Free: Contests & Raffles.
No sense in putting in, my name is already on the winning ticket!
Tickets are available to purchase for the 2018 Washington Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep raffle. As of today 2,047 tickets have been sold. This number will be updated on the Washington WSF website. Ticket orders must be received by July 7, 2018. Drawing held by July 19, 2018Link to flyer: http://washingtonwsf.org/2018_WA_Rocky_Mtn_Bighorn_Raffle_Flyer_Download.pdf
Just saw your questions Tbar so I will weigh in...Your "how are they managed" questions I need a bit more specifics on in order to answer. All herds in the state have a management plan including population objectives, etc. I would say the Rocky herds in SE Washington are the most intensely managed/monitored bighorns anywhere. The revenue that WDFW gets from the Rocky raffle is used as part of the Hells Canyon initiative which includes lots of collaring and field monitoring of lambs. I really believe the intensity of what happens in the field in Hells Canyon and in the WSU labs is what led researchers to discover that "M Ovi" is at the root of the disease issue for bighorns. New bighorns have been translocated into the Tucannon (a few from Asotin and some from MT) as well as Hall Mtn (from MT). The "test and cull" for M Ovi shedders was born right here in our Asotin unit and seems to be working. It's now being applied in Black Butte. I wrote the proposal for the Rocky raffle in 2004 and presented to the WDFW commission in April that year on behalf of WA WSF. It was approved and the first WA Rocky raffle occurred in 2005. What spawned the idea for it for me was as I spent time in the SE herds filming and watching rams, I realized that within many of the herds an older, mature ram or two was present. Because of the low overall numbers due to the 95-96 die-off, however, the individual herds did not meet meet the threshold to have a draw tag, collectively they did. We know because of extensive telemetry data that movement exists. Bighorns from the Wenaha can go the Mtn View or Tucannon and those in Mtn View can go to Asotin Ck or Black Butte, etc. Obviously, Hall Mtn is isolated but including it as an open unit does give the raffle winner the option to hunt there or another open unit. I do not recall what year 113 was added but since then only one of the raffle rams has come from up there. Bios make recommendations each year on which units are added or subtracted in order to minimize any biological impact. Of course the same tag system could be used for a "Rocky draw tag" instead of raffle but without the benefit of money raised specifically for our Rockys (gotta be pushing $2 million since its inception?).One other interesting tid bit is the WA rocky raffle has only been won 4 or 5 times by the person that spent the most out of 13 years of the raffle. I can actually only think of four but in my old age I might be forgetting one! The drawing is always drawn by WDFW at one of their offices in mid July. We kinda have a long window to do the drawing and that's simply scheduling with WDFW. I hope that helps. Let me know if you have other questions. Now I need to order my tickets! I'm waaaaaay over due!Glen
I’ll see if I can round up some recent he’d counts. I’m cautiously optimistic.Asotin got hit hard by tribal harvest and some poaching that led to its closure. There is now a conservation closure self-imposed by the NPT. Those rams grow fast so hopefully another couple years?
My interest back then was how do we put together a plan to make some of these older rams available and generate revenue to help recover our rocky herds. Bighorns are spendy to manage! I drew the Mtn View permit in 1995, my first year ever applying. That winter was the catastrophic Hells Canyon die off so as my passion for bighorns was initiated with my own hunt, my passion for recovery of the populations is what followed. Interestingly, in the 11th hour WDFW tried to make it an auction tag. Myself and many other WA WSF members lobbied to allow a $20 entry for all. Of course big raffle players have changed that game, but at least we have a chance right? It’s definitely not perfect but I hope the revenue generated can help all of our rocky herds in the end. WAWSF has marketed this tag on behalf of WDFW all but one year since 2005. I think I’ve been a guide on three of the tags or so, but I’m guessing I’ve burned 20 times what I’ve made in gas since that initial die off in 1995. :-). I recently completed a school research project with my students that included two tours at WSU and about 5 hours of meetings with Dr Tom Besser. That said, Not gonna deny it, I love hunting sheep too! Hopefully the conservation closure in Asotin will allow the rams to recover to allow it to be hunted soon, including a draw tag. Wenaha is only open this year as next year it goes to Oregon since we share those sheep. Tucannon and Black Butte are further away I think. Hope that helps! Let me know if you have other questions, I’ll do my best to share what I know for what it’s worth.
