Alaska Game Management Unit 26: subunits, harvest and draw hunts
Unit 26 covers 83,539 square miles in 3 subunits, 26A, 26B and 26C, by ADF&G's boundary file. ADF&G's interim harvest report counts 2,582 caribou hunters in the unit in 2025, 1,235 of them successful (48%), counting hunters who did not name a subunit. 63% of the unit is federal land in USGS PAD-US. 3 drawing hunts reach into it.
Data updated October 2026. Harvest: ADF&G interim harvest reports, 2020 to 2025. Drawing: ADF&G's 2025 results. Land: USGS PAD-US 4.1.
How do the subunits of Unit 26 compare?
2025 regulatory year, successful hunters over all hunters, by ADF&G's interim harvest report:
| Subunit | Square miles | Caribou | Dall sheep | Moose | Muskox | Federal land | Drawing hunts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 26A | 56,210 | 159 / 198 | 1 / 5 | 5 / 8 | 1 / 2 | 66.2% | 0 |
| Unit 26B | 16,332 | 1,029 / 2,316 | 11 / 45 | 3 / 12 | 4 / 5 | 29.2% | 3 |
| Unit 26C | 10,997 | 47 / 68 | 24 / 59 | 1 / 2 | 95.3% | 0 | |
| Unit 26, subunit not given | 0 / 2 |
Source: ADF&G Harvest General Reports, report 330. "Subunit not given" counts hunters whose report named Unit 26 without a subunit.
How has caribou hunting in Unit 26 changed since 2020?
| Season | Hunters | Successful | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 858 | 536 | 62% |
| 2021 | 1,152 | 673 | 58% |
| 2022 | 1,383 | 779 | 56% |
| 2023 | 1,918 | 889 | 46% |
| 2024 | 2,467 | 1,296 | 53% |
| 2025 | 2,582 | 1,235 | 48% |
All subunits of Unit 26 and the reports without a subunit, added from ADF&G's report 330.
Which drawing hunts in Unit 26 draw the most applications?
| Hunt | Species | Hunt area | Applications, 2025 | % drawn, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DX112 | muskox | 26B, east of the Dalton Highway | 10,063 | under 1% |
| DM996 | moose | Unit 26B, excluding the Canning River Drainage | 233 | 4% |
| DB987 | brown bear | Unit 26B | 91 | 22% |
Source: ADF&G Results of the 2025 Permit Hunt Drawing.
Who manages the land in Unit 26?
| Manager | Acres | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Land Management | 22,096,588 | 41.3% |
| National wildlife refuge (FWS) | 8,995,186 | 16.8% |
| State of Alaska | 8,922,479 | 16.7% |
| National park or monument (NPS) | 2,146,717 | 4% |
| National preserve (NPS) | 350,066 | 0.7% |
Source: USGS PAD-US 4.1, measured inside ADF&G's subunit boundaries.
Federal law sets what each kind of land allows. A national preserve in Alaska is run like a national park except that sport hunting, subsistence hunting and trapping are allowed (16 U.S.C. 3201); national park and monument land is closed to sport hunting. On federal public land, rural Alaska residents can also hunt under federal subsistence rules, and the Federal Subsistence Board can close federal land to other hunters for a species. Land PAD-US does not map is mostly private, including Alaska Native corporation land, and needs the owner's permission.
Do nonresidents need a guide in Alaska?
For three species, yes. ADF&G's 2026-2027 drawing supplement: "Nonresidents who are citizens of the United States are required to be personally accompanied in the field by an Alaska-licensed guide OR an Alaska resident relative 19 years of age or older within the second-degree of kindred when hunting brown/grizzly bear, Dall sheep, or mountain goat." Nonresidents who are not U.S. citizens need a licensed guide for those and for every other big game species, by ADF&G's guide requirements. Moose, caribou, black bear, bison, muskox, elk and deer need no guide for a nonresident U.S. citizen.
Questions hunters ask
What are the subunits of Alaska Unit 26?
26A (56,210 square miles), 26B (16,332 square miles) and 26C (10,997 square miles), by ADF&G's subunit boundaries.
How many caribou are taken in Unit 26?
ADF&G's interim report counts 1,235 successful caribou hunters of 2,582 in Unit 26 in 2025, all subunits together.
How much of Unit 26 is public land?
USGS PAD-US maps 63% of Unit 26 as federal land and 17% as State of Alaska land.
How many drawing hunts are in Unit 26?
3 ADF&G drawing hunts reach into Unit 26; they drew 10,387 applications in the 2025 drawing.
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Where these numbers come from
- Harvest: ADF&G Harvest General Reports, interim. Drawing: ADF&G 2026-2027 Drawing Permit Hunt Supplement.
- Boundaries: ADF&G Game Management Subunits; ADF&G GMU 26 information. Land: USGS PAD-US.
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