Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska McKnight...Hope your POW hunt went well...

You and the rest of these guys on here bitching about subsistence regs for POW, yet who live in a place where good, cheap food and goods are available all the time (Wal-Mart, Safeway, etc) can kiss my butt. Here on POW we have to deal with A/C having a monopoly on food--jacking up prices and not giving a hoot about the consumer. So I really think that the 2-3 weeks when we can hunt but off-Islanders can't is not too much to ask for at all. It's time we need to get an early season deer or two before out of staters/off Island folks come over, rent cabins, and bring hunting parties over here to shoot their deer. I am not sure what percentage of KTN people make up those numbers ---probably less that some of us on POW think. But PLENTY of deer get taken by people who don't live here, and it can be frustrating to a local who wants to rent a cabin or access their favorite spot, and finds it booked or 3 trucks in their parking spot. We absolutely ARE different from other places in Alaska; it takes a 3 hour ferry ride or a $200 flight to get here from the mainland and UPS doesn't deliver, pal---yup, that makes us unique, along with all the rural areas in this state. "Rural" here is WAY more isolated than a country farm in the midwest. Also, blow it out about us not coming to KTN--do you know how much friggin' money it takes now to bring a small truck over on the ferry and stay in KTN for a weekend?? The ferry ticket alone is $200 and then hotel, food, plus the money we spend in KTN stores. Your claim we aren't rural or special is simple horseshit.

As far as the "zip code" thing goes, I am not sure how they make some of these delineations for zones, but it seems that more than one person thinks it's problematic, which I can buy. I also feel that some of the subsistence regs are BS--for one thing, there's a SUBSISTENCE permit for Steelhead?? Give me a break...and the whole thing with does--I'm really not a big fan that does are hunted but most folks seem to think our deer numbers remain high, even with a couple hard winters, so whatever. As far as poaching, there is indeed lots of local poaching, which I totally acknowledge and condemn; poaching is ridiculous no matter WHO does it or where they come from. I do NOT think that all KTN people are poachers by any stretch of the imagination; chit, I hunt with folks who come over from there on occasion! I would venture to guess more poachers originate from Hydaburg than Ketch.

As far as wolves--yeah, if you shoot a couple deer on POW you should be OBLIGATED to go shoot a wolf...or at least highly encouraged! Plenty of wolf predation.

Must be tiring holding your hand out like that for so long...

Pathetic when someone living in an area with a 5-month season has to cry for an extra month.

POW is far from the most inaccessible or expensive place in Alaska.

Boggles the mind how much Vagasil must get hauled in there...

Showing up during the peak of the rut is totally different than alpine hunting or hunting in October when deer must be worked for. Everybody knows that. The Ketch hunters aren't any better, they just show up for a week or two when the deer are stupid. I don't even kill many deer during the rut because they are not even in the same ballpark for eating as a July/Aug/Sept alpine buck.

I have no problem with guys coming over and hunting though. It does get a little frustrating though when I hear about guys coming over in Aug and shooting 4 deer, and then coming back in Nov with a designated hunter permit and shooting 4 more.

I made the comment about "sport lighting" because someone had just told me a story about a guy getting off the ferry in the dark and getting back on the very next morning with 4 deer. Don't know how true it is, but the story originated from a ferry worker.

Don't have to cry for [bleep]...already got the extra month! One thing the government did right. For all the extra expense it takes to live in rural Alaska, sometimes it's a real pleasure to have a little something "extra" and get to hear urbanites moaning about the inequity of subsistence regs....you're mostly just jealous, anyway!

I'm not a big fan of subsistence. The halibut subsistence down here is abused. I can't believe they came up with 20 halibut a day/30 hooks on a longline.

Most of us Alaskans support our State Constitution...except the ones getting special favors from the Great White Father in Washington.

I've shopped in your grocery stores, and the prices aren't all that much different from here, though selection is pretty limited. Nor are your rents, real estate prices, utilities and so forth. Unless you live in some place like Edna Bay, Meyer's Chuck, Port Protection, and so forth. Then, like I said, as far as I'm concerned -- take whatever you need whenever you need it.

The simple fact is -- with a five-month long, four-deer sport hunting season, no one who can hunt needs any special help or special privileges. Four deer per person represents about 200 lbs of boned-out, processed meat -- how much do you eat in a year, really?

We may or may not be jealous -- I am not -- but some of you sure fear and resent the thought that someone else might visit your hunting area...oh wait...that would be National Forest, equally owned by every American citizen, wouldn't it? (For those who don't know -- Federal subsistence regs only apply to Federal lands. So people who shoot deer on the beach below mean high tide outside the State season under Federal subsistence permits are breaking the law. Hmmm...)

What the whole thing really demonstrates is the impossibility of removing an entitlement, once granted, no matter how wrongly it was provided.

There's really no point in arguing about it, because it's become an issue akin to religion, and opinions are calcified.

