Tag: Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Fisherman pulls up record rockfish from 1,000 feet of water

Fishing deep waters in Alaska, Keith DeGraff hooked up to what he thought was a halibut, not a black cod, the target. Turns out, it was neither.

Fishing the deep waters of Prince William Sound in Alaska, Keith DeGraff hooked up to what he thought was a halibut, not the target fish of black cod. Turns out, it was neither.

DeGraff landed a shortraker rockfish that qualified as a state record, beating the old mark of 39.1 pounds caught in 2013 by Henry Liebman of Seattle, as reported by Saltwater Sportsman.

DeGraff first weighed the fish back at a remote lodge where his fiancée Betsey Wilson and three friends were staying. Unofficially it weighed 48 pounds. But it would be three days before it could be weighed officially on a certified scale. So DeGraff bled the fish.

“I wasn’t going to taint the meat for the sake of a record,” DeGraff told Saltwater Sportsman.

With an Alaska Department of Fish and Game representative present, the shortraker rockfish weighed in at 42.4 pounds on a certified scale, still besting the previous record by over three pounds.

The International Game Fish Association world record for a shortraker rockfish is 44.1 pounds caught by Angelo Sciubba in 2017 near Glacier Bay.

DeGraff described the battle to Saltwater Sportsman, saying he was fishing 1,000-feet deep for black cod and “was immediately disappointed, because the way it was fighting, it felt like a halibut.

“With a thousand feet of line out, it can be hard to tell. This one pulled drag. I got it up about 75 feet and he took 40 feet. I’m fishing on pretty big gear, so for a fish to pull drag, I knew it was a decent size, which made me think it was a halibut between 30 and 35 pounds.”

Saltwater Sportsman stated the shortraker is one of 33 rockfish species in Alaska and dwells 500- to 1,500-feet deep among boulders along the state’s continental shelf.

Former Commanders QB Carson Wentz the subject of criticism

Carson Wentz took in a hunting trip as he awaits his next NFL opportunity.

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Some people are simply hated.

Such is the case for Carson Wentz.

Of course, we all realize his play was not up to NFL starting quarterback standards. This is why the Commanders front office determined to not continue with Wentz in this upcoming 2023 season.

Yet fans of the Commanders, Colts and Eagles have continued to jump on Wentz on social media. They continue to pile on when it is unnecessary.

Now we have others hating on Wentz. The latest is this week as Wentz went hunting in Alaska and, with a bow, landed a black bear. Have you seen the size of that bear?

Yet, now Wentz finds himself being the center of criticism by animal rights advocates who frankly have proven repeatedly they don’t understand hunting laws that have limits and why it is good for hunting to occur.

Some took to social media to criticize Wentz.

One referred to Wentz as “disgusting and a disgrace,” hoping” Wentz  will be “mauled by bears.”

Really?

One criticizer asked, “How can you take a living animal’s life like that?” I can’t help but wonder, has that person eaten turkey on Thanksgiving?

There are regulations for hunting in Alaska as there are in other states. Wentz grew up hunting in North Dakota. He is an outdoorsman, a sportsman. If Wentz was hunting legally, what is the problem?

Are the haters of Wentz even aware that all sorts of animals reproduce at various rates and thus, hunting laws are designed according to statistics studied for many years?

Even more, hunting is encouraged in some states because of the very fact some animals reproduce at higher rates. Thus a balancing of the bear population, for instance, resulted in bear hunting seasons.

Congratulations Carson! We certainly wish your football career would have generated better results for you in Washington, but we certainly are not going to hold any kind of grudge against you personally as a man, husband and father.

Might those who have the loudest bark against Wentz and other hunters who hunt legally actually possess the least amount of knowledge on the subject? In addition, might that make those people actually the least qualified to criticize Wentz?

As the old saying goes, “Some people are mostly heat and little light.”

Rabbit hunter in Alaska is forced to shoot a momma grizzly bear

With his life on the line, an Alaskan rabbit hunter who happened upon a grizzly bear with cubs had no other choice than to kill the bear. \

An Alaskan rabbit hunter who happened upon a grizzly bear with cubs was forced to shoot and kill the momma bear with his .44 handgun when it began to maul him.

Nicholas Abraham, 34, was hunting on the Kenai Peninsula north of the Sterling Highway at mile 73.5 on Saturday at approximately 8:24 p.m. when the encounter occurred, according to the Alaska Wildlife Troopers.

“Abraham became aware of the sow when he was about 15 feet from her,” Troopers spokesman Justin Freeman told the Anchorage Daily News. “She was on him immediately after he became aware of her.”

Freeman told ADN that Abraham, a Sterling resident, managed to drive himself to the hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.

Troopers went to the scene of the attack Sunday but did not see any cubs on the site, Freeman told ADN.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Man gets out of car to chase bear in Yellowstone; gets vilified (video)

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game states that “You may kill a bear in defense of your life or property if you did not provoke an attack or cause a problem by negligently leaving human or pet food or garbage in a manner that attracts bears and if you have done everything else you can to protect your life and property.”

