I believe strongly that our wildlife populations are a divinely given gift and that we as humans have a special role in managing them to the best of our ability. We should use these gifts wisely and with thanksgiving. I think it is morally wrong to overharvest animals and drive any species to further extirpation or extinction. Conversely, I also believe it is wrong to have a hands-off approach and let nature run its course. Finding the right balance in wild game populations and the right balance of predator/prey is our role to ensure that as many people as possible have opportunities to observe and/or hunt these animals. We need to rely on the best science to ensure that the correct animals are harvested to enable the max benefit to overall wildlife populations.
That is why in Alaska dall sheep management, the regulations are written to ensure that only the mature rams are harvested from the population. Removing the old rams, who are mostly past their breeding prime, has shown to have no impact on the overall sheep population. The theory is that the harvest of older rams is beneficial to the overall population because it allows more habitat for lambs, ewes, and breeding rams.
The good news for us hunters is that trying to outsmart these older rams makes for a more challenging and rewarding hunt! Additionally, we are able to harvest more meat from older rams as they are usually bigger. And wild sheep meat, even from old rams, is some of the best wild game there is! Further, the older rams have the biggest and most beautiful horns and make the best memento to remind the hunter for years to come of the great hunt he/she had. We’d love to help you have the experience of harvesting and taking home one of these amazing and beautiful animals!