Quote:
Originally Posted by MooseRiverTrapper
I’m not sure what WSF truly does for the sheep?
We have out of control wolf populations in the 400 zones. Trappers that aren’t active or active but not wolf killers.
Lions laying a licking on sheep wintering ranges.
Fire suppression/lack of prescribed burns.
Thankfully we have such a unique situation with all the park boundaries. I have hunted sheep all over Alberta and never once have I thought thanks WSF or what a great opportunity created by WSF.
An organization could take 429 ram mountain and run with it. Instead there are a dozen sheep left there for the Indians and lions.
|
Ok where to start on all this.
First off I feel in general we have very stable sheep numbers our ewe to lamb ratio is excellent. So is our ram to ewe ratio
We as hunters need to be very careful. I feel we need to manage for a heathy herd and not for "trophy quality" every ram out there has a momma. Het needs to be carried until birth and supported its first year. To try and only manage trophy quality is very short sighted and does nothing to manage our sheep and frankly shows what some are worried more about horn size and not our wild sheep.
If we really want to help our herds its Habitat and reduction in predation.
I feel we can do allot of this with prescribed burns and mechanical deforestation.
getting rid of forest encroachment on feeding and watering areas will give the sheep the top quality grazing while giving them the buffer they need to be aware of approaching predators.
Managing winter grazing habitat is the most important.
As Brian has stated Wild Sheep foundation Alberta does allot more in this province than people are aware.
We are always going to bat getting prescribed burns off the ground. (govt pending)
Trail enhancements
We fund trappers who successfully trap wolves in SMA's and the same with registered hounds-men who harvest cougars in SMA's
We pay to fly bios for "sheep counts"
We are funding disease testing in live capture and hunter harvested sheep
We are working with the govt on changes coming to the domestic sheep separation issue.
the list goes on and on.
Just my 2 cents
Matt