Sportsmen's 4th Annual Game Dinner
Attended by 250 Members and Guests
Climax of this year’s big game
hunting season was the fourth an
nual game dinner put on by the
Matanuska Valley Sportsmen at
the school auditorium and attend
ed by 250 members and their
guests last Saturday evening.
High point of the evening ar
rived when the loud speaker an
nounced that dinner was served.
Two long lines formed to gain ac
cess to the two tables laden with
every kind of game and fish the
vast Alaskan territory affords, to
gether with delectable salads—
lobster, shrimp, crab and Mata
nuska Valley vegetable—and na
tive-grown berries for piquant
accent. Apparently every member
had accomplished his stint, hav
ing provided unaided, through
begging or borrowing his assigned
dish. Dinner Chairman Clair
Stock, busy with the food com
mittee carving the roasts and ar
ranging food on platters, uncov
ered no incorrect labelling or sub
terfuge. There might have been
a slight question here and there,
but nothing one would care to try
and prove. Anyone, everyone
took samples of so many, many
dishes, that there v.as no way of
positive identification. Helpings
were unusually large this year,
also, and even after the second
helpings, there was still food left
on the serving tables.
When he could get the diners
to divert their attention momen
tarily from their food, Clair Stock
as master of ceremonies intro
duced the Sportsmen’s officers
and members of the board: Roy
Brock. Ken Westenbarger, Bruce
Graham, Mrs. Maud Hosier, Leo
Lucas. John Bush, and “Rip” Har
ris. Fish and Wildlife VIPs Holgar
Larson, Harry Pinkham. and Bob
Burkholder were introduced to
gether with their wives as guests
of the club.
Derby Winners
Announcement of the Sports
men’s Fish Derby awards for 1961
revealed Ken Westenbarger as
the outstanding fisherman of the
Valley. With two first prizes and
one second prize to his credit, he
had an indisputable corner on the
trophy fish market. Awards were
made of a casting rod donated by
the Palmer Cafe for his 6-pound,
3 ounce Rainbow trout; a fibre
glass flyrod donated by Grasser’s
Hardware for his 1-pound, 12
ounce Grayling, and a tackle box
(second prize) from Bert’s Drug
store for a 6-pound, 12-ounce
Dolly Varden. A1 Dickow got the
first prize, a South Bend flyrod,
donated by the Trading Post for
his 9-pound, 6-ounce Dolly Var
den and a reel from Koslosky’s
for his second prize 4-pound, 14
ounce Rainbow trout. Bob Burk
holder won a hunting knife from
Hartley Brothers for his 1-pound,
12-ounce Grayling. Marie Westen
barger collected a fishpole from
the Palmer Drug store and a
hunting knife from the Sports
men’s Club for her third prize
Grayling and Rainbow. Roy
Brock also won a Sportsmen’s
hunting knife for his third prize
Dolly Varden.
Singers and Dancers
Entertainment for the evening
was was both local and imported.
After Dana Niemann and daugh
ter Robin had delighted everyone
with three mother-daughter Hill
billy duets, a group of 32 mem
bers of the Anchorage Arctic Cir
Palmer Area Moose
Hunt in Dec. Limited
To 75 Remit Holders
Palmer sporstmen have known
all along that an open season on
moose in the Palmer area during
1 December was just too good to be
true, and, sure enough, just at
1 the time hunters unsuccessful
during the September season
were making plans for a second
try, the FWS has to spoil it all
with an amendment,
i The amendment to the 1951-52
Regulations Relating to Game and
Fur Animals, Birds, and Game
Fishes in Alaska applies to page
12. paragraph 46.104—the moose
paragraph.
The amended paragraph now
reads:
“46.104 MOOSE. Bulls (with
forked horns or larger). East of
longitude 138° W., Sept. 15 to
Oct. 14. Limit 1 a year. On the
Kenai Peninsula, Sept. 1 to Sept.
20. Limit, 1 a year. Elsewhere
| west of longitude 141° W., (except
; in the Copper River Delta, Turn
again Arm, Northwest Arctic
Slope and Alaska Peninsula, areas
described in paragraphs 46.195 to
46.198 inclusive), Sept. 7 to Sepc.
20 and December 1 to Decem
ber 10. Limit. 1 a year. Provided,
that there shall be no open sea
son after Sept. 20 (except by per
mit as described in paragraph
165.3 of the Regulations), in that
area known as the Palmer area
and described as follows:
“Beginning at Mile 72 Alas
ka RR, containing all of the
northern drainage into Turn
again Arm, all of the drainage
age of the Little Susitna River
into Knik Arm, all of the drain
from its headquarters to its in
tersection with the Alaska RR,
all of the eastern drainage of
the Little Susitna River from
■ the railroad to its mouth, all
of the drainage to Cook Inlet
between the mouth of the Little
cle Folk Dance group and the
Mountainview Northern Lights
Circlers, almost all of them in folk
costume, put on a demonstration
of dances rarely seen in Palmer.
