Alaska Should Transplant Sheep Again?

[SLDMTN]

Not defending nor bashing WSF but from the mouth of a board member, when they donate money to ADFG it goes into the general fund. There is no way for them to earmark money for sheep or sheep research. The state won’t allow them to take on any conservation efforts of their own so they’ve talked about putting a bounty on wolves similar to the one going on down south. What else can they do? Seriously.

To defend the state, they’ve done more than we have on this or any forum. This winter they opened aerial wolf control in 13 & 16. In 13 they’ve taken around 100 wolves. One family alone has taken 49, then next best is a single guy who’s sitting around 35. In unit 16 they’ve taken around 50 last I heard. Talk all the poo you want about guides but they’re the ones doing it. Their own av gas, their own time. No one is paying them.

Get off the keyboards and touch grass/snow FFS. Go hunt predators. Even if you aren’t successful, it’s a great way to stay in shape over the winter.

Don’t let bitching about what we can’t do stop you from doing what we can.

How many wolves have we (forum members collectively) killed this winter? Myself personally, I should be at 2. World’s biggest gaff having our guns strapped to packs when a double came in. Aubrey will never let me live that one down.

 

[SLDMTN]

Pitter patter.

 

[kaboku68]

A couple of notable things. Dall's sheep populations are on the decline in alaska. Mt. Goat populations are fantastic and this may be the golden era for Goat hunting. I would love for the introduction of a couple of things. 1) Reintroduce Rocky Mountain Elk to areas in 13, 12, 20 and 21. There was a Rocky Mt. Elk population in Alaska 33,000 years ago. I think that they would do well and I think it would be another species that could adapt to changing conditions. 2) Tahr and Chamois. The conditions in the SC and W parts of the state could well support these animals. They would do well in zones that the Alders are creeping into and I think that especially Tahr would do well with the increased snow levels. I do not think that they would cause problems as much as spread hunting to other species. Mountain hunters would have additional species to hunt and I believe that Dall's Sheep would be in different areas that are less rocky.

 

[Redmammut]

The board can not change statute. The only animals considered for intensive management are moose and caribou and it's based on subsistence needs. Sheep would need to be added to that list before they can authorize predator management (which the BOG can do under certain triggers). Sheep are not a primary source of subsistence for 99% of the residents, so getting them added to the list would require a separate reason.

Adding sheep to that list would be a board of game proposal to the statewide cycle (due may 1). The specific Regulation is 5 AAC 92.106. All the criteria the board uses evaluate a species is laid out in that regulation.

Again its a regulation, not a statute, so the BOG has authority to change it.

 

[johnnycake]

This is the fatalist approach I already addressed. Of course the weather is an issue that can't be changed!

The proactive solution is to DO something to counter act the negative weather events. Some weather events could reduce a population below a viable number, where recovery is impossible- thus the restocking idea.

That is proactive hopium, not a proactive "solution". Show me a study where any action taken that could apply to AK dall sheep would have a measurable positive impact to "counter act the negative weather events". You could theoretically literally burn piles of money throughout key areas to create warming bonfires to melt heavy wet snow in the spring. That would be DOING something I guess, but would hardly be an effective use of resources. The mentality of "we just need to do SOMETHING" is a fantastic way to waste money, time, and at best not make things worse (but even that is not always the case).

 

[wildwilderness]

That is proactive hopium, not a proactive "solution". Show me a study where any action taken that could apply to AK dall sheep would have a measurable positive impact to "counter act the negative weather events". You could theoretically literally burn piles of money throughout key areas to create warming bonfires to melt heavy wet snow in the spring. That would be DOING something I guess, but would hardly be an effective use of resources. The mentality of "we just need to do SOMETHING" is a fantastic way to waste money, time, and at best not make things worse (but even that is not always the case).

Whose money are you worried about burning?

I stated WSF, individuals, businesses with interest in sheep conservation can choose to spend their own $$ if the state would allow them do their own sheep improvements.

