Rick Sinnott, in his April 18 letter, made a cutesy comparison between moose hunting in Providence Hospital and moose hunting in Kincaid Park, as part of his declaration that the recently proposed limited Kincaid Park moose hunt for hunters with physical disabilities approved by the Alaska Board of Game is a bad idea. He implied that there is no way to have such a hunt without the associated probability of injury to other park users. He made absolutely no mention of the extensive discussion of this proposal by the Board of Game before passing it in a 7-0 vote. His only comment relative to the Board of Game was to express his disdain for the Board and its membership.
At the same time, the current GMU 14C area biologist, Dave Battle, has indicated that “ADF& G is in preliminary discussions with the city over how such a hunt might be managed.” And he noted that we (ADF& G) “are no strangers to city-type hunts … on JBER, McHugh Creek and Upper Campbell Creek, and through orientations and proficiency tests, user group conflicts have been minimized” over the years.
And Anchorage’s mayor has indicated that he is “open to the idea of such a very limited moose hunt for qualified disabled individuals,” as long as “details are carefully sorted out for safe implementation.”
Taking a close look at the board’s discussion, note the parameters that were proposed for such a hunt, including: antlerless moose only (remove a few cows, since Kincaid run-ins are fairly common with cows with new calves); archery, shotgun or muzzle-loader only; only a small portion of the park would be closed for the hunt; only during daylight hours; occur on weekdays only; the closure would be for a maximum of 5 days/week and a max of 2 weeks per year; occur after the school cross-country running season is over and before the ski season begins; four drawing permits max (only for those needing to use a wheelchair or other disability vehicle to hunt); barricades and signs at any access point to the hunt area; and the entire carcass must be removed from the kill site.
Is this really such a bad idea, providing a few disabled Alaskans such a hunting opportunity? The associated risk for other park users seems near nonexistent.
— Jim Lieb
Palmer
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