Quote:
Originally Posted by sheep spotter
Well I'm new to this computer chat and I'm not going to write an essay on the subject, but I have been following this thread for 3 weeks and it has been very interesting to say the least. I have hunted sheep in over half of the zones in Alberta, in the last 30 years,and have been on numerous succesful sheep hunts and just as many unsuccessful. I don't know the stats on how many wolves were around years ago, but I do know that everywhere I have been( past and present ), the wolf tracks continue to grow in numbers , and in the last 5 years I can't believe how many drainages that have more wolf tracks than ever before. If they continue to multiply at this rate our healthy sheep population as we know it is going to be in serious trouble if it's not going there already, and most of your arguing will be irrelevent, as age, size and habitat will not be the issue. The solution here is to get all of the clubs, foundations and societies working together to get a serious predator control program in place and get the general public on board with the concept of predator control vs. ungulate extinction.
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Welcome, great first post.
We have two prime examples of predator and habitat management. The disaster that is the Sheep Sanctuary shows the results of the lack of predator control. It is not hard to extrapolate that through out the sheep range. Cadomin is proof of what habitat can do for the herd.
I realize that managing hunters is easier (Boy is that the truth for some here!) for the govt and cheaper. But what do we do at the end when we can't cut back hunting anymore - like the sheep sanctuary? Do we pay the piper then for our stupidity? We need to do what is best for the herd not what is best or easiest for the bios or govt. Wolves and cougar need controlling and we need to get some serious habitat work under way or no matter how much we cut back on tags the picture is only going to get worse.