Newsletter 17 - December 2024
Get Your Draw Permit Applications In!
If you want to put in for any draw hunts for the 2025/2026 seasons but haven’t done it yet, this is a reminder that 5pm, December 16, 2024, is the deadline to submit your draw permit application. The 2025/2026 Draw Hunt Supplement and link to apply for permits is below. Don’t forget to submit your application, and good luck!
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=huntlicense.drawsupplements
2025 RHAK Banquets Save the Dates
RHAK Fairbanks Fundraising Banquet will be on Saturday, February 22, 2025 at the Birch Hill Recreation Center. RHAK Anchorage Fundraising Banquet will be on Saturday, March 22, 2025 at the Egan Center. Our Banquet websites to order tables and tickets will be live mid-December. Dinner, fantastic prizes, wall of guns, cash bar…come join us in support of a great cause!
Central/Southwest Board of Game Meeting (Wasilla) January 10-17, 2025
The Board of Game will meet in Wasilla in January to go over 84 proposals covering Units 9, 10, 11, 13, 14A & B, 16, and 17. The deadline to submit written comments is December 27, 2024. The proposals and ADF&G comments can be found at https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=gameboard.meetinginfo&date=01-10-2025&meeting=wasilla
Whether you like to hunt brown bear on the Alaska Peninsula, sheep in Unit 14, or moose in Unit 13, there are proposals that may be of interest to you.
Of particular concern are proposals 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17 that would undo the resident-only portion of the spring brown bear season (May 25-31) in Unit 9D & E that RHAK worked so hard to get passed. Unit 9 is difficult to get into with so much nonresident guided competition (nonresidents take 80% of the harvest) and allowing a resident-only portion to the end of the spring season continues to make sense, regardless if there are no longer brown bear conservation concerns with any additional nonresident harvests. We will be opposing those proposals.
If you want to comment on any proposals, public testimony is the best way to influence the board, but written comments are always better than no comments at all. RHAK is still working on our written comments and will pass those on when complete. We always want to hear your opinions, so if there are any proposals that concern you for or against, please reach out to RHAK Executive Director Mark Richards.
Renew Your Membership Today!
Membership renewal is quick and easy when you click the "renewing member" tab on our Join/Renew page. Or contact Mark Richards at 371-7436 or info@residenthuntersofalaska.org.
Share Your Hunting & Gathering Adventures
Email pictures to share on our website and newsletter to info@residenthuntersofalaska.org.
Unit 19C Sheep Working Group Report
The 19C Sheep Working Group (SWG) met October 17-18 to finalize recommendations to the Board of Game regarding Unit 19C sheep management.
ADF&G biologists and managers gave presentations to the group on Unit 19C sheep harvest and hunter participation and success rates over time, along with annual aerial trend count population surveys that showed recent significant declines in the population. The charts and graphs and other information is available at this ADF&G webpage:
The data showed that more recently, in conjunction with the 19C sheep population declines, nonresident harvest rates continued to climb until in 2022 nonresidents took 90% of the total sheep harvest in the unit. This, along with population declines, is what led the board to shut down all nonresident sheep hunting in the unit for five years. Resident sheep hunters were not limited or restricted because their fewer numbers and harvests posed no conservation concerns.​
Total annual sheep harvested during the fall general season (GS000) from RY13 to RY22. Color indicates total fall resident (orange) and nonresident (blue) sheep harvested each year. ADF&G chart.
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NOTE: Nonresident sheep hunting in Unit 19C was closed in 2023. Residents harvested 5 sheep in 19C in 2023, and 10 sheep in 2024. ADF&G does not expect resident sheep hunter numbers or harvests to increase substantially.
The chart below shows how data can be misinterpreted. It shows that on average, over the past twenty years, there have been near equal numbers of resident and nonresident sheep hunters who hunted sheep in Unit 19C, with 51% nonresident and 49% resident participation.
ADF&G Chart
But what the above chart does not show is that nearly every nonresident sheep hunter in the field was also accompanied by a guide. And possibly a packer, plus a base camp with a cook. And while most residents hunt sheep with a companion, that companion is typically one of the resident sheep hunters included in the chart with his or her own tag who would have reported hunting. So, when we look at the total number of people in the field after sheep, and crowding and conflict concerns, the nonresident guided component overall is much more than 51%.
