Barbary vs Desert

Warren · Nov 25, 2007

It appears that the Desert Bighorn is doing well in Texas. Is it time for sheep organizations to push for the elimination/reduction of Barbary sheep so that Deserts can be restored to more habitat in Texas and New Mexico?

HornedToad · Nov 25, 2007

Yes. IMO, Aoudads (Barbary sheep) should be eliminated from any mountain ranges historically holding Desert Bighorns. The two don't co-exist well. Aoudads, being more prolific and better adapted to arid conditions, due to their evolution in the super-arid Sahara desert, outcompete Desert Bighorns and dominate available habitat.

In West Texas, the Feds with Big Bend National Park are finally coming around to a view that exotics, like Aoudads, need to be controlled if they are displacing native animals, like Desert Bighorns. This change, if implemented, will be departure from previous "no-kill" policies supported by animal-rights groups and others.

Aoudads are tough, wary, spectacular animals, and provide a quality hunting experience. But there are many alternative places where Aoudads can live without displacing Desert Bighorns from their native ranges.

Friends in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, etc...... kill any Aoudad you see before they take over the country. Once established, they are very difficult to control.

sjhgraysage · Nov 26, 2007

What about feral burros / donkeys??

foghorn · Nov 26, 2007

They are pretty good slow roasted!!!
Later
Foghorn

Warren · Nov 28, 2007

I think you should shoot every one you see.

foghorn · Nov 28, 2007

+1
Later
Foghorn

WyoXtec · Nov 29, 2007

Anybody have a recommendation on a good Auodad hunt in West Texas? I've been doing some net research and found quite a few in the $3000 range. Any experience out there?

WyoXtec

marley · Nov 29, 2007

I'm doing my part to thin them down a bit. Shot this aoudad last spring while on a pig hunt. Pig hunt was free and so was the aoudad, doesn't get any better than that!

http://www.monstermuleys.com/photos/PhotosID4/523.html

BIGBULL48 · Dec 12, 2007

I don't know what state Warren is from, but as a NM resident I can buy a Barbary sheep lic. O.T.C. I've been putting in for BH Sheep lic. for years and have never been drawn. The State of NM has been trying to reestablish D.BH Sheep for decades. The State has been trying for decades to totally iliminate Barbary...
One resason re-establishment has not worked well is MT. Lions, if you read the 10 year study report by the NMDGF in the San Andres Mts on WSMR, the largest reason for DBHS not expanding but declining was lion predation.
I used to hunt deer in Sandia Mtns w/bow in the 1970's. The bag limit was 2 deer of either sex. During the same time BH sheep translocated from the Pecos had been sucessfully re-established in the Sandias, and four (4) permits were issued each year.(That is Same number issued in the Pecos many years)
The deer herd kept growing and instead of opening to blackpowder or controled rifle to limit the herd, the DGF opted to introduce lions in the Sandias. Lions don't care if they eat deer or sheep, and today there are no licences issued because there are no sheep.
If you look on page 52 of the 07-08 NM Proclaimation for Cougar, under bag limit. The bag for Lions is (1) except where D BH Sheep have been introduced, those areas are (2).
IMHO... I'd rather have the opportunity to hunt sheep each year, for an animal that thrieves with lions and unlimited licences and year round hunting most of the state. That's one tuff animal, I respect the challenge.
The Hundreds of thousands dollars and time and studies seem mis-appropriated for a wimp that can't live without continual baby sitting.

highhunt · Dec 25, 2007

I agree. Just got back from 10 days of hunting Aoudad's in West Texas. BH don't have a chance between the Aoudad's and MT Lions.

What I find interesting is how (don't know how) the Aoudad push the deer also out of there area. Per tipical, I will see only a very few deer when I'm hunting in Aoudad country. This is true year in and year out. What should be execellent desert mule deer habit holds a very small number of deer. The percent is around 2%. What I mean is as on this hunt I saw 250 sheep but only three or four deer.

HornedToad · Dec 26, 2007

Its not exactly accurate to say the desert bighorns "don't have a chance" against auodads. Over the past twenty years, the number of desert bighorns in West Texas have increased from about zero to over 1200 today. The new Texas state record, a ram scoring over 184, was taken earlier this year by a lady hunter.

It is fair to say that desert bighorns benefit from, and possibly require, active game management, including the elimination of auodads and other exotics that enter desert bighorn ranges.

Auodads are tough, resilient competitors... but they are not invincible.

Cookie2 · Dec 31, 2007

I gotta take issue with Bigbull on the statement that NM has been trying to eliminate the b-sheep for years. If that were true, the game department would not have upped the license fee to $100 and lowered the bag limit to one instead of the $30 tag and two sheep limit.