RE: Alaskan pipeline/side arms
There's no restrictions on possessing any kind of firearms in the vicinity of TAPS (Trans Alaska Pipeline System). The five mile corridor is only north of the Yukon River bridge and TAPS goes all the way to Valdez. The corridor is 5 miles either side of the Dalton Hwy, not the pipeline. In some places the pipeline is a long ways from the highway. The corridor isn't to protect the pipeline, it's to keep the caribou from getting massacred from the Dalton. There used to be a ton of grizzlies around Prudhoe, but the combination of better trash control and a trigger happy biologist a few years ago really thinned them out. I only saw one up there all last year when I was working up there and I've never had any real encounters with them other than seeing them haul ass the other direction. While you can carry a firearm, be prepared to have the Troopers scrutinize the heck out of you especially if you harvest something. I honestly don't think you need one, as it's more than likely going to cause you more headache than it'll provide in safety benefits. My hunting partner killed a grizzly with his bow on the slope last spring and he wasn't even carrying a backup weapon. He came out of it just fine.
AK Jeff
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Hunt Fair Chase
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. . . Since it isillegal to hunt with a firearm within 5 miles if the pipeline, is it therefore also illegal to possess a sidearm for griz protection? Anyone here ever had an encounter with a grizzly in/near Prudhoe Bay?
