Quote:
Originally Posted by Diamondhitch
Habitat in the Wilmore has remained constant since it is not subject to development. When I started hunting there only 7-15 non-trophy sheep tags were sold, leaving the majority unclaimed, of those who drew I talked to many who carried the tag as I did with the intent that if I saw a ewe on the last day or on the way out it would be shot but cutting a ram hunt short because of a dead ewe was not an option, thus few of the drawn tags were used back then so ewes effectively had no significant human predation. Now all tags are sold and the hunters I am seeing are targeting ewes specifically more and more.
I don't believe the numbers of ewes being harvested are realistic to what our goals should be - maximum sustainable numbers of sheep. The one and only change I have really seen there is the number of females being harvested.
I wont speak for the rest of the province since I have not hunted the majority of it.
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The habitat in the Willmore certainly has Not remained constant as you have already contradicted yourself in a newer post. It is experiencing the same issue with forest encroachment as all the other SMAs.
This means the Willmore is Not able to sustain the same numbers of sheep than it previously could.
Willmore has always had very low ewe harvest rates and still does. Hunters are just not filling those tags no matter how many are issued..... Can you tell us how many ewes have been harvested here? If not, then how can you say it is too many to be sustainable?
Extensive research into ewe/lamb harvest has been done in several jurisdictions including Alberta. It is recognized that under average recruitment rates that 18% of the ewe/lamb population can be killed before effecting a population reduction. Alberta at its peak ewe harvest was managing for a 10% harvest rate. When we were harvesting 10% of the ewes we were also killing twice as many rams from a lower population than we have today, and the population still increased yearly.
Montana, which many claim to be superior for big ram production, is currently achieving a 10% ewe harvest rate. They know that this is important to produce healthy sheep and big rams.
FYI, We are currently at about a 3% harvest rate. This harvest rate is much too low to effect recruitment or population density.
Do you really think that harvesting 3% of the ewes each year in areas showing stable populations is causing a problem?