Two 16-year-old boys from the lower Kuskokwim River community of Akiachak have been charged with multiple misdemeanor fish and game violations after Alaska Wildlife Troopers said that they killed a bull moose out of season near the community.
According to charging documents, on or around March 4, Akiachak residents Brycen Lupie and Cupi Nose allegedly shot and killed a bull moose a short distance from the community’s airport, failed to salvage the meat, and killed the moose using an unpermitted type of rifle.
The moose hunting season for the game management unit where the alleged violation took place closed on Sept. 8, 2024. The zone that includes Akiachak, Bethel, and other lower Kuskokwim River communities generally opens to moose hunting for a single week at the beginning of September each year.
According to a trooper affidavit, Alaska Wildlife Troopers responded to Akiachak on March 5 based on a community tip and found a dead bull moose a few hundred yards from the Akiachak airport runway. Wildlife troopers said that they recovered .22 caliber bullet casings at the scene that matched ammunition found in the residences of Lupie and Nose.
Although they are teenagers, Lupie and Nose have been charged as adults under an Alaska statute that covers fish and game violations. They’re charged with misdemeanor wanton waste of big game, taking moose in a closed season, and unlawful methods of taking big game for allegedly each using a rimfire rifle.
The pair are scheduled to be arraigned in Bethel District Court on April 10.
