more accurate than their first hand account.
Strictly based off what my friend in the village have told me about how meat
Is cared for in some situations, it's appalling and disappointing. A native guy from the village said they dump the freezer each year to fill it with fresh meat. Trashing whatever they had from the year before. The pt hope caribou and walrus killings are examples of the judgment applied to animal harvest in some situations. But situations are many and very few alike.

Actually, as with other topics like firearms and their use on bears, "being there" usually does offer a higher level of expertise than those that ain't. I have found many times that preconceived clever prejudices taint opinions and recollections.

The idea that natives being the ultimate protectors of mother earth and her animals is a liberal myth.

The only reason they hadn't wiped out herds before the white man came is walking and hauling game long distances is hard and they did not have modern tools to kill things with.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
The idea that natives being the ultimate protectors of mother earth and her animals is a liberal myth.

The only reason they hadn't wiped out herds before the white man came is walking and hauling game long distances is hard and they did not have modern tools to kill things with.

True, the whole "Caretaker of the Land" business is way exaggerated, but I wouldn't say they'd of wiped out herds if given the opportunity.

Here in my part of AK theres an observed, spoken and felt sense of respecting the land, flora and fauna and the water on it. Pebble Mine was uniformly opposed because the Locals felt it would harm our land here. Poison our water.

As I said above, sure, there are incidences of waste sometimes even wanton waste, but locally game and fish numbers are increasing because in part the local populace respects and cares about the wildlife.

"Actually, as with other topics like firearms and their use on bears, "being there" usually does offer a higher level of expertise than those that ain't. I have found many times that preconceived clever prejudices taint opinions and recollections".[/QUOTE]


Can't argue with any of that.
And I won't be playing scrabble with you anytime soon.

quote:

Originally posted by Fourtyonesix:
"Actually, as with other topics like firearms and their use on bears, "being there" usually does offer a higher level of expertise than those that ain't. I have found many times that preconceived clever prejudices taint opinions and recollections".

Can't argue with any of that.
And I won't be playing scrabble with you anytime soon.[/QUOTE]

You'd beat me with both hands tied behind your back. With a wet noodle. Blindfolded. Like a stray dog.

quote:

Originally posted by Omnivorous_Bob:

quote:

at times the amount of pure wanton slaughter and waste of game is appalling

Unfortunately that seems to be the norm in my experience, not the exception. When I lived in Nome the population of St Laurence Island was about 800, and they were killing 2000 walrus a year in the name of subsistence and claiming it was only to put food on the table. That's 2.5 2000lb walrus per year for every man, woman, and child. It must taste REALLY good! Either that or the ivory is worth a lot, one or the other.

It got so bad the Russians complained and the USFW guys had to cease stopping in Nome for gas enroute on investigations as phone calls would be made to the island and the perps would clear out and everyone got their stories straight before the plane could land.

I challenge anyone to go to a village in spring and then tell me about subsistence. On my last visit to one town I counted 13 polar bear hides hung on porches in various shades of green-gray-black as they rotted, but plenty of claws for sale. Walk around Shish in the spring and see and smell the stinking piles of rotting seal meat (for dog food, but you can sell the hide) stacked high in front of many houses. And I still grate my teeth about a teenage punk who bragged to me about sinking 16 beulgas with his 30-06 and killing wolves with a screwdriver in the ear after running them to collapse with a snowmachine. Because he could. Very traditional.

I won't even get into the whole flakey "technique" of shooting swimming walrus by timing their breathing and going for CNS hits at a full breath so that "hopefully" they stay afloat that I've be regaled with in several villages. If it doesn't quite work out, well, there are usually dozens more and the rotted carcass will eventually wash up with the ivory still intact, so there is THAT.

Ask me how I really feel.

Bob

I lived in Kotzebue and Nome back in the early 90's. I can't say I've seen the numbers described above but I've seen everything described above.

Very informative thread, and I'll remove myself and observation to the more educated on the subject..Nothing these days is what it seems to be..

I see that on our reservations wherein food stamps and alcohol reign and the only means of support is paid to protesters and that buys more alcohol. Ive seen food stamps used to buy a candy bar and get $10. change to buy beer and whiskey. Ive seen food stamps being purchased at 10 cents on the dollar by mom and pop grocerys stores, and the change used to buy booze...Its a disgrace to the Indian nation and to the Gov. that allows it..hopefully some of this has been attended to by now..?????

I would be curious however to know what the law is for the indigenous of Alaska since Ive seen Caribou killed by the dozen swimming a river by them on TV recently???That is why I assumed they were legal.

Certain units killing swimming caribou is legal. Perhaps made legal because no one was going to stop as it's the easiest way to kill multiple caribou effectively and be able to transport them to where ever you want prior to butchering. And. No packing.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Very informative thread, and I'll remove myself and observation to the more educated on the subject..Nothing these days is what it seems to be..

