# Alaska Natives protest Duck stamp.



## zogman (Mar 20, 2002)

Subsistence hunters protest duck stamps requirement

By ALEX DeMARBAN
The Tundra Drums via The Associated Press

Published: April 25th, 2010 10:22 PM

As waterfowl wing their way to northern nesting grounds by the thousands, key Alaska Native groups are fighting a new federal requirement that subsistence hunters must buy duck stamps.

Representatives with the Association of Village Council Presidents, the North Slope Borough, and other rural organizations say the $15 cost is another fee that villagers, who are just hunting to survive, shouldn't have to pay.

The concern comes as subsistence hunters face penalties for the first time this spring if they don't buy and carry the stamps.

Native members of a migratory bird panel, meeting in Anchorage last week, said the law is unfair.

Many subsistence hunters don't work and can't afford the stamps or the $100 ticket. Others can't buy the stamps because they're not available in all villages, they said.

AVCP President Myron Naneng said his group, a voice for dozens of Southwest Alaska tribes, believes the requirement is illegal. Wildlife protection officers can ticket him this summer, he said.

"I'm not going to buy a duck stamp because I'm not a sport hunter," he said.

The federal Duck Stamp Act, passed in 1934 to fund the purchase of new waterfowl habitat, requires that waterfowl hunters 16 or older buy the stamps and carry them in the field.

In practice, Alaska subsistence hunters have been exempt from buying the duck stamps -- they're like big postage stamps -- for years.

The federal government has slowly begun to change that. In 2001, Lauri Adams, the Interior Department's regional solicitor in Alaska, issued an opinion that subsistence hunters need to buy the stamps for the spring and summer hunts.

In the 2008 season, the agency launched a three-year plan to prepare hunters to follow the law, said Gary Young, assistant special agent with USFWS law enforcement office in Anchorage.

The first season, officers focused on educating hunters. Last season, they gave verbal warnings.

This year, hunters can be ticketed for not carrying and signing their duck stamps.

AVCP doesn't believe the solicitor's opinion was legal, said Naneng.

For one thing, the Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council did not give its consent, he said. The group, created in 2000 to offer advice on subsistence harvests, consists of the USFWS, ADFG and 11 representatives from Alaska Native groups around the state.

The panel met Wednesday in part to discuss items surrounding the new hunting period, which began April 2 and ends Aug. 31 in most areas of the state. Also, hunting stops for a month between the spring and summer seasons, often in June.

On the marshy Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Southwest Alaska, nesting site for millions of birds, the 30-day between-season closure has yet to be announced.

In Western Alaska especially, waterfowl hunting plays a critical role in subsistence diets.

On the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in 2007, more than half the households in the region participated in the hunts, killing an estimated 70,000 ducks, geese and swans, according to figures from the state Fish and Game Department.

John Reft, representing the Sun'aq tribal government in Kodiak, told the panel he's worried about villagers that don't have money.

"These people in outerlying villages don't have jobs," he said. "They want to eat, support their families. That's all we want to do here, just to survive."

In hope of overturning the 2001 opinion, AVCP has arranged a teleconference meeting Friday with the Interior Department's Solicitor's Office in Washington, D.C., Naneng said.

Representatives from several other Native regional organizations plan to attend by phone, he said.

The North Slope Borough Assembly and other Barrow-based groups recently passed resolutions opposing the duck-stamp opinion, said Taqqulik Hepa, the borough's Department of Wildlife Management director.

"(Duck stamps) are not a traditional and customary practice for Alaska Native people," she said.

The Bristol Bay Native Association also supports AVCP, though that regional Native group says subsistence hunters should try to buy and use the duck stamps until the requirement is changed, said Molly Chythlook, the association's Natural Resources director.

However, some hunters have said they're not always available for purchase in villages, she said.

And while the stamps can be purchased on the Web, some villagers don't have computers or don't know how to use them, some rural panel members said.

The duck stamps are supposed to be available at all U.S. Post Offices in villages, but some postmasters haven't started selling them as they should, said Donna Dewhurst, wildlife biologist.

