Quote:
Originally Posted by MountainTi
These are probably 3 (not 4, habitat loss and availability of food are much the same) of the toughest issues facing sheep in Alberta (or anywhere for that matter)
1. habitat loss. This is a big one, but in order to correct that is going to take years and years, and a huge dollar amount. Controlled burns take a lot of planning and are extremely expensive. Way too many years of putting out fires has put us in quite a jam. There is no quick and easy way to fix this. Do you think the government is gonna run out and spend millions burning mountain sides to increase habitat for sheep? Sliding oil prices sure ain't gonna help that.
2. predator control. That again is a tough one. Wolves, how do you suggest we control their number in sheep country? I highly doubt there will be a poisoning program in the near future. Trappers and hunters i think are doing what they can. Unless we all are out there throwing out spongesicles every weekend, I can't see harvest numbers increasing.
Cats, now there's a different story and an issue that in my mind can be solved cheaper and more affectively. As i mentioned before cougars are the biggest killer of rams on 4 legs. Lets open up cats to trappers, any cats trapped do not go towards quotas. How about these houndsmen get out into actual sheep country and pursue out there. Maybe the boundries of the CMA's need to be changed to the front range.
3. subsitence hunting. I would love to see all trophy hunting of rams and any other animal for that matter stopped being done under the guise of subsitence hunting, but unfortunately I can't see that changing in the near future or until we get a government with enough balls to get it done
Now what is the cheapest and easiest way to increase numbers of mature rams on the mountain?
Much like mule deer 20some years ago, I'm sure we would all like to hunt sheep as much as possible with a crack at true trophy rams on a more regular basis.....but that will come at a price.
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This is really at the heart of the matter when you boil it all down. Harvest numbers, trophy size and hunter opportunity can all increase if we pay enough attention to habitat. We could support double or triple the number of sheep in this province if we had the will and ability to burn most of the mountain country in the province. I've seen what happens in the big burns in N BC and it truly is amazing what happens to increase numbers of sheep and other game animals. Until this happens we are going to go down the other road of decreased harvest in one fashion or another, be it draw, full curl regulation etc. Harvest numbers will never increase and remain stagnant or decrease.