WSA 22-02 affects Sheep hunters in GMU 24A and 26B (Dalton Hwy Corridor)

[Larry Bartlett]

If you want to read about this Special Action and all others listed on DOI website, here's the link:

Wildlife Special Actions | U.S. Department of the Interior

A Special Action Request is an out-of-cycle change in a season, harvest limit, or method of harvest. Special Actions are taken when unusual situations arise, such as a significant change in resource abundance that could not reasonably have been anticipated. The Federal Subsistence Board may take...

www.doi.gov

In a nutshell here's what I know of the genesis. A Wiseman AK resident (Jack Reakoff) http://jukebox.uaf.edu/haul_road/htm/int_reakoff.htm
has kept his finger on the pulse of many subsistence issues and sheep have been hardest hit in the Brooks Range. From what I understand Jack submitted this proposal because of the increase in sport hunters at a time when sheep are still suffering a rapid drop in numbers <8 years ago and legal rams are harder to find due to lower available numbers to increased pressure.

This closure will close the WEST side of the Dalton Hwy and may also include the Atigun River section to the east on federal land.

The meeting will be held on April 28th from 4-7pm. The kicker is this WSA would close sheep hunting to non-federally qualified users for 2022 through 2024. There is no skirting the law "below mean high water line" for sheep so consider this a complete closure until 2025.

I won't be opposing this WSA in case you're curious. The sheep numbers need to rebound and I haven't hunted the Brooks for >10 years because of this and increased hunter traffic.

 

[realunlucky]

Good information Larry. As always appreciate the heads up

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

[Nick Muche]

Plenty of sheep up there. Jack is off his rocker.

Larry, doesn’t this WSA intend to close everything west of the SAG River? Think it does.

I’m sure Jack has scoured every inch of that country….tongue in cheek.

Maybe the feds should do a real sheep survey before they act. Course that won’t happen.

This overreach keeps up, everything in AK will be locked up. Sign of the times and sad.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

I agree Nick. The almighty roar of subsistence rights to limit non-local pressure is a dangerous precedent. As far as the closure borders we'll all have to read the fine print, but USFWS suggested it will be west of the Dalton Hwy starting in 24A extending through 26B. It was also suggested that the Atigun river portion on federal land might be included.

I'll be listening in to the comments of that meeting, y'all might want to as well.

 

[JBrown1]

Larry, I have a question for you and anyone else who would care to answer: how will closing hunting of mature rams(most >8yo) help the sheep population?

Honestly, does anyone believe that the population would rebound faster if those rams weren’t harvested? Is the hunting of mature rams causing ewes to go in bred?

And keep in mind, the entire Gates of the Arctic NP is closed to sport hunting already. Of course the subsistence users are able to hunt any ram, as well as ewes, inside the park.

Why isn’t the focus on stopping subsistence user from killing ewes?

I am aquatinted with Jack Reakoff as we have some friends in common, so I’m going to ask him the same question, and I’ll report back here.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Nick it looks like you're right based on that announcement. Writing is always stronger than word of mouth.

 

[akbrett]

where is the HOWL organization. anything they can do to help fight against this. wild sheep foundation? RHAK?

 

[Michael Dow]

As the current regulations stand for non-local users they are restricted to the “full curl regulation”. This management strategy has sound biology backing it and by allowing for the hunting of 8+ year old rams should in no way hinder the ability for the population to rebound. Even if it was possible for hunters to kill every ram over 8, which never happens, the younger 4-7year old rams would gladly continue to breed the ewes. Everyone should also keep in mind that last season hunting season for 2021 is 8 years after the horrible die off in 2013. It should be expected that the number of legal rams right now is lower than normal and hunting will probably be poor for a few years as a result of this. For the population to rebound what we really need is decent weather for a few years. By closing the area to non-local users it will do nothing to help the population rebound.

 

[deadwolf]

Unfortunately there are plenty of less than 8 year old rams taken by “subsistence users” every single year, in fact I’d venture to say that is actually the age class of most of the subsistence rams taken each year. Just have a quick YouTube search of recent sheep hunts. I have more to say but haven’t had my coffee yet.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[akbrett]

jack states he had lengthy discussions with NPS and BLM about sheep populations primarily declining on the south slopes in units 24a and 24b. Also 26b west of the sag river.
now he proposes to close all sheep hunting in 24a and 26b west of the sag. which happens to be the only access for road vehicle hunters. yet he wants to leave unit 24b open which only subsistence users can hunt and harvest 3 sheep! any sheep only 1 can be an ewe. despite the NPS and BLM saying that area was in decline as well.
this seems more personal than about the sheep. i have hunted these areas and have seen great lamb/ewe ratios. i have seen lots of rams of all ages. base off of surveys the populations haven’t rebounded since 2013. But from what i’ve seen it seems to be a healthy population. recent survey done in 26b by the NPS shows sheep numbers increasing yearly.
jack also talks about the predation being an issue. why not propose some predator control measures? i would gladly drive up there in the winter and go wolf hunting with my snowmachine if i was allowed.

 

[Sourdough]

Tuesdays Court Ruling......

the federal court of appeals for Alaska and several other states — upheld that original decision. Judge Ronald Gould agreed that the federal government has power over Alaska’s public lands, even if ANILCA gives the state responsibility for its wildlife. And when state and federal regulations compete, the judge said, the federal regulations prevail. “Not only do the cited legal principles and laws tell us that federal law has primacy over federal lands, but also common sense tells us the same,” Gould wrote. “The federal government, and not a single state, has control over federal lands which benefit the entire country.