I see that on our reservations wherein food stamps and alcohol reign and the only means of support is paid to protesters and that buys more alcohol. Ive seen food stamps used to buy a candy bar and get $10. change to buy beer and whiskey. Ive seen food stamps being purchased at 10 cents on the dollar by mom and pop grocerys stores, and the change used to buy booze...Its a disgrace to the Indian nation and to the Gov. that allows it..hopefully some of this has been attended to by now..?????

I would be curious however to know what the law is for the indigenous of Alaska since Ive seen Caribou killed by the dozen swimming a river by them on TV recently???That is why I assumed they were legal.

Its complex of course Ray, the laws and reg's change unit/ zone/ area to area and year to year.

We used to not be able to hunt Emperor geese, apparently we're going to be able to in 2017 or 18. They can waterfowl egg collect in some areas, not others. Sometimes/ places shooting caribou in the water some not, some get to same day airborne shoot game some don't.

What I'd emphasize to you and the rest of my non resident friends here is that the process for setting laws and reg's for Fish and Game, (both sport use, commercial and subsistence is very public and evolving. As you asked specifically about indigenous Alaskans, I can tell you emphatically that yes, the laws and processes apply to them too. Public Board meetings are held around the state, not just Anchorage or Juneau. Board members for the variety of state and federal boards change and usually attempt to reflect the diverse interests, i.e., not all members are from one city, one user group, one ethnicity. Proposals are submitted to the regulatory boards by area fish and game managers, regional advisory councils and individuals no greater or lesser than you or me. All are considered, testimony is heard, decisions are made.

No, the native entities don't make all the rules any more than the guide associations do. If a reg is in place that seems to heavily favor either the guides, natives or Wasilla housewives its because those housewives participated in the board process and convinced the board they needed that reg. By the way, I thing the boards meet every two years, so if you really hate that Wasilla housewife favoring reg, get it un done at the next meeting!

The process and the final plat is usually convoluted, flawed and occasionally really bad practice, but they do try to do the right thing. The Native/ Subsistence entities want fish and game to harvest for today and the future. The sport use interests and commercial use interests the same. As I mentioned previously, Pebble Mine was uniformly opposed in my region because they felt the money gained from a pit mine at the top of our watershed in no way could off set the loss of our fishery.

The Cliff Notes are that there is no one way of doing things, no one set of allowances or prohibitions. Every year is a new year in each hunting unit and sub unit and the methods may change.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Very informative thread, and I'll remove myself and observation to the more educated on the subject..Nothing these days is what it seems to be..

I see that on our reservations wherein food stamps and alcohol reign and the only means of support is paid to protesters and that buys more alcohol. Ive seen food stamps used to buy a candy bar and get $10. change to buy beer and whiskey. Ive seen food stamps being purchased at 10 cents on the dollar by mom and pop grocerys stores, and the change used to buy booze...Its a disgrace to the Indian nation and to the Gov. that allows it..hopefully some of this has been attended to by now..?????

I would be curious however to know what the law is for the indigenous of Alaska since Ive seen Caribou killed by the dozen swimming a river by them on TV recently???That is why I assumed they were legal.

Its complex of course Ray, the laws and reg's change unit/ zone/ area to area and year to year.

We used to not be able to hunt Emperor geese, apparently we're going to be able to in 2017 or 18. They can waterfowl egg collect in some areas, not others. Sometimes/ places shooting caribou in the water some not, some get to same day airborne shoot game some don't.

What I'd emphasize to you and the rest of my non resident friends here is that the process for setting laws and reg's for Fish and Game, (both sport use, commercial and subsistence is very public and evolving. As you asked specifically about indigenous Alaskans, I can tell you emphatically that yes, the laws and processes apply to them too. Public Board meetings are held around the state, not just Anchorage or Juneau. Board members for the variety of state and federal boards change and usually attempt to reflect the diverse interests, i.e., not all members are from one city, one user group, one ethnicity. Proposals are submitted to the regulatory boards by area fish and game managers, regional advisory councils and individuals no greater or lesser than you or me. All are considered, testimony is heard, decisions are made.

No, the native entities don't make all the rules any more than the guide associations do. If a reg is in place that seems to heavily favor either the guides, natives or Wasilla housewives its because those housewives participated in the board process and convinced the board they needed that reg. By the way, I thing the boards meet every two years, so if you really hate that Wasilla housewife favoring reg, get it un done at the next meeting!

The process and the final plat is usually convoluted, flawed and occasionally really bad practice, but they do try to do the right thing. The Native/ Subsistence entities want fish and game to harvest for today and the future. The sport use interests and commercial use interests the same. As I mentioned previously, Pebble Mine was uniformly opposed in my region because they felt the money gained from a pit mine at the top of our watershed in no way could off set the loss of our fishery.

The Cliff Notes are that there is no one way of doing things, no one set of allowances or prohibitions. Every year is a new year in each hunting unit and sub unit and the methods may change.

Concise and well put.