Concern Over Hunting Closures As Mulchatna Caribou Numbers Decline

From KYUK, Mulchatna Herd caribou numbers continue to decline and local Alaskan Native leaders are concerned. Here’s more on potential hunt season restrictions:

“It never gets less cool,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) pilot Robert Sundown, watching with awe as the animals ran. He grew up in Scammon Bay, but when he moved to Bethel in the 90s, he’d hunted caribou at a time when their numbers were at their peak.

“There were so many, and you could be picky,” Sundown said. “To be picky meant ‘we’re gonna shoot the female cows because they were in better shape. They weren’t busy fighting all fall.’”

This year, there’s no opportunity to be picky. For the first time in decades, the Mulchatna caribou hunt is completely closed for the entire season because the population has crashed. Kenton Moos, the Mulchatna caribou manager for USFWS, said that the herd went from 200,000 animals in the late 90s to just 13,500 as of 2019.

“This year, it’s actually down even a little bit more: 12,850,” Moos said.

Earlier this year, a bacteria strain was detected in Mulchatna caribou. And in 2020, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game was concerned about the numbers to recommend early closures for hunting the herd. Now things seem to be even more bleak.