bluetick78
WKR
I was doing some research last night into bighorn sheep populations across the West. Found some states that have increasing population, Oregon, and some states that have decreasing population, Idaho. Maybe this is well known info, but it suprised me. The Idaho Wild Sheep Foundation blames domestic sheep passing viral or bacterial pneumonia to wild populations, and most other sites seem to agree. I've known about the pneumonia problem for a long time, but assumed that F&G had the problem figured out, but apparently they do not. Bighorns in several ranges are exposed to direct contact fairly often with domestic sheep, due to a variety of circumstances. The most common cause is Sheep herders grazing outside the boundaries of the allotment and not keeping the sheep contained.
This led me to the Western Watershed Projects site. They have been successful as recently as January in getting injunctions against sheep grazing on bighorn ranges here in Idaho. The injunctions are temporary, and they have a long road filled with political landmines ahead of them to get anything permanent accomplished, but it got me thinking that we as hunters could do more to help this situation. I called Western Watersheds this morning to learn more about them. They seem to be concerned with our big game habitat and public land just as much as any educated sportsman would be. They are anti-trapping and anti-wolf hunting, which I fully expected, but for some reason this wasn't a deal-breaker for me. I offered my assistance to them to be "eyes in the field" to help make sure these injunctions are adhered to until it becomes permanent or a court lifts the injunction. It felt weird to be offering assistance to a fairly liberal environmental entity, but near as I can tell they are doing more to help sheep than anyone else in the state. Results don't lie. Any Thoughts???
This led me to the Western Watershed Projects site. They have been successful as recently as January in getting injunctions against sheep grazing on bighorn ranges here in Idaho. The injunctions are temporary, and they have a long road filled with political landmines ahead of them to get anything permanent accomplished, but it got me thinking that we as hunters could do more to help this situation. I called Western Watersheds this morning to learn more about them. They seem to be concerned with our big game habitat and public land just as much as any educated sportsman would be. They are anti-trapping and anti-wolf hunting, which I fully expected, but for some reason this wasn't a deal-breaker for me. I offered my assistance to them to be "eyes in the field" to help make sure these injunctions are adhered to until it becomes permanent or a court lifts the injunction. It felt weird to be offering assistance to a fairly liberal environmental entity, but near as I can tell they are doing more to help sheep than anyone else in the state. Results don't lie. Any Thoughts???