Alaska Sheep Harvest 2023

[Htm84]

Yup, and nothing we can do about the 13000 Eagles. Also interesting is that Eagle predation on various species changes with the Hare cycle. Low Hares, other species get hit harder. Like sheep.

That’s not what the article you posted states.

“We had low lamb survival when the hares were at their peak,” Arthur said. “My interpretation is that abundant hares lead to abundant predators, and when they’re abundant they’re not only eating hares, they’re eating lots of other prey.”


Maybe it’s time to start shooting hares outta airplanes.

 

[Snyd]

I read the opposite somewhere else. Either that or the old man brain kicked in again!

 

[ColeyG]

I recently took a few minutes to revisit an article I saved quite a few years back. It was published in National Geographic in 1917, written by famous and storied geologist turned conservation activist Stephen Capps. Capps spent a summer traveling through the greater Denali region to document and eventually advocate for the newly proposed but yet created McKinley (Denali) National Park. His observations of the Dall Sheep and effect that market hunting was having on their population was a primary factor in the creation of the park.




Here are a few excepts on Dall Sheep specifically.



On sheep numbers at the time. I wonder if there are 5000 sheep left in the entirety of Alaska at this point.



And on market hunting





I tried to attach the whole PDF article, but the site tells me it is too large. I'll see if I can shrink it enough to share.

 

[ColeyG]

Here is the whole article. Sorry for the low quality. Had to compress it to get it under the max allowed file size.

 

[JohnB]

Man I don't hunt sheep but that article makes me sad. Locally I live near an area with geographic features named Goat Creek and Goat Wall. There are few to no goats in the Goat Creek basin and Goat Wall is known for it's rock climbing. The trappers that lived here in the 1890s got through winters by shooting the goats off of Goat Wall.

 

[ColeyG]

Man I don't hunt sheep but that article makes me sad. Locally I live near an area with geographic features named Goat Creek and Goat Wall. There are few to no goats in the Goat Creek basin and Goat Wall is known for it's rock climbing. The trappers that lived here in the 1890s got through winters by shooting the goats off of Goat Wall.

Ah the Methow. One of my favorite places in the world. You are lucky man to call that place home.

 

[Britt-dog]

I applied for tags for the Methow Goat unit for many years. unfortunately the population dosnt support a season any longer due in large part to intrusion of other user groups like climbers.

 

[FlatCreekPrecision]

Hey guys I'm just reading through the sad news while sitting in Illiamna waiting to for a cub to take me out on the mountain for Brown Bear. However I must say I was in the Alaskan Range for 7 days setting a camp and scouting for a legal ram, while I only saw one ram that was double Broomed and 2 sub legal rams and 12 ewes and lambs. The hunter who flew in was able to take the ram on then 3rd day of hunting. And the guide and hunter saw another ram est at 38"! It sucks the bug but me to hunt sheep as they were vacating the mountains! I'll keep checking here to see if anything positive comes up!

 

[Cow_MuleBuck]

Very interesting! Really puts things in perspective.