Ltsheets,
Another example where sportsmen are reacting to the commissions and departments decisions, not the departments fault. no one is providing feedback so the commission can consider. That being said , the Problem even then is the majority never speaks up until its to late to make a difference.
Public comment on this was back in March and 10 people commented. Later the department had several town meetings here in Las Cruces around 20-25 people attended. Almost everyone there covered these points, but just not enough people to make a difference.
NMDGF recovery plan Online states initially they were going to introduce them to the San Andres Mountains on WSMR in 2011, however changed the location. In my opinion this transplant location was poorly selected for many reasons. Obviously it's great habitat, but other then that you would assume reinforcing the current populations would be more logical then a new introduction when considering so many unknowns. That's not even considering the lost hunting opportunity overall for the licenses of a few bighorn sheep licenses that won't be issued for 5 to 10 yrs or maybe never if the population doesn't sustain itself.
The department will do lion control without a doubt, but there are others that won't be controlled like EAGLES which do prey on lamb, cause they can't . You still have other predators like bobcats, they have been documented in killing yearling sheep.
You will always have Barbary competing for important escape habitat and resources. You also have the possibility of deer and sheep competition for winter ranges or range overlapping which can be a factor especially in these drought conditions.
In regards to the rumor, I seriously doubt the department will be culling barbs out of a helicopter. The department just wants to manage the barb population in that intoduction area so bighorns have a fighting chance. The biggest problem in disease transmission. You have barbs, livestock and not to mention domestic sheep and goat ranches 30 miles east of the Sac's. Rams will travel that in no time. The chances for scabies, pneumonia , blue tongue or any of the other million things they are susceptible too would seem this location not favorable. If the department wanted to cull barbs completely they would have to get commission approval and I haven't seen any proposals to cull barbs from the sacs other then attempting to reduce numbers by OTC hunting.
