Some sheep pic's
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Bluehair
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LAST EDITED ON Nov-10-03 AT 01:51PM (MST)[p]Here's a few rams banging heads. There were 4 rams, but only three of them were actively trying to kill each other by knocking the other off of that ledge. They banged all day long. This pic is zoomed a bunch, and consequently of crappy quality.
Here's about what it would look like through your average binocular.
Here's about what it would look like through your average binocular.
Bluehair
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LAST EDITED ON Nov-10-03 AT 01:49PM (MST)[p]Here's my favorite live ram pic.
Here's a little different picture of the same ram taken a few weeks later. It's a long ways off, so it's crappy quality, but that's him sleeping like a dog with his head on the ground.
Some drinking.
Nice when they pose for you.....
Here's a little different picture of the same ram taken a few weeks later. It's a long ways off, so it's crappy quality, but that's him sleeping like a dog with his head on the ground.
Some drinking.
Nice when they pose for you.....
PleaseDear
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Thats a great Des. Ram!!! What state/unit where you guys in. Congrats for sure!!
D
DeerKing
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Blue
Congrats to Toni and you on a well deserved, beautiful ram!! I know you guys put in a lot of time scouting and hunting and it finally paid off. What a hog! Great live pictures as well.
Congrats to Toni and you on a well deserved, beautiful ram!! I know you guys put in a lot of time scouting and hunting and it finally paid off. What a hog! Great live pictures as well.
HunterHarry
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Very beautiful ram!
Congrats to you and your wife! You must have put in a lot of time and you were handsomley rewarded!
Thank you for taking the time to share them with us!
Congrats to you and your wife! You must have put in a lot of time and you were handsomley rewarded!
Thank you for taking the time to share them with us!
Bluehair
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Thanks for the compliments folks. They go to my wife. She worked pretty hard, especially being a mom with 4 and 2 year old boys.
The sheep was taken in Colorado. We aren't known for our B&C rams, so you pretty much have to do your best to get a "good one". This ram has long horns, 35" and 33 1/2", but he's pretty thin (13 1/2 or 14" bases). He still has his lamb tips. His horns are the longest of any ram taken in Colorado in the last few years. He scores low 150's. He's one of those rare animals that looks bigger than he scores.
He's 7 years old (I think), but it's pretty hard to tell. We looked for an older one, and possibly the one with the broken horn was, but couldn't find one. The oldest ram taken in Colorado for the last few years was 9 as I recall. My personal opinion is that there is a lion problem in this unit.
The sheep was taken in Colorado. We aren't known for our B&C rams, so you pretty much have to do your best to get a "good one". This ram has long horns, 35" and 33 1/2", but he's pretty thin (13 1/2 or 14" bases). He still has his lamb tips. His horns are the longest of any ram taken in Colorado in the last few years. He scores low 150's. He's one of those rare animals that looks bigger than he scores.
He's 7 years old (I think), but it's pretty hard to tell. We looked for an older one, and possibly the one with the broken horn was, but couldn't find one. The oldest ram taken in Colorado for the last few years was 9 as I recall. My personal opinion is that there is a lion problem in this unit.
H
HoundDawg
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Dude,
Those pictures are AWESOME!! Congrats and that looks like pretty rough country to hunt.
Tell your wife CONGRATS and she is my idol. Not cuz she killed a damn nice sheep but cuz she lives with you and puts up with all your BS. ;-)
Seriously, those are awesome pictures!!
It could well be a lion problem in that area. That is really nasty country and it would be tough for any hound guy to catch lions consistently in that country.
Way to go Mrs. Bluehair!! -Dawg
Those pictures are AWESOME!! Congrats and that looks like pretty rough country to hunt.
Tell your wife CONGRATS and she is my idol. Not cuz she killed a damn nice sheep but cuz she lives with you and puts up with all your BS. ;-)
Seriously, those are awesome pictures!!
It could well be a lion problem in that area. That is really nasty country and it would be tough for any hound guy to catch lions consistently in that country.
Way to go Mrs. Bluehair!! -Dawg
AWESOME pictures!!!!
VERY nice ram!!!!!
Can you tell me more about your hunt? I would like to know how the ewes and lambs looked. The CDOW is looking to cut tags one of the desert units which unit did you hunt?
Thanks Sandbrew
[email protected]
VERY nice ram!!!!!
Can you tell me more about your hunt? I would like to know how the ewes and lambs looked. The CDOW is looking to cut tags one of the desert units which unit did you hunt?
Thanks Sandbrew
[email protected]
HunterHarry
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A friend of mine is a B&C scorer and guided his wife to a 168" Desert sheep here in Ca. a few years ago.
What a great accomplishment!
Once again Congrats!
What a great accomplishment!
