The end of the calendar year means the end of sport hunting for deer in Sitka — but the subsistence season continues through January.
The changeover has always created a bit of confusion among hunters.
Note: Federal Subsistence Hunting Regulations can be downloaded online. Print copies of the regs are also available at local sporting goods stores.
Sitka District Ranger Perry Edwards has personally been hunting in January before, and paused when he realized that he may have been close to taking a deer illegally.
“Number one, you need to know what land you’re standing on before you pull the trigger,” he said.
The Forest Service has published a map of federally-managed lands in the Sitka vicinity where subsistence hunting for deer in the Sitka area remains legal — and of the city, state, and privately-owned lands where it is not.
(See the full map of Game Management Unit 4 .)
Some of the areas that are out-of-bounds in January are pretty popular during the five previous months of the sport hunting season.
“That means not Bear Bay, that means not the Magouns, not Katlian Bay,” he said. “That means not City & Borough of Sitka, which is up Indian River. State land: Starrigavan Valley is all state land on either side of the road on the Nelson Logging Road as you go out, as is also the first four- or five-hundred yards of the ATV trail that goes out there.”
Other commonly-hunted areas that are off-limits during the January subsistence season include the Green Lake Road corridor and Green Lake watershed, and the Kalinin Bay estuary and Sea Lion Cove trail.
Despite these restrictions, there is still a huge amount of territory available during the subsistence-only hunt, and Edwards wants to encourage people to take advantage of Sitka’s subsistence privileges. If a hunter has any doubts at all, the Sitka Ranger District can lend a hand.
“At the Forest Service, if someone has a really specific thing like ‘I want to know about here,’ they can call our front desk and we can create a map,” he said. “It may even have an aerial photo that shows where that is. So if someone is asking ‘How far up Indian River do I need to be?’ we can help keep them out of trouble.”
Because of Alaska’s unique co-management agreement, both Forest Service law enforcement and the state Wildlife Troopers enforce federal subsistence regulations. To stay on the right side of the law, Edwards reminds hunters that they’ll need a new state hunting license for 2021 to participate in the January subsistence season, although their (six) harvest tickets — or tags — from 2020 are still valid. He also reminds users of Sitka’s boat ramps that they’ll need to obtain a new launch permit from the Harbor Department.
And Edwards especially wants hunters to mind their safety practices when hunting in January — like having reliable communication, and notifying others of your plans. “It’s easy to get caught off guard,” he said, “when things go wrong and you’re not prepared for it.”
Update 1-7-21: Another important off-limits area during the subsistence-only hunt is the beach. As we were reminded by a listener, in Alaska the tidelands below mean high water belong to the state. While beach hunting is common during the sport season, it can be problematic in January’s subsistence season unless hunters are sure their quarry is above tideline.
