Bighorns dying

[popeshawnpaul]

Thank you Glen for taking the time to point us in the right direction.  I have sent my response today.  I would urge the rest of you to do the same.  This is a simple and easy way to help the bighorns of this region.  Imagine a herd of 10,000 bighorns in this region.  Photo opportunities and wildlife watching opportunities would be endless.  Sheep tags?  Yeah, I'm sure WA could sustain large numbers of tags with healthy sheep in this region.  This isn't a pipe dream.  There was a time when we had a decent poplulation started down there.  They respond quickly and sheep populations always seem to do very well when they are first introduced and the population is growing rapidly.  I would love to see the day when we have 50 WA tags and you can expect to harvest a 180"+ ram.  200" rams are not out of reach in this area.  I personally have seen rams approaching that 190+ mark in this region. 

Let's give them a chance.  We have a real opportunity to succeed with this cause unlike some of the others we are so disgruntled about...

[WDFW-SUX]

I'm on it.

[popeshawnpaul]

I'm going to be on this like Bone is with the Photo of the Year contest.  Anyone on here that puts in for a sheep tag must do this.  Bone, Huntnphool, M_ray, Michelle, Slider, etc.  Get writing!  It only takes 15 minutes.   

[huntnphool]

Done

[gramps]

Thanks pope for bring this to our attention.   And Thanks again for all the great sheep pictures!!

[boneaddict]

I'm on it.  More interesting than RMEF letter anyways.

[TeacherMan]

That is a really good video clip. It is something that needs to be delt with, I like the fact that they are giving the herds immunizations. They should pass down in the mothers milk.

The vulcan Mt. Herd is in my back yard all the time and I have been watching them for the last 5 years or so and I would say that that herd has grown in size, but the majority of there time is spent in cattle country. I don't know of any sheep they would come in contact with.

[popeshawnpaul]

Yeah, but just like in the Blues Teacherman.  It happens when they come down and get near Betty's 4H sheep in her back yard.  Then they take it back up to the rest of the herd.  Then it's good bye herd.  Actually, I'm getting the opinion that it's better that the whole herd just die completely.  Then you can restock and you know none of them have any health issues.  If the herd is like the one in the Hell's Canyon/Blue Mountains, some of the adults survive with it and pass it to the young.  A few survive and the herd stays in flux where they don't grow but don't completely die out.  Nobody wants to go kill all the remaining ones to start over so you never get ahead.

[ramslam]

I'm going to post again just to bring this back to the top of the list. 

Thanks pope, bone, huntn, and passion for sending comments.  I want to encourage others to do the same.  About 10 years ago we were down to 9 sheep permits in Washington; now we are approaching 40.  I read lots of comments on here about conservative tag allocations, improving draw odds and mismanagement by WDFW but the reality for bighorns is contact with domestic sheep/goats is the limiting factor for bighorn populations.  We are one wreck from being right back down to less than 10 permits.  Additionally by reducing potential contact it is not unrealistic to have 60 or 80 permits in 10 more years.  Sending comments and a victory on the Payette should be viewed as the single greatest positive impact on bighorn populations in the west.

Here is the comment info again.  Comment period closes March 3, 2009.

Here is who you write letters to:   

Payette National Forest
Attention: Bighorn Sheep Comments
800 Lakeside Avenue
McCall, ID 83638

Here is the email address for comments : payettebighorn@fs.fed.us

Following are some tips, regardless of how you contact the Forest Service: Tell where you live; why you care; and give any personal experience, education or professional expertise that informs your opinion (that includes watching and photographing and hunting them, among other things).

Points you could include in your comments: 1. The overwhelming majority of published science supports the concept that disease transmission from domestic to bighorn sheep is a serious threat to bighorns. 2. Urge the Forest Service, if it adopts Alternative 7H ( the existing bighorn habitat plus a nine-mile buffer) NEVER to reduce that area in size, based on future monitoring; 3. Stress that separation between species is crucial, regardless of how it is done-refer to the Payette Principles described in the Summer issue of Wild Sheep 4.; Or go with Alternative 7E, which eliminates domestic sheep grazing entirely; 5.. Urge the Forest Service to find domestic sheep allotments outside bighorn habitat, even if it means in other Forests in other states; 6. Given their propensity to travel long distances throughout the Hells Canyon and Salmon river drainages, management of bighorns on the Payette affects Oregon and Washington as well as Idaho. 7. Hells Canyon contains some of the finest bighorn habitat in this country, and bighorn populations would expand tremendously, given the opportunity. Keep in mind, please, that regardless of which way the Forest Service rules on this issue, there will be lawsuits, and the decision may be made in federal court. And each and every comment made by both sides will be considered in the Court’s deliberations, so it is VERY important that you write, and soon, in favor of the bighorns.

[runamuk]

Thank you I will get my comments in.....

[popeshawnpaul]

There has to be more than 5 or 6 of us that care about our wildlife?  It's a simple letter or email and ramslam has layed out how to respond to be effective.  Can't get easier than that.  Please take a moment and voice your support for bighorn sheep and our wildlife.

[woodywsu]

I'm on board.

A little side note here. I hit the Grand Ronde for steelies last weekend and we fish below a rancher's house downriver from Boggans. Anyways, I noticed there are sheep up on the hillside of the river. That might be a great place to start with banning domestic sheep. That grand ronde river and the blues have endless habitat for these creatures. I have seen bighorns throughout that area and I would hate to see it get ruined for FOUR sheep grazing.

[ramslam]

Good point Woody.  We are aware of that flock and have approached the landowner about some type of resolution.  As was posted earlier on this thread, private landowner farm flocks and fair projects are also a very big problem.  Solutions get much more complicated when the domestics are on private property.

[huntnphool]

I noticed there are sheep up on the hillside of the river.

Sounds like a float trip down the river with an AR might do the trick if emails don't

[NWTFhunter]

Ramslam, who is currently running the Id Dept of Ag ?  My Grandmother worked there for many years and I might be able to help by name dropping ?  Maybe not !