Are hunters really the reason the sheep populations are down and not bouncing back? If they are only taking full curl rams, why would the overall population be taking such a hit?
If hunters are to blame then breaking up the state into management units would make a lot of sense. It would be easier to control tags and limit pressure.
How are the sheep doing in the limited draw areas? Do you see an increase in ewes and lambs with the limited hunting?
I agree with some of the posts above. The sheep tags are way too cheap and I would pay more for one. AK is leaving money on the table.
There is more than a little evidence many bad things are happening as a result of the full-curl rule. First, much more effort is being put into killing sheep and every full-curl killed is very valuable to the herd and the herd has a lot invested in the ram.
With few or no big rams around younger rams go into "rut" at a very early age and are more driven to expend valuable fat while fighting and fornicating instead of just watching.
They then go into winter with depleted reserves at an age when they are not really old enough nor physically large enough to handle the stress.
Further, the old rams are important for leading the herd through bad weather, icing, and so on... in essence they should be leading them to safer places.
Further yet, there are many, many cases of under-size rams being killed and the brown shirts look the other way. It is easy to look on the internet and find lots of examples of clearly illegal, but properly sealed sheep the Troopers passed on prosecuting. The rule is hard to define and if they prosecute the wrong guy and he prevails in court it would be a mess.
I have also seen rams that were aged at two different ages based on each horn... even one where they decided the two horns were two years apart!!!
