FYI, anyone living in Alaska other than the cities cited qualifies for subsistence harvest, and since the feds have taken control and management of fish and game away from the state there is almost no enforcement of whatever law applies (if in fact there is any law at all). As you might expect, game is wasted in huge quantities. And there are many anomalies in the law; for instance the ban on lead shot is rigidly enforced by the feds around the cities that don't qualify for subsistence but stores in the rest of Alaska still sell lead shot for waterfowl hunting and that doesn't seem to bother the feds. For a while the feds (the taxpayers that is) gave free steel shot ammo to rural hunters but that seems to have ended.
There are lots of other anomalies, some of them pertaining to taking of marine mammals, including polar bear, which are by federal law supposed to be limited to Alaska Natives (and possibly their spouses - the law is not particularly followed on that and unclear on just who is an Alaska Native). An example of another anomaly is that people who qualify for subsistence based upon where they claim their residence can shoot deer from their boats. The state prohibits that because with sloppy weather and rocky beaches being common many hunters are too lazy to investigate whether they hit a deer (or elk, moose, etc.) if the animal didn't drop at the shot on the beach. So if you're going to shoot at something on the beach you need a rural resident on the boat with you. I agree with the state law by the way, and you can imagine what state fish and game people think of the feds since the feds took management away from the state but the feds have no management.
The state has strict laws prohibiting wasting of fish and game. The feds apparently do not.
With private land almost nonexistent in Alaska you can imagine how difficult the feds can make fish and game management in Alaska for the state. Recently the state has stood up to the feds in one area; the scarcity of king salmon runs in the Yukon River. The feds have backed down for some reason in that one instance, possibly because the feds have screwed it up so badly and want to escape blame.
Federal interference in Alaska life is the reason the feds spend so much money in Alaska. Over half of all US Dept. of Interior employees work in Alaska! When news reports show how much federal money is spent here it's important to realize that it is not a benefit to Alaskans.
