FAIRBANKS — After three years of planning and a regulatory holdup that required action by the Alaska Legislature, the Borealis Big Bull Derby and Raffle is expected to start this hunting season.
Moose derby tickets will cost $20 for the state's first moose hunting derby, and tickets go on sale Aug. 1. Prize payouts will be determined based on derby ticket sales and should be known by early September.
A committee that's organizing the derby announced the rules for the new derby last week. Committee members posted the rules online (http://www.bigbullderby.com/).
Tanana Valley Sportsmen's Association is organizing the derby with the University of Alaska Fairbanks rifle team. The derby is a fundraiser for both groups.
It'll work much like Alaska's halibut and salmon derbies. Hunters can buy a ticket before they go hunting for a chance to win a cash prize if they shoot the moose with the widest rack. There are divisions for female hunters and youths under age 16 in addition to the overall category. There will also be a raffle open to both non-hunters and derby participants.
The derby does not affect allowable moose harvest totals. All moose harvested for the derby must be legal kills under existing hunting regulations.
The Borealis Big Bull Derby and Raffle has been in the works since UAF rifle coach Dan Jordan came up with the idea three years ago, inspired by big buck derbies in the Lower 48, Tanana Valley President Grant Lewis said.
In 2014, the Alaska Legislature passed a bill to expand the Department of Revenue's list of permissible games of chance and contests of skill to include moose derbies.
Details on the moose measuring stations are still being worked out, Lewis said. They're hoping to have them in Fairbanks, Delta Junction, Tok and Healy.