The Alaska Department of Fish and game closed the Haines and Skagway brown bear hunt late Wednesday night after the guideline harvest limit of five brown bears was met on Sept. 20.
Two males were harvested in the spring and two males and a female were harvested in the fall season. This is the second year a lower guideline harvest level has been in effect. The previous harvest level of 16 was lowered after 2020 when forty-nine bears were killed, including 30 non-hunt kills. An unprecedented number of bears broke into sheds, vehicles and homes that summer and fall in search of food.
Fish and Game biologists said that season was a “record high mortality event” that represented an estimated 16-20% reduction in the brown bear population.
“The goal of this new plan is to recover the brown bear population and preserve future sustainable hunting opportunities,” says the Fish and Game order that closed the hunt. “The plan does that by temporarily reducing hunting mortality through a harvest cap and by seeking to reduce human-bear conflict that results in bear mortalities through educational outreach by ADF&G and our partners. We anticipate this plan being in effect for about five years.”
Fish and Game wildlife biologist