Public opposes higher non-resident limit on deer in Southeast

Deer on Mitkof Island following a storm in December of 2020. (Alaska Department of Fish and Game photo)

By Anna Laffrey

Daily Sitka Sentinel

The Alaska Board of Game's 2026 Southeast Alaska regulatory meeting opened in Wrangell today with a proposal that could raise the bag limit for non-Alaska resident hunters in the Sitka-area Game Management Unit 4 among issues to be decided.

Board of Game chair Jake Fletcher of Talkeetna called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m.

In its five-day Southeast meeting, the board will decide on about 70 proposals to change how the state manages hunting and trapping of deer, bear, wolves, elk, moose, beavers, migratory birds and other animals in the five game management units that comprise Southeast Alaska.

The meeting is open to the public, and a live video stream is provided on the board website at www.boardofgame.adfg.alaska.gov. Meeting materials including agendas, proposals, ADF&G staff reports and public and agency comments also can be viewed.

Members of the public can still give their comments on proposals. In-person public testimony will take place in Wrangell today and Saturday. Written comments can be submitted as "record copies" through the Board of Game website.

The game board held its last Southeast meeting in Ketchikan in 2023. Since then, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has appointed Dave Lorring of Fairbanks, James Baichtal of Thorne Bay, Jake Garner of Anchorage and Carri Ann Mueller of Palmer to serve on the seven-member board. Both Fletcher and Allen Barrette of Fairbanks are returning for their second Southeast meeting; Palin appointee Stosh Hoffman is serving his sixth term on the board.

Nonresident deer harvest in Unit 4

One proposal to the board this year deals with Sitka blacktail deer hunting in Game Management Unit 4, which encompasses the Baranof, Chichagof and Admiralty islands and the communities of Sitka, Port Alexander, Pelican, Elfin Cove, Hoonah, Tenakee Springs and Angoon.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game submitted the board proposal (23) that would increase the non-Alaska resident bag limit from two bucks to four deer (doe or bucks) each year in Unit 4, excluding a portion of east Chichagof.

The proposal has drawn significant public interest. Forty people submitted written public comments addressing the department proposal; 37 comments opposed, and 3 supported the idea of increasing the nonresident bag limit, per the Sentinel's count of on-time public comments.

Many of the public comments stress how record-setting snowfall in the northern stretches of Unit 4, and extreme cold temperatures throughout the area in late December, could cause a decline in the Unit 4 deer population in future years.

Andrew Thoms of Sitka wrote that "the deer population might be severely reduced after this current winter which is coming on a lot harder than any winter in the last 10 years."

Some comments express concern about nonresident hunting pressure.

David Cannamore of Gustavus wrote that "non-resident deer hunting is already steadily increasing in the Icy Strait corridor, specifically in the vicinity of Elfin Cove.

"Non-resident fishing lodge owners are staying into the November rut and are bringing friends and family from down south to heavily hunt," Cannamore wrote.

Public comments underscore the importance of deer as food for many Southeast Alaskans.

"For those of use who are residents in our area, deer is our primary food, and we need it for food security," Patricia Phillips of Pelican said in testimony to the board today.

Chris Lillehoff of Sitka backed the department proposal, writing in his public comment that "if the biological data supports the move I am for it."

"Carrying capacity on the landscape seems to be precariously balanced as is, but the amount of non-resident pressure/harvest is most likely a low figure and wouldn’t impact the biomass," Lillehoff wrote.

The department proposal to increase the nonresident bag limit comes after the board in its 2019 meeting increased the Unit 4 nonresident bag limit from four to six deer. Then, in its 2023 meeting, the board unanimously passed an amended proposal that cut the nonresident bag limit from six deer to two bucks.

ADF&G staff comments state that prior proposals to reduce the bag limit in 2023 “were submitted not because of any conservation concern, but as a good faith effort to help deter concurrent federal proposals being considered by the Federal Subsistence Board."

“The Federal proposals were aimed at closing large areas of Unit 4 to non-federally qualified hunters,” ADF&G staff comments state.

Despite the Board of Game’s effort to deter those federal proposals, the Federal Subsistence Board voted to close deer hunting to nonresidents, as well as residents of "nonrural" Alaska communities like Juneau, from Nov. 1 through Nov. 10 in specific areas around Angoon, Pelican and Hoonah.

At present, Sitka blacktail deer populations in Unit 4 “are robust and, anecdotally, at the highest densities anywhere in their range,” ADF&G wrote in comments on its current proposal to raise the nonresident bag limit to four deer. “After more than a decade of consecutive mild to moderate winters, populations are likely near, or exceeding, severe winter carrying capacities in many areas.”

The proposal states that "interest in hunting deer in Unit 4 by nonresidents is low."

ADF&G data shows that, in 2024, Sitka residents harvested about 40 percent of the 4,189 total deer taken from Unit 4, while Juneau residents took 32 percent, and nonresidents took about 4 percent.

The proposal states that, if the proposal were approved, only a handful of hunters would harvest more than two deer from Unit 4 each year.

“This proposal will have no impact on the Unit 4 deer populations,” ADF&G staff wrote in comments on the proposal to increase the nonresident bag limit to four deer.

Six ADF&G advisory committees weighed in on the topic this fall on behalf of their Southeast communities.

The Elfin Cove, Juneau-Douglas, Pelican, Petersburg and Wrangell advisory committees voted overwhelmingly to oppose the department proposal. Meeting minutes show that some of those groups were concerned that raising the nonresident bag limit could encourage more hunting-based tourism, increase hunting pressure and harm the area deer population.

The Sitka Advisory Committee supported the proposal, with members voting 11-3 in favor of a four-deer nonresident bag limit.

The Sitka committee made that vote on Oct. 29 after hearing a presentation from ADF&G area management biologist Steve Bethune regarding how the deer population is at the highest level that he’s seen in his ten years leading wildlife management for Unit 4.

Sitka AC members noted the price of each deer tag as another factor in nonresident harvest.

• This story originally appeared in the Daily Sitka Sentinel.