Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Spring Bear Kodiak

I feel bad for the people with their bucket list Kodiak Bear hunt booked and now cancelled.

There is no excuse for shutting down hunting or fishing (excluding the combat zones). Just like during the government shutdown when they shut down national forests, BLM land, etc. The outdoors exist in spite of the government, not because of it.

Keep all the government employees at home and just let people play. Worst thing that's gonna happen is that outlaws are gonna be outlaws and they don't catch them anyway. I don't blame anybody for not wanting to seal bears while this [bleep]'s going around, but I am 99% sure we can figure out a phone/picture/video solution to that. And worst case, if a whole bunch of bears don't get sealed... so what? Like I told the 10th person who called me today about bear hunts shutting down - I'm pretty sure they don't want a whole bunch of Alaskans developing a serious case of cabin fever.

Its tuff to argue with that.

Spot on. Screw sealing. If they are that concerned just have a drop off area and let them seal without any interaction.

Well I suppose I have a different take on it. Most bear clients are older. They would die on you before you could get them out once you realized it I suspect. I"m sure I'm wrong though....

I don't want the stuff. Even though I'm younger, I don't want a bad case of the flu or similar. I've had 2 or 3 times in my life the flu. It was at least a week that I don't recall followed by 2 weeks to get up again.

That said what we need and would solve this very likely is an instant type test and I hear they are out there or almost...

I would not want to chance a client flying out remote to meet me and then us both having it. YMMV.

I'm just of the camp no need to take chances when you can live again to fight the next time.

Like one guy says a lifetime hunt canceled. I'd bet not cancelled. More like simply postponed.

What do you do when fires or such other types of natural disasters hit.

And the hunters, well I'm just out on a limb but spending in the ballpark of 25K and being sick the whole hunt... I dunno, I'd pass if I was the hunter.

Again I'm probably wrong in all of this. But it is what it is.

News right now is he meant only to close the NONRESIDENT SPRING BEAR HUNT! EO will be coming out in minutes reversing the closing of the resident hunts. With the lock down on traveling between communities the residents can only hunt close to home or fly directly there.

The Kodiak hunt will not be open for any nonresidents, even those hunting with kin... most of the state is open to nonresidents hunting with kin...

You can count on any one or any group that makes a living off of Alaska's resources putting all the pressure they can on what ever agency controls their fate. How is any one going to social distance on a guided brown bear or sheep hunt? How are you going to social distance on a guided charter or drift boat. Gonna be ugly and I am sure before it is over the cry will be for the state to bail out some of these special interest groups with Alaskan money. It's a coming.

Friends in the business are currently applying for Fed money.

It is a brutal year for them and I hope they come out swinging in the end...

Right. Bear hunting and guiding is an essential business that we need to bail out...

Of course, it is rather important to the folks that do it for a living, but in the larger picture, I thnk the nation will survive a year without it.

I have a buddy in Kodiak that is a guide. He guides out of Kodiak city for ocean charters and Old Harbor for hunts. He also owns several vacation rentals. 3 years ago he quit longlining halibut and got into guiding full time. I talk to him last night and the guy is freaking out. He had to talk to me outside so his wife couldnt hear him or she would break down crying again. Hard times...

Its great that we are so removed from hard times that were much more common years ago.

BUT its left us unstable, unprepared and mentally weak for these things.

We dealt with storms on the coast every few years, folks there knew for the most part to be ready, to expect being out of work for 6 months or more depending on the storm. Having to rebuild from scratch and so on.

Maybe this 19 thing will make folks pay more attention to being prepared for hard times rather than having all the toys they want and payments out the wazoo.

I do feel for folks, but not being ready for this can spell the disaster that it is. And I'm about tired of MY taxes being used to bail folks out, when they should have been prepared. We prepare and then when the handouts come, they consider us to have to much, make to much etc... hell of a way to repay those that did what they should have done.

Going to be some tough sledding here in our state. I wasn’t here in the mid 80s but I’ve heard nothing that makes me yearn for them (from the economy standpoint). Probably be some good deals on toys coming up ...

There was a joke back then.

What do herpes and a condo in Anchorage have in common?



Ya can’t get rid of either.

Yeah, this will have long lasting effects in the guide industry. I am expecting the state to close down sportfishing to non-residents next. I might get July and August in, but we will see. Might be a comm fish summer.

I read Idaho has just closed all hunting to non-residents now also

What about the canneries?

This is correct, but only for spring. Nonresidents are still able to purchase big game tags for the fall seasons, as of now. As a nonresident, glad you guys got things figured out. It basically seemed like a miscommunication on ADF&G's part, and I'm glad they clarified to allow you guys to hunt. I'd call their decision one tick mark in the column of sanity.

I'm callous, probably, but if he is making a living working 6-8 months of the year, I have a hard time feeling he needs "relief" for a recreational business. Guides are basically pimps. Not that most of them don't produce value for money received. No offense intended.

Wife and I just booked a halibut fishing charter for June 1......

It's a little early, likely, so we are looking at it as basically a boat trip. If it comes off, and the guide is trying, we can't be disappointed.

Meanwhile, I gotta get this remodel out of the way so I can work on my 30hp Everscrewed. I have plans later for the Rubber Ducky out of Deep Creek, weather and waves permitting.

Remember that Farside cartoon - 2 guys in a boat with the mushroom clouds in the background?