It also says, “If you have to shoot a bear, be sure you shoot to kill — wounded bears are potentially more dangerous than healthy bears.”

Generic photos courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game.

Bear strikes tourist in Alaska in ‘extremely rare’ city encounter

A tourist in Anchorage sustained minor injuries Sunday night when a black bear swatted at her several times and made contact twice.

A tourist in Anchorage sustained minor injuries Sunday night when a black bear swatted at her several times and made contact twice in what a wildlife official called an “extremely rare” encounter on the city’s extensive urban trail system.

The unidentified victim was walking near Mile 7 of the popular Tony Knowles Coastal Trail in the Point Woronzof area near the runway of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport around 6 o’clock, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

The woman and a bicyclist spotted the bear about 50 yards away and it kept walking down the trail in their direction as they retreated. It then wandered in the woods parallel to the trail about 25 yards away.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Backpacker plays dead to halt grizzly bear attack

“The victim felt that the bear had stopped walking in her direction, so she stopped at this sign that was alongside the trail and then the bear popped out at the sign,” Dave Battle, Anchorage area wildlife biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, told ADN.

“And the victim and the bear circled the sign for several minutes. The lady was trying to keep the sign between her and the bear.”

The bear then began swatting at the woman, striking her twice.

Battle described the woman as “remarkably calm” and said, “She didn’t try to run from the bear or anything like that, she kept the sign between her and the bear and was just trying to scare it off.”

Eventually, it was the noise made by people nearby that caused the bear to halt its attack and wander off.

Battle didn’t think the woman sought immediate medical attention.

It’s extremely rare for bears to interact with humans on the city’s extensive urban trail system, Battle told ADN.

“We don’t know exactly what it was doing, but the fact that it came that close and was having that kind of an interaction, kept circling the sign — we don’t know whether it was predatory behavior for sure, but it’s certainly behavior we don’t want to see in a black bear,” Battle told ADN.

A sign was posted on the trail stating, “An adult black bear approached a hiker and made contact, inflicting minor injuries. Incident occurred near Mile 7. Use this trail with caution, pay attention to surroundings, and carry bear spray.”

According to the ADFG, Anchorage residents share the municipality with up to 350 American black bears and up to 65 brown bears.

This was the first report of a bear encounter like this in that area this year. But an Army soldier was attacked and killed, and another soldier was injured in a remote area of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in May. And a man was wounded in an Eagle River attack. Both involved brown bears with cubs.

Photo courtesy of Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Two campers asleep in tent injured in ‘quick and intense’ bear attack

The campers were prepared with bear deterrents but were rendered defenseless in the attack that caught them by surprise.

Two campers were asleep in their tent and had no time to react when a bear injured them in a “quick and intense” attack in Alaska’s Kenai National Wildlife Refuge early Saturday morning.

The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge reported Sunday on Facebook that the people were camping alone along the shoreline of Skilak Lake near the mouth of Hidden Creek, and that after the attack, they managed to kayak to Upper Skilak Lake Campground to seek help.

One of the campers assisting the injured pair contacted Alaska State Troopers via satellite phone, and emergency medical personnel responded with a helicopter and ambulance, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

One camper was airlifted to a nearby hospital while the other was taken by ambulance. The extent of their injuries was not clear.

Leah Eskelin, a refuge spokesperson, told ADN that officials didn’t know why the bear attacked and didn’t know what kind of bear was involved.

“It was a short, quick, in-your-tent attack,” Eskelin told ADN.

“We’re grateful that they got the care that they needed right away and that everyone really came together at the campground to provide that aid and give them a quick response time.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Momma bear in Yellowstone has ‘paws full’ with misbehaving cub

Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Jeff Selinger told ADN the campers had bear deterrents, such as bear spray and a bear horn, but didn’t have time to use them as the attack was quick and intense, adding that it was around midnight.

When it was over, the campers quickly loaded some of their gear into the kayaks and went for help, which was a 1½- to 2-hour paddle away. They were prepared with first aid supplies; at the campground boat launch, other campers administered first aid.

“There’s no indication that they did anything to prompt the attack or did anything wrong,” Selinger told ADN. “It’s one of those where you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

ADFG biologists and wildlife officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were on the scene of the attack Saturday but didn’t find the bear. They collected the collapsed tent and other camping gear.

“ADFG is working on seeing if they can pull any DNA material off of that, like hair, because they want to see if they can find out what kind of species it is and that might help determine why the bear acted the way it did,” Eskelin told ADN.

The Hidden Creek Trail was closed Saturday but reopened Sunday with signs posted with details about the attack to warn trail users. Selinger urged those utilizing the area to use caution and carry safety supplies like bear deterrent and first aid.

“The big thing is being prepared as well as these folks were. You could get attacked in the Fred Meyer parking lot — you’re always in bear country here,” Selinger told ADN. “Always have some medical equipment, maybe compression bandages and things you may not think of. And whenever you’re going out, just be prepared in case something does happen — have a plan of how to get back to safety or how to contact somebody.”

Photo of Hidden Creek Trail courtesy of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge; generic bear photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.