Desert Bighorn Council Transactions Volume 1

DESERT BIGHORN COUNCIL TRANSACTIONS

VOLUME 1

Desert Bighorn Council FIRST ANNUAL MEETING

DESERT BIGHORN SHEEP COUNCIL

September 23, 24, and 25, 1957

Palm Room - Royal Nevada Hotel Las Vegas, Nevtda

National Applied Resources Science Center BLM LIBRARY RS 150A, Bldg 50 Denyer Federal Center RIQ. BQX 25047 Denyey, CQ 80225

Due to the informal nature of the meetings, particularly the discussion sessions none of this material may be used or quoted without the written permission of the author or speaker, TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ROSTER . First Annual Meeting. Desert Bighorn Sheep Council ...1 WELOME ADDRESS . Winston E. Banko ...... 2 STATUS OF BIGHORN SHEEP IN NEW MEXICO . Sidney Paul Gordon ...3 STATUS OF BIGHORN SHEEP IN ARIZONA . Warren Kelly ....5

STATUS OF BIGHORN SHEEP IN CALIFORNIA a Richard Werner ...... STATUS OF BIGHORN S'IIEEP IN NEVADA . A1 Jonez ...... a STATUS OF BIGHORN SHEEP IN GRAND WiON NATIONAL PAW AND MOWMENT . RobertH.Bendt...... e.e...... THE NATIONAL PARIC SERVICE AND ITS WILDLIFE PROGRAM Gordon Fredine . . STATUS OF BIGHORN SHEEP IN DEATH VALLEY . Ralph E. Welles ..... STATUS OF B'fG'HXN SHEEP ZN TEE KQFA AND TtE CABEWb El'IETA GAME RANGES . GaleMonsoe e......

STATUS OF EPGHOREJ SHEEP OM THE §AN ANDRE§ NATIONAL KOFWbE3T. LA3 CRUCES. NEW MEXICO . Cecil A. Kennedy ...... ADDITIONAL INTORMATION ON THE STATUS OF BIGHORN SHEEP IN NEW MEXICO . HemanA.Ogren ...... STATUS OF THE BIGIDRN SHEEP ON THE DESERT GAME RANGE . M. Clair Aldous DISEASE AND MECHANICAL I.N.TURY IN DESERT BIGHORN SHEEP - Edward L. Johnson

SURVIVALA AND HERD COMPOSITION ...... 61 SEASONAL FOOD REQUIREMENTS AND MTTRITION . . , . . . . 64 TERRITORY OF INDIVIDUALS AND BANDS ...... 68 BURRO-BIGHORN COMPETITZON AND CONTROL ...... 78 HUNTING ...... *...77 CENSUSXNG TECMNIQUES ...... 88 SIGNREADING ...... 94 BUSINESSMEETING ...... e...... 97 FIELDTRfP ...... 98 ROSTER - FIRST ANNUAL MEXTING DESERT BIGIKRN SHEEP COUNCIL - 1957 Albus, M. Clair, Wildlife Management Biologist, U. S, Fish znd Wildlife Service, Desert Game Range, Box 432, Las Vegas, Nevada Banko, Winston E., Refuge Manager, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Desert Game Range: Box 432, Las Vegas, Nevada. Bendt, Robert H., Biologist, National Park Service, Grand Canyon, Arizona. Cowell, Robert, Game Manager I, California Department of Fish and Game, Cima, California. Dazey, Dean, District Ranger, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City, Nevada. Devan, B. A., Wildlife Management Biologist, U. S. Fish md Wildlife Service, Desert Game Range, Box 432, Las Vegas, Nevada, Fredine, C. Gordon, Principal Naturalist, Biology, Naticnal Park Service, Department of the fntericr, Bashington 25, D. C. Goodman, John D., Associate Pr~fessor 04 Biology, Desert Protective Council, University of Redlands, Redlands, California, Groves, Frank W., Director, Nevada Fish and Game Cormnission, Box 678, Reno, Nevada. Hatch, Louis D., Refuge Manager, U. S, Fish adWildlife Service, Havasu National

Wildlife Refuge, P. 0. Box 1717, Parker, Arizona, 1) bgham, Xerditt E., Bark Naturalist, National Park Seivicz, Death Valley National Monument, Death Valley, California, Johnson, Edward L., Veterinarian, U. S. Army - U. S, Atomic Energy Comission, Las Vegas Braach, Las Vegas, Nevada Jonez, A1 Ray, District Su~ervisor,Nevada Fish and Game Conunission, P. G. Bax 1466, Eas Vegas, Nevada Keefe, Joe, Chief Ranger, Lake Mead National Recreatioa Area, Boulder City, Nevada, Kelly, Warren E., District Technician, Arizona Game plld Fish Cepsrtment, P. 0. Box 1232, Wickenburg, Arizona. Kennedy, Cecil A., Refuge Manager, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, San Andres National Wildlife Refuge, Box 791, Las Cruces, New Mexico, Kemedy, Charles E., Refuge Maaager, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kofa Game Range, Box 1032, Yuma, Arizona Mitchell, L. J,, Assistant Chief Ranger, National Park Service, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City, Nevada Monson, Gale, Refuge Manager in Charge, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kofa and Cabeza Prieta Game Ranges, P. 0. Box 1032, Yuma, Arizona Nowak, John H., Assistant Refuge Manager, U, S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Desert Geme Range, Box 432, Laa Vegas, Nevada Ogren, Herman August, Biologist Aid, New Mexico Dzpartmeilt of Game and Fish, Roy, New Mexico. Reed, John J., District Tec'mician, Arizona Gane and Fish Department, P. 0. Box 547, Wickenburg, Arizona Richey, Charles A,, Superirtendent Lake Nead Natinaal Recreation Area, National Park Service, Drawer 1, Boulder City, Nevada. Russo, John P., District Biologist, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Ryan Station, Fredonia, Arizona. Stunner, Lowell, Biologist, Sequoia Natioral Park, Three Rivers, California Supernaugh, William R., Assistant Superintezdent, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, National Park Service, Boulder City, Nevada. Weaver, Richard A., Game Manager I, California Department of Fish and Game, 6535 Villa Vista Drive, Riverside, California WELCOME ADDRESS

Winston E. Banko

I want to extend a welcome to all you bighorn men on behalf of the personnel here on the Desert Game Range. The idea of holding inter-state meetings between game techincians interested in one particular species goes badk several ya&rs, Those hterested ih the welfare of the prairie chidken weye among the originators, and they still hold annual meetings somewhere in the' midwest to exchange information anti stimulate research thinking. I think we are all agreed this is a good idea. If we can all take home with us one gocd idea, the meeting will have been worthwhile. Clair Aldous and Joh Now.& here have been instrmental in .getthg thls assembly, and I know thaf they are gratified at the attendance here today. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Aldous, who will act as underator of thls morning's session. Mr. Aldous : THE STATUS OF *BIGHORN SHEEP IN NEW MEXICO

Sidney Paul Gordon

L' . . At one the or another Mexican bighorns have occupied nearlyLev@ryrange of hills end mountains in the southern half of New Mexico. It is true that they were transients in many areas but they occasionally used most of them. They have disappeared from most areas since 1900.

Today they are not the nomadic drifters they were 75 years ago. They have retreated into what is apparently the most desirable part of their former range. The International Boundary Commission fence constructed in 1948 and 1949 no longer permits 'drift between Mexico and New Mexico. Ranching and national defense activities prevent most of this drift in other areas.

The mountains of southern New Mexico that are still partially inhabited by bighorns are all gealogically similar. All of them consist of up-faulted blocks of previously folded and faulted limestone of great thickness. Since limestone of the Paleozoic Age is the thickest in this region, limestone of this age is predominantly exposed. The up-folded blocks are relatively recent and therefore there has been little erosion. The predominact tcpzsraphy is one of steep rocky slopes with numerous ledges and small cliffs of out:roi?ing limestone. This description is particularly true cf the Big Hatchets. The surrounding ranges are volcanic in origin and the topography is quite different. They have steep canyon walls which many times are nearly unbroken. The edges sf these ranges often form steep cliffs and escarpments. However, the upper surfaces between the canyons are often weathered to a rolling, subdued terrain. As a result, these mountains offer few of the ledges and points utilized by bighorns for bedding and loafing grounds. This seems to be the principal reason that bighorns restrict their range to the Big Hatchets in that area.

Hexican Bighorns in New Mexico are now confined almost entirely to the Big Hatchet and San Andres Mountains. The Big Hatchets have been in a refuge for nearly 30 years. There has been no legal hunting in the mountain range except for dove and quail during the 1956 and 1957 seasons and two bighorn seasons. At various times during the past.20 years, it has been estimated that there were 300 sheep in this mountain range. Many adverse factors have affected this number until today there are probably not over 50. The bulk of the sheep range falls in areas where there is competition for forage from horses, cattle and deer. The no hunting policy in the refuge allowed the deer population to build up to staggering propott$ons. Rumen samples from sheep and deer in the area indicate that deer compete with bighorns for 100 percent of their diet., Deer do not take everything that the sheep take, but the sheep take to some extent every item appearing in the deer diet.

A four year reieirch was comp1,eted on the Big Hatchet area this year. Isle found that there we& 'a series of factors that combined to limit this sheep population. A prolonged overuse of the range by game and domestic livestock seems to be the principal reason. Livestock numbers have been repeatedly reduced because of poor range conditions during the past few years. Investigations indicated that there were an excess number of bighorn rams in 1953 and 1955. Limited hunts were held in January 1954 and in December 1955. Fourtken hunters killed eleven rams in 1954 and twelve hunters killed six rams in 1955. These hunts probably benefited the sheep herd but only slightly influenced the competition for browse. After 1946 a large deer population built up in this mauntain range. It reached its peak in 1954. Each year since there has been a "die off" in the deer herd. A severe drought accompanied the buildup and climax of the deer herd. The deer population is greatly reduced but it has never gone low enough to permit adequate recovery of the browse. A good growing season this year has produced enough forage so that conditions exist that may cause the deer population to mushroom in 1958.

Parts of the range have lost up to 90 percent of the available browse. In other areas, evergreen browse was replaced by deciduous- browse. All in all , this herd of bighorns has had. a pretty rough time. The Department of Game and Fish constructed two big game watering units for the bighorns early in 1955. There was little if any use of these units until late spring and early summer of this year. One of the units had heavy use during this period. It is my belief that surface water is not as necessary in this mountain range as it is over most bighorn range. The large prickly pear Opantia en~elmanniigrows in abundance over the range. Both deer and bighorns take large amounts of this plant. It is succulent and even during the drier part of - spring has a high moisture content. There is every indication that these animals substitute this moisture for water when forced to do so.

Predation has often been discussed locally as a factor in limiting sheep populations in the Big Hatchets. Actually, there Rave been no observations to show that it is a factor. Neither is there any evidence to show thtpredation takes place. Dead animals have been found (some of than partly eaten), but there is no evidence to show that these animals did not die of natural causes, starvation or other unknown reasons. All observations and evidence indicate that there is little if any predation on Bighorns in the Big Hatchet Mountains. A geologist who worked and camped for several yearsinthe range confirms this. He relates that he has seen golden eagles soar over bighorns that were feeding. Occasionally some of the sheep looked at the birds, but went on feeding without any alarm.

Bighorns in the San Andres Range have had varied events affect them. The National Wildlife Refuge in this mountain range has had management practiced on it for mapy years. -However, the huge area north of the refuge was until recently an area of small ranches, Forage was heavily overused by horses, cattle, domestic goats, deer and bighorns. Bighorns in this section of the range were becoming extremely rare. White Sands Proving Ground now has an "exclusive usef1 lease on the area, This lease has been in effect five or six years. Livestock have been removed and limited hunts have been held on the deer herds. This range is in far better condition than it has been in many years. Vigorous stands of black grama and winterfat are appearing in many sections of the mountain range.

Mr. cedi Kennedy will discuss the bighorns in this mountain range to a greater extent. We feel.that if we have any bighorn potential in New Mexico, it is in this mountain range. STATUS OF THE BIGWRN SHEEP IN ARIZONA

Warren Kelly

For a period of over 40 years the bighorn has been protected in Arizona. However, complete protection from hunting did not serve to increase the sheep population appreciably. In the late 30's a great concern was felt toward the continued dwindling sheep population.

In 1937 A. A. Nichol conducted a game survey, the outcome indfcating remnant bighd rn populations widely scattered throughout the desert mountains.

I On' January 25, 1939, an Executive Order established the Kofa and Cabeza Prieta Game Ranges in southwestern Arizona, placing approximately a million and a half acres of land under Federal jurisdiction.

Other studies were continued by Nichol in 1940 and by elks in 1943 and 1944 on the bighorn in the Santa Catalina Mountains. In 1950, an intensified ,statewide bighorn program was started under PR project 55-11 and is currently being continued under management project PR53-R.

In the meantime, the lands under federal control, the Kofa and Cabeza Prieta Game Ranges, were being patrolled to guard against promiscuous hunting and an extensive and costly habitat development was undertaken. Large water tanks were constructed to impound rainwater in the shcep habitat, Predat~r control was carried on to reduce coyote and bobcat depredation.

With the initial bighorn management and research study started by the state in 1950, a paralleling program was developed to include lands outside of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Kofa and Ccbeza Prieta. Cooperation between agencies was of great importance in order to promote project activities and adequately fulffll the objectives as outlined in the original study plan.

Findings

Bighorn sheep were found to occupy approximately 1/3 of the state with larger concentrations located in the southwestern and western mountains. Remnant populations still can be found in ranges about Tucson and as far west as the heavily populated areas around Phoenix. In the Superstition Mountains, east of Phoenix, a good population inhabits the area. Occasionally drifting animals from this region move into the Apache Trail country and have been reported seen in areas that several years ago did not sustain bighorn sheep.

Throughout the Grand Canyon National Park and National Monument and within the vicinity of the Lake Mead Recreational Area, sheep exist and are often reported by recreationers and prospectors. However, the distributkon and density of these populations have never been determined, and possibly never wil'l because of the extremely rough and untraversable nature of the terrain.

With no exception, the Arizona bighorn sheep occupy a desert type country that is broken by rugged mountains or high precipitous canyons along the Colorado River. Food is scarce throughout these areas and the mainstay of a sheep diet is thorny and spiny vegetative types, supplemented by ephemeral plants that grow only under suitable climatic conditions. The latter cannot be considered a dependable source of food. Arizona sheep show a preference for trees and shrubs. The more important species are: Ironwood, palo-verde, mesquite, catclaw and coffee-berry. Desired grass species are: Slim trioda, fluff grass, Indian-wheat, filaree and galleta grass. Dry grasses are also an important food type,

Although sheep can go several days without water even during hot summer months, water plays an important part in the distribution of these animals. Where dependable water is found in sheep habitat a bighorn population can usually be found.

Limiting Factors , . As the result of extensive studies it was determined that many adverse factors exist. Ibwever, no sipgle factor could be credited to being the limiting factor, Control measures were undertaken in an attempt to reduce or eliminate conditions destructive to the welfare of the sheep.

Predators were reduced through a concentrated depredation program. Bighorn- deer competition is being modified through management by annual desert mule deer hunting seasons and by the program of water developments, so constructed to attract deer into the lower elevations away from bighorn habitat.

Competition with livestock is negligible at this time. Bighorn management practices are directed to maintain minimum livestock range use and to actively restrain any unwise use of the range and water supply that would jeopardize the bighorn sheep or its habitat. Competition with ferel burro is still a problem in many areas. Investigations are being made and restrictive measures taken where and when competition can be determined.

Encroachment on bighorn lands and distrubance by human activities has been significantly instrumental in the decimation of Arizona's bighorn, Presently, Army and Air Force public land withdrawals remain a-eonstant threat to the bighorn ranges. Land restricted to military use is lost to the sportsmen and often restricted to travel by the biologist,

In the course of study, collections of animals have been made to determine physical factors that may influence the herd or population potential. Although the project as a specific study was terminated, interest remains for future work along these lines.

A lung disease was found prevalent in the bighorn. This appeared in all except one sheep. The disorder does not appear to harm the animal except when the sheep is in poor physical condition. Tapeworm was also prevalent and was located in the bile ducts of the liver. The animals showed no signs of helmin- chiasis and the tapeworm apparently did not interfere with bodily functions.

Examination and search was extensively carried on to determine the cause of the lung disorder and to determine the alternate hosts of the tapeworms. Presently, these problems are unansered. However, studies are being continued to find the answer. One important itan was definitely established; the much feared lungworm was not found in Arizona sheep in this study.

Management

Current bighorn management plans are all inclusive of the aforementioned points and includes annual bighorn sheep hunting, which is of material benefit. Arizona has conducted five successful bighorn sheep hunts. Much information has come from these hunts to aid in developing better management practices. Limited bighorn hunting was undertaken as a means to remove surplus, mature rams from selected areas. The hunts have been conducted in an attempt to gather information to aid in developing better management practices. A control area, prohibiting hunting is maintained whereby a comparative study can be conducted in future years.

The principal objectives for a sheep hunt in Arizona were: To examine the animals for disease and parasites; to spread the ram-ewe ratio gradually and to evaluate the results; to determine the reporduction trend; and to allow sportsmen an opportunity to remove a number of old trophy animais.

In the past five years, 43 rams have been removed from mountain ranges adjacent to the Kofa Game Range. Each animal was examined and measurements takan. Parasites-were collected when found and any physical disturbance, external or internal, was closely scrutinized. .. With a small hunt of this type, spread in the ram-ewe ratio will not be noticeable for several years.

During the past three years Arizona has undertaken a bighorn trapping and transplanting program whereby 50 sheep are to be trapped from the Kofa Game Range. Texas will receive 25 head to be transplanted into the Black Gap Refuge and Arizona is to receive 25 head. These will be released in the vicinity of Arevaipa Canyon north of Tucson, in a historic bighorn range. Presently, no sheep inhabit this area. The task represents the first attempt to trap and transplant sheep in Arizona.

