Alaska News

Kenai brown bear hunt will resume Thursday

The on-again, off-again, on-again brown bear hunt on the Kenai Peninsula will be back on for both drawing and registration permit holders beginning Thursday.

Fish and Game's area wildlife biologist Jeff Selinger said the season will run through the end of November – or until six adult sows are killed, according to the Peninsula Clarion.

Earlier this month, the season temporarily closed by emergency order when 11 adult female brown bears were reported killed by Oct. 10. That surpassed the department's management objective by one sow.

Most adult female brown bears — especially those pregnant or with cubs — will have denned before the hunt resumes Thursday. Consequently, biologists feel comfortable re-opening the hunt under the assumption that boars will be most hunters' target.

"It is a pretty safe time for taking males and not females," said Ted Spraker, acting chair of the Board of Game.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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