Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
February 2024

Prince William Sound Black Bears
Potential Changes for 2024

Prince William Sound is prime black bear habitat. Ringed by the rugged Chugach Mountains, the sound is a network of forested islands and convoluted fjords, sitting at the “top” of the Gulf of Alaska. The area is popular with bear hunters and the number of black bears harvested in the sound has doubled in recent years. The growing harvest is noteworthy for wildlife managers, who work to balance hunting opportunity with a healthy and sustainable bear population.

The area is very ...   Managing Black Bears Article Continued

Deer Steak, Beaver Tail, and a Fish to Finish it
What do wolves eat for dinner on P.O.W. Island?

It’s not surprising that on Prince of Wales Island deer are wolves’ primary food source. But are deer their only food source or do they eat a variety of prey? Gretchen Roffler, a biologist with ADF&G, along with collaborators at Oregon State University, analyzed wolf scats to see what wolves across Southeast Alaska eat and how their diet changed throughout the year.

In a peer-reviewed article published in 2021, Roffler and collaborators reported the results from the analysis ...   What do wolves eat? Article Continued

Among the Bears at McNeil

I grabbed the airhorn I was given upon arrival, took a ridiculous blurry selfie while holding it, and sang a little song as I walked back to my tent from the outhouse just as darkness fell over McNeil River State Game Sanctuary in August of 2022. If I was going to get mauled by a bear tonight, at least I would have photographic evidence of the airhorn, meant to scare off any bears that entered camp, that failed me.

I had landed at McNeil just before 9 p.m. and in those first two hours ...   Bears at McNeil Article Continued