Interior Alaska Hunting

From Alaska Outdoors Wiki

Moose and caribou are the most visible big game in Interior, Arctic and Western Alaska. This region encompasses the huge area drained by the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers and draining into the Bering Sea, Kotzebue Sound and the Arctic Ocean. This is relatively dry country, and habitats vary from the forested Interior to the western and arctic treeless tundra.

Regulations in some parts of the state require up to four brow tines on at least one side or 50" antler spread.

Caribou exist in more or less discrete herds, and some of these herds are huge. Moose are most abundant in Interior and Western Alaska, but are found in good numbers throughout the region, except on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, where they are just becoming established.

There are black and grizzly bears throughout the region, but bear populations here are not as dense as in the coastal regions. There are populations of wild bison, transplanted initially from Montana. Dall sheep are found in most of the mountain ranges.

Muskox, extirpated from Alaska in the late 1800's. are now present in good numbers in some areas of coastal western and arctic Alaska, although bear predation is becoming an increasing problem in some areas for these animals.

Wolves are also numerous in places in this region. It is not uncommon to hear wolves howling on fall evening while sitting around the hunting campfire. Wolverine are distributed widely across the region.

Waterfowl hunting is locally good, but again, only for a short time. Waterfowl begin moving out of the Interior as early as mid-August, several weeks before the beginning of the hunting season.

There is a wide variety of game birds here, and populations can be quite good at the high point of their cycle of abundance. Grouse species include ruffed, spruce and sharptail. In the hills and mountains, hunters may find willow, rock and whitetail ptarmigan.