Stoney, I definitely agree with the sentiment that they are getting pounded way too hard. I also disagree with the fact that NMDGF is trying to kill off more of them for the sake of bighorns. Bighorns, in my opinion, are a frail species that requires a huge amount of management and babying just to survive, and on top of that, you and I will likely never see a tag for one. I think we should let the Barbary's thrive and not try to displace them for the sake of BHS.
I had a blast hunting Barbs, and I would love to be able to hunt them more widely throughout the state, and I don't want them killed off any more than any other hunter who enjoys the experience of pursuing them. I wouldn't mind them making it so I can only draw a tag every 2-3 years if it meant the hunt experience would be better (more animals sighted) and the opportunity for a trophy would be higher.
As a side note, it's probably just my lack of experience looking at barbs, but I thought the one I shot was a young ram when I took the shot. It seemed to have beard/chaps that were exceptionally long for a ewe, but this was only the 13th of these animals I've ever laid eyes on, so my judging skills are still quite green. As I said in my preceding post, now that I've taken the first one, the standard for the second one will be much higher.
I definitely agree with the sentiment of not killing off all of the females. I read an article about a guy who was trying to regenerate his whitetail herd because of EHD, and he didn't shoot any does because he said each time he killed a doe, he was killing three deer instead of just one, and I think that's a good way to look at killing females; you're killing off way more than just that one.
Thanks for the insight, stoney.