Good Hunting!

Tips for Dalton Highway Hunters

Check out these regulations before starting your hunt along the Dalton Highway. They apply to both state and federal public lands. Your safe and responsible actions can help maintain the public’s respect for all hunters. 

• State statute prohibits motorized vehicles off the highway north of the Yukon River
• Within five miles of the highway, either side, only bow hunting is allowed
• Rifle hunters must go beyond 5 miles from the nearest point of the highway
• All hunting is prohibited in the Prudhoe Bay Closed Area
• Camping is prohibited between Milepost 278 and 293, Toolik Lake Research Natural Area (map and information below)
• Camping on BLM lands is limited to 14 days within a 28-day period in one location

Be sure to read the Alaska Department of Fish & Game's special rules for the Dalton Highway Corridor Management Area (DHCMA) in the most current Hunting Regulations booklet.

TRUCKERS ARE ON THE JOB

This is an industrial road. Truckers move essential supplies and equipment to the oilfields on the North Slope and they follow a tight schedule.  Steep hills, tight curves, slick mud and ice create a lot of potential for accidents.  These situations are especially dangerous:

• Stopping in the middle of the road with no warning and leaving a vehicle there with no room to pass

	Bridges, hills and curves are the most dangerous places to stop.

 

 

 Have your hunting partner let you off and find a safe place to park.

• Driving too fast and with no lights

	Passing vehicles create blinding clouds of dust.

Headlights and taillights keep you visible in dust, fog, and snow: keep them clean. 

• Passing too fast and in bad locations

Don’t pass unless you have a clear line of sight.  Anticipate oncoming vehicles on every hill and curve. Passing at high speed often causes “rocking” (rocks flying into oncoming vehicles). Generally, if you slow down for big trucks, they’ll slow down for you. If you don’t, they won’t.

• No CB radio

A CB (Citizen's Band) radio is highly recommended for all Dalton travelers. Tune to Channel 19 to ask if it’s safe to pass or to get instructions from pilot car drivers and equipment operators. You can purchase a portable unit for under $100.

CARE FOR YOUR KILL

	Responsible hunters take home clean, healthy meat.

Don’t dispose of gut piles in the trash containers – they fill the bags and make a heavy, stinky mess.

Field-dress (gut) your animal away from and out of sight of roads and camping areas. Leaving any part of your kill on a public road or right-of-way is considered littering and is illegal.

State regulations require salvaging all edible meat: wanton waste is a serious offense punishable by a fine or jail time. ADF&G provides excellent information on meat care. 

TAKE OUT THE TRASH

	Last Chance Wayside at Milepost 355. Photo copyright by Patrick J. Endres/ AlaskaPhotoGraphics.com

The BLM provides public outhouses and trash bins. The bins are bear-resistent when latched.  Open bins and trash on the ground attract animals and create an unsanitary mess hazardous to your health and safety. 

Please carry heavy-duty trash bags and haul excess trash to dumpsters at Fairbanks or Deadhorse.  

Keep your camp clean – make sure anything with an odor, including soaps and lotions, is stored in airtight containers, inside your vehicle or trailer.

Download the Dalton Highway Visitor Guide

Click on the image above to download your copy of the 24-page 2012 Dalton Highway Guide (2.25 MB PDF) or pick up a copy at our office or the Alaska Public Lands Information Center in Fairbanks

Contact Us

for additional questions about traveling the Dalton Highway:

Central Yukon Field Office
1150 University Avenue
Fairbanks, Alaska 99709

tel: 907-474-2200 or toll-free 1-800-437-7021
email:CentralYukon@blm.gov

TOOLIK LAKE RESEARCH NATURAL AREA is CLOSED TO CAMPING

The University of Alaska-Fairbanks operates a research station north of Galbraith Lake on land designated by the BLM in 1991 as a Research Natural Area (RNA). People may hike and hunt in the RNA but overnight camping is prohibited. This includes the Dalton Highway between Milepost 278 and Milepost 293. Maps of the RNA can be downloaded at right, or picked up at the visitor center in Coldfoot in summer, or the BLM office in Fairbanks (Phone 907-474-2200).

	The Field Station and nearby area are closed to overnight camping.

	Click on the image above to download a map of the Toolik Lake Research Natural Area (2 MB PDF).