At the meeting, Sandra Tahbone of Nome, representing Kawerak Inc., said Fish and Wildlife hadn't done a good job of educating the public about the changes.

The agency has tried but will strive to do better, Young said.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

If you don't have a job you don't eat. Its that simple.


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## 6162rk (Dec 5, 2004)

no matter how you look at it. it's a bunch of crap.


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## duckmander (Aug 25, 2008)

6162rk said:


> no matter how you look at it. it's a bunch of crap.


100% agreed.

If a person doesnt have a job and lives in the wilderness living off of the land as these people have done for many years. I think they should not need any of the licenses or paper work involved in hunting today. Our great grand parents never owned a hunting license. It is for only two reasons that I can think of.

One; Some one felt the need to insure these animals future for their great great grand children to be able to hunt.

Two; Some one in the government saw a way to make more money by taxing yet another pastime of people.

Seriously, If they have no job they should not have to buy anything for hunting. Hunting is their job.It is how they feed their families. If they cant pay 15 dollars for the stamp how are they going to pay the 100 dollar ticket? their not. write as many as you like Im not paying I have no money. RIGHT?

Another thing I have trouble some years finding my own duck stamp. I have tried as many as 5 different post offices looking for one. Which is not right either. If they are for sale on june first. then all post offices should have them in supply no later then june first. ready for sale.

If you quit your job took your 400 million dollar savings walked 200 miles from the nearest civilization. Took your ax and saw and built you a home of some sort. and never intended to leave said place. would you really go back and buy a hunting license and duck stamp before you shot an animal to feed yourself with. No I didnt thnik so and neither would I or any of the government folks trying to push this on these others.

If payment is manditory then the government should take into account some sort of pelts as payment for said stamp.If they want everybody to get in on the trade then they themselves should be willing to trade as well.

Yes what is good for one is and should be good for all. But there is always an exception to every rule. Always someone that dont quite fall under the normal guidelines. For example many of these people dont even know a mexican why should they have to pay for them to come here? they are just hungry. Thats all.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

How do they have money for hunting equipment? How do they have money for beer? How do they have money for clothes? How do they have money for boat? How do they have money for...... If they have money for those things, they have $15 for a stamp.


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## KurtR (May 3, 2008)

they probally still get to use lead shot to. do they have to follow limits or is it a kill all you can deal. i would be ok with this if they are a self suficient community that still lives and hunts in the traditoinal ways that there ancestors did but guess they are using shot guns and other more technilogically advance equipment for there hunts. So if they want to pull the it is not tradition for them to buy the stamps it is also not tradition for them to use the 870


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## Scott LeDuc (Aug 4, 2008)

blhunter3 said:


> How do they have money for hunting equipment? How do they have money for beer? How do they have money for clothes? How do they have money for boat? How do they have money for...... If they have money for those things, they have $15 for a stamp.


What a naive statement BL...

They don't have money that's the point. These people are not in a small town outside of Fargo. They are hundreds of miles in the bush. They don't have hunting equipment. Normally, the village shares 1-2 guns and to preseve ammo they wait until the birds molt so they can conserve shells. Most of these people have no need (or the means) for alcohol or clothes that they can't make by hand. Boats are made by hand and passed down through generations not purchased from the local Marina... Charge for the stamp or give them a ticket if you would like but you can't get blood from a turnip.

These people aren't hunters, they are killing animals to feed their families....


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Scott LeDuc said:


> blhunter3 said:
> 
> 
> > How do they have money for hunting equipment? How do they have money for beer? How do they have money for clothes? How do they have money for boat? How do they have money for...... If they have money for those things, they have $15 for a stamp.
> ...


That was far from my experience in Alaska I can tell you that right now. Sure some villages share guns and ammo, but how do they get clothes? How do the get the alcohol or the ingredients to make alcohol? MONEY.Alcohol is so bad up there, that they have dry towns.


