Kotzebue resident Corina Kramer was upset after her 15-year-old son returned home over a weekend, after snowmachining with family. Her son told her a State Trooper questioned them, asking for their hunting licenses and caribou permits, despite having empty sleds.
“There was no kills, they were just out in the country,” Kramer said. “He had a gun on his back, but we carry guns when we're out in the country.”
“He was questioned, like he had already done something wrong, and told that he has to carry this paper or whatever with him,” she said.
Kramer said she wishes law enforcement offered more education and outreach to young hunters and that there were more community conversations about hunting and land management practices.
A social media post from Kramer’s husband did not reference the incident, but cautioned residents to carry the proper paperwork while out looking for caribou.
The post received hundreds of shares and responses. Many commenters questioned why the state troopers were cracking down on local subsistence hunters, instead of focusing on issues that are more important to the community, like missing and murdered people in the region. Other commenters criticized state and federal wildlife management practices. Kramer said many feel the troopers punish locals, while giving non-residents, or “fly in” hunters, a free pass.
“There's a lot of comments on ‘I wonder if they do the same thing for people like the fall time hunters who come in from down states,’” said Kramer.
“I've probably averaged 10 tickets to non-residents for every ticket I write to a resident over the past several years,” said Steve Cantine, the sole Alaska Wildlife Trooper stationed in Kotzebue. He’s held the position for the last three years.
In response to the accusations that the troopers aren’t investigating unsolved crime, Cantine said, as a wildlife enforcement officer, that's not his area of expertise. Aside from his federal counterpart, he is the only wildlife trooper for the region. He said the preferential treatment of outside hunters is a misconception.
Cantine confirmed that the number of citations he’s issued has picked up, but just slightly. He said this is an attempt to help the declining Western Arctic Caribou Herd.
“Fish and game is right now at what they call “intensive management,” said Cantine. “So that's not a crisis phase, yet. It's the phase before crisis.”
The herd has been in decline for the last two decades, now at about a third of its peak. The most recent numbers put the herd at around 152,000 caribou.
In response, the Federal and State subsistence boards proposed dramatic hunting limits for residents from five caribou per day to four caribou per year. Alex Hansen, the state caribou biologist for the herd said 95% of the harvest is from local hunters.
Cantine said given the health of the herd it's important for him to make sure hunters have their paperwork before they make a kill.
“So the state statute and regulation say that you're required to have a hunting license in your possession, when you are hunting. Hunting is defined as taking or attempting to take game,” he said. “So if you're out on a snow machine with a rifle, and you're looking for caribou you're hunting.”
Cantine said he remembers contacting Kramer’s teenage son and did not notice any discomfort in the interaction. Instead of issuing a citation, Cantine offered his business card.
“I don't do things behind closed doors, I don't hide or sneak around,” Cantine said “I am more than happy for folks to reach out to me if they have concerns about the way I do business or the way the regulation is written and we can have a conversation.”
Cantine, along with area biologists and subsistence managers, are especially concerned about the overharvesting of caribou cows. Hunting cows isn’t illegal yet. But Cantine encouraged local hunters to stick to bulls to preserve the resource for future generations.
“Because at the end of the day, the goal is there is a caribou out there, we would like some caribou in our freezer,” Cantine said. “I'm there to facilitate that and also to make sure we can do it 20 years from now.”
Cantine said residents should carry two documents with them while they’re out looking for caribou — a current hunting license, and RC907 permit which is available free of charge.
Both permits are available online and at the Kotzebue Fish and Game office.
A social media post warning about a State Trooper stopping Kotzebue snowmachiners to check their hunting permits went viral over the weekend.
Part of the controversy was that the trooper had stopped residents who weren't actually hunting. But the wildlife trooper on-duty says he is just trying to do his job, protecting a threatened population of caribou.
