Stone Sheep Steve;
Thanks for the reply sir and for the additional photos.

Last year was the first count I'd missed in something close to 30 years, but since it's more or less our back yard where we're counting I think I can comment a wee bit.

The snow was really hard this year, so even though it's deep, the hooves weren't cutting in too, too deep so it isn't as bad as some years.

My good wife and I go for a 3 km walk at 5:00 every morning and this year we've heard way less coyotes than usual, so likely a bit less predator pressure on them. We also had a wolf pack working across Shuttleworth last winter and they had to have an effect on who hung around where, you know?

I was happy to see as many mulies as we did - it's way, way down from some years in the '90's as we were talking about, but its good to know they're not all gone. The local herd here in the summer was so small this year I was worried what I'd see on the count.

Thanks again and all the best to you and yours as we head into spring sir. If you're ever chasing anything down this way and you need a meat pole for skinning, etc, just give me a shout. We're sorta set up for that activity here.

Dwayne