In rapid succession, they execut
ed a dance from Estonia, an Is
raelian dance, a Spanish waltz, a
triple schottische, a Russian num-1
ber, a Swedish Weaving dance, a
Swedish dance for men only, a
Black Hawk waltz, and a German
square called “Man in the Hay”.
Bea C' Uver who is responsible
for the enthusiastic succes° of the
folk dance movement in Anchor
age w’as unable to be present with
the group.
Those who did attend were:j
Beth Heley, Hazel Owen, Robert
and Merle Dale, Betty and Zig
Warner, Juanita Wood, George
Anderson, Henry Wolfson, Diane
Thompson, Hazel and Harvey
Steele, Bernice Carrie, Andrew
Clemmensen, Betty Lou Smith,
Roy Moats, Robert Jones, Sydney
Beaghle, Twila Jackson, Eleanor
Veach, Dorothy Walker, Shirley
Danielson, Vince and Mildred
Brozc, Chuck Anderson, Mary
and Harvey Bruit, Elaine and
Floyd Brink, Jim Dorham, Sylvia
Prodan. and Jerry Mugerian.
FWS Predator Control
Program Begins to
Protect Caribou Herd
The 1951 caribou season closed
last month, but the Fish and
Wildlife Service starts action next
week to help preserve Alaska’s
herds so that sportsmen may en
joy more caribou seasons in years
to come.
A full scale predator control
program will be initiated by FWS
about October 15. Methods used
will be similar to those used in
the past two years, with emphasis
on lethal control and shooting
from planes in the Wrangle
Mountains and in the Nelchina
Talkeetna areas.
Wolves Coming Back
Mammal Control Supervisor Bob
Burkholder says “According to
rough estimates, it is safe to as
sume that each wolf will kill one
caribou a week.”
Two years ago, the first of the
predator control program, 80
wolves were eliminated. At that
time, according to Burkholder,
the caribou herd had dwindled
to an estimated 4,000. Since then,
even with the heavy hunter kill,
the herd has increased. Ttfis year,
however. the predators are com
ing back.
“You have to keep after them”,
Palmer’s FWS agent explained,
"or they get ahead of you.
“When you take a number of
wolves out of a given area, those
that remain will reproduce to
the limit of their potential. In a
saturation area (where the pre
dators are allowed to feed on
their victims unchecked) repro
duction is held down—Mother Na
ture takes care of that.”
Mother Nature’s method might
take care of the predators ulti
mately, but it could easily be at
the expense of Alaska’s caribou
herd.
Lard and Sugar Baits Best
FWS methods are more imme
diate. Improvements have been
made in the use of strychnine
poison, and methods employing
Susitna River and Knik Arm.
“In addition not exceeding 75
bull moose may be taken from
December 11 through December
23 in that portion of the Palmer
area west of Knik Arm and the
Matanuska River under permit is
sued by the Commission pursuant
to paragraph 165.3. There shall be
no open season between meridans
138° and 141° W. longitude.”
it will be used exclusively in op
erations planned for this winter.
Use of seal blubber baits will be
discontinued in favor of lard or
sugar baits. Lard is more easily
digested in the stomach of the
predator, resulting in a more ra
pid kill; it will melt more rapidly
if inadvertantly left in the field
at the end of the season. After
the bait melts down, it is render
ed inactive. Hair seal carcasses
collected this summer will be
used as “stations” to attract the
predators to the lard baits. In
addition, carcasses of game ani
mals that have died or were kil
led by wolves will be baited
wherever located in the field.
“Any such kill located should
be reported to the FWS”, Burk
holder added, “since this type of
a “station” is the most effective
in the taking of predators.”
Most of the work in remote
areas will be conducted by ski
equipped aircraft, and additional
I control will be possible by shoot
ing predators from the air when
the opportunity presents itself.
Aviation gas caches have been
j located at strategic locations
throughout the Wrangle Moun
I tains and the Nelchina areas. Ac
cording to tentative plans, head
quarters will be set up at North
way, McCarthy. Tazlina, and Pax
on Lodge. Between trips up nortn.
Burkholder will be working in
the lower Susitna and Talkeetna
areas, based in Palmer.
During the months of March
and April, FWS personnel from
Juneau. Dillingham, Anchorage,
Palmer and Fairbanks will parti
cipate in an all-out combined pre
dator operation in the Arctic re
gions.
Coffey Insure* Everything!
Remember?
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