Moose hunting season began Tuesday and hunters harvested three legal animals on opening day.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) wildlife biologist Carl Koch said he was unable to spot many moose during recent surveys due to weather conditions, but estimates the population at around 400 moose, which is healthy.

“We hope to see a minimum of 200,” Koch said. “I didn’t see that many because they moved into the trees and there wasn’t a lot of snow in March. When we went to find them by radio tracking them some of them were at 1,300 feet elevation which is a bit of a surprise.”

Fish and Game limits the Haines moose hunt to 250 permits with a harvest guideline of 20-25 animals.

This year, Chilkat Valley residents accustomed to hunting moose in Interior Alaska are having to come up with alternative plans due to the ongoing Canadian border closure.

The Canada border closed to nonessential travel in March due to COVID-19 pandemic concerns.

Mayor Jan Hill estimates the border closure has impacted hunting plans for somewhere between 12 and 24 families in the Chilkat Valley. A number of people “hunt in Delta Junction and Tok. We have people here who’ve been doing it for years and years and years,” Hill said in an interview Monday.

Some hunters have opted to participate in the local hunt this year, instead of traveling to the Interior, but moose hunting in the Chilkat Valley comes with certain restrictions.

“If someone wants to hunt moose and didn’t win a permit then they need to go somewhere else,” ADFG biologist Carl Koch said. “That could mean traveling elsewhere within Southeast Alaska. In a normal year, it’s probably pretty convenient to travel across the border and drive to the Interior.”

Haines also has an antler restriction, lowering hunters’ chances of finding a legal moose to harvest. Hunters might choose to hunt in the Interior in areas where they can shoot any bull, regardless of antler size, upping their chances of success, Koch said.

Hunter Larry Beck, who has hunted in the Fort Yukon area the past few years, said this year he was forced to change plans for a number of reasons.

In addition to the border closure, the boat launch in Circle is closed and Fort Yukon, a small community off the road system, has said it doesn’t want visitors due to COVID-19 concerns.

Beck said he likes hunting there because of its lack of antler restriction, but this year he’s making due with the local hunt.

“It’s not quite the same adventure, and chances of success are lower because of the antler restrictions, but we’ll see how it goes,” Beck said.

Hill said she’s made Alaska’s federal delegation aware of the issue and requested they work to have hunting classified as essential travel.

“It’s a matter of food security,” Hill said, adding that it’s a particularly topical issue this year given fears that the pandemic will impact the state’s food supply chain.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s communications director Karina Borger said their office is working on the issue.

“Senator Murkowski is engaged on these issues, including raising them with Canadian government officials in order to determine what reasonable and practical steps might be made to remedy the situation,” Borger said.

At present, hunting is not considered a valid reason for crossing the Canadian border.