OutdoorsDirectory.com

Hunting Alaska Newsletter
January 2005

Merry Christmas now just past! We are sending this a bit before the first of the year because of the holidays. Best wishes to you from David, Katie, Linda, and Pam at OutdoorsDirectory.com for a delightful and prosperous New Year!

We are excited about some recent additions to OutdoorsDirectory.com. The first was our first cookbook for Alaska fish. Fishing forum members suggested the idea, and we ran with it. You will find more details below.

The second is a new section on boating. At this point, it consists largely of 50 Alaska river logs, but what a wealth of information about these waterways they are! I have been reading through them, and I think you will find them interesting – and useful. We are in the process of converting these image-only PDF files into searchable text PDFs. This retains the format of the original, but makes it possible to more easily navigate through them. It is slow going, but we are making progress. We are also converting to HTML to make these documents optimally available on the web. More details and a link below on this one, too.

If you find this newsletter helpful, I invite you to forward it to family and friends.

David M Johnson
Publisher/OutdoorsDirectory.com

--- NEWS & UPDATES ------------------------------------------------

The first winter moose hunt in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta since the moratorium opened December 24 and ends January 5. This is primarily of interest to Y-K villages, but is significant in that the moose population seems to be responding well to the hunting moratorium. Moose have colonizing the Delta for decades now, but have been hindered in their population growth because of excessive hunting. http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/pubs/news/2004/12-16-2004.pdf 

The Foundation for North American Wild Sheep Alaska Chapter has published the winter edition of The Ram. Articles and other material can be found online: http://www.alaska.net/~fnawsak/the_ram.html  SHEEP DAYS 2005 will be on January 29th at the Downtown Anchorage Marriott Hotel. There will be seminars, dinner, auctions, raffles, and a 25 GUN raffle. For more details see http://www.alaska.net/~fnawsak 

The Alaska Bowhunters Association has announced its 27th annual awards banquet for March 26 at the Marriott in downtown Anchorage. http://www.akbowhunters.com/Banquet2005.htm

Alaska Wildlife News is published by the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation. While the articles do not always deal specifically with hunting, they are almost always of interest to people interested in wildlife, and most of us who hunt are keenly interested in wild things. You can see the current and links to recent issues here: http://www.wildlifenews.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlife_news.main&issue_id=21 

The Alaska Outdoor Council has scheduled its 2005 AOC Annual Meeting. for April 7-10 in Anchorage at the Hawthorne Suites. See the website for more information: http://www.alaskaoutdoorcouncil.org/index.html  Also, the winter issue of the Alaska Outdoor Council newsletter is now available. A must see in the newsletter: “Intensive Management – Does it Work?” This is by Patrick Valkenburg, a long-time ADF&G biologist from Fairbanks: You can see the whole newsletter here: http://www.alaskaoutdoorcouncil.org/pdfs/newsletter_winter_2004.pdf 

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is proposing significant increases to fees for hunting and fishing licenses and tags. The proposal will be placed before the legislature for consideration. Resident hunting licenses would rise from $25 to $50. http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2548132,00.html  Official information from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game: http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/special/license/license.php 

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is hosting a Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) workshop February 11-13, 2005 at Solid Rock Bible Camp, Soldotna. For more information see the ADFG website http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/education/huntered/bow1.cfm  BOW is a great opportunity to introduce wives and girlfriends to outdoors activities, including hunting. I was an instructor at the first few of these when it first started in Alaska, and I can tell you the enthusiasm is HIGH.

--- NEW on OUTDOORSDIRECTORY.COM --------------------------------------

MAGAZINE: 14 December 2004 Some of regulars on the Alaska Fishing Forum suggested it and we thought it was a great idea: an Alaska fishing cookbook online. Take a look and join the fun! http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/magazine/fish-recipes.htm

BOATING: 13 December 2004 We have added river logs for 50 important Alaska rivers to the first page of a new section on boating. They were all written in the 1970's, but still contain valuable information for anglers, hunters, and river runners. These are mostly PDF documents at present, but we are in the process of converting them to HTML. http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/boating/index.htm

--- ALASKA HUNTING FORUM THREADS --------------------------------------

Take a moose apart with a chainsaw, 180 PILOT asks? Absolutely, many respond. Lots of ideas: http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforum/akhunting_message.php?id=32264

REDBEARD says he has about 600 bills to put down on gear for hunting Alaska. What would you recommend he asks? Many good answers to this one:
http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforum/akhunting_message.php?id=32129

Alaska squirrel hunt and float trip ‘ideers. JCR started a storm of laughter, mild insults, silliness and … well, you’ll have to read it to see. http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforum/akhunting_message.php?id=31242 

Where is a walk-in sheep hunt possible in this country, AK-archer asks? Many responses: http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforum/akhunting_message.php?id=31249

BUSHRAT asks what about this idea for increasing the take of grizzly bears in the eastern Interior. Lots of passion on this subject.
http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2?from=1101891600&to=1104570000&m=thread 

Technology vs ethics – where do YOU draw the line, RICK SMITH asks? http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforum/akhunting_message.php?id=31719 

RIVRAT started a thread HUTS in Alaska. The idea has been floated to set up a system of huts connected by trails. Is this a good idea for hunters and other Alaskans? http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforum/akhunting_message.php?id=31754

Hunting boots: who needs them and what should they consist of? GUNNER1 asks and gets an earful. http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforum/akhunting_message.php?id=30770

CAZADOR asks “which bivy sack”. No few responses on what kind, or even if for Alaska hunting. http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforum/akhunting_message.php?id=30996 

What is a first time Alaska hunter to do, THENARWAL asks. Good advice from the gang. http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforum/akhunting_message.php?id=31059 with more followup: http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforum/akhunting_message.php?id=31128 

There were many more, of course. These were just a few of the highlights. By the end of the month: more than 32,000 total messages on the forum. You can search the whole lot here: http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforum/forum_search.php

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David M Johnson
Publisher / OutdoorsDirectory.com
PO Box 609
Delta Junction, AK 99737