Future Outlook ..I ., < I The future'outlook for ~rizbna'sbighorn sheep is favorable in many respects. In the past eight years considerable information has been compiled which is directed toward a better understanding of the problems in bighorn management. Hunting will continue to offer additional information. In the future additional ranges will be opened to bighorn hunting and with the cooperation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the lands within the Kofa Game Range may be opened.

A continued study of the bighorn in keeping with the original project objectives is being extended. Two game technicians are presently employed specifically for bighorn sheep studies and activities.

Habitat development and range improvement remains a major portion of the program. Critical appraisals are being made of constructions to determine proper water developments that are best suited for the animal and the country.

Continued cooperation with the U.S. Fish and IJildlif e Service for an exchange of information and ideas will greatly enhance future studies. -8-

STATUS OF THE BIGHDRN SHEEP IN CALLFORNU

Richard Weaver

1 see 1 hwe very generously been given 30 zinutes for the bighorn sheep in California. I can sum it up in about three.

I feel a little inadequate, representing California here today, for I am only a peon in our Department of Fish and Gme. Bob Cowell came along with me for moral support. He is a graduate of Peon University, also.

But to get on with the bighorn sheep, there seeme to be little interest in California's bighorns, outside our department, and inside of it it: has gotten to be a personal matter with many of us.

To clarify my own status with the department, I work on a PR project -- water development for game. I have been,kicking around this desert area for a little over nine years, and much of that time has been spent in our desert bighorn habitat. I first started on the quail guzzler program. That came to a halt after we got the state practically saturated with soae 2,000 of them. Then we worked into other water development projects, and a great deal of my work has been in bighorn habitat although the work has not been done exclusively for the bighorn.

The only prop X brought is an antiquated map, about as up- to-date as a lot of our sheep information. It will help clarify the areas as we talk about than,

Back in 1938 some effort was made to datemine about how many bighorn sheep we had in California. One of our biologists did some inconclusive work and came up with a figure of 1,500 for the state. Since then we have gathered some other sketchy information and I believe 3,000 would be a more realistic figure, but it's pretty much guesswork, At the present time we don't have a full-time investigation or nianagement program on the bighorn, other than water development

To start off, I will discuss the Sierra bighorn. They are not desert bighorn. Fred Jones, wb works for our deparkaent but, unfortunately, could not make it here, made a study of the Sierra bighorn while he was a student at the University of California. Us thesis was on the bighorn. Jones estimates between 350 and 400 sheep izr the Sierra. That is a tremendous mountain range and the animals are pretty widely spread. Actually, there have not been too many observations on those sheep.

Our desert bighorn go as far north as the White Mountains north of Bishop. White Mountain itself is over 14,000 feet, second only to Mr. Whitney in California. One of our men who works out of Bishop estimates there are between 50 and 100 sheep in that range. I have no personal information on than. The mountain is well watered and doesn't need my help,

Just south of that is Deep Springs Valley, a watering place that is pretty well known as a place to observe bighorn sheep. There was an article in the Saturday Evening Post magazine about three years ago which some of you may have read. I think it was called "I Found the Death Valley Bighorn," or some erroneous title like that, and was a little misleading. A number of sheep water in that area, which is easily accessible to photographers and others. I .. ' 1. .., Continuing south into tke Inyo ~ountains,I don1 r have much information on the sheep in that range. I personally have had only one observation there. They seem to range entirely on the east side, on the Saline Valley slope, It is very rugged country, The ridge there runs from about 9,000 feet to peaks above 11,000, and the sheep are entirely on the desert slope.

Further east, toward the Death Valley Monument boundary, the sheep are rather sparse. On a recent trip out there I didn't see any sheep, and si'gn was rather scarce. I don't think you can be any more remote and still be in California. It is so ranote even beer cans are scarce.

I'll sk$p Death Valley, since we have a representative from there. For- tunately, Death Valley is one area where there has been some intensive effort expended to learn more about the Desert Bighorn.

Cmming on down south into Inyo,County, we have a tremendous area tied up by the Navy. The west part of the-gusand Coso Mauntains is good game habitat, but we know practically nothing eboug what has happened there in recent years. It has been tied up a long time as a guided missile range and security on it is pretty tight. We can't even get in there.

Farther south, in San Bernardino County, we have some more area tied up by the military, and I have no personal knowledge of it. The Navy has some area and so does the Army. One of our wardens, now retired, lives in Victorville end has an excellent knowledge of that area as it was prior to the tqime of the military occupation. Some of it is good sheep habitat, as desert ranges go.

Further east in San Bernardino County, up near .the San Bernardi%-Inyo County line, the Kingston Mountain is good sheep habitat, with occasLonal observations there by the public. As many as 25 sheep have been observed at one time, eo it probably is one of our better areas.

Farther south in San Bernardino County are the New York Mountains. The eastern portion of this range lies adjacent to the Nevada line. There are some sheep in there and they are sometimes seen crossing the Nipton Road, commuting between California and Nevada. They range into the McCullough Mountains in Nevada. One observation there last fall was 34 sheep in one band. That is some of our better sheep habitat.

The Providence Mountain area, in the sane chain of ranges, has a sheep population which local people believe is increasing. We are encouraged to hear this. A local rancher, born in that area, says he has seen more sheep recently than he has seen for 35 years. I have been working in that area for nine years, and there has definitely been an increase since I have been out there.

To the west are the Granite Mountains, which are good sheep habitat. There are probably 50 sheep there. And the Old Woman Mountains south of Highway 06 has been one of our better sheep areas throughout the years. There, again, the same trend holds true--a slight increase.

East of there are the ranges along the Colorado River. The Chemehuevi Mountains seem to be almost lacking in sheep, which is surprising inasmuch as across the river, in Arizona, sheep are frequently observed from the river by boaters and fishermen. The same thing holds true in the Whipple Mountains above Parker Dm. Arizona has than and we don't. I have done a lot of hiking in the Whipple Mountains in the last two winters, a~dI have failed to find any sign of sheep. At the present time they are certainly sparse or are irregular visitors in there. The area is loaded with burros,

The western portion of San Bernardino County is more inhabited, although it is desert. Ord Mountain, a 6,000-foot peak out of Victorville, has had sheep in recent years but I have checked a good many waters around there in my water development work atld failed to uncover any fresh sign. f have found on;ly old skulls and very old sign. It is entirely possible that sheep are no longer in that mountain range. There is very light sheep use of one spring out of Newberry, in the same general area.

In the Boullion Mountains we ageln have an area tied up by the Military. The marines took over there a few years ago, as an artillery range, but there has been some interest in bighorn in the area. The Navy brass has put out letters and has sbwn a general interest in preserving the area's wildlife. One of the results was a joint investigation by Oscar Deming of the U.S, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Fred Jones of our department. They spent about four days on the military reservation and didn't see any sheep. There apparently is only a sparse population there. Deming and Jones couldn' t find any open water for game and concluded that the sheep could range in there only season- dBy. Aa I eaetat%onecl, there is a mall spring that is used west sf this areas. East of the area, in the range called the Sheephole Mountains, there is a resident sheep population, and I haven1 t found any water there. I don't know what the sheep do for water, but they are there. They lamb in that area and are there at other times of the year. This Is the only place where I have observed sheep from an airplane.

That brings us down to Joshua Tree National Monument. We don't have a representative from there. I had hoped Lowell Sumner would be here because, last July, the Natianal Park Service and three of us from our department made a joint, ten-day effort to learn more about bighorn in the Monument and adjacent to it. That work is being written up and more work will probably be done there later. There are sheep pretty much throughout that little San Bernardine range - the Eagle Mountains and clear out in the Coxcombs. Lowell Sumner and I made a hike into the Coxcomb Mountains and observed sheep in there in July. The weather was very hot, and there was no water available for them.

The one spring in the Eagle Mountains has a heavy concentration of sheep around it. This area was formerly in, but has been deleted from, the Monument. People at the Kaiser' Iron Mines in the Eagle Mountains have taken an interest in the bighorn sheep and have gone to considerable expense to tap their pipe- lines and build drinkers out through the mountain range. They have been installed for a little over a year. We inspected the drinkers but found no evidence that sheep are using them. However, I don't believe one year is long enough to be conclusive. It is sheep habitat, and sheep are frequently observed there by the mine employees. As a matter of fact, one time I got roped into talking to the grammar school kids there, and about tws-thirds of the youngsters had seen bighorn sheep, which is rather unique. Most youngsters don't have any idea of what the animal looks like. Most adults don't either, at least in California. They are hardly aware that the animal exists. 1 made a recent back-pack trip up on San Gorgonio Msuntain, an 11,000 foot peak in the San Bemardin0 range. This is hardly thought of as sheep habitat, but we kept getting reports of sheep up there, Another employee and I made a two-day trip, and we confirmed that there are shezp up there at the 10,500-foot contour, where we crossed fresh sign. Apparently it is a very small band, or we just got into the perimeter of their range, or both. It certainly is a different type of habitat than the rest of the desert bighorn are in.

West of there, up on Cucamonga Peak and on 10,500-foot Mt, San Antonio, there is a population of desert bighorn sheep. There is qulte a bit of interest in that band because they are observed quite freqcccrLy. Tliese sheep are up !here on a mounthin where they can look down on about a miilion people, more or leas, It doesn't seem to phase them. This is Matbnal Forest area and Forest Service personnel have eetimated thege are about 65 sheep in this band.

On south we come into Riverstde County, where we have the best bighorn sheep habitat in the state of California, In the Santa Rosa Mountains, Fred Jones and txm other employees working with him 20 straight days in 1953, during the month of July, covered as much of that area as is humanly possible and had 141 observations. They estimated the sheep population at 350. The mountain range is watered better than most of our other sheep ranges, It isn't a true desert range, but is pert of the peninsular range wikh a desert slope. The sheep range almost entirely below 4,000 feet and mostly beiow 3,000 feet. They stay below the c%zsapawal line and pretty we11 below the piafsae and other dense brush of the higher elevation.

In -the Santa Rosas we hethe cnly bighorn sheep refuge in California, It covers three townships. The sheep population density inside the refuge ie about equal to that of the adjacent area outside the refuge. Only about half the refuge is actually sheep habitat. The other is deer habitat. The south slope of the Santa Rosas, from the San Diego County line south, is within - Borrego State Park, and for all practical purposes that is also a refuge. This #. #. south slope is drier and has fewer sheep than the north and east slopes. There has been no effort that I know of to determine much about the sheep within the Borrego and Anza State Parks, which cover most of the desert area of San Dlego county. . - Recently I received a report of 22 bighorns observed near the Mexican border. The interesting thing about these particular sheep in the Santa Rosa Mountains and in the peninsular range on southis that they mey be influenced by peninsular sheep (Ovls Cremnobates). They are perhaps larger than the average desert bighorn sheep that I see Fn the other desert ranges. They are very light in color, and there may be an inter-gradation there.

Out into the desert areas of Riverside and Imperial Counties practically a11 the ranges have mesheep in them at: some time. There we also have an area tied up by the military - all of the Chocolate Mountains, a large, east- west range. Security has been tightened up on this area, so we don't get in there very much.

Sheep range all the way east to the Colorado River on these desert ranges, but there seem to be fewer on our side than on the Arizona side. The desert ranges immediately north of Blythe - the Maria and Riverside Mountains - may no longer have sheep in them. I have done some hiking in there and have not found any fresh sign, It is very dry.

That pretty well covers tha sheep habitat in California, range by range. STATUS OF BIGHORN SHEEP IN NEVADA

HISTORY: Historically the mounthain sheep was apparently found over most of the state and in Hallfs 'Piarnmalsof Nevada" a distribution has been worked out for the three sub-species that Hall feels were in Nevada.

Rall states that Ovie canadensis californiana(Sierra or Lava Beds Bighorn) and Ovis canadensis canadensis (8ocky Mountain Bigh~rn)are probably extinct in Nevada and only the Qvis canadensis nelsoni (Nelson Bighorn) remains.

Hall laces the Nelson Bighsrn primitive range (assumed) in a goodqxrtbn sf 'the so thern part of the state. Counties falling in the range for the - aelsoa 3 rn are lark, Lincoln, Nye, Emeralds, Mineral, Churchill, Snd. - - - ga~ta-of. f ding, Lander and Eureka, - -Ikpparently the Rocky Mountain Blghcrn lived in the northern pa%.& the- -

-''state-although Hall does show some of the range in Lincoln County. However, - - - moCof the .range takes in the northam counties of LMte Pine, Elko, and parts - af hbldt, Pershing, Larder and Eureka. ------. - The Bigtborn was apparatly fwdalong the western part of the-- - - sWELE; Hall lists the range as Lysrt, WugPas, Omsby, Stcxy, W&ee,md - -- - - +art- of H,~mb~18t,

There have been many explanations as to why the bighorn sheep has beam6 extinct in parts of Nevada and most of the explanations are probably part of the answer. Domestic sheep populations with their many diseases- could be a major factor, also civilization spreeding into the once primitive azeas that, - made up the sheep habitat. Possibly a change in vegetative type Lsslowly run the bighorn out of business. (and has put the deer in business).

Whatever the answer is, the bighorn is now- found principally f.x~southern - Nevada and probably the largest popuLation left is found on the Desert Game - Range on Sheep Mouatain,

- DISTRIBUTION TORAY: The Nelson Bighorn is primarily found in Ckk and Lincoln counties. However, we get reports that there is still a herd living in the Silver Peak Raage in Emneralda County. This report has come to us from good authority so t3ere is no rezson to doubt the report. In Hall's accounts from early residerits around Fish Lake Valley they all report that sheep exist in that area eztpecially the Silver Peak Range. We have also gotten reports that the Bighorn Sheep is still found in the ToiyeSe MolmtaFns. Again Hall reported an account of one being shot in the Toiyabe ncmtsino in 1931. There have been recent accounts of sheep being seen in the Quinn Canyon Range and on Ilrish Mountain. Ha11 also has acc0unf.s of than behg seen in tbse ranges. It is not: hard to believe that sheep could be found in :mst of the mountain ranges just north of the Sheep Range, at least a few whictt may have strayed from --Sheep Range.

The-mountain ranges where populations exist today are (1) .Sheep-Range, (2) L~sVegas Range, Desert Range, and Arrow Canyon Range (these possibly are - winter ranges for the Sheep Range), (3) Pintwater Range, (4).Spring Range, - _. I_ 2 -.+-_ 15) Potosi Range, (6) McCul3.ough Range, (7) ~i~hlkd,Range, (8) ~ldoradoRange, (9) Muddy Range, (10) Mormon Range, (11) Meadow Valley ~ange. Other rnotjntain areas that may bave populations of sheep are Pahranagat Range, Belted Range, Bald Mountain, Irish Mountain Cactus Range, Virgin Mountain, and Gold Buute buntafn. - SEEP Y-QP,GWEKT: One cf the factors that has been stated fer the di~zi~peara~~ce of the Bighorn-Sheep, especially in recent years, is poaching. Since 1947 when the state took over the fish ax@ game management by establishing a state agetlcy, I feel that poaching has tak-en a back seap. There is still some going on without a doubt. However, I feel that it has been cut down sufficiently to say that it is not a major factor in sheep managebent anymore. During the early years the Bighorn Sheep was regarded as a source of food for the early settlers and miners. I have talked to many old timers who said they ate sheep most of the time' because it was available and not much else was, When one hears that several thousand people lived in Eldorado Canyon at one time (late 1800's and early 1900'~)~and they %probablylived off the land as much as possible, then one has to speculate just how serious poachibg was. Of cotirse other factors enter the picture; modes of transportation, climatic conditions, etc., yet, the old timers said that there were more sheep then than there are now, even with people using them as a source of food and not taking the older ar-imals but using the young animals because it was better eating. . .. ,

The Bighorn Sheep -has received protection from Lllegsl. add legal- hunting for many years and yet for the past ten years there does not appear to be much difference in thenumbers of animals present or ~eircomposition. Legal hunt- : drrg was tried.in 1952, 1953, 1954 ad-again in-1956. .?wing the 1952 hat, 46 hunters actually spent one day or Kors hunting, bagging a total of 15 -rams. - The 15 rams came from the following areas: McCullough Range, 1; Meadow Valley Range, 3; Mormon Mountains, 1; Muddy Mountains, 8; Potos'f Mountah, 2. During also in the spring of the year April; and also a guided hunt the 1953 hunt, - :;, e, as was the 1952 hunt, the 53 huncers bagged a total of 15 rims. This year 14 - rams came from the Muddy Mountains and 1 from the Flonnon Mountains. The Muddy Mountains have produced 22 legal rams in 2 years hunting. The hunt during 1954 was.again held in the spring - April. However, guides were not required. lifty-four hunters reported and 11 legal rams were killed - 3 in the Muddy Mountains, 3 in Potosi Moyt&ns, and 5'-on the Desert Game Range. This was the first time hunting was permitted o>n the ~ameRange. -. During 1955: khunt was not held. However, during 1956 another Punt was tried. This time 40 permits were drawn with the fiat 25 for the Game Range and the next 15 for the Muddy Mountains. All 25 were successful .in the Game Range, taking 25 legal rams. The hunters in the Muddy Mountains only bagged one ram. TBis makes 26 legal rams that kebeen taken from the Muddy Mountains during the four hunts. The 1956 hunt was held in December and guides were not required.

During the four years of legal hunting in Nevada a total of 190 hunters have enjoyed trying for a el son Bighorn Sheep and 67 eve been successful, for a 28% success ratio, d

bhecp taken from the following areas (tour yez total) - 14 -

The Nevada Fish and Game Commission .entered into a cooperative study of the Desert Bighorn using their ane technician on state landg that were not similar in habitat type; feeling that our studying mountain areas comparable to the Desert Game Range would not do much new work. The state land chosen was the muddy mountains and Elbrado -Nountains. As can be seen from the hunt totals, possibly the only place where the ram-ewe ratio might have been changed through hunting fa in the Muddys, as there is a low density population of sheep in this mountain range. However, it was felt that not enough information was bebg gdned adwe were duplicating effort done by the Desert Game Range, so the technician was let go, The only work that we are doing at present is just cooperating with the Desert Game Range and if they need more man power than they have, then we help them out with what man power .we oan obtain. We have also loened thaa special pieces of equipment that we had for our state work, but do not need, now that we do not have a techician.

