AK Sheep BOG Comments due Oct 13

[Tanner]

One thing I’d be interested in seeing is a comparison between the population numbers inside the parks vs outside. Is wrangell and Denali seeing the same declines? I’ve looked but can’t find anything.

Winter and wolves don’t care about park boundaries.

 

[Htm84]

Winter and wolves don’t care about park boundaries.

I guess that’s what I’m getting at. Winter and wolves have been around forever. Dudes flying in from Texas to shoot something and fly home with just the head is a relatively new phenomenon.

 

[akbrett]

the chugach has been drastically limited in hunt opportunities and harvest and haven’t seen a rebound. pregnancy rates being super low, believe somewhere under 50%.

 

[Tanner]

I guess that’s what I’m getting at. Winter and wolves have been around forever. Dudes flying in from Texas to shoot something and fly home with just the head is a relatively new phenomenon.

I guess that’s what I’m getting at. Winter and wolves have been around forever. Dudes flying in from Texas to shoot something and fly home with just the head is a relatively new phenomenon.

I see your point. I guess to me the way to justify modifying seasons or hunt opportunities would be accepting that it’s the only facet of sheep management that humans have much control over, other than some habitat modifications or herd supplementing.

 

[wildwilderness]

The decline in Parks sheep as well as the rest of the hunted populations would indicate hunting has minimal effect on overall populations.

That is why I make the point Something more needs to be done!

Waiting till Dalls are on the endangered list will be unacceptable! Maybe then they would start a breeding program? Why not now!

Any how it will take Everyone getting on board! The sooner the better

 

[wildwilderness]

I know a breeding/transplant program is a last ditch effort, but have to aim high.

I am sure there are other pro active things to boost current populations.

I have seen outfits in Canada actively supplement minerals and turn lambing rate up to 95%. I don’t know if there is research yet supporting that.

I know that would be controversial, arguments over predation, hunter ambush, disease etc. but with helicopters sites can selected to mitigate all that, with multiple sites and escape cover etc

Habitat improvements to combat climate? So how can winter/spring range be improved to withstand the increased snow!ice layers at a crucial time?

 

[Cheechako]

I understand your frustration, but let's be realistic, charging "more" for resident sheep tags will do something. Case(s) in point: we have two threads that are active on this forum that are about guys killing unexpected rams, one on a moose hunt, and one on a caribou hunt.

If a $300 sheep locking tag was required, there is good chance that those two rams would not have been harvested.

It seems pretty clear that weather and predators are the two biggest factors in the decline of sheep populations(does anyone disagree?. Managing hunter numbers does nothing to address these two problems.

What exactly is the issue with opportunistic harvest? It seems rare and like it usually occurs in weird little pockets where sheep that don’t normally get hunted overlap with other target species.
Also I think existing research supports that climate and it’s effects on habitat, forage availability and quality, and over-winter survival of dall sheep are contributing to declines and critically under studied.

 

[Confluentus]

What exactly is the issue with opportunistic harvest?

Well if someone isn’t actively targeting sheep and isn’t willing to fork over $300 for the privilege to shoot one, they don’t *deserve* to shoot one, obviously. Hell, I’ve been on 5 dedicated sheep hunts and only one has been successful. It just isn’t fair when a moose hunter gets lucky!

 

[JBrown1]

What exactly is the issue with opportunistic harvest? It seems rare and like it usually occurs in weird little pockets where sheep that don’t normally get hunted overlap with other target species.

Eliminating opportunistic harvest would leave a few more legal sheep for the hunters who are actually hunting them.

And in places where sheep aren’t normally targeted, it would eliminate human predation. I’m not sure that would matter when only surplus rams are being targeted.

 

[Movi]

Comments posted:

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/regprocess/gameboard/pdfs/2022-2023/sheep/comments.pdf

 

[diamond10x]

Some interesting comments for the BOG from rational logical thought out comments to Non Res are the cause for it all to climate activists.

 

[Yellowknife]

The extended informational presentation from ADF&G to the BOG on 19 Oct is available here:

 

[Bambistew]

One board member mentioned he was going to submit a proposal to close 19C for 5 years. Wonder if all those hunts that are booked will get moved to another unit, canceled, or ? Chits about to get interesting. Consensus, is sheep numbers pretty much statewide populations are 50-60% less than recent highs. Going to take a long time to get those numbers back up, if they ever go. Its certainly not going to be short term. Too many bad winters in the last 10 years. I don't know much, but do know something will have to give.

 

[WalterH]

Well. That was both disappointing, but entirely unsurprising.

Of the 80+ public comments that were submitted, damn near all of them highlighted commercial interests and non-res/guided pressure and harvest as a significant, if not primary issue.

No one. Not one single person on the board or cadre of bios and admin staff brought this central issue of public concern up. Why not? They were told not to, obviously.

The bios largely reinforced their positions that would seem to say we can’t do much to influence sheep populations.

Everyone seems to be pretty scared when it comes to having conversations about making decisions that affect the hunter’s experience and/or limiting opportunity, for some at least, which is exactly what needs to happen right now.

Time to draft some proposals for the BOG to vote on as it seems clear the managers aren’t going to take any self-initiated, meaningful action.

 

[william schmaltz]

No one. Not one single person on the board or cadre of bios and admin staff brought this central issue of public concern up. Why not? They were told not to, obviously.

The bios largely reinforced their positions that would seem to say we can’t do much to influence sheep populations.

Everyone seems to be pretty scared when it comes to having conversations about making decisions that affect the hunter’s experience and/or limiting opportunity, for some at least, which is exactly what needs to happen right now.

Time to draft some proposals for the BOG to vote on as it seems clear the managers aren’t going to take any self-initiated, meaningful action.

