AK sheep and guide concessions

[Confluentus]

It looks like the sheep population in the AK range is not faring well. I believe (?) that this area has historically absorbed a lot of pressure from guides who do not have a concession.

I’m wondering if anyone has thoughts about how the recent population trends might affect the distribution of sheep guides in the coming years. Will we see guys who typically guided 19C and 20A crowd into other areas of AK that are non-concessioned? Are the only other non-concessioned areas the Talkeetnas and that small chunk of the Brooks just east of the Dalton?

 

[Bambistew]

We have to hit rock bottom before we can figure out what to do with the non-concession areas. We may be about there.

The rest of the state areas are pretty saturated and the populations there are not much better. There isn't a lot of room for them to move in to.

 

[wildwilderness]

There are non-concession areas in a number of Ranges. An easy way to see is to look at a map and see where any State owned land is in sheep country.

 

[WalterH]

That is already happening. At least one guide with an exclusive commercial use area in the AK range abandoned all sheep hunts there due to lack of mature rams and moved all trips to another range with "more" animals.

It seems like guides who are facing sheep shortages in their areas of traditionally use are either 1) getting out of sheep trips for a few years, 2) trying to set low expectations for clients while operating in their traditional areas, 3) moving to new areas with, hopefully, better numbers.

The likely result and current concern may well be additional crowding and competition in the few areas of the state where sheep aren't completely circling the drain...yet.