FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Injured, aggressive or nuisance moose near Fairbanks will be targeted for hunting under a rule approved Thursday by the Alaska Board of Game.
Meeting in Fairbanks, the board voted to approve targeted moose hunts by hunters using archery equipment or shotguns with slugs. The system has been used in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough to kill moose that linger near highways.
"I think it's a good thing some of these moose end up in the freezer instead of on the hood of a car," said board member Pete Probasco of Palmer.
The Department of Fish and Game recommended the rule, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.
Vehicles hit and kill about 200 moose on Fairbanks roads, said Fairbanks area biologist Don Young. The number has declined because of recent cow moose hunts, he said.
The department likely will develop an application process in which names of hunters will be drawn and placed on a list, Young said. The person at the top of the list would be called when the department concludes an injured or nuisance moose should be killed.
Young said he expected about a dozen moose to be killed.
"That's a ballpark figure," Young said. "I do not expect a very high harvest."
The department takes up to 15 calls each spring about moose with broken legs, Young said.
Teresa Sager-Albaugh of Tok voted against targeted hunts. She cited potential trespass problems and bad publicity from shooting cow moose that could be pregnant.
"That's the kind of thing that goes to the newspaper and makes people wonder what we're doing," she said. "It's an awful lot of exposure to an unpleasant outcome we don't want to generate."
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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, www.newsminer.com