Washoe County: Fremont (1845 1216) in early January of 1844, saw many mountain sheep in the mountains between Pyramid and t.Jinnernucca lakes. When these became extinct, I do not know. I saw no trace of mountain sheep h these mountains when I visited them in 1924.

Humboldt County: Paul L. Travis, Forest Ranger, at Paradise Valley en'July 29 1935, thought that sheep had been exticnt for about 30 years in the Santa Rosa Moaaaata*

Mineral County: Xn the emly spring of 1935, Carl S. Bfefc reported to Hall McAllister that 5 animals lived on Pilot Mountain.

Esmeralda County: fn June 1928, I found fresh droppings and tracks of mountain sheep in the Silver Peak Range between Cave Spring and Piper Peak. Tom Kern, of Fish lake Valley, reported sheep at this th9&te Mountain Peak. D. He McNett, resident in Fish Lake Valley, had visited Cave Spring and vicinity in the Silver Peak Range regularly for 51 years and believed that the sheep were newcomers because he saw tracks and sign in the old days as he did in 1928. In February or March of 1935, Carl S. Riek, resident of Coaldale, wrote Hall McAllister that mountain sheep existed in thet area, as follows : Coaldale Range, 11; Stknler Mountain, 97; Silver peak; 12; Lone Mountain, 7.

Nye County: Linsdale (1938:199) had a report of one shot in the Toiyabe Momtalus in 1931. In July, 1931, I saw sign in the Quinn Canyon Mountains, 1 about 6 miles northeast of Italian Springs, that I felt confident was not more than 4 months old. Alcorn and Longhurst (MS) in the autumn of 1939 saw the mounted head of a ram killed the year before on Troy Creek in the north end of @inn Canyon EdounteiP.

Elko County: So far as I know the last sheep to survive in Elko County were those in the Ruby Mountains. Borell and Ellis (1934:43) gave details of the last records of occurrence. The very last was in October 1921, when August Rohwer saw three individuals at the head of Smithers Creek (near Verdi Lake).

White Pine County: I saw fresh tracks and droppings of mountein sheep on the northwest shoulder of Wheeler Peak between 10,000 and 11,000 feet on June 30 and July 9, 1929. When I revisited the place in August, 1938 end when William B. Longhurst and 3. R. Alcorn visited near by places in the Snake Range in the autumn of 1939, no trace was found of JivingplountaFn sheep. In the Shell Creek Range, the range next to thk west, Alec hallc check, resident for maay years on Cleve Creek, reported sheep' as present .abottt 15 years ago (therefort-i in about 1915) when they were hunted by a Mr. Goldman. - from Washington, who saw some, but was unable to obtain any.

Lincoln County: On June 11, 1931, Ward C, Russell saw W rams on Irish

. Mountak.' '- -.a' , ,r - r. 3. -. . -.

. , . - I.. , .., - f STATUS OF BZCEORN SHl33P IN GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK AND MONUMENT

Robert Re Bendt

Bigborn sheep are found throughout Grand Canyon National Park and Monument and are often reported by visitors. However, the distribution and density of these populations have never been accurately determined and possibly never will be because of the extremely rough adbacceesible nature of the terrain.

With very. few exceptions, the sheep in Grand Canyon occupy the Lower Sonoran Life Zone, which is broken by deep precipitous canyons along the Colorado River.

Merriam, in 1890, listed the bighorn sheep at Grand Canyon as "tolerably counnon", and Mearns indicated in 1907 that "sheep spent the sttamers in the San Francisco Mountains and migrated to the Colorado Canyon, and were kaown to be cocmnon throughout the length of the Grand Canyon." Havasupai Indians living in the westera end of the Canyon have long been acquainted with the sheep, and in early history used them for food, and the horns for water dippers and ladles. Some of the old Indians have said their grandfathers told them they killed sheep with bows and arrows right in front of their hogans.

Since the establishment of Grand Canyon National Park 39 years ago, the bighorn Thas been protected. )Powever, this complete protection from hunting and poaching has not served to increase the sheep numbers appreciably, and great concern has been felt in recent years toward the continued decrease of the population.

No bighorn sheep census has ever been made of the entire Canyon, and one guess on their numbers is as good as another. Caution has been necessary in dra-,any conclusions from past records since a lack of observations from certain areas has been due to man's inaccessibility of these areas, while on the other hand, numerous reports from certain areas are accounted for by the great numbers of people that frequent an area, or by the face the same sheep are observed on many occasions. It is believed the south, southwest, and west sections of the Park and Monument are the most heavily populated at the present the.

The annual production and distribution of palatable forage for bighorn sheep is determined, to a large extent, by the quantity of seasonal precipitation in the form of snov and rainfall. Since the major sheepsages are in the semi-desert areas of the Canyon, the May through October seasonal rains are of more importance than the winter snowfall. The anowfall is generally prolonged in the higher rim areas of the Canyon and runoffs are infrequent during these months, whereas stmnner precipitation is in the form of typical downpour and is expended in a relatively short period of time with large and rapid runoffs.

While no obeervations of sheep crossing the Colorado River within the Park or Monument areas have been reported, it is entirely possible that at some time, individuals or bands may havd drifted back and forth during periods of extremely low water. This being accepted, it is then possible an intergradation exists between the Ovis Canadensis nhlsoni, and the canadensis on the north side of the river £ran Utah. Unfortunately, little is known of the food habits of the bighorn within the area, so we must assurne they are similar to such habits of sheep on other comparable ranges in the western and southwestern areas of the state. - Where evidence is absent and M.stsrdcel knowledge vague, it is difficult to single out limiting factors affecting the sheep in this area. Inbreeding, disease, nutrition, absence of water, burro and deer competition, poaching, and predators are all factors that must be considered. Certainly uncontrolled killlng of sheep by prospectors in the late 1890s and early 1900s, prior to the establishment of Grand Canyon National Park and Monument was an important human element.

When considering the preadtor-prey relationships of the area, it is doubtful if they can be blamed for the decrease of the sheep herds in this area, Undoubtedly inbreeding does exist to gone extent, but to what degree would be d%Pif~ukt-,-todetermine. While the bighorn range within the Canyon is considered relatively isolated due to natural barriers, and limited somewhat by man-made constructions, it is doubtful if this range can be considered a completely isolated unit at the present time.

The most significant limiting factor affecting the sheep population today involves the competition with feral burros for food and water. During the past 25 years the burro has become dominant over much of our bighorn range, and to a lesser extent over the winter deer range, though the Patter does not psee a threat st the present time, The degree sf tolerance and competition between burro and bighorn is based largely on speculation; however, since the burro is in direct opposition to wildlife pdlicy of this Service, measures must be taken either to completely eradicate or drastically reduce the burro population in this area. -

The wildlife policy of the Park Service is very definite in respect to exotic animals: "Any exotic species hich has already become established in a Park shall be sither eliminated or held to a minimum provided- complete eradica- tion is not feasible; and the possible invasion of the Parks by other exotics shall be anticipated and steps taken to guard against the same. (National Park Service, 1955)".

Where possible, this policy has been followed, but unfortunately quite sporadically. For the most part, the burros inhabit steep-sided canyons and other rugged terrain in the Inner Canyon area, which makes control programs very difficult. Burros have been removed both by shooting and capturing alive for purposes of domestication.

An estimated 1,500 burros exist in the Inner Canyon area of Grand Canyon National Park, and on the Hualpai Indian Reservation extending to Pierce Ferry in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Fortunately, natural barriers prevent the burro rangefrom being increased materially in this area. Burro control programs began in 1924 and to date have accounted for approximately 2,000 animals. The war years and lack of financial aid and personnel, as well as the lack of understanding regarding the necessity of control programs, have hampered necessary management measures. To the Park Service, the objective is very clear -- the burros are introduced animals; and it is a case of a native species suffering while an exotic prospers. Missing Page 18 While the number of burros presezlt within the area today is far less than 25 years ago, the desired objective ransins to be acaomplished. I feel that much of t5e future of the b'ighorn in our area will depend, to a large extent, on the complete remva: of the ferd burso. THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND ITS WILDLIFE PROCRAM

Gordon Fredine

Since I am chairman for the moment, I have a lot of power, So I propose to take about ten minutes and give you a general statement on where the Park Service stands in its wildlife program with particular reference to the desert bighorp. .

We are sbrt-handed of course, adthe Park ~e&iceis not primarily a researela erganfzatisn, We do have definite responsftllbitfes in managepent and protection of resources, and as you all how, most of our areas are mandatory sanctusries where hmting is not pos~ible. In ge,neral I think that is proper. We do have our proklms, particularly with over populatims of some species, and some of these are difficult to handle withour a btw harvest. Yet I feel this way - where we do have sanctuary areas in relatively unspoiled wilderness regions, it is consistent with-sound nation-wide conservation and education progr'ms to reserve repr&entative portions with as little humsn interference as possible. They aerve as natural control tireas. The nations1 parks end nonuments serve this. purpose bell. We in the National Park Service -would like to see these areas utilized more fully by the state research insti- tutlans md the fe??crglFish ad*~ildlifeSef?llcet ecd one af OW mbit(_on_sis +O make opportuaities for carrying out research in the National Park Systm attractive to people like yau, We even dgeam about getting enough money from Congress and from outside sources so we can encourage such use with tmgible support. We need to know much more than we do about the animal md plant life of the parks so. we can interpret this information to the public, Obviously there are many advantages to coordkati.ng our programs and research acd aanage- meat with those of the states. - In this part of the country we have several areas which are quite important from the desert bigharn sheep standpoint - Death sValley National Monument is a particularly interesting one, The star£ at Death Valley has a keen interest in desert bighorn problems, Ralph WePles and Lcwell Sumner have gathered observations on sheep in a variety of. habitats from below sea level to the higher elevations, At DeathValley wa can reash a lot of people who come there to visit the area and can tell them the bighorn story, which I believe is an aid in increasing public interest in the bighorn and helping to distribute knowledge on their habits and requirements. This should help stimulate interest in other areas as well where the desert bighorn exists, We mentioned Joshua Tree earlier, and Bob Badt told us about Grand Catiyon, Lake Mead National Recreational Area is an important bighorn area, and Grand Canyon National Monmeat is another. No one hias mentioned the Utah areas like Zion Canyon National Park, which once was and potentially is good desert bighorn range. Organpipe Cactus National Monument is another area where there are some bighorns. Chiricshua also is a. potential area.

At Big Bend National Park in Texas the range is recovering from past abuse from overgrazing. Reseeding operations with native grasses seem to be taking hold. Just as soon as the range has recovered to the extent where we believe the bighorn would have a good chance, we want to participate in a bighorn re- stocking program there. As you know, Texas, with help from Arizona, is already starting t~ reintroduce desert bighrons in the Black Gap Refuge near Big Bend. We are watching that development with great interest. Where we will get our sheep I don't know. If we are real lazy, we will just wait until Texas brings some more down there and they spread over to Big Bend! But we want to be more helpful than that. Frankly, the Park Service does not have the manpower to & as much as it needs and wants to do in the biological field, Right at the moment there is no lack of interest in the Service and plans are being made to give increased attention to these problems and to provide mgre manpower for the job. But we will never reach the point where we will not be dependent on outsfde agencies for a lot of help and a lot of cooperation, and I want you to know that we welcome your interest.

Lake Mead is a national recreationah area. Although the National Park Service administers it, Lake Mead fs in a separate category fcom the national parks and monuments, Regulated public hunting can be permitted. it is the Service '6 policy to codperate wfth the states concerned in managing the wf ld- life resources and regulating the harvest. Of course it comes as a shock to many people that any hunting is allowed on an area that is administered by the Park Service. Here again is a fine opportunity to work together in developing a program which will gain public approval and support,

One aspect of bighorn or other w4Xdlif e management in the national parks and monument8 probably deserves mentun. Whatever management we do must of necessity be as natural as possiblee I don't mean that we will not find it possible to do mewater dbvelopment work, for example, but we will striate to carry it out as unobtrusively as we can. Water developments which would leave definite ems on the landscape or: which woiabd stand out as ma-made objects must be avoided. But we can and will improve existing natural water supplies and make them more available, such as is being done at Death Valley, witbut conflicting with other values. I mention this point simply td illustrate again that our management: is going to be quite different in some respecte from management on a federal wildlife refuge- or a state hunting area. St d-11 have to be designed to interfere as little as possible with the natural scene, So you see we have our limitations, and they create additional problems. This brings out the importance of making thorough studies and developing snme ingenious techniques, and I know we can learn a lot from you. Have I said enough to antagonize anyone or stir up any questions? Ralph E. Welles

An appraisal of the status of the bighorn in Death Valley at the present time must of necessity be tentative. There is a paradox involved here, which, when understood, tends to render the-most relevant .data inconclusive, to say the least.

The difffcuPty rises from the fact that up to a certain point, the poorer conditions are for the bighorn the highertheir census reports are likely to be, because the mimals that are surviving these poor conditions of drought, mal- nutition and disease are more and more concentrated in permanent spring areas accessible to observation, i

Rainfall appears to be the controlling factor in the normal low density sheep population of the entire Death Valley region. During a-year when general rains fall throughout the high mountain country vegetation is relatively abundant and nutritious, ephemeral water supplies are plentiful, cnnditions are ripe for fertility, high lamb survival, and low disease ratio. In short, when everything pd=ta tward = op t4mm eo.mrt, vary fev c~ be found. '

During the winter months from Janua~-y1950 until Decsuber of 1954 we were able to find but one (1) bighorn tkckghout the entir~,monument, and none were reported by' visitors. High country rainfall kept them away from accessible ar eas,

From December 1954 until January 1957 with high country rainfall scarce and spotty, we were in almost canstant touch with at least one band of sheep and occasionally two or three at a the. We saw more sheep and more were reported by visitors during this period than at any other time on record, and it was - taken for granted that the population was increasing.

From January until July 1357 no sheep were sees, but a dry summer brought good observations at sprfnzs only until a late rain dispersed them.

It has been generally accepted that the waterhole count is the most reliable method of census taking, but now we find that the most favorable conditions for a count are the most unfavorable for the sheep.

The waterhole count is still the best method we have, but it is likely to be more misleading than we' had thought. The 1955 census shows no sheep counted and no estimate of a population at' Nevares Spring, yet between August 11 and September 10 of 1957, 11 ewes, 9 lambs, and 27 rams watered there.

It is assumed in 1955 that it was reasonable to expect to count no more then 25% of the total population in a 4-day vigil at a water hole, but we now know that at the climax of a long drought such as August and September of 1957 the entire population may be counted in four days. The majority of the 27 rams counted at Nevsres during this period were trzvelers, were counted only once or twice in 30 days, arid could possibly have bebn counted several times at different springs in any 4 days of the 30 day period. How far these rams travel during the rut is not known, but two of the 27 we have seen repeatedly over twanty miles south of Nevares in the Big Nesh area, and both of them went on north when they left Nevares after a stop-over of but thro or three hours. - 23 -

*. We hilve made no attempt at a census since 1955. We counted 105 bighorn then, and Bstimated four times that many. Subsequent observations make that figure seem ultra conservative, even when the variables described above be been considered. >. FOP example, in 1955 at Navel Spring we wmted 4 sheep and esthated a total population of 12. Between then and September 1957 we made prolonged observatidns of over 30 individuals in that area, 18 in one band.

But several things had happened in the meantime. We had improved the water supply at-~avelSpring from a bee-seep to 75 gallons. Contiguous areas had practically no rainfall for nearly three years, possibly forcing a temporary migration into the washes above Navel Spring where flash flood run-off had produced a substantial growth of Bebbis and S tephanomeria. And, possibly most important of all, prolonged observations were carried out in the area for the first time.

Present data offere no means of making even a good estirnate of the number of sheep in the Death Valley region. It offers no clue as to whether the numbers are increasing at the present time.

As a matter of fact, these two pqints have little importance in themselves, since they undoubtedly vary' a great deal with the wet and dr,ysacyclesnormal to

the region. t . , , ..,.', Evidence, generally, points toward a relatively substantih and healthy herd in the areas,

The feeding habits of the Death Valley bighorn are so varied and seemingly erratic that it is difficult to set aside a group of plants and label them staples of their diet, In the fall of 1954 we observed a band of seven near ~a&aterfeed voraciously for several weeks on desert holly (Atriplei hymenelytra) and honey-sweet (Tidestromia oblongifolia). Desert holly is used consistently with varied intensity, but we have never seen honey-sweet used since. We have seen Bebbia and Stephanomeria become extremely important fox weeks at a time with several bands of sheep, then dropped from use completely for ~xzapparent reason. The sheep use certain plants at certain stages of growth, at certain times of the year, according to systemic demands, as free water substitutes, and a dozen other suggested reasons. But of no one plant in the Death Valley region at present can it be said, this is the most importaht to the bighorn diet. In any case, the vegetation that has made it possible for them to survive these thousands of years is, for the most part, still supplying the demand when the rainfall permits.

Competition for food is practically non-existant in the Funeral and Black Mountains ranges. Domestic stock is being eliminated as rapidly as possible from the Grapevines. A few deer are present in both the Grapevines and the Cottonwoods, but no study has been made of their relationship to the bighorn. Feral burros continue to be a very real threat in the Cottonwoods and Panamints, but the worst threat to the status of the bighorn is human encroachment, the total impact of man and all he has brought with him, the burro being but a segment of the picture.

It seems likely that sheep were practically exterminated during the Depression through usurpation of their water sources by prospectors, burros and poachers, with poaching itself reaching a significant proportion at that time. It is doubtful if poaching is any longer a measurable factor in bighorn survival, but the present mining laws still allow the diversion of water sources to millsites, etc., to such an extent that in many and considerable areas, water is no longer ava2lable to sheep,

Until recently it was believed that sheep did not use the springs in the winler, consequently no thaught was given to the increasing pressure for recreational use during that period. But since we found that bighorn use of all available springs was constant from July 1955 through Decefnber 1957 the indications could scarcely be stronger that if sheep are to remain, human use of ancestral bighorn water-holed must of necessity be adjusted to the needs of the bighorn. . - . ,'I '. .: I. Up to tho present we have foimd no measurable effect of disease in tbe population at any age or sex level. It seems reasonsbie to assume that the =tent of disease would be augmented by the poor forage conditions resulting from drought, but we have found ao amclusive evidence of this.

