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  #177  
Old 01-13-2010, 12:29 PM
sheephunter
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sheepguide View Post
For the first question I said that if guys have to wait more years to get rams they will be unhappy but also said to get camera and get hunting. People dont need a ram every 2 years.

You are comparing to the meat hunting of deer but why should we leave a zone open with twice as many hunters going into it? All its gunna do is make sure there are no legal rams around and more small sheep to be shot. Sheep meat is great but I guarentee that no one goes out there with a ram tag in their pocket thinking, gee hope I get a meat ram today. If you need meat by some doe tags!!!!!

Sheep is a trophy animal and anyone that cant wait a little longer to kill a ram or longer between rams has their priority wrong.
I totally disagree. In 24 years I've killed three rams but I oppose any legislation that would have kept me out of the field for more than one year after killing a sheep. Just because I have a tag in my pocket doesn't mean I'm going to kill a ram but it does give me the opportunity to be in the field and kill a really big ram if I see one. Going in the field with a camera is most definitely not hunting. Hunting is a blood sport and a camera sheds no blood. I have no interest in killing a ram every two years but I do not want my opportunity to hunt them taken away.

There are a couple basic flaws I see with longer wait times. First, I'm really not convinced there is a problem with guys shooting too many rams but even if there is, and it's a big is, why penalize those that work hard and learn about sheep hunting. I haven't killed many big whitetails so perhaps successful whitetail hunters should sit out five years. Either that or I could get off my lazy butt and hunt them harder. Second, if the guy who killed a ram two years ago is kept out of the field, does F&W really believe that someone else isn't going to come along and kill that same legal ram. I don't see this a reducing harvest at all. It may assist some of the unsuccessful sheep hunters in harvesting a ram but some time and hard work could do that as well.

Why penalize a guy that works hard and is successful?
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