The group discussed the information presented and ideas on what future 19C sheep management should look like. No one in the group seemed okay with continued unlimited nonresident sheep hunting under the current framework with no limits on guides, and the group didn’t really seem to be going anywhere with any concrete plan until they were presented with a written proposal from Mike Litzen, the public member of the group who is a longtime guide in Unit 19C. That proposal ended up being supported by a majority of the group. It asks that:
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Resident sheep hunters be included with nonresidents in the sheep hunting closure in 2025.
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The 2026 & 2027 Unit 19C sheep hunts will be draw-only hunts with residents receiving 80% of the permits and nonresidents 20%. (ADF&G will determine the number of permits).
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In 2028, if the Guide Concession Program (GCP) to limit guides is implemented in Unit 19C, all sheep hunts will go back to general hunts with no limits on opportunity.
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If the Guide Concession Program is not implemented by 2028, the group will meet again to consider other recommendations (note: the GCP to ostensibly limit guides and the total number of nonresident sheep hunters in 19C is not yet implemented and it is doubtful it will be in place by 2028).
See “Recommendations for the Sheep Working Group October 2024” submitted by Mike Litzen:
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These recommendations from the 19C SWG are a continuation of the Board of Game manipulating the public process for a desired outcome. There is absolutely no reason currently to shut down resident general sheep hunting opportunity in 19C, nor is there any justification to put 19C resident sheep hunters on a draw permit system!
Had the board agreed to any of the many proposals RHAK has submitted to limit nonresident sheep hunters in 19C, there would not have been a reason to shut the season down completely for nonresidents. Had the board that regulates guides done their job to limit guides in 19C and other state lands where they knew it was causing problems, there would have been no reason to close 19C to nonresident sheep hunters.
To say we are frustrated would be a gross understatement. The board wanted this outcome, which is why they deferred all the Unit 19C sheep proposals submitted by the public on time and in-cycle for the 2024 Interior Region Meeting last March, to the 2025 Statewide meeting in Anchorage. They wanted the recommendations from the 19C SWG to be included with all the public proposals, none of which asked to eliminate resident sheep hunting opportunity.
Another interesting tidbit is that last March, before the 19C SWG had even met, the guide industry’s Alaska Professional Hunters Association (APHA) supported whatever recommendations came out of the 19C SWG. Think about that for a second. What competent organization would support recommendations from a group without first seeing those recommendations? Unless….
The 19C sheep proposals will be before the board at the March Statewide meeting in Anchorage, along with some statewide sheep proposals. More info on the 2025 Statewide meeting is below.
RHAK's presentation to Senate Resources Committee
Give A Gift Membership
A RHAK membership is a great Christmas gift and way to educate friends and family and get them more up to speed on what is going on and what we are doing to help ensure we have future hunting opportunities. You can sign them up on our website and they will receive our updates and newsletters. See https://www.residenthuntersofalaska.org/support
Statewide Board of Game Meeting (Anchorage) March 21-28, 2025
The board will hear over 75 Statewide proposals at their March 2025 meeting in Anchorage, plus some 20 proposals regarding Unit 19C sheep hunting. The deadline to submit written comments is March 7, 2025. The proposals can be found at this link (ADF&G comments are not out yet): https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=gameboard.meetinginfo&date=03-21-2025&meeting=anchorage
RHAK proposal #108 regarding Unit 19C sheep (see https://038ca3bb-132f-4602-921d-07904be3c94f.usrfiles.com/ugd/038ca3_ccef415d49074a30a233a31b22b9f698.pdf) proposes to reopen nonresident sheep hunting in the unit, but via draw-only permits with a very limited allocation until the sheep rebound. It was never necessary to completely close all nonresident sheep hunting in the unit, and RHAK had never proposed that in any of our previous proposals. The reason we are at this point is because the guide industry and Board of Game refuse to accept draw hunts as a means of limiting nonresidents. In the end, they preferred a complete closure over a draw hunt.
The board’s decision on the 19C sheep proposals may set a precedent that threatens the future of resident sheep hunting opportunity in the Alaska Range and beyond, so if you want to protect our sheep hunting opportunities, we urge you to attend this meeting and testify.