Wing the dry sumer of 1956 myof the animals wate'ring at Nevares appeared to be still sheddiog as late as September. Their coats were dull and ragged, with large patches of lo~ghair still intact. However; there were no other accompanying signs of unfitness other tha occasional coughing which seem to be cemoe, among desert sheep, the causative orgmishn of d~ichhas not been ' determined. The prevalence of lungworm, however, throughout the desert bighorn pd&atiorn suggests a parnilel to the established medical fact that the msjsrf ty of lmnans either have or have had at least a minor bout with tubercubssis.

The cough seems more prevalent among the lambs, but we hme no direct evidence of any having died from whatever causes the cough. Of the carcasses we have found there is an almost equal ratia of very young and very old, In - many instances nothing is left but the horns, but of these at least 909, of the males showed either no annular rings at all or from 10 to 12, This suggests that if a Death Valley bighorn survives its first year it has a normal life

expectancy of eleven. There ia other data to support this premise. . ' Of the 47 sheep we observed at Nevares Spring during the surmner of 1957 there were 27 rams (including transients), 11 ewes, and 9 lambs. Not one year- lbg. This may have been a rather startling indication that the range had reache its maximqsn carrying capacity and that there may be a more direct correlation in years of average rainfall betn'eeh 'lamb survival and adult mortality than we had expected. During dry periods, of course, the mortaiity rate would increast at both levels and during a prolonged wet period the lamb survival ratio should rise above that of adult mortality. Then of course, we have a population density increase beyond the normal carrying capacity of the range and must expect a die-off with the inevitable onset of the next drought. Under these circumstances die-offs are normal, but when exotic usurpation of penuanent free water sourcss is added to the impact of normal drought, the bigborn status is in jeopardy.

Ptedation seems to be an insignificant factor in all areas. There are a few mountain lions in the Grapevine Mountains and perhaps in the ~ottonwods. It is ass-umed that they prey on the bighorn to a certain extent but we have no evidence of it. Three other traditional enemies of the bigbrn, coyotes, wildcats and golden eagles .are cmuon througbut the region, but we have found no evidence of predation from them. All three watered at Nevares Spring throughout the summer of 1957, but not once did any of them wait at the spring, where nursing lambs watered every day. . . , . Two of the more conspicuously marked more easily and unmistakably identi- fiable ewes have utilized Nevares Spring consistently for the three years since our observations began there. Haw long before that is speculation, but family characteristics of the two are common in the entire band, suggesting a definitely resident, rather than a migrant or nomadic population. Our Navel Spring and Big Wash observations project the same picture, with at least 4 ewes returning for three seasons, ,

Gn the other hand, a strong factor in their survival is their demonstrated adaptability to varying rage conditiom and general habitst. We hed a band of varying numbers under constant observation near Badwater from December 1954 through March 1955. Since then, no measurable rain has fallen, no plant growth has taken place, no sheep have been seen. Our 1955 census found the most sheep at Indian Pass, and the best lambing ground of anywhere in the region. 1956 found no rain, no forage, no lambing ground, no sheep. I The evidence indicates, then, a normally resident population, becoming mobile when pressed.

The question is often asked, What should be done to hsure the stetus of the bighorn in Death Valley. The answer is simple: Remove all exotics and their influences from his biota and the bighorn will take care of himself.

Obviously, since Death Valley is a National Monument, set aside primarily for the enjoyment of the people and secondarily as a bighorn refuge, it is tmt likely that all exotics will be removed, since all humans except a handful of native Indians would haad the list. So the problem becomes one of how many' burros and how much human encroachment can be permitted if a healthy status of the bighorn is to be maintained.

At the present time the prospects are good. The Park Service is exercising as much control as is compatible with the dual purposes of .the Monument, and is supporting further study toward a more enlightened and consttuctive policy for the future. 26 i - - THE STATUS OF THE BIGHORN SHEEP IN THE KDFA AND THE CABEZA PRIETA GAME RANGES

Gale Monson

I'll try to break my talk down into two perts, talking about each of these particular Rangea in turn. The Cabeza Prieta Guac Rage iZe8'. along the international boundzry southeast of Yma and contains in the neighborhood of 880,000 acres. It is essentially a very arid area with the rainfall varying from about three inches to about five inches per year. Most of the game range is wide valleys separated by'rather narrow lengbhy mountain ranges only about 3,000 feet highet than the'valle~floor, and it is of course in these small ranges that the bighorn aheep are found.

(Slide). This entrance sign is on the west side of the range on the famous Camino del Diablo, or Devel's Highway. (Slide). Here is an interior valley in one of the mountain ranges. The bighorn sheep are generally found pretty well up in the steep and rocky country, On the Cabeza Prieta especially, they come down into the washes in the bottoms of the canyons where the feed is much better than it is up on the slopes. (S3dde). This is in the Sierra Pinta in the central part of the Game Range. Notice the luxuriant vegetation that we sometimes get at the end of the winter so-called rainy season. (Slide). Look- ing across one of the valleys that separate the two ranges of mountainsg from Sierra Pinta over to the Tuseral Range. The vaffey floors are wide, broad, md very gradual with almost no break in them and a very thin vegetation cover. (Slide) . Looking down on the east side of the Pintas showing some more typical terrain. (Slide). One of the washes on the east side of the Pinta looking out into the valley below. Even along these washes the vegetation is inclined to be low and very sparse, wlth an occasional leguminous shrub, - principally the ironwood and paloverde. (Slide). Over on the east side of the range we have the Growler Mountains, somewhat higher, very volcanic and so rough that even the sheep dont t particularly care about them. (Slide). On the 880,000 acres of the range there is only one spring. This is it, the Agua Dulce Spring, which has been developed, a very important watering place, I am going to show a few waters here.

(Slide). Heart Tank was formerly the only water in the entire Sierra Pinta. It was a death trap in the old days. men the water got down so far, the sides were so steep that the sheep went and co~ldn'tget out. We had to take as high as three dead sheep out of there at one the. Now we have blasted a ramp at the near corner, and have also added to the depth of tlie water by constructing a dm. (Slide). hother type of water development is a cave blasted out of the side of the mountain just below a rocky watershed. By means of a dhersion we pick up the water and force it into the tank. (Slide). A more typical type of development consists of the blasted out hole you see below the dam at the right edge of the picture. This one holds around 50,000 gallons of water and is about eight feet deep. Under normal conditions it will hold water for roughly 14 months. (Slide). This is Buckhorn Tank. Up above the tank we have a dam to catch more water. IJe can also let water dom into the tank from the dsm if the runoff. is sufficient. Or, if the water behind the dam lasts long enough, to replace some that has evaporated from the tank, The dam also acts as a sediment catcher to some extent. , , (Slide). We tank we built was simply a hole in the solid rock alongside a wash. We found that would ds the job, but: then we had a big storm thst moved some boulders down in such a way that they collected the sand which the water carried into the hole. So lest year we went down and remedied that situatbn by building a cutkff wall across the floor of the canyon to raise the level of rhe water and at the same fine built a porous rock ws?? across the mwth nf the waterhole. So far, in the one storm we kad, it worked very well.

. (Slide). I put this in to show you how the sheep ear' the Saguaro cactus. Apparently they are more interested in the scar tissue that formed after they -had eaten the bark away in the flrst place, than they' ate in tke green, part of . the cactus. -. . ., .

(Slide). A ram that came into Agns.Buke Spring. . r

(Slide). Another rave This one looks like he is giving us the hee-haw, a typical bighorn yawn, Notice the reddish cast to the hams, whlch is very typical of the Cabeza Prieta sheep, and as far as I know, of the Soilora sheep. - (Slide). Rams md a ewe at the same spring, the animals definitely having a , reddish cast to them which you never see *:the sheep on the Kofa, and is probably aesociated wlth the granlte, - the decomposed granite color that you aee in the rocks there. I might mention in the case of the Cabeza Prieta that we estimate our to.td. populetion to be in the neighborhood of LOO sheep, which ie a-wery thin popufation but is in kcephg with the arid condition of the country. But the thing that gives thc country some character Is the presence sf the sheep. It 5s a very interesting area anyway you look at it, At the present time roughly three-fourths of the game range is covered by an aerial gunnery range. This interferes with our patrol, and also has the effect of keeping us from doing some development work that--e want to do, although this ,year we plan to put ip txm more waterholes on the Cabeza Prieta.

We will skip now up to the Hrlfa Game Range, which Is somewhat smaller than the Cabeza Rieta, containing about 660,000 acres, (Slide). It also lies in the Yma area but is to the northeast or Yuma. It consists of two main mountain ranges, the Kofa Mountains &nd the Castle &me Mountains, separated by the Broad Ring Valley, which you see. in the top of the picture. To €be north of the Kofa Mountains are a series of lesser hills that hook up with the Plomosa Mountains where the siate bighorn hunts have been held. This first view is an aerial view of the west end of the Kofa Mountains, and will give you some idea of the precipitous, rough nature of the country, (Slide). A closer view of the same mountains - this is the highest point in the Kof as, Signal Peak, again some*da"~rghand steep, In the back you see the weSt end of part of the Las Posa Plains.

(Slide). This is in the central part of the EbEa Mountains, looking down on what we call Squaw Pesk. Signal Peak is to the left af center, again giving yau an impression of the barren, rugged nature of the country.

(Slide). Looking out over Palm Canyon on the west end of the Kofas, toward the Chocolate Mountains and the Colorado River. (Slide). The same viet?, only from a higher elevation. This was taken from the top of Signal Peak. You can see the road snaking into the lover end of Palm Canyon. (Slide). Another view from Signal Peak, looking west. .This part of the Kafa Mountain$ is undoubtedly the best sheep range that we have because of better water and more vegetation. (Slide). Looking southeast from Signal Peak, right out over the steep side of the Kofas and straight down into the bottom of the wash there below the center of the picture. King Valley is in the background.

(Slide). One of the canyons on the south side of the Kofas. There Is a cluster of eight palms in the bottom of this canyon. I don't know if you can see than very well, but they are there. The dr~phere is in the neighborhood of 700 or 800 feet. , ..* (Slide). Another view In the interior of the Kofas, again giving YQ~some idea of the nature of the mountaiae.

(Slide). One of the canyons, again on the south side of the Kofas. Ws is almost a hidden canyon. The wash and the bottom go through a very narrow portal to open onto the King Valley.

(Slide). Dam in the Castle I)omes, the other rnountain range in the Hofa Game Range, showing a typical waah running down from the mountdns, also sharing scattered lroarood and palo verde that grow slcrng the wash,

(Slide). Over in the east end of the Kofa Mountains, which are not anywhere near as high as the west end . The Castle Domes are in the far distance. (Slide). Balm Canyon, Those nodules in the cleft of the canyon wall there are palm trees. (Sltde). We. have two carble pernittees on the Mofa, up on the north side, This is one of the charcos or waterholes that has been developed there. It is strictly marginal cattle range. f. don't feel that they have any business being there. The only time the rachers use the area is during the years when it gets a good rainfall.

(Slide). To show you some water develqpments i this is Tunnel Spring which runs the year round, in the neighborhood of 20 gallons of water a day. That isn't very much water, but it happens to be probably the met important water on the Rofa Game Range. We see more sheep there year ia and year out than any other place. It is a natural tunnel fonned possibly by the water eating away the limestone. The passageway into this tunnel is very steep. People marvel that sheep get into the place.

(Slide), A tank on the west side of the Castle Domes. This one is named Robin Tank. The picture was taken at the wrong time of the day to show the water, but the water is in the hole in front of the man standing on the ledge there. This is a pretty good water but has lLnited use because it is n&t in good sheep country.

From waterbole counts we have made on the Kofa for the last three years, and from various observations before that, as near as we can determine, we have on the Kofa between 350 and 400 bighorn sheep. We also have a sizeable population of mule deer that ranges probably from 1500 deer down, depending on the type of year we have had. We still have a small population of wild burro a1though the number now is no thing compared to what it was 15 years ago.

(Slide). Another type of water development is simply a dam in a suitable place where not too much silt will get caught, This is Pour Peaks Dm. It was built in 1940, and in the 16,17 years that it has been there it has almsst never gone dry, and yet has caught very, very little silt. We consider it to be .a Very important water. IIC is not necessary in order to dve i'good aater to p&tif into a cave. TEe reason for not silting is the bare rock. One reason it doesn't evaporate dry is the total depth, in the neighborhood of 20 feet when full. The area of the dam is fenced so only sheep can water. At the upper end, when the tank is full, deer and wild burro can water, But as soon as the water goes dom beyond a certain point only sheep can get to it. T5e deer cannat get to it thm because of the rocky ledge,

(Slide). This is the location of one of the sheep traps, Wgh Tank 7, and there the principle of the porous rock wall. is used to keep -dirt adrocks out of the tank. The flood water cornea dowa over a couple of dams up above, which incidentally catch and store water ae well, and passes along the side of thio . wall md run& into the tank. It is not a large tank, but it: saws 50 be 'favorably lacatsd and this tank nwer has gone dry wt3.1 this summer when it did go dzy for ebout six weeks, IwcnAd consider t5f.s a mare or less typical water development. It is n very abpPe thing, prwiGng you can find the right kind of rock to put your cave in and the rig5t kind of watershed that won't bring down too much silt aad rock,

(Slide). mexi this tdnEie:is full t5a wac,s,r is akut 12 feet deep, and it holds in the neighborhoodof -8,030 galloas, Tha dm above acts as a silt catcher, We call this one Cereas Tank. 1% kss ;,em usxl both by blg'wrn sheep and deer, sad it f s wed very hea9iPI.y by deer frm the lower country, It f Shed in July, this was in 1956, md by t5e middle of October it was dotn to fa7.7.~ to five feet, and most of that use was by deer. Tais illustrates the point that in order to have feed and water available for bighorn nheep you shouldn't have a high deer population. - I have a few sheep pictures here. (Sltde) . This is a ran that c,me into High Tank. (Slide). A yearling ram and a yearling ewe. (Slide). Fret-ty much the same bunch again. The ewe with her head down has about half o& the right horn broken off. (Slide). The sirme ewe drinking. Lots of people I show this picture to think she must be eating salt or something. Actually there is about a cup of wazer there, and she prefers to drink at this little basin, where the water is hard to get, to going do=-stream about 20 feet where there is a trough.

(Slide). Here is a ram that is in pretty nice shape and may develop into what I call a "super-ram", We have in the neighborhood of five or six rams on the Hofa that ore '!super-rams." Any hunter would be tickled to death to run into one of those "super-rams."

(Slide). An older ran. There is ifo doubt &%out- -. his sex.

(Slide). Two ewes and a lamb. This group came in together, and I noticed when they cane in that the rear ewe hed a very mean temper. She was always hooking the other ewe and the lamb and once in awhile strLking =hem with her feet. I found out when she came out from drinking what the cause of her ornery dispo- sitiot~was. Her face and the top of her head were full of porcupine quills. She hhd apparently come across a porcupine and butted it md got her face full of quills.

(Slide). A group of sheep at Tunnel Spring. The spring is back in the cave. The prickly pear in the foreground doesn't seem to be eaten very much by the sheep, (Slide). A yearling ram.

(Slide). An older ram. This ram we call Old Droopy Ear. His right ear is paralyzed, apparently. He canst do anything with it, and it just hgs there. And of course, he is easily recognizable whenever he comes in.

(Slide). -A ran and a ewe. This is in the Castle Dome Mountains at Little White Tanks.

Those pictures will serve to give you some idea of what the two areas are like and also of some of the work that we have done. I might give you a little bit of history too. Both the game ranges were established in 1939 and are now going into their 17th year, and the management program has consisted, in the past anyway, mainly of water development, predator control, burro contro 1, and patrol to keep down poaching which has turned out to be a very small problem. Then last year we had the first mule deer hunt, that was staged on the Kofa,' and we will have another one this year. We have simply more or less adopted the principle that we should have a deer hunt every year. Also in the last three years we have gotten under way on the current trapping program to benefit the states of Texas and Arizona, with the states doing all of the work, We would very much like to spend a lot more time just like all the rest of you on are research, but: unfortunately we always short on money, men, equipmbnt, /ge just don't seem to be able to ever get around to it, although it should be the keyetone and f~metationsf our game mmmgment. STATUS OF BIGHORN SHEEP ON THE- SAN'ANDRES NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO

-. IT' The San Andres 'National Wildlife Refuge was created by Presidential Proclamation, Januarx 22, 1941 and set aside as a Mamrnal .Refuge, for the protection of remnant herd of Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis texiana Baily) that inhabited the Refuge at that time. The San Andres Refuge consists of 57,215 . . . .. j , .,. . . ., ;;. .. . acres...... , . ; . . : ..' .("' . .._, ., ._/ -_...... d ... I : ' '.... ;... :;. i.s-. . The San hdres Mountains, approximately 75 miles lotl'g, are one of the several North and South lying, semi-desert ranges in South Central New Mexico. This narrow range, in parts less than 6 miles wide, extends from Sari Augustine Pass northeast of Las Cruces in Dona Aria. County to Mockingbird Gap in Socorro County. Ths range lying to the south of the ~SanAndres Mounteins is known as the Organ Mountains, the.one to the north, Oscuro Range. The San Andres Mom-, tains separate the Tularosa Basin, which contains the White 'Sands National Monument area, from the plains of the Jornada Del Muzrto, which is bounded on the west by the R~O-~randeRiver. . The San Andres Refuge includes over 21 miles of the southern part of the San Andree Range. , - The s&ie to the vest a long slope of upper Paleozoic (Pennsyl- vanian) limestone dth some azmdstone sad shale. On the east, the rmge rises precipitously from the Tularosa Basin, exhibiting a slope of granite end shbst sumounted by cliffs of limestone and being structurally a westward dipping Monoclfne, The plain of the Jornada Del Muerto to the west of the range is an erosion surface formed by lateral planation and has no permanent water except mm created wells and tanks. Flanked on both sides by Lowo-r Sonoran Mesas, the range is for the most part in the Upper Sonoran Zone.

