Anybody have any ideas??????

lilbiggun

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Joined
Mar 19, 2001
Messages
711
Location
AK
On why there arent any whitetails up here? I dont know, I was hoping some of you guys are smarter than me. Every time I go into fins and feathers, I always forget to ask.

It doesnt make sense to me. Places in the lower 48 and canada get just as cold and as much snowfall (except for maybe up in the arctic circle). I know it isnt the predators because if the dinky blacktails can survive on kodiak, I know whitetails can flourish here on the mainland. Can anybody here help me out?
 
Let's just get some planted up there and lets just see...It may be that the environment is right, but non never made it there..Like the goats in the Olympic mountains. Was non there until they were planted. Now they thrive very well...
Just an educated guess..... :D
 
Damn, and I though Ak had some whitetails up there. Guess I was wrong.
I think if they were ever to be placed there they would do well.
 
Becareful what you wish for.....if whitetails were introduced there, like everywhere here they would take over and your blacktail population would suffer greatly.....just like the mule deer is in the west. ;)
 
Gents,
Alaska's official stance on introduced species is "not only No, but Hell No!" Somebody once thought Pike outside the Yukon drainage would be a good idea, and now, many lakes formerly known for their trophy trout are now known as "pike" lakes.

I have a couple of friends who are F&G biologists. I once posed this same question about deer and pheasants. According to ADF&G's best science to date the survival margin for native species is in most cases already narrow and introducing competing species' would most likely cause a crash of native species.

White-Tail deer in particular would most likely cause a crash in moose populations wherever they became successfully established for two reasons; 1) WT deer tend to favor the same river bottom habitat and browse species as moose and 2) WT deer carry a dormant brain parasite that goes active in moose producing CWD-like symptoms. Evidently this little nasty is spread through saliva. As animals browse they leave traces of saliva on plants and moose in particular don't really feed by sight, they tend to mouthe all the branch tips on a given bush feeling for buds and regrowth that they then nip off.

So that was the "official" explanation of why the introduction of white-tails is vehemently opposed. Aesthetically, Alaska's wild life is for the most part unique and the state government wants to keep it taht way. Personally I tend to agree, and besides why would you guys want to take away our incentive to visit the other 48 in November.

BTW there was some concern that pheasants could introduce avian disease and that they would out-compete spruce grouse.
 
Boy I would hate to see the Sitka Blacktails suffer from competition. There are some real dandies if you know where to go and how to hunt them. Whitetail are survivors and a very dominant species to say the least. The Olympic Penninsula has some dandy Columbian Blacktail in certain areas and would be guaranteed to get pushed out of house and home with their introduction! P.S. there is no doubt they would thrive wherever they are introduced!
 

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