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

Suspect more $$ will be spent trying to enforce the $15 collection than its worth but the Natives are not starving either.Without covering oil revenue,there are MANY programs providing funds.Do a search.Not to mention Native Claims.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Nat ... lement_Act

http://omb.alaska.gov/10_omb/budget/HSS/comp2336.pdf

http://www.govbenefits.gov/govbenefits_ ... tegory=EDU

http://www.hss.state.ak.us/dpa/

http://dpaweb.hss.state.ak.us/node/348


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## wingaddict (Sep 16, 2009)

blhunter3 said:


> Scott LeDuc said:
> 
> 
> > blhunter3 said:
> ...


For cripes sakes BL. This isnt Anchorage we talking about. do yourself a favor and look at a map. See how big and remote alaska really is.
Theres Inuit tribes in Ak that virtually live the same way now as they did 100 years ago.
and heres some info for those of you who think they should have to buy the federal stamp. Guess what. you dont need a federal duck stamp to hunt spring snows in ND.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

We actaully took 3 days of driving around and yes I didn't see much of Alasaka, but from the towns we did see and from what I have seen on Natgeo alcohol is terrible up there, so if they can get the supplies to either make or buy alcohol, they have enough for a $15 stamp.

But we need a stamp to hunt waterfowl in the fall, very weak arguement.


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## southdakbearfan (Oct 11, 2004)

Well, laws apply to everyone or nobody, if the state wants to set up a program or feels the need for it to give the stamps to the needy, the tribes, the poor in the bush, then do it, the law is the law, vote somebody else in to change it if you don't like it.

As far as not needing a stamp in the spring, well it's a conservation order hunt, in order to bring geese populations back in line. If the population drops, then no more spring goose hunting will happen.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

Bl unless you flew in to them you didn't really see any of the villages that really see the impact of this regulation.There are no roads to many of the villages. There is also no work. Many may be 100s of miles from the nearest Oil Field or road. They probably earn a few dollars hunting and trading furs or making and selling NA trinkets but most of their food has to come from hunting as it always has. Unless they want to move which most can't afford to do either. They are a lot worse off up there than the NAs on the reservations around here. Undoubtedly there are a few in less remote areas that have easier access to jobs, money and alcohol and that could manage the $15 but the numbers are not that great that the impact is significant.


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## Lil Sand Bay (Feb 2, 2005)

Just to put some of those Alaskan villages in perspective; A couple of years ago I was scheduling a series of workshops on restorative justice in some of the villages; and one of the people in a village I had scheduled told me on the radio,"Theres only two ways to get here, either bush plane or birth canal." He was sure right.


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## WingedShooter7 (Oct 28, 2005)

BL... your an idiot. You can't cover all of Alaska in a CAR in 3 days of driving, stop being so naive, seriously you think you know everything on every topic you post on, and if someone tries to correct you, you just make your self look like more of an idiot.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

I know that I can't cover Alaska in 3 days, but what I did see, it was all a drunk fest. Does anyone watch Nat Geo? They had a show on Alaska's jails and prisons, and about the way of life of there. It has aired a couple times already, and they talked about how using a boat in the only way to get around to the village's, how the local police are few and far in-between, and it also show the communities where the one police officer worked and how they arrest and transfer people. He said that some of his boat rides are up to 4 hours and on top of that, most of the time he has to take a plane too. Almost all of the towns he went where sh1tholes and the reason he had to arrest someone was because of alcohol, if i remeber right, everyone he picked up, committed a crime either drunk, was making alcohol, or had alcohol on a dry area. So from what I saw personally, on the Nat Geo, and from some of research I have done, I personally believe that the Inuits have the money to pay for the alcohol or ingredients to make the alcohol, so they have the money for the $15 stamp. All a person has to do is get their priorities straight. Either get drunk or eat. We can't keep babying the Inuits or the Indians, I think that we need to start somewhere and this might be it.

wingedshooter7, I never claimed to drive all of Alaska in 3 days, and name calling is a pretty piss poor way to debate someone. When someone puts their idea or point of view and it goes against mine, doesn't mean I automatically think they are an idiot, learning someone's view, thought process, and why they think the way they do, is a good way to understand all side's of the issue and helps me learn; learn either more about the issue, or that person. I will also be the first person to admit I don't know everything and some of the times I have learned the most, is when I learned that I was wrong about something, so until someone sheds more light on how much money this people either have of don't have, it is my personal belief that they can afford $15 for a stamp.


