Hunting RegulationsBy Chas Edwardson November 02, 2017
The answer is on the front page of the Ketchikan Daily News Tuesday, October 31st 2017. Apparently federally qualified hunters in a meeting held in Craig, Alaska said this. "Where federally qualified subsistence users testified that they had a harder time harvesting deer during the 2016 ". That was the opening reason to pursue this action to further restrict hunting for the people who do not live on the island. ( I ask who didn't have a harder time last year, had to actually get out of the truck maybe.) I read further actually waiting for the punch line as this would be laughable if it were not so serious an issue. The Office of Subsistence Management in this same article states that the deer population on Prince of Wales Island is stable and growing (despite the wolf and bear hunting restrictions that have exploded the population of wolf and bear on POW). The real problem would be the natural predation if there was a decline in deer population which there is not. There are meetings being held in Juneau until Thursday of this week if anyone is interested in commenting, I am going to ask if there has been an economic impact study that addresses the impact this may or may not have overall to the residents of POW who do not hunt deer "for their very survival" ... And may take interest in how this may effect their economic well being if there was a drastic drop in visitors returning or planning a first trip to our island. About:
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Received October 31, 2017 - Published November 02, 2017 Related Viewpoint:
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