Donald Trump Jr. gets permit to hunt and kill grizzly bear in Alaska: 'He's an accomplished conservationist'
Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of U.S. President Donald Trump, has received a permit to hunt and kill a grizzly bear in Alaska, officials have confirmed.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said Trump Jr., 42, had been granted the permit to hunt the bear in north-western Alaska near the Bering Sea town of Nome later this year.
While the Alaska governor does give out a limited number of 'dignitary' licenses and game tags, Trump Jr. did not receive his permit through this avenue. Instead, he was one of just three people who applied for 27 spots for non-resident hunters who are allowed to target grizzlies in a designated region of northwestern Alaska’s Seward Peninsula.
He got lucky, too. The state conducts periodic drawings for permits to hunt bears, caribou, moose, and other animals in various regions, and winners are chosen by a lottery. There are usually many more applications than hunting tags rewarded, but not this year.
"We get thousands of applications,” Grasser said on Friday. Whether anyone won came down to 'pure chance, luck of the draw,'" said Eddie Grasser, the wildlife conservation director for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
In the case of the bear-hunt permit that Trump Jr. won, there was little competition, and in the end, 24 tags for hunting bears in the region went unclaimed, Grasse revealed.
Officials said that permits to hunt near Nome — the hunting season for which begins on August 1 and lasts through May 31, 2021 — are likely not in demand for a variety of reasons, including how remote the area is and the expense it takes to get there.
To follow through with his hunt, Trump Jr. had to pay a further $1,000 non-resident tag fee and buy a $160 non-resident hunting license. He will also have to be accompanied by a licensed guide for his hunt.
Earlier this month, a four-day trophy hunting convention organized by the Safari Club International (SCI) auctioned a week-long "dream hunt" with "accomplished conservationist" Trump Jr.
"This year we will be featuring Donald Trump Jr, a man who needs no introduction, and whose passion for the outdoors makes him the number one ambassador for our way of life," a description read.
The hunt, which will reportedly be a part of a new "Hunter Heritage Series" launched by Trump Jr. and Keegan McCarthy and which claims to be "designed to bring youth/new hunters into the field and experience the essence of what we love," eventually sold for a whopping $150,000.
It will take place over a week and see the winner join Trump Jr., his son, and a guide in an expedition where they will be tracking and killing Sitka black-tailed deer — which is described by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as the most-pursued species of big game in southeast Alaska.