Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
October 2017

Can I keep this skull I found?
Picking up whale bones, antlers and animal parts

A dead grey whale washed up on a beach near Juneau a few years ago. Over the course of several months, those willing to brave the stench salvaged the bones. When I checked it out, I asked one person who was taking some vertebrae if it was legal. He said he assumed it was okay, “Because grey whales aren’t endangered.”

Alaskans are fond of animal parts. Hunters keep skulls, hikers find and keep shed antlers, beachcombers keep bones, and it seems like everyone keeps a few ...   Finding Bones Article Continued

The Last, Best Salmon

By mid-afternoon, 12-year-old Natalie Marsh was clearly exhausted. She had been awake since 4:30 a.m., and fishing hard since 7 a.m. aboard the 25-foot charter boat Strike Zone.

A gale blasting in from the Aleutian Islands had whipped up the seas near the mouth of Resurrection Bay, and sharp winds and needling rains had reddened Natalie’s cheeks.

Yet rest was out of the question. My daughter was only one coho salmon short of her six-fish limit. And as ...   Coho Salmon Article Continued

Billy or Nanny? Mountain Goats Featured in Video
When Does Gender Matter?

Antlers make it pretty easy to tell a buck deer or a bull moose from a doe or cow. With mountain goats and bears it’s more difficult to judge gender, and sometimes, it’s important. Accomplished hunters and serious wildlife watchers know that there are a handful of telling clues, and some dead-giveaways, that reveal the gender of these animals.

Wildlife managers in many parts of North America are working to reduce the harvest of female mountain goats. Mountain goats are found ...   Billy or Nanny? Article Continued