Dall sheep doable for under 25k ?

[Ophert]

could you point the harvest datas and population census for nwt?
thank you.

I don't have published reports. I know the bios though.

 

[medvedyt]

I don't have published reports. I know the bios though.

ok here in the Yukon they are publishing the harvest and census and you should try to have them public which will be easier to understand the dynamic between the population and harvest.

 

[Ophert]

ok here in the Yukon they are publishing the harvest and census and you should try to have them public which will be easier to understand the dynamic between the population and harvest.

NWT has 16-20 thousand dall sheep. Outfitters harvest 180-220 a year and residents harvest about 2-12 per year. It’s been that way for a long time. Age class and lamb recruitment indicate no loss in sheep numbers.

 

[Northern Safari]

NWT has 16-20 thousand dall sheep. Outfitters harvest 180-220 a year and residents harvest about 2-12 per year. It’s been that way for a long time. Age class and lamb recruitment indicate no loss in sheep numbers.

That’s a lot of sheep, didn’t realize there were that many in the NWT.

 

[Ophert]

That’s a lot of sheep, didn’t realize there were that many in the NWT.

Quite a few of them are inaccessible - like the populations in Nahanni and Nááts'įhch'oh park, and about 700-1000 in the Richardson mountains that are closed to harvest.

The parks make a good reservoir for sheep though which spills out near the boundaries of the parks. You can get into some really nice rams if you hunt closer to the borders.

There is also good dispersion of harvest of rams due to helicopter use by the outfitters too which is nice for residents, it ensures that the more accessible and cheaper to fly into areas near the lakes don't get hammered too hard. Some outfitters work with charter companies to block access to lakes, mainly in the northern Mackenzies - which is complete BS and frustrating considering residents harvest like 10 sheep a year lol.

Another nice thing is the 3/4 harvest rule. Of course you want to get a full curl mature ram, but it's nice to have a bit of leeway and not have to study a sheep/get a perfect picture to make sure he is full curl so you don't do anything illegal.

My favorite thing about hunting the NWT is there are plenty of areas with zero outfitters operating at all, and few resident hunters. You can get into prime moose hunting country that has basically never been hunted ever. There is even a small area for sheep where no outfitters operate.

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