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Alaska draw... Results are posted

Results are out. I drew nothing. Hunting partner drew a caribou tag.

31 years for me not drawing a delta bison tag!

Nothing here. May go help my son with caribou.

Nada again. 5 years applying in AK and zero tags. Good thing our OTC tags are the best in the Union.

I'm seeing lots of goose eggs...

Are there too many folks applying or not alot tags....or both?

Nelchina caribou tag for me. Not a terrible consolation prize.

Jl, when I moved to Alaska 31 years ago most tags had a 35% chance to 75% chance of being drawn. Today most tags have 2% chance of being drawn or less. It is a case of more people hunting and fewer animals.

Most hunts in AK are OTC too.

Nada

What you say is only partially true Idlwyld. Cow moose hunts are not OTC. Most mountain goat hunts are permit only. At least half of the sheep hunts are permit only. And the biggest obstacle with growing population is if you do not have the money to afford fly out hunts or own a boat or plane or 4 Wheeler there are more and more places that are getting restricted in all hunts and going to permits. I have hunted the Hall road for moose without a permit I can no longer do that . Unit 13 are you still hunt and it only had a spike fork or 36" requirement now it is 50" or 4 brow tines or a permit, and only 5 permits are given out for the whole unit. Those are just a few of the issues where both the permit system and the OTC tag system here in Alaska.

Are most of the AK resident tags that require drawing, on a pure lottery system, or do you guys build P. Points?

It's a pure lottery.

Elmer, by specie/gender, sure, but the vast majority of total tags in the state are OTC registration or general hunts. If every tag in the state was on the draw, the odds in a lot of the state would be very good. The vast majority of the hunting that happens in the state is of moose, deer, and caribou and the tags are largely OTC.

No Points in Alaska. Elmer, I don't agree with you at all... A guy can hunt nearly every species in the state, except Bison, every year without drawing a permit. And, most of them can be walk in hunts from the road. The draws in Alaska are just for some special hunts really, imo, and no person that loves to hunt and does all he can to hunt, should rely on the Alaska Draws to hunt in Alaska, they are not required. Also, when 17,000 people apply for 50 bison permits in Delta, I wouldn't expect to EVER draw it. Maybe someday you will, but it's not likely. There are TONS of Registration Permits for Mtn Goat, available to anyone, a bunch are walk in too! And lastly, all Cow moose hunts in Alaska that are not in rural areas (FMA, Anchorage, etc) should be eliminated. Bottom line, if you want to hunt in Alaska, you can, on an OTC permit and you don't need a plane, boat or ATV (ask me how I know).

Nick, how do you know?

Because I've done it.

Cant wait to get up there this year!

No Caribou tag to go along with my Alaska range sheep hunt....

^^^^^ same here no draw for me but I’ll be headed to AK in sept.

I have hunted here in Alaska 31 years and hunted every species except for bison and musk ox. It has been my experience that drawing a permit has gone from 35 to 75% all the way down to 2% or less for most tags. And as far as OTC tags there are far fewer opportunities unless you have a boat a plane or can afford to hire a guide. The few hunts that I mentioned are only a few that have become far more restrictive. You can't hunt down on the Kenai for moose where I used to hunt without a permit now it is no longer OTC. It used to be spike fork or 36". No longer the case I'm not going to go into every place that I have hunted that I now can't without a permit but it has gotten far far more difficult to be successful for to even have the same number of animals to hunt in certain areas then when I moved here 30 plus years ago. Unfortunately Alaska just like most of the rest of the country is seeing hunting turn more and more into a rich man's Thing.

I drew early Musk Ox. That’ll be interesting!

Yes, things change, and when you are talking about hunting the Kenai and the Denali Hwy, of course it's going to go to a draw, those are the closest places from Anchorage. And there are measures in place that can give you 100% chance to hunt moose and caribou along the Denali Hwy if you so choose.

Are blacktails a draw?

No

Looks like another lump of coal for me on second Christmas. If I get time off I’ll be doing walk in sheep and moose on HT again.

