Rumors, Weather, and Other Random Factoids

It's 16 below zero (-27 C.) this morning, and the weather quacks continue to insist that a warm-up is on the way, "but it will take its time getting here." We sorta figured that out already, guys ... please come up with a new mantra, 'kay?

The Daily Noise published a follow-up article, here, stating that the Troopers Union has decided to back off its earlier allegations that Gov. Palin had somehow influenced the investigation and eventual arrest of Levi Johnston's mother.

The Public Safety Commissioner has stated that the Governor's office wasn't even made aware of the investigation until shortly before Mrs. Johnston was arrested. The article even goes on to say that the investigator making the initial allegations was a second tier player, and not central to the case.

Just another unsubstantiated rumor being published as 'fact,' and then withdrawn when no one else will corroborate the story. Go figure.

Other stuff: Yesterday, I spoke with a guy who just moved to Anchorage from the Fairbanks area. He complained that hunting is too tightly regulated here, and he misses the deer hunting in Pennsylvania.

I understand what he's saying: in the eastern half of the Lower 48, land is well-settled & mostly privately-owned. Hunting on a farm in Missouri, for example, is just a matter of obtaining the farmer's permission.

Here, where there is so much unpopulated land, the number of hoops a hunter must go through is larger. Much land is either owned by the federal government, or by a Native corporation, and it can be difficult to find an open area where a hunter can range freely. It seems like a contradiction in terms, "counter-intuitive" if you will, and can frustrate the occasional hunter.

A well-known Iditarod musher was recently fined for having taken a moose (I think) on federal land. He apparently wandered across the line & was a hundred yards or so into the federal area when he shot the animal. The courts ruled that he reasonably should have known where he was.

I read an article yesterday about a new book written by a long-time hunter. He agrees that the "golden age" of hunting is coming to an end.

I suspect there are valid points on either side of the issue. It's easy to over-hunt a particular region, but Alaska is so large that it seems unlikely, at first glance. However, somebody has to control access and the game quotas; the State is the obvious entity for such controls.

In addition, I frequently see notices in the paper from one Native corporation or another, stating that such-and-such an area is tribally-owned, and trespassers will be prosecuted.

I'm not saying I like it, but I don't want Alaska to be the place where there used to be plentiful game.

That's all the local stuff that comes to mind. Have a safe day & come again!