Saturday, March 22, 2025, is when public testimony will begin in Anchorage at the Statewide Board of Game meeting. That same night is our annual RHAK Anchorage Banquet, so if you are coming to the banquet, please consider taking the time to come in earlier in the day and sign up to testify at the meeting and make your voice heard. Public testimony will continue Sunday, March 23rd, so there is an opportunity then as well to stand up for our future sheep hunting opportunities!
Get Your RHAK Camo Swag at https://www.inkedapparel.com/rhak-camo
Becoming an Outdoors Woman and Alaskans Afield Programs
RHAK is a proud sponsor of the Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) and Alaskans Afield (AA) programs provided by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game. We have donated scholarships and funding for both programs and regularly post class schedules on https://www.facebook.com/residenthuntersofalaska/
If you have any skills you’d like to pass on, and would like to teach a class, contact information for the ADF&G Hunter Information and Training (HIT) program coordinator in your region is below. It’s a great way to pass down our hunting traditions and outdoor skills we’ve learned over the years.
RHAK Executive Director Mark Richards, with help from his wife, Lori, have been teaching birch bark basket classes in Fairbanks for BOW and AA, where students are taught how traditional Athabaskan watertight birch bark baskets are made and how they were used for cooking in the past, using hot rocks to heat the water inside the basket. Every student makes his or her own folded watertight basket to bring home.
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ADF&G HIT Program Coordinators email addresses:
Interior Alaska dfg.dwc.interiorbow@alaska.gov
Alaskans Afield youth class
BOW class (Lori & Mark Richards top right)
Beavers as a Food Source
by Mark Richards
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One thing my wife Lori and I learned living in the bush was the importance of beaver as a food source in the spring, fall, and mid winter, not to mention the beautiful hide that we also put to use. Many hunters seem to frown on eating beaver, so I wanted to pass on Lori’s recipe that makes for a tasty and non-gamey meal, tips on harvesting and butchering, and information on the regulations and salvage requirements.
Beaver seasons have been expanded over much of the state under trapping regulations and you can “hunt” them with a rifle or bow under a trapping license in the spring and fall in many areas, as well as trap them. You won’t find beaver regulations in the handy-dandy hunting regs, so make sure you check the trapping regs https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/wildliferegulations/pdfs/trapping.pdf for your area to see when the season is open. The salvage requirements are typically either meat or hide, but you are missing out if you don’t save the meat and give it a try! I recommend not taking more than two beavers out of a lodge per year for sustainable harvests.
Beavers will often sink, so I don’t try to take them in moving water. My preferred method is to shoot a beaver on land (.22 rimfire) with a head shot so it isn’t able to scramble back into the water. But you can take them in ponds too. If a beaver does sink in a pond, they almost always pop back to the surface after about 15 minutes, so if you mark the spot where you last saw bubbles from a sunken beaver, that’s where it will pop back up. Fishing rod with lure is the warmest way to retrieve a beaver from a pond.
A beaver has a large liver
We always save and eat the liver and the heart
Here’s what you end up with after butchering
If you intend to eat the meat, the most important thing after skinning is not to cut the castors with your knife when removing the guts. Those are the two large glands on either side of the anus. Any castor on the meat will ruin the taste. Beavers have large livers for their size and it’s the mildest liver you will ever eat. We always save and eat the liver and heart!
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After removing the intestines and castors, butcher just like you would any other animal.
We also enjoy the butt-end rings, the section connected to the tail, cutting them off between the joints
Cooked butt end rings
Beaver tails can also be eaten and were a favorite of hungry trappers in winter for their fat content. Remove the tail and hold it over a fire or place it on a grill to loosen the skin and peel/scrape it off. You can cut off the fatty tail meat and use it in soups or cut in small pieces and fry it up if you want some extra fat in your diet.
Lori’s beaver recipe: Cut meat into small chunks, place in frying pan and cover with water. Add salt and pepper to taste, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, sliced onions. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for an hour and a half or until water is evaporated. Uncover and bring heat to medium, add two tablespoons of olive oil and fry until both sides are crispy. Top with bbq sauce or whatever seasoning or sauce to taste.
