Unit 18 along the Yukon R. has increased from 2 to 3 moose bag limit. Notice it's moose, not bull. Population getting too large. Possible problems on the horizon. Best moose hunting in Alaska. Expensive to get there if you don't live there. Opportunities for locals to make money.
Interesting times.

Make the resource available. Those populations won’t last forever, any ways.

I am about ready to go get number 2 any day now. We usually get one more in the spring for summer meat. I split with a buddy so dont bring a whole one home.

I wish we had caribou here, we had a limit of five a day. I like caribou better.

When I moved here 40 years ago there was no moose, and very few beaver, now we have a overpopulation of both.

I believe this is just a normal population dynamic and will crash at some point and start all over again.
Its nice to have meat available year round and the shed hunters are making good money.

Jeff,

Clearly you understand the bio-dynamics better than some of the managers! You should try for a seat on the BOG!

Pete

Thanks.
We as trappers notice the population of lynx or rabbits exploding and crashing within a short period, but most dont get enough time on earth to see the bigger animals population rise and fall.
I happened to witness it here. Withe both moose and beaver, and of course rabbits and lynx and even wolves.

Me and my old trapping buddy used to sit and drink coffee as we pondered the secrets of mother nature, and we concluded that this area would be ideal moose habitat, with no thick conifer forest it was all willow, alder and cottonwood. We wondered why no moose were here at all. We all had to travel 100 mile or more upriver into Indian country to hunt moose, (they didn't like it much)

They closed moose hunting here for five years, and the moose started showing up. I dont think it was the closure itself that brought the population back it coincided with a big fire upriver and some of the moose I believe migrated here.

Now we have so many moose its just a afternoon day trip to go moose hunting, no one even bothers to camp for moose anymore its too easy.

We can take a ten mile ride and see 100 moose now.

I haven't been here as long as Jeff, but agree 100 percent.

A concept I promoted when I was on the BOG was this: Trappers need to realize that biologists are not simply over-educated idiots and their macro-level concepts are sound and rooted in science. And, likewise, biologists need to realize that trappers have FAR more intimate knowledge of population dynamics on their specific traplines!

I don't think I convinced enough people of this truism.... but it was fun trying!

Pete

Wild estimate on bush plane cost to get 2 hunters and back from Anchorage?

And just like that.. ....

Happy for your area, and community, Jeff. What a blessing. Of course, the lack of caribou is a bummer.

The hard part is finding transportation to and from the airport, about 6 miles from town, a place to stay, and a boat to use. The people who rent out vehicles and accommodations here say they are booked out two years in advance. Hopefully some more locals will get transporters license. No reason not to make money. Since commercial and subsistance fishing for salmon is shut down, there's not much opportunities for the young men.

Well, just look at what happened to Kotz. Turned into a loss for all. Not taking "sides", and every community is different, but times of plenty seem to have a way of turning into a free-for-all, in Alaska, for some reason.

Rent boats from KSM. 16 ft. Boat, 30 or 40 horse. Money per day. No transporter license needed.

My first ever moose was out of kotlik, shot a nice bull 400ish yards from the boat. My buddy asked why i shot one so far away. The next one we waited till it was a 10 yard pack from the river. The numbers are insane there. Theyre starting to spill over towards Stebbins, in the 9 years I lived there went from seeing maybe 1-2 moose all winter to seeing 6-7 every trip.

Yes, I shoot them by the boat as well. A lot less work. We catch ours in August now, while they're still eating grass, taste so much better than rutty moose in September, or willowy moose in the winter.