Last edited by mod7rem; 09-04-2021 at 08:31 AM.
https://www.facebook.com/Conservatio...45321725509327
Its on the FB so must be true.
Since the beginning of the 2021 hunting season, Fort Nelson Conservation Officers have seized 7 Stone Sheep for violations under the Wildlife Act, including not meeting full curl/age requirements and failing to remove edible portions.
Assistant Guides and resident hunters are reminded not to use yearly horn growth annuli to determine the age of a ram in the field, as false annuli may be present #BCCOS #FortNelson
Your camera is your friend. If the meated is ruined and not worth recovery, take pictures to back your story. Got us out of a jam once.
The pics are a great idea for your protection, but its kinda sad that you have to do that. Seems like the CO service is setting themselves up as an ANTI type deal, and are out to get you in any way they can. If they were non partisan then it would be fair, and their inspection would be fair. I have no problem with a CO requiring a reasonable explanation, but getting all upity over 10-20lbs of meat when the explanation is reasonable is an issue for me. I shot a running goat one time with a 338, hit him tight on the shoulder bone, offside 1.4 was completely destroyed, so we hiked out with 3/4's. No CO, but after reading this thread, Im glad there wasnt any road stops,,jeepers
Taking pics is a good defense. It's evidence.
Eat as much as you can in the back forty, lessons your pack going out too, plus is some of the best, most rewarding, delicious meat you've ever tasted. CO says ten pounds missing, C you in court then.
We had a Prick Trophy hunter nailed years and years ago. Ass wipe, took entire hide for a full mount, not an once of meat.
We took lots of pics, and sample in case of testing. Jack ass claimed entire meat was lost due to fall, lol evidence showed cape was in great condition, strange, pics showed minimal loss of meat in the neck area from the shot.
Guilty! Got him nailed!
Ass shouldn't be allowed to hunt that species again. If anything.
But no, lost his license for a year, 1700 in fines, lost his would be mount, but..... Had another LEH as soon as he qualified the next season. That's a Broken system in my opinion.
Be responsible, learn Full Curl, 8 year rule, don't shoot if border line, take or eat all portions.
TROPHY is a misguided term. From a Spike buck to a Record Ram. TROPHY is in the eye of the Beholder.
WSSBC
BCWF
CCFR
BHA
We can all blame the COS for being heavy handed but this entire harvest of illegal rams falls back on who pulled the trigger.
Covid put more BC resident sheep hunters on the mountain due to either more freed up time, the thought there’d be less competition from the outfitters or the fact that guys were sick of government Covid mandates and just wanted to get out.
Last years sheep harvest was right in the ball park of a normal season with very few rams taken by the guides due to closed Borders.
This year, starting a week before sheep season an army of sheep hunters headed in because they knew guides wouldn’t be there unless they’d booked a Canadian resident hunter for the sheep opener.
With the confiscated Stone Sheeo, I was told by a credible source within the COS that the first 12 rams seized in Region 6 & 7B made up 50% of all rams CI’d at that time.
This number will grow, rams will get dumped now because guys will get nervous and there’s most likely more young, short sheep ditched on a mountain due to ground shrinkage.
Sheep regulations need to change, even if we don’t like it.
The change is for the good of sheep populations.
We can go on and on that the 8 year old full curl rule ensures that only a select number of mature rams are taken but that isn’t working real well in GOS areas that are in some instances probably looking at a 20% kill of immature rams.
Stone sheep aren’t white tails and a change is needed.
On the meat wastage, the majority of hunters do a first class job of bringing out meat but if you pay attention at any northern float base there’s always the ones that show up with a zip lock bag full of back straps along with the horns/antlers and the cape.
Sometimes there’s a legit answer such as poor shot placement or a grizzly moved in.
Then there’s the cold fact that manpower can only pack so much so far.
As others have said, in the case of shot up meat or meat spoiled by scavengers a camera is your friend.
Note the GPS coordinates as well in case you have to go back to the kill site with a CO to defend your case.
Groups such as the Wild Sheep Society of BC have put on numerous seminars on aging rams, lack of education isn’t the issue…..in my opinion.
The problem we are faced with is over competition for the sheep in the areas that are accessible by many of the fly in/walk in hunters.
Most of them can only go so far.
Doing okay this year M?
Numbers for several years were right around 100 for residents and 100 for non-residents, with 5 to 15 deemed illegal, from both parties
20% is sure getting up there, plausible I suppose
"I was told by a credible source within the COS that the first 12 rams seized in Region 6 & 7B made up 50% of all rams CI’d at that time."
wow
Last edited by boxhitch; 09-04-2021 at 09:37 AM.
Never say whoa in the middle of a mud hole
Lose the term “Trophy” altogether, and replace it with : selective harvest :.
The whole Trophy thing plays right into the hands of the anti crowd.
Same for sport hunting, hunting is more so a traditional food gathering activity than some thing we do for ‘sport’.
Blacktailaholic
It's really sad to hear that 7 sheep have been seized. As a new hunter, that harvested a stone on opening day, I would say that education on aging is not an issue. There are plenty of resources out there that can help educate people on what is legal. My partner and I spent days doing research on how age and what the legal requirements are. We joined WSSBC and participated in sheep counts to actually get eyes on a sheep prior to our hunt. As stated above, people that want to hunt sheep need to learn how to age appropriately and be absolutely clear that if they are not sure they should not shoot. That said there is no excuse for not taking out all usable meat, sheep meat is absolutely delicious.
I do think that there is an issue with over harvesting. I am not sure what the answer is but I have read that other areas allow hunters to only harvest one particular species per lifetime or have a cooling off period post harvest (several years) of sensitive species. I listened to a podcast of one famous hunter claiming to have taken 20+ dall sheep (personally and having guided more). I thought to myself that seem excessive. I also follow several outfits on Insta and gotta say the number of rams harvested this season, based on posted pics, seems insane. Having harvested a stone I don't think that I will take another. I would definitely go on another hunt to help out a friend but I will be looking at other animals for my own hunts. That just me and I am not one to impose my ethics on others...