Alaska Opens Hunting Permit Raffle to Combat COVID-19 Travel-Related Revenue Shortfall

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game launched a creative way to reverse a nearly $2 million loss in revenue from the pandemic. The state has begun a first-ever raffle for permits to hunt the “super seven,” which includes some of the state’s most coveted big-game species.

Tony Kavolok, the assistant director of the Fish and Game’s Division of Wildlife Conservation, told Outdoor News that “nonresident hunting license sales have decreased substantially due to coronavirus travel restrictions and the shutdown of the spring brown bear hunt.” The new raffle of permits, the first in Alaska’s history, will enable winners to hunt several trophy critters, including brown bears, mountain goat, muskox, and caribou.

The campaign is known as Alaska’s Super Seven Big Game Raffle, and is a partnership with the Outdoor Heritage Foundation of Alaska, Alaska Outdoor Council, Alaska Wild Sheep Foundation, and the Alaska and Kenai Chapters of the Safari Club International.

The cost is $20 per ticket, $100 for seven tickets, or $500 for 40 tickets. There is no limit to the number of tickets you can purchase, and tickets may be entered all in one hunt or spread across a combination of hunts. Tickets are available online only through Outdoor Heritage Foundation of Alaska (OHFA), and may be purchased through April 15, 2021. Winners will be announced and posted online on May 1, 2021. The raffle is open to any resident or non-resident, 10 years or older, who is otherwise eligible.

Hunts to be raffled include:

• Unimak Island Brown Bear
• Copper River Bison
• Alaska Range Caribou
• Delta Controlled Use Area Dall sheep
• Nunivak Island Muskox
• Koyukuk Moose
• Revilla Island Mountain Goat

In 2020, nonresident hunting travel was severely impacted due to COVID-19. Other states got creative as well and implemented similar raffle systems. Arizona and Wyoming both held raffles, with Wyoming generating more than $1 million in revenue.