How about the State Conduct a study to see what would help sheep? How about see if minerals would increase ewe fertility and lamb survival? Or see if killing off a few eagles would help? (Look at WY for sticking it to the feds on trying to protect not endangered species) Or a study of what the minimum viable population density of Dall sheep needs to be to grow? Maybe a study to see what could boost that recovery time?

The state complains there is no study to back anything up then won’t do the study… go figure

 

[Snyd]

Not defending nor bashing WSF but from the mouth of a board member, when they donate money to ADFG it goes into the general fund. There is no way for them to earmark money for sheep or sheep research. The state won’t allow them to take on any conservation efforts of their own so they’ve talked about putting a bounty on wolves similar to the one going on down south. What else can they do? Seriously.

To defend the state, they’ve done more than we have on this or any forum. This winter they opened aerial wolf control in 13 & 16. In 13 they’ve taken around 100 wolves. One family alone has taken 49, then next best is a single guy who’s sitting around 35. In unit 16 they’ve taken around 50 last I heard. Talk all the poo you want about guides but they’re the ones doing it. Their own av gas, their own time. No one is paying them.

Get off the keyboards and touch grass/snow FFS. Go hunt predators. Even if you aren’t successful, it’s a great way to stay in shape over the winter.

Don’t let bitching about what we can’t do stop you from doing what we can.

How many wolves have we (forum members collectively) killed this winter? Myself personally, I should be at 2. World’s biggest gaff having our guns strapped to packs when a double came in. Aubrey will never let me live that one down.

Yup....
And then there are the Coyotes and the ones we can't touch.... Golden Eagles.


"Eagles and coyotes are the primary predators of Dall sheep lambs..."

Alaska’s Most Powerful Bird of Prey, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Alaska Wildlife News is an online magazine published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game

www.adfg.alaska.gov

 

[Trial153]

One thing that needs to be dispelled is Sheep in NWT, Yukon and BC are doing much better than Alaska. Despite what the people selling 45-80 k hunts in Canada say there are some areas that are seeing similar declines as Alaska

 

[ColeyG]

One thing that needs to be dispelled is Sheep in NWT, Yukon and BC are doing much better than Alaska. Despite what the people selling 45-80 k hunts in Canada say there are some areas that are seeing similar declines as Alaska

True. And most of the guides that operate there are trying really hard to keep that quiet.

 

[S-3 ranch]

Yup....
And then there are the Coyotes and the ones we can't touch.... Golden Eagles.


"Eagles and coyotes are the primary predators of Dall sheep lambs..."

Alaska’s Most Powerful Bird of Prey, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Alaska Wildlife News is an online magazine published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game

www.adfg.alaska.gov

Eagles
before aoudad displaced our BHS , we would watch golden eagles knock lambs off the cliffs then dive down and eat them, same with pronghorn fawns on the prairie
lots of folks who raise sheep and goats out in west Texas shoot Eagles on sight
I haven’t seen a eagle in years around big lake Texas or marfa

 

[Snyd]

Very in depth long article. I've waded through most of it. Bottom line is they now figure there are a lot more Golden Eagles in AK than they thought.

9 Nov 2021

"By extrapolating across the species' nesting range in Alaska (1,180,489 km2) and incorporating published productivity and age-specific survival rates for eagles <4 yr old into our hierarchical model, we estimated 12,717 (95% credible interval: 9043, 16,349) Golden Eagles of all ages occur in Alaska, annually. We propose this as a conservative statewide population estimate because we used methods that likely underestimated population size. Even so, our estimate is three to five times larger than previous estimates and likely represents about one quarter of the USA's population."

Golden Eagle Abundance in Alaska: Migration Counts and Movement Data Generate a Conservative Population Estimate

Estimating species density and abundance is challenging but important for establishing conservation and management strategies. Significant progress has been made toward estimating Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) abundance in the conterminous United States of America (USA) but much less is known...

bioone.org