Internet Server Issues Delay Online Registration for Nelson Island Muskox Hunts
- ADF&G Press Release

Sam Cotten, Commissioner
P.O. Box 115526
Juneau, Alaska 99811-5526

Press Release: January 18, 2017

Contact: Patrick Jones, Wildlife Biologist, (907) 543-2839

Internet Server Issues Delay Online Registration for Nelson Island Muskox Hunts

(Juneau) — Online registration for two popular Nelson Island muskox hunts was halted Tuesday when the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Web server experienced technical difficulties.

Muskox hunts RX070 and RX071 were scheduled by regulation to open for online registration on January 17, at 9 a.m. Alaska time. As frustrated applicants soon discovered, server issues prevented registration for 48 permits (two bull permits and 46 cow permits) scheduled to be issued on a first-come, first-served basis.

Online application is now rescheduled to resume on Monday, January 23, at 9 a.m. Alaska time at http://hunt.alaska.gov.

"This is still a relatively new and complicated hunt structure for some highly sought-after permits," said Division of Wildlife Conservation Director Bruce Dale. "We apologize for this week's setbacks and are looking at technical and regulatory solutions to provide this opportunity more smoothly in the future."

Muskoxen disappeared from Alaska in the mid- or late 1800s. In 1930, 34 muskoxen captured in Greenland were brought to Fairbanks and released on Nunivak Island. The animals thrived and increased from 31 in 1936 to some 750 by 1968. Nunivak Island muskoxen were subsequently transplanted to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Cape Thompson, the Seward Peninsula, Nelson Island, and to Wrangel Island and the Taimyr Peninsula in Russia.

Today, Alaska's muskox herds are generally healthy, numbering more than 4,600 statewide, allowing for renewed hunting and viewing opportunities.

In addition to online registration, muskox hunters may also pick up Nelson Island permits in person on a first-come, first-served basis at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game office in Bethel on January 19, at 8 a.m.; and in Nightmute on January 24, at 1 p.m. For more information on the registration hunts, contact Bethel Wildlife Biologist Patrick Jones at (907) 543-2839, or e-mail patrick.jones@alaska.gov.