Plant List

Listed are the prombent plants to be found on the area: Pindn,.Jufiiper, Mountain Mahogany, Buckbrcsh, Cliff Fendlea: Bush, Oak Brush, Siltassel, Apache Plum, Ocotillo, Desert Willow, Algerita, Creosote Bush, ldesquite, Yucca, Sotol, Century Plant, Sacahuista (Bear Grass), Prickly Pear, Crosa Cactus, Buckth~rnj Snake Weed and Grma Grasses.

Early Records of Bighorn Sheep on the Area

Cave deposits (Ayer, 1936), and ethnobiologicd evidence (Casteeter and Opler, 1936) indicate that bighorn sheep have been in thf s reg<6firbfrorn before the time of written history. The San Andres Mountains were a favorite haunt of the raiding Mescalero Apache Indians who were known to use artifacts of the horns and eat the flesh of the mountain sheep. Mescal pits can still be seen in southern San Andres and arrowheads, pottery and other artifacts are ,- found around old Indian campsites.. Little is known of bighorn numbers in the days of Indian occupation, but the presence of the sheep today in rough areas, largely ungrazed by domestic stock, suggest that when more such areas were available, more sheep were present.

San Andres Sheep

Lt. W,H.C.Whiting (1850, p. 201) tells of seeing sheep in the Organ Mountains. Townsend (1893) mentions mountain sheep in the Organ Mountains,

Bailey (1931) cites Gaut who reported in 1903 "a small bunch living in the mountains between Bear Canyon and San Augustine Peak" in the southern part of the San Andres range. Gaut also reported at this time that the sheep found formerly in the crest of the Organ had not been seen recently.

Ligon learned from an old trapper in 1915 that 30 or more were to be found in the San -Andre8 Mountains.

There were numerous notations of sheep being in the Organ Mountains possibly because the Organ Mountains were visited and penetrated more than the San Andres Mountains, for the roads in the San Andres Mountains are barely passable now.

Present Status of the Bighorn Sheep on the San Andres Refuge -

The best figures available in 1941 of Bighorn Sheep numbers on the Refuge was'33 head. These figures were compiled by information from local ranchers, State Game and Fish Department, and local GPA. The first survey actually conducted on the area was in 1942 by Refuge personnel who spent practically the whole year of 1942 in an attempt to find all Bighorn on the Refuge. At the close of 1942 we had actually seen 51 head, and since this time Refuge persongel have tried to keep as close a check on numbers as other work of the Refuge would permit. In 1950 we reached our pe& population of 140 sheep, but durfng 1950 we had a death loss. We actually found 12 dead sheep (9 rams, 2 ewes, and 1 lamb). We believed that the cause of death was from over utilizing the Sacahrnista bloom for food (nolina micarocaroa). Our population from 1950 began to drop, and in 1953 we made a complete survey of the Refuge with Refuge personnel and two men with LI9 airplanes from WteSands Proving Grouads, and the population at that time was 53 head. In 1953 Refuge personnel did survey work 6 miles north and G miles south of the Refuge proper and found 18 head of Bighorn north of the Refuge, and 31 head south of the Refuge. One hunter noted 4 sheep during :the fall hunt 10.miles south of the Refuge.

In 1956 there was a survey conducted from the north end of the San Andres Mountains to Hembrillo Canyon, which is about 6 miles north of the Refuge north boundary, and into the Organ Mountains, which is from 7 to 30 miles south df the Refuge, and the sight and estimated count of this survey, which included Refuge numbers was 157, taking the 1953 survey works of 18 head north of the Refuge to Hanbriflo Canyon and 31 head south of the Refuge for 6 miles, makes a total population in the San Andres and Organ Mountains of 206 Bighorn in a distance of approzimately 100 miles. The survey of 1956 was conducted by our U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 3 men attending; State Game and Fish Department, 3 men attending; U.S. Army, White Sands Proving Ground, 3 men, and U.S.kmy, Fort Bliss, 1 man.

Deer

There w&s a survey conducted on the Refuge in 1942 by our New Mexico State Game Department, Fish & Wildlife Service, Forest Service, Extension Service, Game Protective Association and local ranchers. It was counted and estimated at this survey that the Refuge had 600 deer on it with domestic stock and the Bighorn sheep. Through the discussion that followed this survey, it was decided by all parties concerned that there should be a program instituted to hold the .deer . herd in-. check, or to reduce their numbers to keep down competition - 33 - between the deer and Bighorn. The fall of 1942 the first hunt was held on the Refuge, and this has continued through 1956, except 1944 and 1945. The plans are. to continue these hunts, although during good years the hunters did not harbest the knqual increase, so by 1950 we had approximately 1,300 deer on the Refuge, but beginning in 1950 we entered a period of drought, which includes this year of 1957, We have not had a year of normal rainfall. The deer began to die off in 1950 and have continued until this year. Our Refuge population has been estimated at approximately 600 head this year, The total take from the Refuge - 2,138 deer in 13 years.

& Co-op

When the Refuge was established it was an overlay on the west side of the Mountain range consisting of approximately 23,000 acres on the Forest Se~ice. In January, 1955, this organization was changed over into Agriculture Research Senrice. On the east side the Refuge overlay the Grazing Service, Department of the Interior, some 34,000 acres. In 1945 the Amp came in with their Missile firing range and signed up a co-use contract with all parties in this area, and in 1950 they signed all parties to an exclusive use contract. This excluded dl persons and domestic stock from the White Sands Proving Ground area known as the 'QRDCIT PROJECTt', which the Refuge is a part of. Our Fish and Wildlife Service drew a contract with the Corps of Engheers for our Service to continue to operate the Refuge as we had fo the past, Our contract with the Military states that the Refuge can have the necessary Saddle and Pack animals on the Refuge to carry out Refuge activities. Our contract also states that we will be permitted to carry on the hunts necessary to good game management, Refuge personnel have been permitted to enter the Refuge unrestricted, with little danger to their person from fired Missiles.

/ Other Activities

Browse studies conducted Reds tor Control Parasite dxsminaf ion Periodic Laage examination by all parties concerned Road construction for better distribution on deer hunts Establishing work camps in points of advantage ADDITIONAL IMFORMATZON ON THE STATUS OF BLGEORN SLEEEP IN NErt; MEXICO

Mr. Kennedy has just told you about the status of Desert Bighorn Sheep on the federal refuge in New Mexico. I might mention that we have mother Desert Bighorn Sheep group in the Big Hatchet Mountains of the southwest corner of the state. Ws is a remnant herd of native Mexican Bighorn and the Sig Hatchet Mountains are a part of it8 ancestral habitat,

An introduced group of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep is to be found in the Sandia Mountains just northeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico, This is probably the southern limit of axestral Rocky Momtain Bigbrn Sheep habitat. However, the subspecies was extirpated from the area before 1870 and the reintroduction was made in 1939-41 using stock from Banff National Park, Canada.

The Barbary Sheep, etrsgus lervis, was first brought to Neu Mexiso by a private party in 1941. Sines 1950 they have been introduced to other parts of the etate by the New Hexico Department of Game and Fish.

P bebeen ebsef-uing this sheep-ifke animal in various zsos about: the UaaiteQ,Stabea for over tea years. 'd was recently glaphyed by the New Mexico Departmnt of Game and Fish to do a field study of this animal.

Most if the Berbary Sheep are' found about the 'gorge of the Canadian River in northeastern New Mexico. I plan to work in Ws area for at least one full year. Intensive studies are to be made of the animal's food habits and productivity.

The animal seems to be ineressing Pt-s number and extending its range very rapidly in the Upper Sonoran and' Tramitfan life zoneso Zt is now found over much oif the state except the ~loutbeoternquarter. Kence by this date it is not competing with the Desert Big'tmon Sheep which is found in the Lower Sonoran life zone. STATUS OF BLGEiORN SHEEP ON THE DESERT GAME RANGE L - r.1- M. Clair Aldous

The Desert Game Range was established Nay 20, 1936. The purpose of the refuge was the presesvati~sand protection of the Nelson Bighorn Sheep. This game range is the largest federal refuge in the United States contghing 2% million acres, It embraces -six muntain ranges that run generally north and south. Elevations range from 2500 to 11,910 feet, Within this elevation range we beseveral distinct plant zones or belts starting at the bottom with the saltbush type, then the creosote bush, Joshua, pinon pine-juniper, yellow pine, and then above the yellow pine the foxtail pine.

The? area is administered under the primary jurisdiction of the Fish Wi'ldpife Service, but it is administered jointly with the Bureau of 'ad ManNghent and the Air Fcrce under Memorandums of Understanding. The area is open for prospecting, locating, developing, mining and leasing.

Early is 1956 a cooperative sheep study was dram up idth the Nevada Fish and Game Commi~sion, and the work that we have done c2 the Refuze is largely what my report will cover here today. Our object in ?5is study was a quantitative approach to the information we were seeking. As we get significant data we are putting it right into management. Eventually a sound flexible sheep management program will evolve. Our study area is primarily the Sheep Range area that we are ping to visit on Wednesday and the Pintwater Range.

1'11 cover this point by point as it was written in our sheep study plan. Maps and Form Sheets, Our first thing was the preparation of maps and form sheets. We haven't accomplished our objective of a good map for the area, but the form sheets I passed out are the three sheets we use in gathering our data.

Bib lio~raphy; The next thing was compiling a bibliography. We haven t pursued that too intensively. We have 44 publications in our refuge fdles now, and we hope some day to have a good many more. Actually we have more than that. A lot of us have some private publications and all that ercnlt any longer available, but we have I think most all the current literature.

Populetions. During the past 28 months, which is actually a'little longer than the study has run, every bighorn seen on the area has been recordod on ane of these observation forms that has been passed around, and following is a breakdown of 2,903 sheep seen during that period. We saw 949 males, or 32.6% of the population, 1,564 females, which is 53.9% of the population, 72 we were unable to classify, which is &%,and our yearlings amounted to 3.2%. We didn't figure we had too good a breakdown on that, so we have lumped them together instead of breaking them down by sex. And the same with our. lambs, whi::h mounted to 7.8%. The sex ratio on these observations just on the adult skep has been one male to 1.65 females. -Census Methods. We outlined several in our study, end early we found that two of than suited our needs, so we have stuck to those. In June of 1956 through the cooperation of the Nevada Fish and Game Commission, the Park Service, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Bureau of Land Management, who all contributed personnel, we covered all the springs in the Sheep Range. As a result of this water hole count - 72 hours on each spring, we came up with a population for the Sheep Range. This isn't the entire range, the principal sheep range. We calculatad a population of 1,152 sheep, and then through our markiag efforts, which 1 will go into a little later here, we used Lincoln's Index the same way as birdbanders use it marked Sean to total marked as total seen is'to your total population, and September through December last year as a result of Lincoln's Index we f fgured in the same area 1,232 sheep, bts tbse fig~resare 7rett.y close! and aii merage of than will give you 1,140, which is, I th*, pretty close to the actual population on that range. .1 -. . -. -, -'-. MortalSty. We really &leait enough data to evaluate this phase yet, -We do believe however that the annual mortality about balances the a&al increaent. In other words it is a condition that 'is common to a static population. Every time the remains of a sheep are found in the field we fill out the fonn on it, Such things as predation, broken bones, tooth condition, horn condition, location, esthated time of death and-my other facts that can be gleaned froin the remains are noted. The remaini.'are then tagged with a numbered metal tag to prevent duplication. Occasionally we have been fortunate enough to fhd a very freahly dead animal in w&$h case we rush it right into town and Dr. Johson does a complete eutopsy. Dr. Johnson will report on some in z_ of these autopsies his paper. I C. s . . - 9. . " Movements, Generally through the hot suuuner months the sheep use the upper Pinon-Juniper and yellow phe zones, During fall, winter and spring they are found mostly in the Joohua ad lower Pinon-Junipr zones.

To date we heobserved 42 of our sheep after they have been marked and rdeased. We don't believe that we raa;hly have a pattern of movement worked out, but there is a movement pattern beginning to take shape. Many of them have been seen right back at the trap where they were caught, The furthest that we heve seen any sheep from the trap has been about nine miles, The ewes seem to .w&k to the east, the west and the south foming kind of a triangle. Rams have been seen to the west and to the north forming an '2". As we. get - more animals marked and when we have gone through two or three more years with different weather conditions, actually I think that precQitation is the big motivating force, I expect that this pattern is going' to change, but to date that is the way it has worked out.

Trapping Techniques. This is another phase I arrm going to just hit on lightly here because Wednesday we are going to show you three of our traps,- - and I have a few elides here that will-show a little-of that activity. So far the only success we have had in trapping is using live water for- bait. We experimented with some drugs. We tried Chloral Hydrate, the old western knockout drug, without success. The sheep and deer wouldn't take it. Next we tried f laxedil: with a blow gun, but we were unable to make a drugged dart penetrate the animal's hide," We have been corresponding with personnel in Georgia on the nicotine salicylate work they have been doing. This technique looks very promising.

Marking Technique. We brand the ewes with a 7/8" iron and rams with a 2" iron, and the numbers run consecutively so that wery animal is a distinct individual. The sheep are branded on either side in the middle of the horn, In the left ear we place a colored plastic streamer, samples of which we will show you out there WednBsday, and a stock type tag in the right ear. The plastic holds its color, and it is visible as far away as you can see an animal, You see a group way off, you see the streamer, and you know you have a marked animal. You take your spotting scope and stalk the group until you find out which animal it is. Or if you come on a bunch and they spook suddenljr over a hill and you don't get another look at them, at least you sa~the wlor of the streamer and you know~atwhich trap that animal was marked because we use a different color at each trap. So you do have a movement record even if you don ' t know'wUch individual animal it was. Water Requirements - Frequency and Amount. This phase of the study hasn't been activated yet,- - but the auaunt will be measured by munting a hydrograph above a water tank. The frequency will be determined by covering two springs simultaneously for a three week period and recording each time a marked animal comes in to drink,

Disea~eand Mechanical Injury. I 8m going to ekfp ~fgfPP:over that bby, because that is the basis of Dr. Johnson's paper in the morning.

Cooperative Studies of Fallout and Possible Effects of Atomic h2rg~ Commission Exoeriments on WSldlife. We have collected and analyzed water at every spring prior to this test aeries that is going on now, and we will collect and analyze water following thfe test series to see what the increase ts. Rock joints and thyroids have been collected for analysis, but the final report on this work hasa't been completed. I believe Dr. Johnson will also touch on this subject tomorrow.

Food Habit Studies. To date we have recorded only the plant species that we have seen sheep _feeding on. In the future we would like to get same tined feeding observationa as a basis for a preference index.

We have never believed that quantity of food was in my way a limiting factor, but as we get more familiar with the main forage plants utilized each season we would like to have chemical analyses run to determine the adequacy of the sheep's diet qualitatively.

Range Conditions and Trend, This Phase of the study has not been activated yet.

Daily and Seasonal Sheep Activtties. This data is recorded on ow observations forms when we are observing sheep in the field. We record anything unusual plus their normal activities. These records heven't been analyzed yet and probably will not be until the study is completed.

Controlled Emeriments. We are starting some additional fencing and facilities which will make possible the vork we have planned. Some of the pbses we plan to explore are the nder of heat cycles per year and the lhgth of each heat cycle plus additional information on yearling breeding and gestation periods.

Hunting, This is a topic we will discuss tomorrow, so I will just touch on it briefly. We have had two hunts here on the game range, and we are having a third ane this December. Last year we collected frm every animal taken, the hock joints, the thyroids, a stomach sample, and a dropping sample; and we weighed and measured each animal and scored each head on an official bane and Crokett form. Here again a lor of this material hasn't been malysed yet.

Tra~oinpand Transplanting. Our trapping technique has been worked out satidfactorily. So far we haven't tried to move enough animals to make any suggestions or recomnendations. Xf the nicotine techniqe works out, we will be able to take animals when the weather is cool, and as a result we should be able to handle and transport them with much less loss than animals handled and moved during the heat of the summer. - 38 - ..., . .. ..>...... -:-7 ,: .; ,: :.-. ---- .,: :* ... ,-, . r .. .- i ,J.. .. - ..? ...... <...i ... .. P . r d - ? - -- : .'....I. . DISEASE-;AND~MEWICAL INJURY m DESERT BIG~RNS HEEP . .,* . >.- ,,: 1 ',. 2.c - ' . .b ... i...... ,$-EdwardL. Johnson ...... r . . ,., ' ., - ... ,

i The Lwawdrm Protostrongylus stilesi - - L i i Reference is made to the work of Richard E. Pillmore aqd Clifford A. Moser appearing in the State of ~olorado'sDepartment of Game and Fish, Quarterly Progress Reports dated January 1954 and January 1955. . .-- ds is the case with my parasite a definitive host is requi;ed, which in this case ie the Bighorn Sheep. In addition, arr intermediate bst is necessary for the life cycle of Protostrongvlus stilesi. The intermediate host can be one of several species of lad snails of the genus Vertim, Vallonia, Gastro- copta, or $upilla. In €!olorado Pupillamuscarum and Pupilla blandi seem to be the most important.