Carry on.

Dennis

*shrug* You're right, it IS National Forest public land, and subsistence laws have been created to fit the needs of people who live near that land and use it for its intended purposes. Therefore, there's no "special priviledge" or "entitlement"--it's simple federal regulation on federal land. Whether or not you feel that regulation is appropriate is your own personal issue and usually directly correlates to where you live. No point in debating, you are right. Those who don't live in "rural" Alaska may always feel that the regs are "unfair" somehow, while those that do live here have the legal option to use the land in a slightly different manner than those who don't reside here. Hopefully we use it appropriately and responsibly; I certainly try to be ethical out there and most of the people I've met out in the field or hunted with do, too.

Many towns in S.E. Alaska don't even have an AC supermarket chain store. Just local independent grocery stores.



I know for a fact that the Forest Service cabins, with the possible exception of Staney Creek, suck for kind of road access Ketchikan hunters are looking for, and don't make good staging points for most local deer hunters.



Yes, your middle of the pack for access, at worst. Your 3 hour ride is daily in the winter, twice daily in the summer, not counting the Cofman Cove route to Mitkof. Try looking up the ferry schedule for Kake, Tenakee Springs, of Angoon. Here's a hint...

http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/Plan/Schedules/documents/summer2009/SE_S09.pdf

Now try finding Pelican or Elfin Cove on that schedule.

Sitka to Juneau, 5 hours on the fast ferry, substitute Chatam for Clarence.

I can remember living in Kodiak when the Tusty would stop running in the winter, and the run from Kodiak to Homer, past the Barrens, makes Clarence Straight look like a bathtub.



This seems to be a fairly Alaskan thread.



Given that the State season on wolf doesn't start until December 1st, this doesn't sound like a plausible idea.

Overall, I can sympathize with the addition hunting pressure, but give no special points towards the isolation factor of POW.

Oh, the Fed subsistence limit for GMU 4 is six, no antler restriction after Sept 15th, and we can hunt till January 31st.

BW,

You going to be home for christmas?

Not sure, the winter schedule isn't out yet. Last year I had to go up Christmas Eve.

Solohntr,

I like the independent grocery stores too.

BTW, I was just down there, had a great time hunting with some outstanding local folks. Do love that place.

Compared to the lesser 48, POW(Hell even Sterling!)is rural. But buy Alaskan standards not really.

Thanks BW--I love this place and I'm very happy to have moved here several years ago. I'm glad your experience with locals was positive. I would love to get back to the time when AC was still Thompson House (as when I first moved here) and JT Brown's was another main store--I try to shop there for anything I can get there.

I'm usually happy to help out hunters from this board/acquaintances that come if I can provide any assistance--I'm not at all anti-hunting from all out of staters--but I usually try to get a feel for if they are an ethical hunter/responsible person first. I've run into lots of out-of- staters (primarily bear hunters) that are pretty bad--they kill tiny bears, leave wounded bears to die, and want to grill the locals for hunting info without paying the guide fee for it (they try to grill me, especially considering position I'm in, constantly, and ask questions that a paid guide should be answering--I don't tell them squat). So I guess I'm a little biased, but I try to be open-minded and judge individuals and not whole groups.

I just find the whole anti-subsistence argument petty--and to try to say that POW isn't "rural"--holy crap, it may not be totally rural by other Alaskan standards as far as accessibility, but it's still plenty hard/expensive to travel to and from, shop, etc. I don't know of any place, especially an ISLAND like this that wouldn't be considered, rightly so, rural by subsistence standards.

Phew! Anyway BW come on back and glad you enjoyed your hunt.

I'm just curious on what POW stands for. I was born in Alaska, but kinda got moved out when I was 14 (been 11 years to the date come November 26th) so I didn't pick up all this stuff. It doesn't help that this sounds like Panhandle stuff and I grew up on the "North Road" of the Kenai Peninsula.

AlaskanFlyboy, POW=Prince of Wales.

Solohntr my statement was not an attack on you just an observation on my travels through out the state.I love it down there and would like to move there myself because it is more rural than where I'm at but still fairly accessable.

You sound like an ethical hunter and seem to be helpful to off island people who do or want to hunt there.Much like the people I've met and know there. Another good reason to live there,the people!

Any way enjoy the rest of your season.Wished I was still there.

POW = Prince of Wales Island- southeast AK island, 3rd largest island in US...yes, it's definitely "panhandle"--3 hour ferry ride from Ketchikan.

Aw geez...a north roader!

J/K dawg!

We're cool. Thanks.

Can't wait to get out on my friend's commercial boat for a 4-day Thanksgiving hunt around the islands here...gonna find my big boy then and I'll have to post a pic! I'm so excited--my friggin' hunting pack is already loaded up, cleaned rifle last night...woohoo!! And I'm not leaving till the 28th. If I ever lose this excitement for hunting--crate me up and ship me out!