BLM opens Fortymile Caribou Federal Subsistence Hunt on October 27

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Eastern Interior Field Office will open the Fortymile caribou federal subsistence hunt on federal public lands in Units 20E, 25C and a portion of 20F on October 27, 2024​. The caribou hunt is limited to federally qualified rural residents hunting on federal public lands only, including federal public lands accessible from the Steese and Taylor highways. The federal subsistence hunt opens at 12:01 a.m. October 27, 2024, with a harvest limit of two bull caribou, including harvests from other caribou hunts in Alaska since July 1, 2024. The hunt closes at 11:59 p.m. March 31, 2025. 

BLM made the decision to authorize the Fortymile Hunt under authority delegated by the Federal Subsistence Board, after consultation with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Eastern Interior Subsistence Regional Advisory Council. Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) provides an opportunity for federally qualified subsistence users to meet the needs of living in rural Alaska where there are limited alternatives to replace food supplies. Even with the two-bull limit, the federal subsistence harvest is expected to be a very small proportion of the annual harvest from the Fortymile caribou herd. 

Hunters participating in the federal hunt must obtain a RC867 joint State/federal registration permit issued by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. State of Alaska regulations limit the caribou harvest to one bull. must obtain a second registration permit prior to taking the second bull. Evidence of sex must remain attached.  

To manage the risk of exceeding the quota when caribou are near road systems, the State is accepting applications for the AC999 hunt through October 31. When the State of Alaska portion of RC867 or AC999 is open, permitted hunters may hunt on federal and non-federal land. 

To qualify for the RC867 caribou hunt under federal subsistence regulations, you must have your primary, permanent place of residence in one of the following rural communities or game management units, and you must have lived in Alaska for the previous 12 months.   

• For hunting in Units 20E and 25C—residents of Units 20D, 20E, 20F, 25, 12 (north of Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve), Eureka, Livengood, Manley and Minto  

• For hunting in Unit 20F east of the Dalton Highway and south of the Yukon River—residents of Units 20F, 25D, and Manley  

For more information on seasons, harvest limits, methods, and customary and traditional use determinations for the subsistence taking of wildlife, please reference the 2024-2026 Federal Subsistence Management Regulations for the Harvest of Wildlife on Federal Public Lands in Alaska. 

Maps to aid in locating federal public lands open to the federal subsistence hunt near the Elliott, Steese and Taylor highways are available from the BLM Fairbanks Public Room and are included in the “Federal Subsistence Hunting Map Series” in BLM Alaska’s georeferenced PDF map collection. For maps with information about BLM recreation sites and motor vehicle access, see the “Digital Public Information Map Series.”   

Information and updates on the RC867 caribou hunt are available on the Fortymile Hotline at (907) 267-2310. For additional information about the subsistence hunt, contact Jim Herriges at (907) 474-2373 or jherrige@blm.gov.  

-BLM-  

Need public domain imagery to complement news coverage of the BLM in Alaska? Visit our Flickr channel!  
Learn more at www.blm.gov/Alaska, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.