northwestalaska
New member
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2006
- Messages
- 104
The caribou are grouping up for the big trip over the Brooks Range. My neighbor went down to Buckland Alaska, which is about 80 sno-go miles south of Kotzebue this past weekend and dropped 6 animals for spring meat. Please keep in mind that up here the locals hunt for extended families and shooting 6 or more animals in a weekend is not wasteful, as all will be eaten in the coming months. There were between 5-7,000 animals in one large herd and over 1,000 in a smaller group close to Selawik Alaska.
We normally see the bou bunch up in Late April just as the snow leaves and the Ice begins to break up. They will beat it over the Brooks just in time to drop claves on the costal plane up near Barrow.
I read a federal Fish and Wildlife survey that is studying the Western Arctic Caribou Herd, know as WACH. They are looking at calf mortality and forage plots. The reindeer moss that the caribou feed on all winter in about 2/3 lower in population density on the 2 study plots and calf mortality rates are up when compared to trends from the past 10 years. What does all of this mean? Well to me the untrained observer I think it points to the population heading towards a down ward direction. The last big crash was back in the late 70’s when the population crashed some where below 100,000 animals. Keep in mind that we are currently at or near 650,000 animals.
Many of the Alaska Caribou herds have already crashed and I am sure that WACH will see a decline soon but I hope that is will be a correction rather than a true crash.
We are loosing most of our snow on the tundra but the ocean and rivers still have well over 5 feet of ice on them.
Take care
Walt
Northwest Alaska Back Country Rentals
Kotzebue, Alaska
Your best bet in camp, equipment and raft rentals in all of NW Alaska!
www.northwestalaska.com
We normally see the bou bunch up in Late April just as the snow leaves and the Ice begins to break up. They will beat it over the Brooks just in time to drop claves on the costal plane up near Barrow.
I read a federal Fish and Wildlife survey that is studying the Western Arctic Caribou Herd, know as WACH. They are looking at calf mortality and forage plots. The reindeer moss that the caribou feed on all winter in about 2/3 lower in population density on the 2 study plots and calf mortality rates are up when compared to trends from the past 10 years. What does all of this mean? Well to me the untrained observer I think it points to the population heading towards a down ward direction. The last big crash was back in the late 70’s when the population crashed some where below 100,000 animals. Keep in mind that we are currently at or near 650,000 animals.
Many of the Alaska Caribou herds have already crashed and I am sure that WACH will see a decline soon but I hope that is will be a correction rather than a true crash.
We are loosing most of our snow on the tundra but the ocean and rivers still have well over 5 feet of ice on them.
Take care
Walt
Northwest Alaska Back Country Rentals
Kotzebue, Alaska
Your best bet in camp, equipment and raft rentals in all of NW Alaska!
www.northwestalaska.com