What makes you assume that the population will not recover from this crash when it has rebounded from similar crashes in the past?
Vern, is this an area you fly often? Seen sheep in those specific areas before?
When sublegal rams account for 15-30% of the total harvest numbers, that tends to wreak havoc on lamb production. Just another thought.
2 consecutive horrible winters/springs one of which included heavy rain, followed by heavy snow, and then cold that killed everything from voles to bison. In 2018 there were 27 rams harvested with 44 tags awarded in that draw area. In 2023 3 rams harvested out of the 9 tags awarded. There was a bad winter in 2013 that took a lot of sheep of the mountain that took a few years to recover from also.
I would be interested in learning more about what you've been reading. Do you mainly study ADFG publications or are there other resources you use to gain your information?
I agree with you that is more than that overall, but the Extreme low we have seen was mostly caused by the 2 consecutive winter/spring weather events. Especially the winter of rain and heavy snow and then cold(As I remember it was the spring of 2019 and 2020). The die off from those 2 winters/springs has accelerated the doom and gloom the last few years. I hunted the Robertson a year or 2 after the bad winter in 2013, there weren't many sheep around and up to the bad winters of late the population and mature rams rebounded. We are back into the rebuilding phase and can only hope for decent winters to help them rebound again.
