The Department of Fish and Game counted 22 moose taken during the Haines area’s Tier II subsistence hunt this year, two of which were sublegal. The hunt closed after Oct. 7.
Of the 20 legal moose, three met the spiked fork configuration, 12 had three or more brow tines, and five had a rack more than 50 inches wide.
“We usually get anywhere from one to three sublegals per year,” said Fish and Game area biologist Stephanie Sell. “It sucks, but we know it is going to happen.”
The department will conduct its annual aerial moose survey in November or December, Sell said.
“We try to do it before the moose start shedding their antlers and after the first snow, so we can see that contrast of the moose against the snow,” she said.
The goat hunt is still underway, though two nearby areas have already been closed.
The Haines-Skagway area is divided into three sub-units, with smaller areas within the sub-units each with its own “point system.” Nannies count as two points, and billies count as one. Once a point quota is reached in an area, Fish and Game closes it.
The area from 10 Mile Haines Highway to town closed Sept. 18 after two goats were killed. “That usually goes one to two days after it opens because there are so few points allowed in that area, mainly because of access,” Sell said.
The area exceeded its quota of one point because hunters are given a 24-hour grace period once an emergency order is issued.
The area from 10 Mile to Goat Hollow closed Oct. 10. That area, which has a quota of 10 points, also exceeded its quota. Five females (10 points) and two males (two points) were killed.
Though the department doesn’t have a restriction on sex, like the moose hunt, it encourages people to hunt males.
“We actually had a very high harvest of females,” Sell said. “Taking females is problematic. They are the baby-makers.”
Sell predicts a lower number of goat kills will be allowed in the 10 Mile to Goat Hollow area next season.