The adult worms are described by Cowan (1951) as being 3/4 to 1 inch;long, about the diameter of a fine human hair and are brown in color. The adult worn ie found in the bronchi and bronchioles of the lungs in the definitive host. In the lungs the adult worms mate, eggs are produced and the first stage larva is formed; The first stage larva usually is coughed up from the lungs and then swallowed, passing out though the intestinal tract in the feces. A certain number will be soughed ditest1y on to the grstard, The mptsbected larvae are quickly killed by dessication, However, if they are protected from d~inngthey my live for 15 msnfhsl or amre. Wf tUa a few days the! first stags . larva will penetrate the foot tissue of susceptible snails presmably through the muwus glands. The actual penetration of the snail by the first stage larva has not been observed, but within 3 or 4 days after exposure some larvae have been obsebved in the foot'tissues of the snail. At this time the larva is quite active within the tissues of the snail, After 25 to 37 days, at least - in'the case of Pupilla blandi, an ecdyeis produces the second stage larva. Grichter (1948) has indicated that the time required for development is influenced by temperature, number of lantae invading the snail tissues, and the snail species infected. The snails in which larvae were not observed to have undergone the molt into the second stage after 37 days were in every case infected by a number of larvae, The molt of the second stage cuticle takes place within a few days, however, the larvae may not be infective immediately after this molt. Some maturatiun may be necessary after the molt of the second stage cuticle before the larvae is infective for the Bighorn host. Once an infective stage larva is present in the snail, the snail may be eaten by the sheep, allowing the infective larva to enter the tntestinal tract of the host. From this *point, infective larvae reach the blood vascular or lymphatic systans through active migration. Utilizing these avenues the larvas eventually lodge in the lun'gs and again through active migration reach the bronchi or bronchioles completing the life cycle of the parasite,

The diagnosis of lungworn infections in .sheep may be accomplished by either of thee methods. The most conanan approach is through fecal examination. In this case fresh droppings are crushed in a petri dish and made into a small mund wifh a central depression of sufficient size to hold a few cc's of water. This see-up is then allowed to stand some 15 minutes in a warm location, such as a sunhy window sill. Withdrav a few drops of water and examine under the misroscope f~rthe lungworm larvae. Alternative method^ of diagnosis are to find the lungworms themselves within the lungs upon gross postmortem examha- tion or through histological examination. Verminous pneumonia is character- ized by a cough, rapid respiration,weakness, emaciation, rough shaggy coat and sometimes anemia. Sheep suffering from diarrhea have also been seen, An example of what might be found upon postmortan examination of an infected animal be extcneivz ple~~itis,mitfple abscesaatimi ef the l*mg tissue with areas of consolidation and necrosis particularly in the peribronchisl areas. There may be aseas of compensatory anphysew, The bronchi will usually contain a purulen exudate cmd the adult lungwonus, lanrae and eggs. Histopathological examination of the lungs will oftentimes reveal "Peribronchfal le~kocyticinfil - tration and hyperamia. Purulent exudate fa bronchi, some alveoli are stelectic and contain serum and fibrin while others show alveolar emphysema. Alveoli .. contain eggs and larvae of lu~gwrms. Some are also seen fa the small bronchioles. " ,-, . 1 I. f , \ I' It yould seem rather -likely that the Desert Bighorn Sheep wodd become prey to -extensive infections-of the lungworm Protostronn~lusstileah,. mainly because of the required habitat of the intermediate host and the susceptibility to drying ad? the first stage lgrvae. Certainly there are the mois.t, marshy conditions. present around some of the sprdags in the desert areas, but .not. the extensive areas as found in the higher altitudes and wetter conditions of the Rocky Mountains.

Oat of 9 routhe and 26 partisl possaortem examinations conducted on the Nelson Bighorn Sheep in this area, 6 positive repsrte sf infection have been received from Dr, Quortrarp of San Biege, Calbfsmia. These findings were made through fecal examinations. Dr. Quortrup has said that the degree of infection is light. I have been unable to find the parasites themselves during the postmortem examinations. As a routine practice, tissue is taken for histological examination but to date only one histopathological rapor t has been received and in this there was no evidence of verminous pneumonia, even

. s though a pneumonia was the primary cause of death.

At the present time I have lung sections from 27 animals sent off for histological examination in an attempt to correlate, if possible, pulmonary and fecal incidence of the Protostrongylus go. The bulk of these tissues were taken from grossly healthy animals during the controlled sheep hunt held last December. Only one animal, Case OW-7-57, was given a positive fecal examination for Protostron~vlusand at the same time had a postmortem diagnosis of pnemonia. This animal was a 10 year old female; no report of histopathology has been received.

You may wonder at our concern over lungworms egpecially so with only a light infection reported in 24 out of 119 field samples (a 20.2% infection). However, as a result of the 9 routine postmortem examinations, 4 deaths are attributed to pnewnonias. How much, if any, of a factor is the lungnorm in predisposing these animals to pulmonary infections remains to be determined. Grossly, the findings of the postmortem examinations that we have done, with the exception of finding the lungworms themselves, are quite similar if not identi- cal to those of the Rocky Mountain Bighorns in which they had an extensive die- off due to verminous pneumonia, Pillmore states that it appears possible that some of the larvae might pass through the pulmonary capillaries into the systemic ciruclatinn and set up an infection in the fetus, Mechanical lnjury Ceusinv Dental MaloeclusFon

The conditions I am about to describe are not unique. Similar dental abnormalities have been seen and described in cattle, deer and'domestic sheep. NO doubt many of you have observed the same conditions in the Bighorn Sheep of vnura- =yeage

(Slide 1 T) This first small slide is from a textbook illustration of the mandible of a cow affected with "Lumpy jaw." There is obvious enlargement of the mandible and areas where bone $as been resorbed or necrosed away. In the live subject such enlargements are- very painful but not, hot to the touch as you might expect in other inf~&&kor~processes. Many times there are multiple, draining, sinus tracts from the small abscesses within the bony tissue. Surroundhg and within the mandible will be a large munt of dense fibrous tissue. The causative organism for this condition is Actinomyces bovis but in addition it i,s generally thought that there must be some mechanical injury to -the mouth, Lsuallycaround the teeth, which wisl allow entrance to the organism. As the foxtail awn, greasewood spine or what have you, works its way into the soft tissue around the teeth, an'infection'commences with loosening and decay of the teeth and bony changes such as we have just discussed. The condition may progress to such a degree that the animal will not eat and starves to death. These next two sliaes (slides 2 T and 3 T) show a similar condition in a Bighorn ewe. Whether the orgacism Actinomyces Bovis was involved or not we do not know. This specimen is the only one we have that shows the character- fstfe Bony enlargement lkke that seen in A. bovis infections sf domestic sheep and cattle. (Note upper sheek tooth opgss%te the bony lesion, )

These next four slides are more typical of the dental abnormalities of this areas.

- Here we have just the mandible (slide 4 T) showing the crown of the first molar missing. Evidently infection has caused a loosening of the tooth allowing - it to protrude from the alveolus. Most likely because the tooth itself'was decayed, the crown broke away leaving only portions of the roots in the alveolus. This next slide (slide 5 T) shows the same condition. Only portions of'the roots of the first and second left upper molars remain in the left maxilla. The alveoli have been filled,and smoothed with scar tissue. (Note: point out root portions.) . . . 6 ,__- -- In this ram (slide 6 T) we see the loss of the first, left, lower molar with an overgrowth of the opposing upper molar tooth. Actually the mouth would be in much better shape were both of these teeth gone rather than just the lower. Because there was no opposing wear to the upper tooth it haslcaused considerable trauma to the mandible with bone resprp tion and retractimi'bf ' the gums from the adjacent teeth. In horses it issa general practice to keep- an .unopposed tooth =@speddam to the normal table level so that such a condition as this does not occur.

This last slide (slide 7 T) appears to belie what I have just said about opposing teeth. ' ow ever , closer examination will reveal tkia t we have crooked teeth and s&e ove&rowth but no extensive gingival trauma, no'bone resorption of either the maxilla or the mandible and probably no gingival. retractton? . - Certainly the table surface of the teeth is extremely uneven but fromlan infee-' tion standpoint I think that this mouth is a healthier one than that just sham. I

,, . - 1 We have been abie to have a bactetiological examination made on only One case. I will rzad eome excerpts from that report, 'The incisor teeth were all loosened with the two central incisors showing excessive wear. Molars On right side all preseat and in line but contour uneven. On left side, only wterior molar in place air: fairly normal. The second was loose and protruding* Of the third, fourth and fifth only fragments presenr. The sPseth was very ldose and protruding. Nc evidence of recent active inf lamation. Quite a lot of foxtail awns present, some of these imbedded around loose molars on the left side. Second and sixth extracted and depths of cavities checked bacteriologi- \ cally. The bacteri~log&cdcheck yielded Gram negative rods and Gram positive staphylococci and -.eptococcim1' It is felt that these organisms are normal i-itants of the oral cavity and not in themsalves the primary cause of the dental trmbles. I feel the real cause is the coarse browse and penetrating awns such as the foxtail i.-1 the grazing areas. Occasbaally we will find specif LC infections suck a kitinanyces bovis. Unfortunately these are conditions we will just have ro live with.

Review of Postmortem & Eabora.tory Ffc.df.r?gc ,

Only because there seems to be such a great lack in basic data on the Desert Bighorn Sheep am I giving my meager results of laboratory findings. The number of samples so fer analyzed will not withstand statistical analysis, but at least they are a start.

I know of no reference on the normal blood values of the Desert Bighorn Sheep. ProbabPy most PndividuaPa accept tbse values given for the domestic sheep as compatible with the wild species. Based on but five indivi2cal samples from sheep of different ages and in different physiological states, it appears that the erythrocyte count may be slightly above that of domestic sheep and the leukocyte count somewhat below. Leukocyte differential counts seem to show about the same distribution as Fri domestic sheep,

Three blood samples were submitted for Brucella agglutination tests. I feel that it is more likely that there be a Brucella melitensis infection in the wild sheep than Brucella abortus but since there is a consistent cross agglutination between these antibodies both can be tested for at the same the. The animals sampled were one 4 year old male, one 9 year old male and one 1% year old female. All were negative to the plate tests.

On the basis of the 9 postmortem examinations the predominant cause of death is pneumonia, In second place is mechanical injury, this category includes the hand of man through automobile accidents and trapping operations as well as naturally occurring falls and fighting,

Purely as a case of interest I shall read the poetmorten examination report in which both pneumonia and mechanical injury were involved. This case, OW-7-57, was previously referenced under "Mechanical Injury Causing Dental Malocclusion". The specimen was a female Ovis canadensis Nelsoni , ese- imated at 10 years of age from the Desert Game Range. "CLINICAL ABSTRACT: The ewe was found by personnel of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about half way between the corral aed Lower Cow Cgmp Spring on the Desert Game Range. She had been bedded down In the bottom of a wash. Upon the arrival of hmans she got up and ran about 50 feet. Her gait was very incoordinated and it was thought that something was wrong with the forelimbs. The animal was sacrificed by bleeding. GENERAL: The condition:of the cadaver was poor and weighed 818. There was an old healed laceration of the right upper eyelid. There was a moderate infestation of ticks in both ears, Considerable bruising was noted of the lower lip and adjacent gingivae with some bruising of the upper lip. There were recent abrasions of both forelegs on the medial aspect just proxinai to the knee joints. The incisor teeth were all loosened with the two central incisors -,7sha:wingexcessive wear, PRIMARY INCISION: There were several small $&cutan- eous hemrrhagzs over the anterior portion of the sternum. Subcutaneous fat wee &mat csm2letely Packing with an area of amber, gelatinous material in Ats stead, This same COnditi~Ilwas found between major muscle groups of the limbs. RESPIRATORY $YSTEM: The ttachea aad major bronchi showed postmortem - inbibltlon of hemoglobin. Both lmge were involved in an exteasive fibrimus pleuropneuw>nia with multiple abscessation. Almost no functional lung tissue was observed, There were extemive pleural adLesions, bilateral, in the apical and card*Lac regions. HEAP.T : Thare was a moderate increase in the amount of pericardial fluid. SPLEEN: Abcut: one half of the spleen appeared thicker than normal and deposited on its surfaces, principally at the margins of the organ, were many dark brownisbred, raiaed deposits suggestive of hemosiderin. The apleenic capsule appeared somewhat thickened, Lm: The liver was enlarged with rounded margins and gave the initial impression of a percine liver. On cut surface there was evidence of fatty metamorphosis and cirrhosis. It is suspected that a condition of chronic paseive congestion existed due to the hag ~t3diti~n.me gall bladder wd? vsa grmtly thickened =rid deposited on its surface was much pale yellow, friable material. The bile contained many smaff bits of this material, One irregular focus of fnfIsl~imatfon0.4 cm fn diameter was noted on the imer wall of the gall bladder. GASTROINTESTI2lAL TRACT: There were several large bruises on the anterior one-fourth of the tongue. URINARY SYSTPM: The pararenal fat was very soft and in place6 tmder- going a gelatinous degeneration. The capsules stripped from the kidneys with difficulty, revealing a mottled dark gray and grayish-pink surface. The cortex of the kidneys appeared thickened skoving dark.eped focal areas and striations. GEIITTAL SYSTPM: The mermagty glands were slightly active, nothing else of sig- eicance noted. HEAD: There was a small amount of eubcutaneous ~~rthage wer the nasal bones. There was abnormal dentition of the left upper cheek teeth evidently caused by gingival and alveotar infection following trauma from co#rse forage. BONE MARROW: The bone marrow was mstly yellow in color, a cross section of the last sternabrae showed some red coloration. BONES ANT) JO.~~@S:There was evidence of gross hemorrhage around both acetabula, alao hemorrhage along the ahaft of the right femur, The periarticular ligaments of the left coxof~ralarticulation were nearly all ruptured; fewer of these ligam~tswere also ruptured on the right side. There was a complete fracture of the mandibular symphyeis with ligaments1 tupture of both mandibulo-temporal articulations. WCROPSP RUGKOSIS: (1) Bilateral pneunonia with hepatiza- tion and abacwsation, (2) Extensive, generalized cirrhosis of the liver with fatty metawrphosis, (3) Fibrinous pleuritis, bilateral, (4) Fracture of mandibular symphysis, @J, Complete luxation ~f both mandibular articulations and (6) Bilateral coxqfer~~yellwtqtion. REMARIB : ft appears that this, animal was about ,to succumb to $he advanced lung condition and various secondary effects when she sustained a violent fall resulting in the acute tramatic conditions found,"

I?. PREDATION

Kelly. We have found some definite evidence of predation. One band of m-ptes g-ed -q on a rm on the Ebfa aaC proceaded t~ pUsh hLi off, sad bobcats have dnne quite a bit of predation in certain areas. -Russo . I would like to add to that, that in Arizona we had an extensive 1080 progann Zn '51, '52, and '53 covering various phases, various areas. However, since then our predation program has been held dawn to local buildups in coyotes and bobcats, Bobcats are apparently our most serious predator, especially around the watbr holes in the summer time.

Groves. In '42 we had one def bite indicatian of predation in which a 13-lb. bobcat killed about 90 lb. lamb, or yearling. The only onethat we could probably definitely say was killed by a predator. Throughout the years there . was considerable indication of predation. To absolutely say that is what killed animal we couldn't. An old gentlemen of Coaldale, Nevada, reported coming up to a spring and finding a ewe and a lamb and a coyote, the coyote circling the ewe and the lamb. He watched them for a considerable length of time and went onzbout his business was headed towards a mine.) When he came back, the coyote was dead at the spring with its hida cut full of holea, and the ewe and the lamb were goue. You can take it for what it is north, but it is an fnterestfng observation, Sometimes predation may work the other way. -Devaa. We don1t have too much of a predator problem. We have a very, very light population of predators, especially coyotes. There have been a few cases of more or less circumstantial evidence. As Frank pointed out, a person can think either way he wants. We see golden eagles soaring over the lambing grounds. We have seen them dive at sheep, but we have never seen a kill or found any evidence of an eagle kill.

Groves. May I make another comment. If you will read the 1938 or 1939 North American Wildlife Confereaae transactions, a refuge manager at that time stated that he had observed eagles taking I believe it was 19 lambs. At least those who followed him were never able to make any observation8 of eagle predation on lambs. And I was firmly convinced in my mind when I left here that eagles never attacked sheep. It wap either two or four years later than that when Dr. Cottetm, Lou Hatch, and X were going into the Pintwater Range we noticed a ewe, a lamb and a yearling running down off one slope and up the other side. We coulc!nlt imagine what spooked them so. They acted scared to death, Then out of the sky there came a whoosh and another whoosh, and two golden eagles separated the yearling away from the ewe and the lamb, and they drove this yearling down thraugh the canyon, striking right at his flanks and riding with wings outspread with the talons apparently sunk Lnto his back. They kept repeating that time after time until finally the yearling got into the cliffs, and we lost him. Riding back we went through there to see whether there had been a kill, but we never could find it. It was a definite attack. Ln other studies we have definitely noted golden eagles killing mature antelope, -Reed. I saw a coyote circling around a water hole one morning where four sheep were standing. The sheep didn't seem to pay much attention to the coyote and vice versa. Monson. I might just say that in several hundred hours of observation at water holes during the period of the year when the sheep are watericg heaviest we have never seen any sign-of av coyote, bobcat or eagle attempticg or even apparestlji tPlf&hg &out t&hg sheep. Cr'e have quite a a-mber of sirapicbils field observations that pointed to the bobcat or the coyote as being a killer, but there again, the actual killing was not witnessed. We have no way of knowing whether the coyote did kill the animal or whether it was a case of the

, coyote coming up on a freshly dead animal. Of course the' inclination is when

you find a fresh carcass that I,has I obviously been fed upon to'believe that it has been killed. But more often than not it is a case of .just carri6h;feeding. There is bound to be an occasional case where the predators will take bighorn sheep, but the nature of the country they are in andtbenature of the animal itself would lead me to believe anyway that by and large predation is a minor factor a0 far as being an adverse factor. f, -RusSo. On the lbfa Game Rage I happened to go in possibly within 24 hours of the time a bobcat had killed a large mature ewe. All the signs indicated a kill. You could see where the bobcat laid on a rock above the game trail and where the ewe had walked down, the bobcat had sprung, hit the ewe, and they had rolled about 20 feet down the mountain. The only thing that was left of the ewe was the carcass; all the entrails hzd been removed. The animal had been killed within 24 hours as close as I could figure because the buzzard8 hadn't found it yet aad thn,re was no offensive odor around it yet.

Monson, Whare you have deer and sheep, the deer may act as a buffer species. I know the only time that we have ever had a mountain lion for my length of time on the Kofa was back in 1940. The animal was subsequently trapped. It - was up in the sheep country, but the only kills we found were deer kills.

