The Upper Lynn Canal Fish and Game Advisory Committee met Friday to vote on game-management proposals to be considered by the Alaska Board of Game next month in Petersburg.
The advisory board unanimously voted to add restrictions to the Sullivan Island deer hunt, eliminating the harvest of does.
Currently, the regulation in Unit 1 allows a bag limit of four deer. The season starts on Aug. 1, and after Sept. 15, hunters can take both bucks and does.
Board member Ryan Cook said he’s heard reports of decreased deer count from hunters on Sullivan over the years. “I know guys that have been down there for six different trips and have seen two deer the whole time,” he said.
According to the proposal, initially submitted by the Department of Fish and Game to regulate deer hunts on Douglas Island, hunters have had a harder time harvesting deer in recent years because of wolves on the island.
Fish and Game biologist Carl Koch said that in 2017, 40 percent of hunters on Sullivan Island successfully bagged a deer. “In other words,” Koch said, “Thirty hunters reported hunting and 12 of them were successful.”
“If there’s few deer, we probably don’t want to be taking does off the island,” advisory committee member Kip Kermoain said at the meeting.
The committee also unanimously supported a regionwide proposal to require trappers to mark their traps.
“Marking of traps promotes trapper accountability, encourages ethical trapping throughout the season and closure of traps at the end of the season. Trap marking also allows members of the public to contact proper authorities with trap information… in situations where a non-target animal is trapped,” Proposition 13 reads.
Trooper Trent Chwialkowski said that the Alaska State Troopers support the motion.
“In the last couple years, there have been several cases with snares and leg-hold traps being left out in the Juneau area where bears have been snared, a mountain goat was taken during a closed season,” Chwialkowski said. “The traps don’t have tags on them and don’t give us any leads because they’re unmarked.”
Skagway board member Darren Belisle asked if tagging the traps would encourage harassment from non-hunters, but Chwialkowski said that the specific requirement is for the trap to be marked with a hunting license number or driver license number, which would disguise a hunter’s identity to everyone but police.
The board opposed the proposition to require trappers to post identification signs for traps and snares. Shannon Donahue supported parts of the proposal, but other members said “it makes it too cumbersome for the trapper,” and “the proposal is not clear enough,” because it doesn’t specify what sign would be needed, and how far from the trap sites.
The local advisory group opposed a proposition to regulate trapping within the boundaries of the Skagway Borough. The Skagway Borough submitted the proposal.
“Basically, it’s the municipality trying to overstep their bounds,” Belisle said. “As far as I know, there has not been any pets or children or anybody caught in traps in the Skagway Valley. The state laws that are already in place are the ones that should be followed here.”
The fish and game advisory committee will next meet on Dec. 20 at 5 p.m. in the Haines assembly chambers, where they will discuss Board of Fisheries proposals, joint Board of Fisheries and Board of Game proposals and consider drafting a letter to the Fish and Game Habitat Director on the process of rescinding habitat permits.
The Alaska Board of Game will meet Jan. 11-15 in Petersburg.