I particularly liked the last two slides where they highlighted some of the proposed paths forward taken directly from the public comments. Somehow the person that put together those slides forgot the comment that basically every person made.
I do think board member Keogh indirectly made a comment and pushed questions about allocation when he said that it appears that residents have self-regulated in 19C while it does not appear to be the case for guided hunters (I know several guide operations have cut back and halted hunts; his comment, not mine). He never really was given the data he was looking for and the question was danced around. I don’t know if I call it “self regulating” when it comes down to most residents just knew better than to take a couple weeks off work to essentially be a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn’t there.

I thought it was a well presented set of data overall. It does appear that ADF&G is pretty set that there’s nothing we can really do at this time to help keep more sheep on the Mtn beyond limiting hunting. I don’t think I disagree with them. So the question remains: how do we allocate opportunity? I agree it’s time to draft proposal for the board, but we all know exactly how that voting will go.

The gubernatorial debate was just hours ago. KTUU asked for debate questions and I submitted a question asking if they would nominate BOG and BOF members with a history of commercial use and favorable bias to commercial user groups or nominate members that prioritize resident subsistence, personal use, and sport hunting and fishing opportunity. My question was shelved in lieu of a question about transgender bathrooms in Mat Su schools. So I guess the 6 people wondering about that at least have answers tonight.

 

[kaboku68]

Its not hard to fix the situation. Why were the 1960s-1970s the golden age of Sheep Hunting. Guides were paid a bounty to shoot wolves. Golden Eagles often went missing in different areas. I have talked with a lot of old timers. They would shoot the bastards.

We have fish and game find the genetic markers of the packs that are decimating the sheep in the Alaska Range and let area wolf hunting happen in the WSTE Preserve. Wolves are loving global warming and the number of wolf trappers is declining. Wolves are taking the sheep and its the ewes and lambs that are declining faster than the rams. You can see this with rams who are stealthy and smart buggers surviving more than the lambs and ewes. This makes for bad hunting later on. I always talk to bios about the health of the lambs and young ones. This gives you insight in how the population is doing. The younger sheep eventually become older and some of them become something special. The big old mossy horned ram is the ultimate Alaskan animal.

$1000 bounty on each wolf out of the hard pressed areas. Run it for three or four years. We are at the bottom of the Hicks-Carey cycle. Sheep numbers are down but trophy quality is +++++. In 11 years the numbers of sheep will be up but you won't see 46 inchers.

Restricting sheep hunting will kill the tradition. This would actually end something that we have adopted from the indigenous peoples who relied on sheep meat for survival. Whenever a cultural activity is lost, the footsteps of the old hunters who climbed the ridges and hunted with the small spruce bows and arrows is lost.

It would also help that we adopt some of the ideals from NWT where harvesting the oldest ram or a weird guide ram is the epitome of success. We should have an Alaskan contest where the weirdest looking old ram or oldest ram harvested gets the hunter a TMA/DCUA or DS165 tag. Those old sheep 12 years and older and are often smaller 32-35 inches often do not help the genetic pool and are runty bastards. I guess I am a bit in my cups tonight but heck with it. What I say is the truth.

 

[Movi]

Its not hard to fix the situation. Why were the 1960s-1970s the golden age of Sheep Hunting. Guides were paid a bounty to shoot wolves. Golden Eagles often went missing in different areas. I have talked with a lot of old timers. They would shoot the bastards.

We have fish and game find the genetic markers of the packs that are decimating the sheep in the Alaska Range and let area wolf hunting happen in the WSTE Preserve. Wolves are loving global warming and the number of wolf trappers is declining. Wolves are taking the sheep and its the ewes and lambs that are declining faster than the rams. You can see this with rams who are stealthy and smart buggers surviving more than the lambs and ewes. This makes for bad hunting later on. I always talk to bios about the health of the lambs and young ones. This gives you insight in how the population is doing. The younger sheep eventually become older and some of them become something special. The big old mossy horned ram is the ultimate Alaskan animal.

$1000 bounty on each wolf out of the hard pressed areas. Run it for three or four years. We are at the bottom of the Hicks-Carey cycle. Sheep numbers are down but trophy quality is +++++. In 11 years the numbers of sheep will be up but you won't see 46 inchers.

Restricting sheep hunting will kill the tradition. This would actually end something that we have adopted from the indigenous peoples who relied on sheep meat for survival. Whenever a cultural activity is lost, the footsteps of the old hunters who climbed the ridges and hunted with the small spruce bows and arrows is lost.

It would also help that we adopt some of the ideals from NWT where harvesting the oldest ram or a weird guide ram is the epitome of success. We should have an Alaskan contest where the weirdest looking old ram or oldest ram harvested gets the hunter a TMA/DCUA or DS165 tag. Those old sheep 12 years and older and are often smaller 32-35 inches often do not help the genetic pool and are runty bastards. I guess I am a bit in my cups tonight but heck with it. What I say is the truth.

 

[wildwilderness]

It’s obvious time for change. If that means firing people that won’t change the sooner the better!

We need people who want to make something happen, not just keep their jobs til they get that gov retirement!!


What is the accountability for a Sheep biologist? Nothing right now.

 

[Movi]

It’s obvious time for change. If that means firing people that won’t change the sooner the better!

We need people who want to make something happen, not just keep their jobs til they get that gov retirement!!


What is the accountability for a Sheep biologist? Nothing right now.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

It’s obvious time for change. If that means firing people that won’t change the sooner the better!

We need people who want to make something happen, not just keep their jobs til they get that gov retirement!!


What is the accountability for a Sheep biologist? Nothing right now.

I was thinking more along the lines of accountability for a Board of Game that is dominated by hunting guides that prioritize commercial interests over residents.