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## d2jlking (Jul 25, 2010)

I have no problem with not requiring the stamp for subsistence hunters......IF......that's what is really going down. It is a waste of time to argue anecdotal evidence about people being drunks or about people being so poor they cannot afford the stamp. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. I'm sure if you lose the stamp requirement there will be native americans in Alaska that take advantage of that. I'm also sure there will be native americans in Alaska who truly need to hunt for food, and who cannot afford the stamp.

My question is: How do we define who is subsistence hunting and who is sport hunting. Is it based on how much wild game you eat? How much you kill? Are you allowed to kill tons of game then pass it out to friends? How does it work?


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## d2jlking (Jul 25, 2010)

One more point. Should this law apply to all poor people, or just native Americans? I know plenty of poor people who could feed their families with hunted game. Should an immigrant American be allowed to hunt for subsistence without the restrictive laws that have been placed on the general public?


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

> Normally, the village shares 1-2 guns and to preseve ammo


I just hit this topic today and went back to April. I can not pass up commenting on this statement. I grew up on the Spirit Lake Nation and nothing could be further from the truth. I remember our neighbor was prosecuted of the reservation for selling deer and had shot 82 deer between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The naive judge took the Native Americans gun away. Johny about laughed himself silly, he had about 30 guns. He had a collection of octagon barrel Winchesters that I would have given my left arm for. 
Money? Start looking at what they actually get, and then look at the tens of thousands they have received in treaty settlements. I don't know what it is today, but individual benefits cost the taxpayer nearly double my salary back in the mid 1980's. When you get ten miles of the reservation people often don't have a clue. 
One day I came upon four guys hunting divers in the spring. The road run through a large wetland near my brothers farm. Two guys in the car, and two guys sitting on the hood with shotguns and a case of beer. When they left there were at least a dozen canvasback in the ditch (flooded) that they never picked up. There were a couple of dozen ducks all together, and I don't think they picked up any. 
Not opinion, just facts.
Don't even try tell me they live the same as they did 100 years ago. Satellite TV was not around. Snowmobiles were not around. They didn't run down whales with motorboats. 
Do any of you realise that the emperor goose is in trouble because they gather eggs to feed their dogs, and down to sell? They use motor boats do get around for that. It's a very real problem. I watched a biological presentation with a picture of an 18 foot Lund with 15 or 16 five gallon buckets full of eggs. I wonder how many geese that would have been. In today's world with all the food stamps there is no need for subsistence hunting.


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## Scott LeDuc (Aug 4, 2008)

Plainsman,

Are you comparing the Spirit Lake Nation to the native groups in SW Alaska? That doesn't seem like a fair comparison to me. I think we feel that all Native American's live like the groups we see in ND. That's a pretty tough generalization in my opinion. I agree that for the most part these tribes don't live like they did 100 years ago, but the the tribes living in the outermost parts of Alaska are the exception to that rule. Food stamps are great but when the closest retail establishment is hundreds of miles away via plane, snowmobile, etc it certainly presents some challenges. The Spirit Lake Tribe (and others) don't have the financial & geographic challenges that these remote tribes face. For the record, I would love if the tribes were asked/forced to purchase stamps however the feasability of this doesn't make sense to me.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Times change, you either have to change with the time or get left behind. If they have snowmobiles, guns, and other modern tools, then they can go to a store or move closer to one. Problem solved.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

It may be expensive to get food into those remote villages, but who do you think is paying for it? Do you think education cost them anything? How much hunting would you do if you had so much in food stamps you couldn't eat it all, your rent was paid, your utilities were paid, and you had a monthly cash income? There is no need anywhere within the boundaries of the United States for subsistence hunting. Perhaps in places like Minnesota the Walleye netting adds to their income. Not as much as the casino's though.


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