Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Question about how F&G manages game populations and tags

I posted this question to the AOD but apparently no one knows, so I thought I'd post it here as well.

I have a question regarding how F&G manages draw and registrations hunts, in particular, pertaining to Kodiak goat tags. For folks that don't know how this is done, F&G determines how many goats they would like to see taken from a specific subunit, then determines how many tags they are going to make available for the draw. If at the end of the draw season (Oct. 25 in this case), the quota was not met, F&G opens that subunit back up to registration hunting. This year I'll be headed down to Kodiak to hunt goats in early November and I started thinking about possibly hunting a draw area, if it were to open back up for registration hunting. I've drawn multiple goat tags on Kodiak in years past and I've drawn one particular tag 3 times, so I've become fairly familiar with that area. When looking back at years past, that area is/was made available to registration hunting pretty much every year.

Now if F&G opens that particular area up to registration hunting, and I want to hunt it, F&G requires that I first fly out to a village on Kodiak to acquire the registration tag, then I can only access the particular subunit from a state maintained airport, or the ocean/saltwater. It is illegal to fly into any fresh water lake to access the goats. So, in my case, I would first need to fly down to Kodiak city, then fly out to the village to get my permit, then fly out to the nearest beach and start hiking. For the area that I would like to hunt, that would require a hike of no less than about 8 miles as the crow flies, but in reality more like 12-14 miles, with multiple creek/river crossings.

When looking back at past years, many of these subunits would open back up to registration hunting, but either nobody attempted to get a permit, or sometimes a few permits were actually given out, but those permit holders didn't actually end up hunting, or very rarely, a permit was actually used, and even more rarely, a goat was actually killed.

So, my question is, if F&G wanted to see a certain number of goats removed from a certain area, and that number wasn't reached during the draw hunt, why would they open up to registration hunting (assuming that is the reason to open it up to registration hunting), then make it so difficult for someone to actually hunt that area, that nobody does it?

As a for instance, I went back and looked at a particular subunit's stats over the last 10 years. From 2010-2019, of the 5 years that this subunit opened up to registration hunting during this timeframe, a total of 19 registration permits were issued, of those 19 permit holders, only 4 people actually hunted, and a total of 2 goats were killed. Over the course of those 5 years, I'm assuming F&G was probably wanting to see a few more than just 2 goats taken out of this subunit. So again, my question is, why does F&G make it so difficult for hunters to acquire the permit and then access the unit, what am I missing?

Your starting assumption is wrong. They do not look at it as wanting the goats killed. They will allow up to the quota to be killed.

Isn't the purpose of having a draw hunt, then implementing registration hunting when the quota has not been met during the draw season, set up that way to properly manage the herd? My question is, why do they make the process of acquiring a registration tag and then accessing the animals, so difficult? It's not that way for the whole southern half of the island that's just open to registration hunting.

In some instances there may be no need to manage a herd. Could be they are just servicing sportsmen. Mother Nature did a fine job long before man was capable of affecting the environment.

Does sound like some of their rinky dink requirements are designed to be nothing but hurdles though.

Registration is to allow whoever wants to hunt to hunt. Subject to certain restrictions. Limiting access is a way to prevent a mob from overharvesting the resource (and perhaps the field) during the registration hunt, for a not too numerous resource.,

Kinda like pouring gas through a funnel...

Contrast your goat hunting with the current 40-mile caribou registration hunt...

They can close the registration hunt by EO, as they do the 40 mile caribou heard, et al. Registration gives them a feel for how many animals might be taken prior to the hunt, while allowing the maximum # of people to hunt, but there is a certain lag time involved in reporting. Quotas can be exceeded before they realize, even on 100,000 strong caribou herd, and some hunters may still be incommudicado days after the closure and still hunting.

Another comparison: sport fishing with rod and reel, or PU fishing with dip net, vs using a gill net. All fo which have or can have access requirements. The first two you can always nail your take on the mark - a gill net not so much.

Goats especially are slow reproducers.

I was able to verify the low fecundity for goats via ADF&Gs Species Profiles:

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=goat.main

Typically drop a single kid - twins are rare.

And females don't reproduce until they are 4 years old.

Also for population purposes, F&G counts nannies as 2 goats taken out of the population.

But, to the question, I believe F&G estimates an allowable, sustainable, take from a unit. They don't really limit the number of Reg permits, but as las said, manage via EO. Therefore they avoid making it particularly easy for access.

If he thinks that's bad, he should try DC001caribou. without a horse. .

If those Kodiak lakes were opened up for access to registration goat hunting, it is likely that in 1 or two years there would have to be a complete closure for several years. Maybe more, if such was followed by one or more harsh winters, or other unforeseeable circumstances.

There has to be some consideration beyond what is for the what ifs.

Even DC001 *with* a horse!

Hell, let's toss 608 in there too!

Yeah, and yet in RG480 (two goat limit), if a person takes two goats, at least one HAS to be a nanny, and if two nannies are kill, that's okay as well.




I'm not familiar with DC001, but does F&G require that you fly out to a remote village to get your tag, or do they send it in the mail?

Hell, let's toss 608 in there too!
My reference was for the KP. Different units have different goals. I will say, it do seem like a goat rope to get there.

I'll have to look into RG480! Thanks!

DC001 is just a bear for access.

Does F&G mail the draw hunt permits for Kodiak goats?

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Does F&G mail the draw hunt permits for Kodiak goats?[/quote]

They do, and to get the RG480 tag all you have to do is print it up off of the F&G website. They just require that you go to a remote village if you're wanting to get any of the other Kodiak registration goat tags.

I guess the place to start to change that is the game board and local AC.

Well, if you use a boat for 608 , it's only an 8 mile hike out from the nearest kill site- nearly all downhill, at that.