Cecil Kennedy. In February of 1948 there was a pamphlet published, "The Golden Eagle Killed a Bighorn La;sbtl by Cecil Kennedy. It is conclusive evidence that the Golden Eagle isazpredAtor as far as the sheep are concerned, We have collected lion scats off the refuge there and sent them to the Denver Laboratory and found sheep hair in the scats. One observation that we had on the Hofa was in 1948. We made the first survey I belive that was conducted there. 1 xqps fortunate enough to be one of the participants. Dick Hitch and Bill Blanchard made up one party. Halloran and I were a second party, and Ace Kempton and Dick Drove were a third. Ace Kempton and Dick Drove at one of their water holes picked up a lamb that had, in my opinion, been killed by a bobcat, It had been, turned over on its stomach, adits 8tomach .had been eaten into first,

O~ren. May%r ask Mr, Kennedy one questim? Could that lamb have been in a diseased condition?

Cecil Kennedy. It appeared healthy. It could have been diseased, but there were no indications of disease.

Oaren. Do you happen to know the age adweight of that lamb?

Cecil ~edned~.The lamb wasn' t weighed. It was about four months old- -Devan. ~ouldb'tall the eagle scat with sheep remains be a result of carrion activity? Cecil Kennedy. That is very possible. We did collect material from nests of Golden Eagles on the San Andres Refuge over a period of years, and we never did find any remains of a sheep in those nests. We did find deer, rabbit, and all other types of small mamals in there.

Charles Kennedy. I might add that we know at this time that the population of bobcats and coyotes on the Ibfa and the Cabeza Prieta is very low and certainly there are no porblems at this time. At least that has been my obser- YB~QQ. -Hatch, I have no first hand evidencs of predation on the Havasu Refuge. -Charles Kennedy. Lee Arnold was assigned to investigate the predatiun of game and domestic stock by the Golden Eagle. He put in extensive travel and study on this going into the Texas Big Bend Corntry where the domestic sheep were supposedly being killed off. The sheep ranchers were hiring airplanes and men to go out and kill the eagles in the air, We submitted all our eagle crops that we collected to the Denver Laboratory for examination. No sheep meat was found Fn any of them.

Inarahm. We have just one man spending any appreciable time studying the bighorn in Death Velley, eome 2,900 square miles of area. I don't think that we hesufficient observations or srm'ficiat data far me to make any definite statement as to the status of predation at Death Valley at this time, -Bendt. It is doubtful I believe at Grand Canyon if predation in the past or at the present time has ever been a major factor in the decline of the &- horn sheep in the .area. I believe it is even doubtful if it was even a major facfor prior to the persecutidnrl of the coyote. Our area is of wurse artificial only, and it is a very small area along both north and south rims. Outside predator control has constantly drained our areas, So I don't believe predation has been a major factor at the Grand Canyon.

Mitchell. I think we have had five sheep hit on the highway in the last two months, I don't know whether or not this could be considered predation, but it is a decimstiag factor. -Russo. I always feel offended by seeing that sign they put out there that says, 'Watch for Burros." I wish someone would put out a aign saying, 'Watch for Sheep."

Fredine. I have nQ observatFons to report, just a generality. Of wurse you know that in the National Park System areas there is so routine predator control. The policy is to let the predators and the prey live together in as natural a state as possible. Even under those circumstances where studies have been made such as at Yellowstone where Adolf Murie studied the coyotes quite extensively he found no marked predation of wyo tes on bighorn a1though the park does have a very high coyote density. The fact that in these areas we rarely conduct any predator control emphasizes what I said earlier today that in the perks 1s an opportunity to study these conditions of protection of predators as well as the preyed species and possibly through such studies to determine what the true role of the predator is in sheep management, -, Cecil Kennedy: hat they have done in the pasf three years in New Mexico is the State Gume Department has supplied the Fish and Wildlife Service trith funds. All the requests thag come into the state are given 'to the Fish aid Wildlife Servke to & predatnr control work in the localities where the requests originated. The Fish and Wildlife Service is now conducting the total predator control pr3grm fix the state of Ne'w' M~~L~cQ. -Jonez,- I might cfuickly'say that our predator program is carried on similar to yours la that the Fish and Wildlife Service does our predator control ~mzk in Nevada. Specifically, sticking to our dtudy areas, the Muddy Mountains and the Elddrados which flank the Lakes Mead--and Mohave, in effect; we have somewhat of a daterrant predator cgntrol work in that they both have the National Park Service boundary rmning approxkaately dam the center of the Eldoradd Range and along the lake shore 03 t5e Muddy Bmge, There 1030 stations were not liberally scattered iil ts49sa areas. So I could probably say that thz two areas have had a normal pol~ulationfor the mimd life that is there now. Definitely the coyote is in ~buildcaceabout Mead and Mohave and very frequently seen along the lake shores, scaenging for fish mainly. You can see many carcasses of carp that &re bem well t&w care of by the coyote as he more, or less meandered along the shore looking for fish life. I mn not too particularly worried about the coyote as far ss our bighorn sheep are cnnserned in those areas, One of our wardens gave a very interesthg account of watching on Lake Mokve one day a lamb in 8 little sort sf protecfed cliffy area. The lamb was more or less amb13ag around ic there. He saLd it looked like it was just hours old, just barely able to scramble around on a couple of wobbly .P~age. A coyote was trying to partake of a little feed. Apparently the coyote was trying to figure out how to get the lamb before 'the lamb went up a sheer cliff at his back. Apparently the copte finally gave up and figured a frontal attack would be the best and made a dash for the limb. The lamb easily scaled this very minor cliff and was easily out of reach of the coyote even at that age. I won' t say the same for the bobcat. - Cecil Kennedy. It has always been my feeling that 'the bobcat is one of the most bloodthirsty predators you can have, I have,always felt it can do more damage to any gsme or domestic animal than any predator that we have. -Russo. ' I would like to tell a little story here as far as bobcats We walked into a tdthe summer of *54. It just 'so happens this particular zank was a death trep, and the water was low. I would say there might have been 50 gallons.of water in the bottom of the thing and a little sand hill pi1ed.u~in it from the water washing into it. In this tank there was a live , lamb, two dead lmbs-, a buzzard that couldn't take off because h~,couldn't get any' ,aic-scgapwder his wings, and a live bobcat eating on one of the lambs. We sbf Fad bow, literally threw the lamb out and released it. But apparently that bobcat had been goiag back and eating on these lambs, one at.a tirhe. Now a mature shee~:couldjump out of there, and the boScat apparently could jump in and out. But the buzzard couldaft take off, and the lambs couldn't get out. The bobcat evidantly refused to take the buzzard, and the buzzard kept on feeding on what the babcat left, and it was a vicious cycle in there,

Weaver.. I don't believe predators are a serious factor in any of the sheep habitat that I have been in. All these cases of predation to any one qecies can all be 'substantiated, and they exist. The Golden Eagle particularly is believed locally in this part of the desert by desert residents to be the worst one predator on the bighorn. My bvn belief is that I just don't know enough about it. I don't beliwe aep one species or all predators put together by themselves is a limiting factor. It's just one Sm a combination. I can also bear witness to how sheep can take care of a dog. One o ther fish and game fellow went in to check a tank with me in the Chuckgwalla Mo~tainsin River- side County in July. He had a young Norwegian elkhound with Urn who had never seen a bighorn before in his life. Barking, the dog took this ewe and lamb ;li~the ewyoo wa?? jilat a shcrt dfstailca fmm where&ay were bedded. As soon as the lamb was in some bouldera, the ewe turned and brought the dog baek. The ewe butted the dog twice, and it came scrambling down there yipping. There was na doubt that a mature sheep can take care of one coyote in my mind. In bands no doubt that is a different situation. A8 far as 1080 in California, the Department frowns on 1080 and has never used it. We have hunters and trappers and state employees, but they haven't done much work in bighob habitat or adjacent ta it. Most of their work is pressure areas and quite close to agri- cultural usage.

I can't say that predation is a serious problem on bighorn as I have observed it. Yau asked me specifically about the Death Valley area. I was doing a little wowling around the perimeter and was fortunate enough eg put: fa a little work there tw years ago. They probab&y have a low density of predators.

Aldous. I would like to say we believe that predation isn't a problem on the Desert Game Range. I would like to read you a paragraph here from a report that sums up some work we did to determine whether or not it was a problem,

"A trap lijme was set out on January 30, 1956, and maintained unrtdl March 26, 1956. This line went up Joe May Canyon and into Pic9re Cangon and then over to Rye Patch Spring and back south along the front sf the range to the mouth of Joe May Canyon* The object of the line was to determine predator density in a heavily used lambing area, and this was a heavily used lambing area during the lambing season. This period represents 1,526 trap days during which two foxes, one coyote, and six bobcats weoe taken." I would like to say this - I have seen one bobcat that I believe was perfectly capable of taking a sheep. Most are very small, and there is some doubt in my mind as to whether they are capable of killing a mature sheep.

Ogren. A f eldow in Maine wtms did a bobcat study on white tailed deer found that the big 35 to 40 pound bobcat was unable to kill a deer. The little skinny ones with real sharp teeth were able and did kill many deer. -Groves. I have a similar experience to relate of a lamb whose estimated weight was 90 pounds. Ifow far we are off on that I dma't know, but the bobcat was weighed. It weighed 13 pounds and that isn't a very big bobcat.

O~ren. Well, it surely surprised me to learn that sort of thing. I think I was guilty a&n of being one of those lab men who had his conclusions all made, and the field wrkers straightened me obt on that one.

Fredine. No one has especially mentioned cougars. I assume that they aren't much of a problem if they exist. If the deer population is adequate to bld a cougar populatfon op,

Weaver. Some of our fishsrdes personnel at Mto Whitney in Inyo County were Out in March last year at the base of the Sierras. These Sierra bighorns were.very low on Sawmill Creek. The men observed a mountain lion stalking a bighorn sheep.

Devan. Ithinkyoucould o~nnarizeitthisway, Ithinkyourpre8ators - are potential killers if they csn manewer themselves into a position to attack the sheep. When they are crosstng an open spece, they are pretty jumpy about is If they are at a lower elevation when an fndividusl is observing them, they are pretty spooky about that. There is a basic fear in than, eo we know there ts predation. * There is iin occasional strike snd kill in the overall picture, I just think it' is a negligible factor. The poor coyote and bobcat. get it in the neck every time they turn around.

Russo. 1 think you will find that it is a trend in managemmt in many respects that has created this get rid of all the predators, Now when I first went to work for Arizdna, we evaluated the sheep problem there. We felt this Way about it. Undoubtedly there were many limiting factors. However, I didn' t believe that there was one that I could say was the limiting factor, but in that respect what we did as far as justifying our 1080 program in Arizona we tried to eliminate or reduce any factor that might influence the sheep and cut down thetr numbers.. We haven't had any 1080 programs in Arizona for a long time. In 1955 and 1956 I recommended localized trapping for bobcats around the waterholes where I knew we were having a definite lamb kill by bobcats. Even under those conditions it was difficult to bring about a trapping program at the watering places because they were remote. In the smer it is very hot, and the trappers just don't like to get in the country then. I have nothing against this, and I don't blame them, but you see their take wodd be so smdl thst it wouw't pay. One -bobcat one waterhole could wipe out all of your entire lamb production using that waterhole. I may add at this time that as far as the eagle goes in my observations of bighorn sheep I have never seen an eagle take a lamb. However, I would always find eagles around my lmbing ground, and as soon as the ewes and lambs moved off the lambing ground the eagles would disappear. Now in that respect invariably there would be two eagles working the lambing ground, a pair. If they were taking the lambs, a pair of eagles could very easily wipe out the reproduction in a mountah range, especially if you only have s dozen lambs or 15 lambs in that area. I have found many dead lads, wf: the entire carcasses, but part sf the Psrmbs, fa fba lambing range.

Groves. I -think we should all keep in mind ori keep bn open mind. I would like to just throw in this instance, For yeers on the Sheldon Antelope Refuge they did not stress or even ask for predatory animal cnntrol in the belief that the coyote had no bearing on the antelope reproduction. Yet year after year on the outside=-had a better ,l.amb crop or kid crop in the antelope than they did on the Refuge. This past year they have definitely found coyotes taking kids as fast as they were dropped to the point where two' coyotes were killed with a complete kid carcass in their stomach, feet and all. They sW fms dropped one day and when they went back and searched the area maybe they found one foot left. They found that those new-born antelope kids were being consumed almost completely to where they were not lewring any evidence. I am not saying that that happens every place or that we ehuld make an over-all effort to extermhate Ehe coyote because QS the one condikion, but I believe we should all keep an open mind. Conditions can change to where what might be so one ygr might be entirely different the next year.

Russq, That is, a very good point, Frank. , a .- . . Cecil Kennedy. I think that they were trying to eliminate anything that might be detrimental to bighorn sheep because the numbers had reached such a low point, They were qaking every effort to start that population on the upward trend ao thej;"Guld indulge in practicdly anything to start it up. The pre- ‘.,-.,daters might not have been the deciding element and may not yet be a deciding .element, but they can be a contributing element. I think that is really the ,' origin of predatory cnntrol on theee sheep ranges. -Jonea. I have been in the soukern pertion of ~evadafor about seven years. In those seven years 1 beseen two years of what you could call a nice beautiful green desert. This year was not nearly as good as:1952, Saying what may be one yetar may not be the same next year I think is most definitely true. of the dese& ,Isaw rodenas of all types, snakes of all types come out in 1952 that I havenf t seen since, end I dicingt see before. The whole desert all of a sudden came alive, and I often wande~ed, listeqing to the oldtimers talking about walking around in the desert area around Searchlight when the grass came up to their knees or riding up to the stirrups of a horse. Yau go out here towards Overton today, and near the dry lake where we had a pretty fair flood you can see grass up to the etirrups of a horse when you are riding, It could happen, and it could have been something iike that too, in the 1880's or 1890's. Maybe factors were changed each year. Possibly predators could have been very numerous then. I wish we know to supplement some of the informa- tian we are trying to drag out and learn now. I am just trying to say it ca8 change so much in the desert in just a year or two. Groves. Let me fiaish my story on the Sheldon. Rodents have practically died out this year in the northern part of Mevada. There are practiaally no -. rabbits or ground squirrels. Where predators were not a factor in previous years, the absence of their normal food supply this year is what has turned them on to the eatelope, It did become s serious factor on the antelope kids - this spring. heother &mment that refers down here in our sheep cou?try. The stockmen normally around here referred to the coyote as a good sheep dog, and didrr't want h4h killed, That refers too up around the Alamo country. .Yet, we had a year den the rabbits died off. There was no pfnfon crop and just very few rodents of any khd. One man turned out 38 cows and calves, and he got back 38 cows, 19 calves, and all of the 19 were bob tails. Normally coyotes do not turn to calvbs, but there are exceptions that bring th=m into the picture.

Charles K-I. T~P,majority of the sheep on the Kofa have nevzr shown sigugns~f being afraid of mytbl?g, They have shown great ourio~fty, 29 fear, ard walk around as though t5ey were perfectly at home and had nmzr been afraid of anything in tWir lives.

Russs. 1 think that is typical of a sheep's attitude,

--*Wan Well, how thFs to me would not reflect say predation pressuze on tBe ardmds. SEASONAL UTER REQUIREMENTS ......

Monson. I would like to start off the discussion by asking Kelly what he thinks. of the water requ$rements of sheep in' Arizona.

. 2 Kel.ly, To be very truthful with you, I don't know, Gafe. f cani t see, . like Clair on his figuring last year,& the waterhole counts in Nevadz, that a sheep will water every -three tiaye.- I think there are so many factors involved, the temperature, the size of the anhal, and wan' the sex of the animal might 1 . .. , play quite a large part ia how oft& that' snimal' will water th3~ubtedly ' .there be a. big change 3x1 the desert iveas down in Ariwd from wbt they Zlave here in Nevada. . I)&- . . Chcrk Reme&. Clair, didn't you make a statement yesterday about eight

' days or soxethiqg? ..I , , r - . - . \ t- -j Al.Qus. Seven or eLght &yil.. ,Wqtcring Wery thi=d day is someth9ng that was just passed down from one IUK to the next and wds generally accepted. However, we had some marked ankaals In 1956 th& watered every seventh or eighth

day 4 ,. - . .' . - Chi& Ihmedy. The value is in an .average. We have cases of animals coming back every day.

Kelly, Aldous and I were on a spring over in the Pintwaters two years ago, and we had a ram come in that we could fdentffy. IIe came in every cky, Mce in one day, three times in two days.

Monson. Ordinarily you wauld think that water consumption is related to temperr-ture and humidity and the amount of moisture that is in the food. There- fore you would think that our sheep down on the Cabeza Prieta would require more water than the sheep up here would. But such a thing is not the case. They probably get along with less water.

Cecil Kennedy. The notation that we made over there with regard to the sheep coming to water is that during the rainy periods they &nlt seem to care about water at all - they go into the higher elevations of the mountains and use the succulent.plants. Consequently they have no need for water. We have been around a water hole for weeks at a time, and the sheep would not come to that water hole although we have observed &em in that vicinity for as long as eight days consecutively.

Monson. Clair, have, you any records of the sheep watcring during the coldest part of the year?

Aldous. Yes, I do. Two years ago in February at the same time that we were running the trapline in there that I related yesterday on predation, we came up to Cow Camp trap in February, There were seven head of sheep in there trying to drink. Of course everything was frozen. It was a very cold winter, and there had been no snow. The sheep had tried to break the ice with their hoofs, and there were big holes in the ice just like old pieces of block salt where they had licked. Apparently under some conditions of cold and no snow there is a need for water. These animals seemed anxious to get water. Cecil Kennedy. Were they male or female?

Aldous. Both. There was a mixed group.

Cecil Kennedy. What is the lambing period here?

Aldous, It starts in January, but the first lambs we have seen here were on the fourth of February. It runs clear through 'into July.

Cecil Kennedy. We have noted in our lambing grounds, where the ewes have their yaung, that almost daily if accessible to water a ewe will go to water just after she has had her lamb.

