Quote:
Originally Posted by ksteed17
Exactly. A draw would kill sheep hunting as we know it. The real issue facing our sheep are
Availability of food
Habitat loss
Predator control
Subsistence hunting
If we focused on those 4 problems we could increase sheep populations, horn size and opportunity all without losing a thing. But ESRD doesn't want to face the problems head on.
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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.