Alaska's off-kilter winter weather is causing more problems in Southwest Alaska, where the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has extended an area moose hunt by two weeks after hunters began expressing concerns about the effect a lack of snow would have on their harvest.
"Boy, this year, the moose aren't even ankle-deep in snow," said Phillip Perry, Fish and Game area biologist in Bethel.
The affected hunt area, the "Lower Yukon" portion of Unit 18, includes "all of the Yukon River drainages in Unit 18 as well as the west coast of the unit," Perry said. He added the area normally has a "liberal season," which gives hunters the opportunity to bag two moose from August to March 15.
But with an emergency order issued by Fish and Game last week, the season has been extended to March 31 for the second year in a row. Perry compared this year's weather conditions to last year's: snowless.
"Having access to the hunt area where there are very many moose is pretty dependent on snow," Perry said. "Residents in communities along the Yukon have an easier time, but Kuskokwim communities have been affected a lot."
Before the rivers freeze, hunters can bag moose by boat. But in the winter, hunters travel by snowmachine.
The winter months account for about one-third of the season's harvest, Perry said. Last year, 550 moose were harvested for the entire season. Fish and Game likely won't know how many animals were harvested this season until late spring or early summer.
This year's decision to extend the hunting season came after a public request.
"When a member of the public officially requests, in a letter or email, to extend the season, we look at the data," Perry said. "Sometimes hard data or just knowledge of what's going on. Biologically, is this going to increase the harvest too much?"
Perry said the answer was easy: "No."
Along the Yukon River portion of Unit 18, biologists estimate a population of about 12,000 moose. Just 30 to 40 years ago, there were very few moose in that area, according to Perry, who estimated a population of about 1,000 to 2,000 animals in the early 1980s. But because of good habitat, Perry said, moose have been moving west.
Now, about 50 percent of cows have twins and in the winter calf numbers are high. Perry said that means neither the environment nor predators are affecting the moose population, which has hit historic highs -- meaning there's little immediate concern about over-harvesting.
But not harvesting enough is also cause for "a little worry," he said.
Perry said last year, March 15 and 16, saw heavy snowfall, which helped hunters during the extension period, but he said it's hard to say if Mother Nature will help out again this year.