From The Rampage, the newsletter of the Wyoming Chapter of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep, Winter 2003
WHISKEY MOUNTIAN PREDATOR CONTROL EFFORT UPDATE
By Rod Krischke, State Director
Animal Damage Management Board
This narrative is a report of Wildlife Services activities conducted on the Wyoming Chapter of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep / Animal Damage Management Board's Whiskey Mountain Bighorn Sheep Project. Field activities started with aerial and field activities conducted during the months of March, May, June, July and August. Wildlife Services [WS] effort on the project included 68.39 staff days or 637 hours of staff time and 9.8 hours of aerial time. WS personnel involved in the project were Craig Acres, Jim Pehringer, Tracy Frye, Arnold DeBock, Ted Jensen, Merrill Nelson, and Rod Krischke.
We didn’t have the opportunity to use the helicopter, so more effort was directed to ground work. Presently, we have spent $17,215 of the $20,250 in our agreement. The original plan had to be modified as DeLyle Rowley, who we had intended to do the summer field work, was injured in a horse accident and not available. We covered with existing personnel Craig Acres (123 hours) and Jim Pehringer (58.6 hours) borrowed from other WS programs and District Supervisor Nelson (290 hours).
WS removed 31 coyotes from the project area, 24 of these came off Whiskey Mountain and seven more were taken on Shale Mountain. Aerial methods removed 14 coyotes and ground methods, ie. Trapping, calling and shooting, etc. removed 17. The bulk of the coyotes taken were adults in their prime; there were only two yearlings and four pups among the total.
According to Supervisor Nelson, “We spent most of our time on Whiskey Mountain due to the high number of coyotes and the length of time the sheep spend in that area. In doing so I thought that we may have an impact on the local population that doesn’t or hasn’t produced very many lambs. On July 21st 6 adult ewes and 5 lambs were observed south of Whiskey Mountain where 2 coyotes had been removed. Another coyote had been released by a hiker in this area. We noticed that when we located the sheep we also found coyotes. We found that on Shale Mountain there wasn’t much coyote sign, one family on the north and another pair on the southwest side of the mountain. The first time we spent a night at Simpson’s cabin we noticed several ewes and lambs on Square Top south of the cabins above the Lake. About a month later we came back to work the country and when we rode to the south end of Shale Mountain we found eight ewes with no lambs and there were two coyotes following the sheep, The sheep were located a mile east of where we saw the ewes and lambs earlier. The pups of that pair must have been located at some distance away from this site, because the coyotes did not demonstrate aggressive behavior. We caught an adult coyote male not far from where we saw the sheep and coyotes.”
Coyote stomachs examined showed bighorn sheep to be a significant portion of their [d]iet. Insects and marmots were also observed but sheep remain were frequently observed. Other predators or sign observed in the area included red fox and badger [and] one wolf track observed on the north drainage of Shale Mountain. There were no observations of or sign of cougar or bear on the study site during control operations. Coyotes numbers in the upper part of the project were less than in the lower elevations. This could be due to lower prey numbers in the higher elevations.
On November 25th District Supervisor Merrill Nelson returned to Sheep Ridge and Torrey Rim to survey coyote presence. On Sheep Ridge he observed 14 ewes, 5 lambs, 1 yearling and 2 rams and on Torrey Rim there were 50 ewes, 19 lambs, 3 yearling and 12 rams. Tracking conditions for predators was poor due to weather conditions and no sign was observed.
The plan for the rest of this year’s agreement which ends Dec. 31, is to survey for coyote activity in the winter range and conduct additional aerial hunting if weather allows.
The roughness and inaccessibility of the terrain underscores the need to fly the summer range during the late winter/early spring time frame while still under snowcover. If (Wyoming) FNAWS determines to continue the project, a new workplan for the coming year should be developed.
Please let us know when you receive results of the sheep surveys. If you have any questions please feel free to call either DS Merrill Nelson or myself.
Thanks for your cooperation and support.
Rod Krischke
State Director