Once again Congrats!
elkhuntr
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Buckspy, I didn't say they were diseased in your unit but they are in S62.And not every sheep in that unit are infected yet.But alot have died off.This is not coming from the Division, this is coming from the locals who are worried about them.Sorry for the confusion.
Elkhuntr
Elkhuntr
elkhuntr-I wasn't refering to you either. With some discussions I have had regarding the unit I have drawn up with various sources, I have been led to believe there are some concerns over herd health. The DOW thinks there might be some disease in the herd but have not conclusively decided on it. Most of the herd census has been done from fixed wing aircraft and they aren't finding the numbers of sheep that they thought should be there.
Maybe Bluehair can elaborate on his own personnal observations as I don't want to paraphrase or misrepresent his opinions. I have heard the concerns over the Escalante/Domingez herd that you talk about.
I also have heard that the Rattlesnake Canyon/Black Mesa herd is in serious trouble from lion predation, hence the two mountain lion bag limit in unit 40. Might be some correlation with the fact that the mule deer herd is in such poor shape for such a vast amount of really good deer habitat.
The irony of the two lion limit is that there is a seasonal road closure in the area during mountain lion season and houndsmen won't screw with the logistics of trying to hunt there when there are millions of acres of public land that they can road in a 360 degree swath from Grand Junction. These are all well known to the DOW and the predation factor has been documented on the desert sheep herd. The numbers continue to dwindle.
I wonder how much that herd is worth from a propagation standpoint? What kind of costs are involved in starting up a viable herd of desert sheep? Is the fear of outcry from animal rights activists against predator control affecting the decision to actively manage lion predation on sheep? Have the written the herd off as too cost prohibitive to manage? These are questions I don't know the answer to.
Maybe Bluehair can elaborate on his own personnal observations as I don't want to paraphrase or misrepresent his opinions. I have heard the concerns over the Escalante/Domingez herd that you talk about.
I also have heard that the Rattlesnake Canyon/Black Mesa herd is in serious trouble from lion predation, hence the two mountain lion bag limit in unit 40. Might be some correlation with the fact that the mule deer herd is in such poor shape for such a vast amount of really good deer habitat.
The irony of the two lion limit is that there is a seasonal road closure in the area during mountain lion season and houndsmen won't screw with the logistics of trying to hunt there when there are millions of acres of public land that they can road in a 360 degree swath from Grand Junction. These are all well known to the DOW and the predation factor has been documented on the desert sheep herd. The numbers continue to dwindle.
I wonder how much that herd is worth from a propagation standpoint? What kind of costs are involved in starting up a viable herd of desert sheep? Is the fear of outcry from animal rights activists against predator control affecting the decision to actively manage lion predation on sheep? Have the written the herd off as too cost prohibitive to manage? These are questions I don't know the answer to.
Bluehair
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LAST EDITED ON Apr-29-04 AT 02:20PM (MST)[p]Don't worry about paraphrasing or misrepresenting me. They keep telling me the only way to keep from making a fool of myself is to keep my mouth shut. Oh well, a fool I am.
Yes, there is much speculation about "what is wrong" with the sheep in this unit. Population surveys indicate that the DOW thinks there are something like half (can't remember the numbers offhand) the sheep that there were just a few years ago. Disease is the prime suspect, I suppose because sheep are presumed (known?) to be more prone than other big game critters. It's a big area, so you aren't likely to see piles of bones. Besides, I expect the sheep would wander into places to die that would further conceal their remains. Regardless, I don't believe the DOW's population estimates can be taken as gospel.
One problem seems to be the DOW's ability to gather data, and perhaps funding to follow up with the requisite testing. For example, when wifey checked her head, they took a couple of pictures, threw a tape on it, plugged it, and called it good. A few days later, the local DOW guy called to get "some more info" from the wife about the hunt. He expressed regret that he didn't know we were locals and didn't get a chance to ask us to examine the lung tissue for anything unusual. We would have been happy to do this, and I ain't buying that this is a simple phone tag screw up. The DOW knows good and well who is hunting these animals and how to get ahold of them. Oh, and did I mention the other hunter was a biologist for the DOW? Yup, they forgot to ask him for tissue samples or observations also. And what about the inspection? Maybe there are samples/examinations that can be done at that time. Sadly, it seems that the DOW is content to let nature run its course.
There is no doubt in my mind that predation is a major problem. As I said, I saw no obvious evidence of sickness, but I did see plenty of evidence of lions working the herd. Part of the problem lies with the habitat. These sheep just tend to hang around in a few isolated places. I don't have to work very hard to imagine a lioness and her cub (or more) just hanging around in the cliffs until its time to drag another one down. The terrain is rather offensive, so like BS (hehe) said, the hound doggers don't go there because there are better places.