 

[AlaskaMark]

RHAK is working on this, gathering info from agencies and we will have comments ahead of the public hearing. I know Jack and have tons of respect for his knowledge of the area, so please don't discount his conservation concerns.

This is an area where many of our members do walk-in hunts. Board of Game allows unlimited nonres sheep hunting, which we have tried to get them to limit or restrict. It's the same issue as 19C sheep where locals are asking for a complete closure.

 

[AlaskaMark]

https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/proposed-wirac-wsa-dalls-sheep-units-24a-26b-final.pdf

 

[JBrown1]

When you step back and look at what is really happening, it appears to leave 24B wide open for subsistence hunters and isolates them from competition from hunters who travel into the area by road or plane to hunt the adjacent units(26a and 24a).

I lived there and I know that the subsistence hunters kill ewes and young rams, mostly in 24b, but also in 26a.

I'm going to ask Jack why he didn't include 24b in his proposal.

 

[Nick Muche]

Subsistence sheep hunters. Ok…

They can shoot moose off the side of the road, and do.

 

[fatbacks]

I won't be opposing this WSA in case you're curious. The sheep numbers need to rebound and I haven't hunted the Brooks for >10 years because of this and increased hunter traffic.

I think we should oppose no matter how you feel about it. This should be addressed by Alaska Dept. Fish and Game, not a federal subsistence board that has repeatedly shown that they manage on emotion and feelings rather than advice from the biologists.

 

[JBrown1]

I exchanged messages with Jack Reakoff. I hate to paraphrase what he said for fear of dulling his message.

Anyway, he stated that the hard winter/springs of 2012/13 wiped out two years of lambs. There was rain on top of snow that buried the feed and stressed the sheep causing reproduction to crash.

Then a similar event happened in 2018/19, followed by another bad winter/spring the following year. I lived there at the time and can confirm that we had a weird spring heatwave, accompanied by rain, then followed by sub zero temps. We had at least two bears near the village I lived in that came out of their dens missing patches of hair. And one had a paw that appeared to have been frozen in ice in its den, as it had town the pad off its paw and was missing hair.

Anyway, Jack’s worry is that this population is missing most all of the 8+ year old rams due to the winter/springs of 2012/13, and many of the 2 and 3 year olds due to the winter/springs of 2018/19 and 2019/20.

So there are 4, 5, 6, and 7 year old rams that can bred, but not much of anything older.

And here was the most interesting thing that Jack said:
"Full curl management only work if there are steady recruitment of rams coming up behind.

The sheep are much farther down that in the fall of 2018. There were brutal rain on snow in October 2018 real deep wet snow that winter and rain on snow in 2019. The next winter was the same. The 2012/13’ winter had rain on snow and a real late spring. These events have the sheep populations with several missing age classes 2,3,4,5 year olds
Meaning there are no rams coming up to replace the breeding rams.
..................

Sheep need to have 7-8 year old absolute minimum age for breeding. The younger rams if left to breed will winter kill.
........................
The sheep will be in reproductive failure with two more years hunting. Current harvest is taking all full curl and some of the just under full curl.
Basic biology. These sheep need a break other wise we won’t be able to get them back.”

I was admittedly incredulous when I first heard of his proposal, but I can now understand his point.

His assertion that leaving the breading to rams <7 years old will cause them to winter-kill might sound like BS, but it would sure go a long way towards explaining why the sheep populations did better under the 3/4 and 7/8 curl regulations, than they are doing under the full curl regulations.(after all, they killed more rams back them and the sheep populations were doing better than they have since the FC rules went into effect).

My real worry: once the Feds close hunting, will it ever reopen? I’m going to ask Jack about that.

 

[WalterH]

Jack's reasoning and justification here directly conflict with well established ADFG data that show the harvest of full curl rams is not detrimental to the population. Ewes get bred and younger rams survive at better rates than older rams.

Therefore, it would seem, either the science is wrong, or reasons other than science are motivating this effort?

 

[WalterH]

His assertion that leaving the breading to rams <7 years old will cause them to winter-kill might sound like BS, but it would sure go a long way towards explaining why the sheep populations did better under the 3/4 and 7/8 curl regulations, than they are doing under the full curl regulations.(after all, they killed more rams back them and the sheep populations were doing better than they have since the FC rules went into effect).

Perhaps a spurious correlation?

Hunter harvest does not have a population level impact on sheep, especially since having moved to FC/8 requirements in most places and for most people.

 

[JBrown1]

Perhaps a spurious correlation?

Hunter harvest does not have a population level impact on sheep, especially since having moved to FC/8 requirements in most places and for most people.

WalterH,

To respond to both of your posts: I would have agreed with you 100%, as that is what I had always believed- killing older rams doesn’t harm the reproductive capabilities of the herd.

But then during one of the AKDFG meetings this year, a hunter asked the biologists about the idea that killing the >8 yo rams doesn’t harm the population, as there are more than enough 4-7 yo rams to bred. The biologist replied with “well, that is the million dollar question....”

So I would say that the science may not be as settled as I had thought.

And digging deeper, one of the things that was pointed out to me by a long time sheep hunter(not Jack) was this: under the 3/4 and 7/8 regulations they killed a lot more rams, and yet the population of both rams and the general sheep populations were doing better than what we see now under the full curl rule set.

There have been some attempts to explain this. Personally, I find Jack Reakoff’s explanation more plausible than the other one I have heard: that the younger rams need the older rams to show them where/how to migrate.(I have a hard time believing that the 6 and 7 year olds need the wise old 8 and 9 year olds to show them the way out of the storm. Sounds a bit too Disney to me)