Sheep numbers in the Alaskan Range

[birdhunter]

Any input on the Sheep population in the Alaskan Range.A friend just hunted up there and related that sheep were difficult to locate.His pilot also said that the numbers had decreased 30% from the previous year and overall 50% the last 3 years.With a difficult winter there already underway things dont look good.Any thoughts from fellow sliders on this.Will the state close the season there or go to a draw system?

 

[VernAK]

It's too early for those decisions as data is still be compiled and conferences will be held. TMA has different management goals so I'd expect some definite changes there.

Sheep hunting friends and guides, that I've talked to, all have dismal reports for the Alaska Range. Preliminary harvest numbers for DCUA don't look good.

I would think prospective sheep hunters, seeking a guided hunt, would look elsewhere when dropping $20K for that hunt.

 

[kscowboy01]

“Trying to gear up for moose season. Sheep season was pretty thin had to cancel a couple of hunts.
Pretty bad winter kill last year.”

This is a text from a couple of weeks ago from the guy I sheep hunted with back in 2013. He’s been guiding in the Alaska Range for a long time.

 

[justinspicher]

I saw plenty of sheep, just not many legal rams. I was there on a hunt from 8-15 August. I was not hunting, just along for the ride.

 

[ColeyG]

I spent 8 days in the western AK Range in some places where I have spent quite a bit of time in years past, though it had been 5 years since I'd last visited. We were there towards the end of August.

Overall numbers were down 40% at least. Most of the ewes had lambs so that was encouraging, but the rams were basically non-existent. In years past I would have expected to see 20-30 rams in this area with a handful of those being mature rams at least. This year we saw 5 rams in total, the oldest of which was 7/8 and 7 years old. The others were 3-4 year-old rams and two of those were singles hanging out all by themselves, which is a something unusual it seems like I've started to see in the last few years.

I know of one other ram taken out of the area by one of the guides a few days before we showed up. It was 6 years old and just at full curl. The bear and wolf population was very healthy though. We ran into 12 bears and a handful of wolves over the course of the week in a relatively compact area.

I got a thread going a day or two ago on this larger topic, sheep populations statewide, and am hoping to get some observations and thoughts from other parts of the state. My observations in the Wrangells last year were basically the same, overall numbers way down and few if any mature rams. Most I've been speaking with have had very similar things to say.