BHR, you guys killing sheep over there?

mtmiller

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2001
Messages
11,661
Location
Montana
Paul,

Just read in the paper you guys are killing too many sheep on the roads. Can't find a link, but thought I would ask you. Something like 25 sheep have been killed since January.:eek:
 
Craig, Same thing was mentioned yesterday from the game and fish dept here in AZ , most of the kills are being done in and around morence( were oscars dad used to live) ,
I was told that phelps dodge is going to build another water cachment and have some grassy areas for these sheep to keep them from going to the housing areas .
seems these sheep are walking in town now and going into peoples yards , but they arent useing teh cross walks.
 
mtmiller- I've heard that a few sheep have been killed on the highway near Anaconda. I'm not sure the amount. If I can find a link, I'll let you know.
 
MattK said:
mtmiller- I've heard that a few sheep have been killed on the highway near Anaconda. I'm not sure the amount. If I can find a link, I'll let you know.

I'm surprised the Anaconda resident moderator for the Survival section doesn't have a thread on either how to make a shelter out of a dead sheep or pictures of himself "getting close" with the dead animals......hump
 
I read in the Missoulian that about 25 sheep have been killed in the T Falls herd (unit 121) this spring. Bruce Sterling the biologist thinks it's due to road construction on the hwy in the cliffy section between T Falls and Plains. No link to the article available but Bruce will be at the FNAWS meeting this weekend, so I'm sure I'll hear more about it there.
 
Bruce is a good guy. I lived up there for a year and we cleaned two road kill sheep skulls that would make the book. They like to lick the deice fluid off the roads.
 
Matt, Last I heard from the biologist was that 4 rams have been killed on the highway west of Anaconda this year. I think they were in the 4-6 year old range.
 
Ah, here it is.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/ap...0060419/DC5/604190349&SearchID=73242230223760

Roadwork taking a toll on bighorn herd


THOMPSON FALLS — At least 25 bighorn sheep have been struck and killed by vehicles since January in a construction zone on Montana 200, more than twice the average number killed by vehicles in a year, state wildlife officials said.

"I think (the increase in sheep killed) is attributable to the highway construction," said Bruce Sterling, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist in Thompson Falls. "Not that there is anything they can do about it."

ADVERTISEMENT

On Monday, Sterling flew over the cliffs above the Clark Fork Canyon near Thompson Falls for an annual population count of bighorn sheep. He found that an unprecedented number of bighorn sheep had been killed during this spring's green-up.

In early spring, female sheep and their young congregate close to the highway to eat the first tender shoots of vegetation that emerge along the side of the roadway.

Sterling said his count doesn't include sheep that were hit and were able to walk away from the road, but died later of their injuries.

Sterling said the fact that the road is blocked for extended periods of time between Plains and Thompson Falls could be a contributing factor.

"Then you have people speed up to catch the construction pilot car, or they've been delayed and when they do get through the construction site they really get speeding," Sterling said. "The other things is, you get a string of 40 to 60 cars, and I think the sheep panic" because they find no openings to cross the road for such a long period of time.

The Thompson Falls herd, established in 1959, included about 225 sheep before the spring construction season began. Hunting is limited to 10 ram permits a year, because of normal highway mortality. The number of permits will not change this year, Sterling said.

"The population is strong enough so that it can withstand it, but if we were to continue to lose that many that would reduce reproduction and recruitment, and it could have an effect down the road" on the already limited hunting season, he said.

The Thompson Falls herd also has been used to supply sheep for transplants elsewhere, but that hasn't happened for years because of highway mortality, Sterling said.



Originally published April 19, 2006
 
Back
Top