August 15, 2011
By Tim Morwy, NewsMiner.com
FAIRBANKS - Alaska Fish and Wildlife Troopers in Delta Junction have
been busy since sheep and caribou hunting seasons opened in game
management unit 20D on Wednesday.
Troopers cited a half dozen hunters for either illegally shooting
caribou or illegally driving their vehicles into the Delta Controlled
Use Area, which is closed to motorized vehicles.
On Saturday night, troopers cited Erik Foote, 36, and Phillip
Chapman, 49, both of Palmer, for taking caribou in a closed area.
Troopers on patrol saw the men walking across Donnelly Flats toward
the Richardson Highway with rifles at around 5:40 p.m. Troopers
interviewed the hunters and learned that they had just shot two bull
caribou not far away and were getting butchering gear out of their
truck. Troopers accompanied the men back to the caribou, one of which
had to be shot because it was still alive.
The area where the caribou were shot was west of Jarvis Creek, which
has no caribou hunting season. The meat from the animals was donated to
a charity from Delta Junction and the hunters’ rifles and the caribou
antlers were seized as evidence.
On Saturday, troopers charged Scott Lippy, 51, for taking a caribou
in a closed area. According to a trooper report, Lippy shot an extremely
large caribou next to the Richardson Highway near Donnelly Flats on
Wednesday. The area is west of Jarvis Creek, which is closed to caribou
hunting. The meat and antlers were seized by troopers.
Troopers cited John Wild, 26, of North Pole on Sunday morning for
driving a vehicle inside the Delta Controlled Use Area.
Troopers on aircraft patrol saw Wild’s vehicle parked 0.4 miles
inside the controlled use area near Donnelly Flats at approximately 9:40
a.m. There were several men walking in the brush nearby, one of whom had
a bow visible. There were several bull caribou in sight.
Upon landing, troopers interviewed three men, including Wild, and
determined that the three men had been hunting for caribou and were
attempting to get across Jarvis Creek. Wild had used his vehicle to
transport the hunters inside the DCUA. The men had several large-caliber
rifles and other hunting gear with them in addition to the bow.
Two other hunters, Camden Toohey, 47, and Donald Spencer, 57, both of
Anchorage, were cited on Saturday for driving in the Delta Controlled
Use Area.
Troopers ran into Spencer just before 6 p.m. Friday as he was
arriving back at his vehicle from a sheep hunt up Lower Suzie Q Creek.
According to a trooper report, Spencer had driven up a rough trail over
0.3 miles inside the controlled use area and that it had also been used
the previous day to travel up Flood Creek on another sheep hunt. Flood
Creek is also inside the controlled use area.
Later that same evening, troopers discovered Toohey’s vehicle parked
0.6 miles inside the controlled use area near Castner Creek at around
7:45 p.m. A trooper later ran into Toohey as he was driving the vehicle
out of the area upon his return from a sheep hunt up Castner Creek.
