A federal judge has rejected the Dunleavy administration’s legal challenge to a special rural subsistence hunt for the Southeast community of Kake during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to APM. The Native American Rights Fund, which offered legal aid to Kake’s tribe, welcomed the ruling.

The tribal government in Kake’s deer and moose harvest stemmed from concerns about food security. The normal hunting season doesn’t begin until the fall.

In the end, the Federal Subsistence Board authorized the special hunt for the community of Kake in June. Two bull moose and five bucks were reportedly harvested, with the meat distributed to the community.

Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy’s administration filed a lawsuit claiming there was no food security risk. It raised a number of procedural objections to allowing the special hunt.

There’s long been tension between state and federal authorities over subsistence rights.