More Caribou and Moose for Alaskans

I gather that at the recent Alaska Board of Game meetings the focus was on predator control. Time to kill bears, wolves, and other predators to hopefully increase the population of the prey species – moose, caribou, elk and deer. A lot of Alaskans are complaining that it has become too difficult to find and harvest an animal. I’m more than a little disappointed – I believe that rather than focusing on predators we should be focusing on habitat protection. Why is it that the proponents of predator control also seem to be the same people who want to open ANWR and build roads into the places I like to hunt?

But I have a solution. Lets designate a couple thousand acres of public land near both Fairbanks and Anchorage for the propagation of wild game. We’ll build a fence to keep the predators out, and populate the pens with caribou and moose. In the wilds of Alaska moose and other game are few and far between because the landscape cannot support more than that. But in fenced enclosures we could supplement the natural browse with hay and grain and maintain a healthy population of free-range game. A much higher population than the landscape could naturally support. With enough hay we could probably increase the density to 2 or 3 per acre instead of the usual 1 animal every few square miles.

The State of Alaska would build roads through the refugiums to provide access to the animals. Maybe even have a facility at the gate that rents out ATVs to help the public access their game. Top notch butchering facilities on site would be a must. A draw permit system would be needed – one animal per family perhaps? And maybe one enclosure could be maintained for maximum trophy quality. In this enclosure the feed could be supplemented with minerals beneficial to horn growth and the animals with poor trophy genetics culled.

My plan would be way cheaper than trying to wipe out the predators over the vast expanse of Alaska’s backcountry. And the enclosures would be pretty cheap to maintain. I bet the State of Alaska could even make a profit on the program. Best of all we’d leave the rest of Alaska alone.

I can hear the screams of ‘such a plan is not natural’. And I agree. But removing the predators from the ecosystem is not natural either.

Patrick

Photo: Me with a free range elk I harvested on Afognak. Note that the antlers lack an eye guard on each side and are relatively puny given the size of the animal. This animal would have benefited from supplemental feed, genetic culling and some extra minerals in its diet.