Seems to me Alaska is the hunting paradise we've all dreamed of but, only a few were smart enough to actually move there and make it their home. One thing is for sure, Nick sure posts a lot of pics of highly sought after animals year after year, for it to be a situation of impossible odds to get to hunt. And, one day I will hunt with him so he can show me the tricks in order to be able to do it too. :^)

Nick, I have hunted everywhere in Alaska from the north slope and Brooks range and out in the mulchatna region to kodiak island and Montague island. Limits have gone from 5 deer tob1 or two, 5 caribou to 1 or 2, no permit to only permit. 36 inch 2 brow tines antler restriction to 50 9nxh and 4 brow tine. From permit to no hunting. From hunting to you can't hunt anywhere else in the state if you hunt 1 day in a certain gmu. Recently in life my life savings have disappeared due to health issues....so I hunt more around the road system. But yes, over the 31 years in Alaska I have lived here it is getting more and more difficult for the average Joe to hunt the state, and opportunities are getting less and less, and more for the rich who can afford a boat, plane or guide.

Elmer, so what you’re saying is, you’ve used a boat and plane to hunt in the past but now it’s only the rich that use them to hunt?

Big ol Nada this year...

I drew non trophy whitetail

Nick, you are misinterpreting what I am saying. There are many usints with restrictions that never were there when I first hunted here in Alaska. But in a sense yes. When I first arrived in Alaska it was only $3-500 for a flight to hunt caribou or moose and be off the road system. No way to touch that now. Many of the open any bull areas I used to hunt are now permit only and to get to areas that aren't over run by others costs a fortune. Many sheep hunting areas that were open to any ram are now permit only and the cost to fly to them is many thousands of dollars, not a few hundred bucks. And many of the areas I used to hunt have closed or have restrictions such as 4 brow tines or 50 inch limitations for moose. And yes, to get away from other hunters is becoming more and more a thing for the rich. I used to be able to be able to hunt Caribou in unit 13 for the cost of a few tanks of gas....now it is permit, and if you go the "subsistence" route you can't hunt a moose In another unit if you only hunt 1 day now in 13. Used to cost only $25 for a trespass fee on Montague Island to hunt deer......about 100 times that cost now. As Insaid, no bbn permit was needed to hunt moose along the Haul road when I started her. Now permit only.

Used to cost only a couple hundred bucks to fly into the wrangells for sheep hunts. Now well into multiple thousands. And permits went from 35-75% chance of drawing to well below 5% and most are 2% or less now, so it isn't just about money.

Huh, sounds to me like your upset the world has changed over the last 30years when I would think you’d be pumped.

You got to experience hunting in it’s hay days where most of us will never get that chance ever and yet in the same 30 years medical advancements are such that you’ll most likely get an extra 5-10years with your grandkids you never would have had if things remained the way they were 30years ago. I’ve got a lot of friends alive today that if science was even a mere 15years slower would be guaranteed dead. Heart attacks, bypass/valve surgeries even cancer isn’t the death sentence it was 15 years ago.

Sounds to me like you hit it just right Elmer ;)

Prince of Wales black bear for me next spring!

Fun hunt, Scott

I guess Elmer should move to the lower 48 since AK is so bad! That way you will never get to hunt sheep, mt goat, brown bear, moose, etc because you will never draw a tag! And all cow elk and mule deer doe tags are draws as well. Most eastern states are draw buckbtags as well, not like 5 free deer HT deer tags, caribou etc. I guess 31 yrs in AK has ruined you and you need a reality check of the current state of hunting. I moved to AK 2 yrs ago and it’s great!

"When I first arrived in Alaska it was only $3-500 for a flight to hunt caribou or moose and be off the road system."

35 years ago, in 1985, money was worth more. In fact, according to a quick google search, $500 was basically $1200 in today's money.

$1200 was basically what it cost me to fly in and out for my sheep hunt this past year. My moose hunt was $900 in and I floated out to a village and the commercial flight home would have been $250, but I used points accumulated while flying for work, which is paid for by work.

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