In Alaska, most people in the bush still live a substistence lifestyle as they have for thousands of years, relying on fish and game meat to supply much-needed healthy food supplies throughout the year. The two activities are also the near religion of most Alaskans. The fall moose-hunting season for an Alaskan is almost sacrosanct, like Holy Week for Christians. Photos below show examples of gill-netting, an allowed subsistence fishing method in Alaska that is open even to urban residents. As much as I respect both activities, there are some down sides to them in Alaska--notably, guided sport hunting of wolves and bears. The current state government promotes what it calls a "predator control program," to kill wolves and grizzly bears in game management areas to boost moose and caribou populations for hunters, so the public is told. It's also big business for guides and the businesses that profit from the activity. A woman I met on a plane coming to Alaska in April 2005 told me she was paying $8,000 to kill a grizzly with a guide. Wolf killing has been particularly controversial, with the beautiful animals hunted from planes and gunned down. Several scandals in 2004-'05 made big headlines, including the legal trapping and killing of the two most photographed wolves in North America just outisde of Denali National Park. The pair killed were mates for life who had been seen by thousands of park visitors. All told 276 wolves were killed in the hunting season ending in the spring of 2005. One picture below shows the results of such a wolf kill: a wolf hat worn by a non-Native at the start of the Iditarod. For me, that was just too much.

Please click on the images to see a larger version of each picture on a separate page. Each enlarged image is approximately 35-85kbs.

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