Hunters took close to 100 elk and are on track to harvest 6,000 deer from the Kodiak Archipel-ago this season, Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials said.

According to an ADG&G preliminary count, 92 elk were harvested from Kodiak and Afognak islands over the course of the season, which opened Oct. 23 and closed on Tuesday. There is still a chance that number could increase.

“Hunters sometimes forget to call in and we get some late re-port cards,” ADF&G’s John Crye said. “We could get an elk or two more.”

Although there have been re-ports of elk on Kodiak Island for more than 30 years, none had been legally harvested until this year. In October, two elk were taken from the Hidden Basin area.

Some parts of the Afognak Island hunting area closed when harvest quotas were reached prior to the end of the season. Tonki Cape Peninsula closed Oct. 29.

As it did in 2003, ADF&G has been testing for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). ADF&G has tested about seven elk heads this year. The results came back negative, as expected.

According to the CWD Alli-ance, a joint venture between the Rocky Mountain Elk Founda-tion, the Boone and Crockett Club and the Mule Deer Foun-dation, CWD is a contagious neurological disease that affects deer and elk.

The Alliance’s Web site states: “CWD causes a charac-teristic spongy degeneration of the brains of infected animals resulting in emaciation, abnor-mal behavior, loss of bodily functions and death.”

Five hundred elk and deer need to be locally sampled in order for Kodiak to be designated as a CWD-free area. About 150 deer were tested last year. Crye said the goal of testing 500 deer is realistic, but 500 elk heads is probably a stretch. No matter how many are sampled, the disease is not likely to turn up in the area.

“We don’t think we’re going to find any here,” Crye said.

Hunters are asked to bring their deer or elk heads to the drop box at the ADF&G office at 211 Mission Road for testing. Hunters can keep the rack.

The testing program relies on hunters who volunteer their har-vested animal’s head. The brain stems and tonsils are used for testing. Hunters who comply receive a hat for their efforts.

Crye said he was pleased with the way the elk hunting season went.

“There weren’t many violations this year,” he said. “The hunters were very ethical and reported on time. Everything went pretty smooth.”

The deer hunting season, which opened Aug. 1, is nearing its completion. The season ends Dec. 31.

Crye expects about 6,000 deer will be harvested in 2004, an increase from 2003, when more than 5,000 were killed.

“The deer population is re-covering and the hunting has been good” Crye said. “More people from off-island are com-ing down, more people are ad-vertising deer hunts.”

About 46 percent of what ADF&G designates as “active” deer hunters, or hunters in the field for at least one day, live on-island. Twelve percent are from out of state and the remaining 42 percent are Alaskans, but not locals.

ADF&G estimates Kodiak’s deer population to be more than 60,000.

Mirror writer Jeff Benzak can be reached via e-mail at jbenzak@kodiakdailymirror.com.