State Denies Request For Out-Of-Season Moose Hunt

A Native group – the Tanana Chiefs Conference – requested to Alaska Department of Fish and Game to open up an Interior moose hunt after fear of a food shortage. Here’s more from the Fairbanks News-Miner:

Most villages in Interior Alaska have now implemented travel restrictions, which may result in increased food insecurity. As a result, in a March 25 letter to the department, TCC requested an emergency opening that would allow communities to harvest “one or two moose” as needed and to self-report to the department.

In response, Vincent-Lang wrote that he discussed the possibilities with COVID-19 Unified Command, a group made up of various state departments and agencies.

“I learned that freight and mail delivery pose a minimal risk to people living in remote villages, and according to their investigations food and goods are still being shipped into rural Alaska on a regular basis,” Vincent-Lang wrote. “As for hunting opportunities, some state and federal moose and caribou hunting seasons have been open in the TCC region since the pandemic began and only recently closed.”