More than two dozen people have been charged with illegal hunting and tens of thousands of dollars worth of hunting equipment has been seized as the result of a two year long undercover investigation by the Division of Fish and Wildlife Protection.  "It's the biggest crackdown in Alaska history," said Bob Boutang, commander of statewide investigations for Fish and Wildlife.

Since late September, troopers have been making arrests in Anchorage, Kotzebue and Iliamna in connection with four separate cases that involve illegal guiding, unlicensed guiding, wanton waste of big game, illegal fishing, over harvest of big game, hunting without licenses, illegal transportation of big game, and falsification of bear kill records.

Most charges have been filed against unlicensed guides. A new state law makes it a felony, punishable with a minimum of a year in jail, to guide without a license. Guides lobbied for the law, arguing that illegal competition threatened their livelihood.

Since the new law went into effect, Boutang said, his division has filed charges against 15 people. The latest charges came after state agents posing as hunters infiltrated several outfitting operations.

The potential profits of guiding and the increasing difficulty of getting into the business have lured some outfitters into illegal guiding recently.

The distinction between outfitters and guides is critical:

* Guides escort hunters on the hunt while outfitters who are unlicensed equip them. By law, nonresidents who hunt brown bear and sheep must employ a guide, and foreigners need a guide for all species.

* Outfitters cannot participate in the hunt, and there is debate over whether the new law even allows them to bring clients afield to the general area of the hunt.

Also, guides must pass a stringent test for the license needed to work in Alaska and acquire an exclusive use area in which to operate.  The exclusive areas were awarded to qualified Alaska guides by the state in the 1970s.

Guides cannot legally sell their exclusive use areas, but they can sell lodges and camps they have built in those areas. The practice in the transfer of exclusive use areas has been for the guides to sell the facilities, and then recommend to the guide board that it give the exclusive use area to whoever purchased the facilities.

The board traditionally endorses these transactions, and payments of more than $100,000 have been reported.  Guides sometimes rent the use of their area to other guides as well.

Outfitters and guides without exclusive use areas say the system makes it costly and difficult to get into the guiding business.

Caught in the latest round of charges of illegal guiding are several outfitters who were in the field with hunters, but claim they weren't acting as guides.

One of those is 43-year-old Bruno E. Zedler of Anchorage, an 18-year resident who operates a consulting business that caters to people wanting to take trips into the Alaska Bush.

Troopers have accused Zedler and a friend, 30-year-old Bernhard F. Maeckle of Anchorage (Case # AN-87-07354CR), of taking an undercover agent and a German citizen, Karl Stahl, on an illegal big game hunt near Lake Clark National Park and Preserve this fall. Zedler and Maeckle are accused of guiding without licenses, exceeding their limit of moose, and taking a black bear without a license in connection with that hunt.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Stahl, who is now back in Germany.

Boutang said Zedler's consulting business catered to German hunters. Zedler, a German national who has worked primarily in the construction business in Alaska, said he's been trying to get into the tourism business here, but with little success. He said he has never solicited German hunters.  "That's not true, of course," he said. "I don't see any substance in what they're saying. I've always had good faith in America. I see now there may be flaws in the system. Once you're accused, the damage is with you.  "It's disheartening that you have such a burden of proof on yourself when you're accused."

Boutang said investigations are continuing, and new leads have opened up since the latest round of arrests made the news.  "We've been getting lots of calls," he said. He believes investigators have just scratched the surface of illegal hunting activities in Alaska.

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