I have no idea what impact our lenghty drought may have had on the sheep. Water isn't a problem, but I wonder what it does to feed.
This may sound like an indictment of the DOW, but it's not intended to be. I am willing to give them some benefit of the doubt about what is wrong. They have been watching the development of this resource a lot longer than I have, so my observations may be just a stray data point on their trend line. I also suspect that they don't have the resources to watch the herd the way they should. And their mandate is to manage all the animals, including the lions. Although the "lions have to eat too" comment still leaves a slight burning sensation in my azz. I just don't see why they can't kill all the damn lions in this canyon for the benefit of these sheep.
There was talk of eliminating the tag in this unit this year. I believe this was supported by the local DOW. So the only conclusion I can reach from all of this rambling nonsense is that our pal Buckspy is EXTREMELY lucky to draw this tag THIS year.
Lucky SOB. ;-)
Yes, there is much speculation about "what is wrong" with the sheep in this unit. Population surveys indicate that the DOW thinks there are something like half (can't remember the numbers offhand) the sheep that there were just a few years ago. Disease is the prime suspect, I suppose because sheep are presumed (known?) to be more prone than other big game critters. It's a big area, so you aren't likely to see piles of bones. Besides, I expect the sheep would wander into places to die that would further conceal their remains. Regardless, I don't believe the DOW's population estimates can be taken as gospel.
One problem seems to be the DOW's ability to gather data, and perhaps funding to follow up with the requisite testing. For example, when wifey checked her head, they took a couple of pictures, threw a tape on it, plugged it, and called it good. A few days later, the local DOW guy called to get "some more info" from the wife about the hunt. He expressed regret that he didn't know we were locals and didn't get a chance to ask us to examine the lung tissue for anything unusual. We would have been happy to do this, and I ain't buying that this is a simple phone tag screw up. The DOW knows good and well who is hunting these animals and how to get ahold of them. Oh, and did I mention the other hunter was a biologist for the DOW? Yup, they forgot to ask him for tissue samples or observations also. And what about the inspection? Maybe there are samples/examinations that can be done at that time. Sadly, it seems that the DOW is content to let nature run its course.
There is no doubt in my mind that predation is a major problem. As I said, I saw no obvious evidence of sickness, but I did see plenty of evidence of lions working the herd. Part of the problem lies with the habitat. These sheep just tend to hang around in a few isolated places. I don't have to work very hard to imagine a lioness and her cub (or more) just hanging around in the cliffs until its time to drag another one down. The terrain is rather offensive, so like BS (hehe) said, the hound doggers don't go there because there are better places.
I have no idea what impact our lenghty drought may have had on the sheep. Water isn't a problem, but I wonder what it does to feed.
This may sound like an indictment of the DOW, but it's not intended to be. I am willing to give them some benefit of the doubt about what is wrong. They have been watching the development of this resource a lot longer than I have, so my observations may be just a stray data point on their trend line. I also suspect that they don't have the resources to watch the herd the way they should. And their mandate is to manage all the animals, including the lions. Although the "lions have to eat too" comment still leaves a slight burning sensation in my azz. I just don't see why they can't kill all the damn lions in this canyon for the benefit of these sheep.
There was talk of eliminating the tag in this unit this year. I believe this was supported by the local DOW. So the only conclusion I can reach from all of this rambling nonsense is that our pal Buckspy is EXTREMELY lucky to draw this tag THIS year.
Lucky SOB. ;-)
Bluehair
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Well, I just checked the DOW stat's. They show the S62 herd as stable. S 64 was estimated at 180 from 1999 to 2001. In 2002 it was dropped to 125, and the 2003 post-hunt population is shown to be 50. Yikes! FWIW, I saw 33 different sheep in one day last fall, and that was in "half" of the unit. I either have damn good eyes or they don't hide very well.
treedagain
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Post them up
Bluehair
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I've given up on my life of luxury, and ordered a new computer to keep up with my side hustles which are destroying my retirement. Should be here in a couple weeks. It has a 1 TB hard drive, so once I get all my pics from my last 10 phones/computers gathered up I can finally keep it all handy in one place.
Might be a while but I will get to it. I really cant remember all these pics in this thread.
Might be a while but I will get to it. I really cant remember all these pics in this thread.
Gadjet
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I just stumbled across this thread. I killed this ram in S-62 in 2005. In 2005 there were two tags in the unit and both were filled. The other hunter killed a full curl+ ram that I was stalking. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I saw approximately 50 sheep total in 15 days of hunting. And yes, I witnessed some very sick sheep coughing their lungs out. It's a sad thing to see!
Gadjet
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That's a beautiful Colorado desert! Congrats to you and your wife!