Aldous. On this watering I would like to say one more thing that came to light last fall, and f think it is something we may have missed. It is that ordinarily our watering period starts just about the middle of June and it will continue until the summer rains, which usually come about the first or second week in July. Then for a period following the rains depending on how heavy they are, there is no watering, Then again about in September on some of these , lower springs such as two of the ones we are going to visit tomorrow, the sheep came back and may use water again until about the end of December. I think that is tied up with the breeding season. When the rams are running the ewes, they need a little more water. It is paying dividends for us. Ged picked up five sheep up there Past week trapping EL%EL result of this.

Cecil Kennedy, One of our notations is that water is an essential during the lambing period, I think your growth of the succulent type plants more detenaines the need for water than your actually going for water there. Weaver. Your watering problem in December you tied in with the running - activity. I would suspect because I have observed the same thing that it is tied in with the vegetation. We hadn't as yet received any fall or winter rains, and there was no green feed or new growth started. Therefore they were still on dry feed and still dependent on water. It is assumed that if you had any winter rains a short time after that, they would stop using available water and probably wouldn't return to it until June, except for an accasional individual animal.

Aldous, That might influence it. We had more rain this past.May, Juae, July and August than usual. This brought a lot of the annuals back and greened things up pretty good again, but the sheep are still using the low springs. I believe if .itwere not for the strenuous breeding activities the sheep would meet their water requirenenrs from the succulent vegetation.

B~ran. I'would like to get a short dissertation in which is a pet theory of mine. I believe that after spending a trmendous amount of money on water development we still don't know a great deal more on water utilization, when water is needed, particularly in wild sheep, Bhan we did 20 or 30 years ago. A good biologist then tries to go back over the same ground and dig a little deeper. I would put a lot more emphasis on the fats in plants than on water 'for this reason: it is true the animal can get dews and free water in plants which will help him temporarily for a matter of a day or two, a few days, weeks possible, but he is unable to store this water. Me can take in fats from plants and store them for months. Perhaps this gets him over the dry season. Going back to your elementary biology, you will rgcall that when carbohydrates and proteins are metabolized, they produce water, metabolic water. The sheep then manufactures it's water, does it not? When he breaks this carbohydrate and protein, he produces heat. He has to get rid of this heat, so he evaporates moisture through insensible perspiration, The sheep then does not profit by eating carbohydrates and proteins; but in the case of fats he does come out ahead. He gains a little water after he even eliminates water to balance his body heat, I devised a little technique for measuring the fats of desert plants. I just take a kmyn aquare and maeh it on a blotter and evaporate the water. Then I use a light technique for measuring the amount of fat. 1 did'iet a figure on a light meter by this method. It is quite possible that we could devise a field technique. I hope I get time to fiddle with it- -- - soon. -.,- Some of you may become interested in this problem. Just take a known quantity of a plmt, smash it on a blotter, and try to measure so that we can get an objective figure on the amount of fat present, I think the people on the Desert Game Range have a very .fine opportunity with their penned animals to spend their money more prof itably I believe than on water development, It surely would be nice if we knew the respiratory quotient of a sheep. These fundamental biological techniques have been worked out. We know we should know them, and yet of course fundamental biology sometimes leaves a bad taste in some administrators1 mouths. It is not the glorified work we field men like to & myway. -Russo. You have s point well taken there. However I believe 'that water development does play a very important part. Let us think of comparing our sheep here today with the sheep we had fn the late 1800's and previous to that. We had huge populations if we take the words of our elderly biologists. At the same time in that era we also had quite a bit of moisture. As a result there wasnl t the need for the water developments that there is today. Now we have to manage our herds under the present conditions, not past conditions or future condi tions. Consequently we have to invest a lot of money in water dwel- opments. In Ariznna it has paid off in this respect, Every tlme we developed an area we had a resident population which moved in. I do believe that as far as water requirements it is up to the individual and not up to the herd. Every animal does not go into water, and I can vouch for that because many times I \ have found sheep in areas far removed from water during the tlme when water was-pressing; in other words during the summer they are in and around waterholes. I have found ewes as well as rams, but mostly rams, some people prefer to call them bachelor rams, way off in an area where they couldn't possibly get water unless they took off at a dead run and kept on going far three days. And yet they are surviving. In Arizona the sheep do utilize the cactus, especially the - baguaro. If you want to jump to conclusions an4 aay the sheep utilize fhe saguaro to get the water out of it, that is one thing. But I have seen sheep utilize the saguaro right near a weterhole, not touching water at all. Appar- antly there is a food value derived from it. Surprisingly enough for a sheep to penetrate a saguaro he has to butt it. He doesn't utilize the outside part for it is too spiny and it is too hard for him to get at. Generally what will happen is a ram will come up to a saguaro, butt it and break it open adstart to feed on it. As soon as he leaves, the ewes, lambs and yearlings will go in and feed on it.. But it is entirely up to the individual and pot to the herd. As far as developments go, the more we have the better it is I think.

men. That is all right in theory, John, but what figur'es do you have on the water supply here and hundred years ago? . , -Russo. I can't go back a hundred years, but I can go back more than 50 years and take the water measurements from the Bureau and compare them. If you want to take the word of these oldtime prospectors and settlers in the valley, they will tell you that at one time :there was more water. Certainly we ~~ that may of our mterways were active at that the vhereas tday they remain as dry washes. So there must have been more water. The water table was higher. You can iwestigate that and find in Arizona our water table has dropped so low that presently there is an absence of plants that at one the existed.

Omen. fa the next area you might find the presence of plants where they never existed. -Russo. Well, what I am referring to is on your desert areas far removed frm your population centers there is fndication of some mesquites, ironwoods and paloverdes :that are dyisg, plants with deepseated taproots that no longer em absorb water because the water table has dropped so low that these plants are dying:

Ogren. The only other comment 1 have, Job, is that I don't eay we shauld not continue water development and spend our money on it. We have to do something, and I say instead of just butting our heads against the wall let's try anything, but let's accompany our management program ~itha research program in such a way that we can objectively. determine the value of the management. Let's try to get some measurements and figures which will tell us the value of developing water as we are doing it today.

-*Monson I beliwe as Ogren does that we certainly ought to have a lot more research on this water requirement business. Xf it turns out that we don't need to spend the money on these water developments, there are cert'ainly dozens of other 'places where we can spend the IPoney,

Cecil Kennedy. I think that this water development program kind of got us into the same thing that the predator program did. It is one of the segments that we are trying to work on to bring these sheep back, Rather than devoting full time to it absolutely, 16 is only a part of the program.

John'son. Regarding your idea on plants and their water content or whether fat is necessary for future water use, I wuld think that the percentage composition of ghe food that the animal uses could be determined and then checked against the:ati&iytical breakdown in the nutrition books for a correlation. I think certainly this has been done, and it would be a little more accurate than your blotter technique Sor fat content.

Ogren. Oh, undoubtedly it would. P was just thinking of a simple field technique.

Johnson. Yes, but it is already written. Why use a blotter?

Omen. But I haven't been able to find my such data on desert plants. Those used by conrmon livesttock in general areas, yes, there is some data on those.

Johnson. We may have some coming up here in Nevada because they do have a research project sing at the blniversiky of Nevada, and they hwe been doing on analysis of plants. How qtensive,it is I can't say yet, but they are grazing cattle in the areas ttiire and also sheep in Utah and doing plant analysis on very comparable areas suc6 as the sheep use around here. So perfizps we can give you some help there, . . -Moneon.-- There is quite 8: reae&ch project going on now. I was just reading a couple of weeks ago how the camel is able to get along for long perbda xitbut watere Possibly em& 06 the things they have found out about the camel will tell us why the sheep can get along so well vithout water. They have learned that the camel has quite a wide range in his body temperature in a period of 24 -burs.

Goodman. I imagine you are referring to Smith Neilson's wor!: on the camel --6- --6- which hasn't becn published yet, but I t-Link we should encourage more really trainee! physiologists to wsrk on qana of our local big gme.

Monson. Does anyone else have anything to say on this very interebtbg subject? -Weaver.- I: have bee3 .interested in ,this camel &a1 and the similarity ta bighorn water rclqubremenss, ets,, for a couple of years, since I first read abut this act8;rity in Africa in p. newspaper account, A exme1 can dehydrate as much as a quarter of its welgbt. Its body temgerature ciln rise severely, and there is no ell effect. It will recover if if gats water within the Pknfe- ed time. 1 believe as Job Goob.an &eo tbt a s~udyon bighorns would be of interest and probably of value.

Mcnmn, We certiinly need a lot more informatim and a lot more research and correlation of inr'ormation on this szbject, / Befare we leave it, I would like to sok if any wsterhole watchers have mticed what I have noticed. Often sheep will mne in eppzrentiy distressed an4 in need of a drink of water. They more ger,rtslly proceed right straight to the water, often practically running, and they stay 21 fcr as long as five minutes and even up to sevea or eight minutes md drink st=di:y. The contour of the body has chngsd notice- ably whe9 they come out. Then they seek skde gezlerczlly and staad there and brzatbvery heavily snd quickly for several minutes and then thzy go and rest. I just wonder if anyone eb.2 has 2oticed this. -Wcever. f wonder if with the heavy breathing they aren't dissipating heat from the body. - 56 - : ! . . , ..0 . PBOIBNGED BREEDING AND LaMBZNG PERIOD

Monson. I am going to stare out with John Russo and ask him to give us a resume of what takes piace with the sheep in southern Arizona.

-.I. -Russo . The earliest I haye observed lambs personally was the latter part of December. However, I have heard of observations, reported observations, in - early December or very late Nevember. The lambing season generally starts in January, about the middle of January, and wntinues through February, Now the latest I have seen a lamb - a young lamb, I would say less than three weeks old, was in May, However, I do have a report again that a lamb was observed in July. Breeddng activities are extensive, They generally start In late June or July with the early rams showing breeding instincts, However, breeding doesn't take place uatil possibly August.

1 Rave you anything to add to that, Gale? . - . Q-. r ' Monson. Well, our obsqnrations tie in pretty ,close with yours - of course they would, One report I feel sure of is of a l&b the 15th of December. I, myself, saw a lamb in tbe muntdss clase to Parker Dam one fall in October. It muat have been born in September. There is no doubt the majority of the ewes drop in JanuaryS ., ,-.

Let8$go over to the Califomfa side of the Colorads River. Weaver, Bs you have any inforination on the lambing period over there? I' -.. . - Weaver. Our she& range in the state variea'pretty widely north and south, .climate-wise and elevation-wise, so I think our lambirrg period in different areas will be slightly different. The earlieat observations I have personally -

\\A, made were in February with an indicaf ion of considerable lamb drop ir January. It continues pretty heavy for a coupleof months; then every once in awhile you find where these fellows dr~pone six months from the lambing period.

How about Death Valley?

6 Sumnet. Its about the way Weaver describes it, but occasional ones We observed been by Welles almost throughout the year. -. .I.. -.

-*Aldous The earliest lamb we have observed here was February 4, and the latest lamb birth was July 3. The July 3 lamb was born at Qxn Creek, Kelly and I saw one on July 8 two years ago in the Pintwaters that didn't appear to be over two or three &ye old, Two years ago in June we had a breeding observation, it was about the middle of June, which would have made a mid-December lamb. But ~eb&iary 4 is the earliest recorded oDe we have, and July 3 is the latest recorded one.

Monmn. What about the bteediq period? . J Aldous. We hear the rains fighting in June and through July, and then you start to see breeding activity as a regular thing - about the middle sf August. That &?lrun on through November.

Monson. Cecil, what is the situation at the San Andrea? Cecil Kennedy. The first observation on the breeding season is August 25 and it has gone as late as November 8. Our lambs are born accordingly in the spring months, but we have one observation of a lamb coming into water with a ewe on June 22. We felt that it wasn' t over 20 days old. That is the only single obeervathn we hehad of a mid-suuuner lamb.

Onren. We saw one lamb in Kansas State Park in Mid-January of last year.

Plonson. Donat you have some accurate figures on the gestation period? . - ., T. Aldous. We have two figures on gestation periods - one is 173 days and the other is 175 days. % ' >.-. . - RUSSO. This is one thing I have always been interested in and I get into '-. P terrific arguments about it. I waulC like to get ea opinion from each state or area. Do you have lambikg 'grounds .t&t are used yearly, or do you find that - -- the lambs are dropped *ere the ewe happ& to be? In Arizona I have found lambing grounds, and I can go back to these same areas every year and find ewes. I Me seen thea there as many as fourteen days after the lambs are born. The lambs are various sizes, and they more or less feed from that area, The lambs are playing around running all over the place. Then I have found a ewe off by herself or maybe with another ewe near a cave, and they had their lambs.'

Cecil Keasaedy, I P:hIak that we all cis have psssibly mote or less lambing grounds. I think your disturbance to the area and to the individual sheep has more to do with the locality of havirig the young than the actual lambing groun,$s. They will go to it if urrmolested. Where we have the hunts fn November the sheep are scattered out. I think the ewe will pursue the closest water to have her young. We have about seven different ereas there where we have lambs, but I have found ewes having lambs in practically every location of the Refuge.

Russo. But you do hwe what you consider a definite lambing ground? - .... Cecil Kennedy. That ia right. ,\ . O~ren. Cecil, have you ever observed aay lambs dropped on the flats?

Cecil Reanedy. No. It has been one of the most rugged areas on the Refuge where they have their' young.

Fredine. Was there a definite correlation between lambing grounds and water? /'

Cecil Kennedy. There surely was.

Russo. Now in the southwest where our lambing grounds are located there isn't a drop of water ground for kiles.

.I Ceci 1 Kennedy. I noticed that on the Big Hatchet Range, which is a stake refuge in the southwestern corner of New Mexico. Their lambing grounds are prabably farther from the water than anything.

I Jonez. Of course, when I speak of the Muddy Mountains area you have to remanber you have a live water source with Lake Mead. However, the area where I have seen the youngest lambs was the highest most inaccessible peaks .and usually with a very sharp drop off into a very steep cariyon.' The easiest way to find them is to be on the mountain ecross the other side and sit still for a long period of time until you finally see them. We ran into that, Warren and I, several times, One time particularly where I came upon the crest of this one hill and looked across a very deep cenyoa and found two ewes with two labs bedded down on the far side. Warren, without knowing that I had picked up an abeervatbo, proceeded dmm this 2mp1. hly watching the ewes axid lmbs across: the way I knew exactly when Warren came into view because old mommy just herded the youngsters right over the top as soon as she saw Warren appear. AS I say, it was the top of a peak probably three to four miles from the water of the lake, and it was down a steep hill. I also made another observation in 1954 in the same area and found three ewes and three lambs bedded down on the top of a peak. It took me well over five hocrs to get up there. Some of if:is mountain climbing. The sheep were just as placid as they could be on the top of the peak where they could see many miles in all directions.

Fredine. Do you consider that a lambing ground? ___j_ Jonez. Definitely a lambing ground, Every year we find the ewes there, and sometimes I don't think they even leave the area throughout the year.

Aldous. , I believe we have the sme condition here tbat Cecil has tiown dhere. We have areas that I would asider def inite lanrbing areas, and we have a high concentration of ewes in there at that time of the year, However, we do see lambs scattered in other areas, and for the record these lambing af eas where we see the lambs ordinarily are not too close to water. In the spring of the year, Jme 15, won1 t miss the time that sheep come on t~ water by a week one way or the other. When they do, they hit. all the springs, It is something that you can almost mrk off on the calendar and figure you can go in there and stert trapping, -Jonez. I might mention, ClaFr, we could just possibly have a little - earlier date in the lower regions like the Muddies. I think we took our waterhole comt earlier then June 15. I believe it was quite a little earlier, Your difference in elevation could very easily be your factor there. An elevation of about 1200 feet as compared to your elevation of maybe 6000 or 7000. Of course the temperature is in the same proportion. Uhen it is fairly nice to take a waterhole cotmt as far as temperatures are concerned on the Game Range, it is nothing but a hot hell 13 the Muddy Mountains. You sit down there without any shade, no trees, and it is plenty warm.

Goodman. I think we have an excellent opportunity in the Santa Rssas to -see lambing grounds particularly because of the accessibility. It is at about 2000 feet, and you enter the mountains straight into a canyon. The first canyon you come to you hike back maybe a mile, and you get into rugged cliffs with temporary water in the spring - no water later in the summer. There is no difficulty at all in seeing lambs most of the year. I did119 see any this spring, but most of the springs they have - every spring up until this year you see the ewes in there, no rams. I have never seen a ram in Dead Indian Canyon. I can show my students, whom I usually take in, lambs and ewes every spring - at least a dozen maybe. By June 15 or later it is impossible to find any kind of sheep in that canyon.

Cecil Kennedy. We found that these ewes will group themselves in these lambing grounds, and as they have their young, they will isolate themselves from the group and then rejoin the group. Evidently when the lambing period has been completed the whole group will move - just move completely out of this locality right then. Maneon. When you say group, do you mean four bad or more?

4 8 : Cecil Kennedy. I have seen as msny as 17 head of.ewes with as many as eight lambs following them on one of our major lambing areas. As I wrote in an article, X was fortunate enough to see a lab born in its natural habitat. -Weaver. I think I will get in on this. It is all very interesting. I have been very interested in these lmbing areas. It ia something I try to determine if possible when I get into a new mountain area, which I am always doing. They do exist %n the areas Goodman spoke of. We have done considerable work in there during that the of the year for several years running, It is just-as he described it. I believe in that area we do have-definite lambing grounds, and we do have sheep later but they certainly arenLtas numerous or as easy to obotrve as earlier.. Jonez .mentioned something on. his water hole count in the Muddies sometime in June.' I gathered they plan on the weather turning hot and the sheep starting to use water, usually the first or second week in June depending on the first hot spell. We find the same thing in California. I was questioning the value sf a waterhole count until you have an extended period of heat. I don't believe that all your population are going to hit the waterhole on the first hot spell and that only a few individuals come in then. Later if you haven't had thunder showers to disrupt them you will get a greater concentration at the same water -hole.

Jonez. I think you are very right on that fact. That water hole count P - we had at that time we did not believe was an adequate sample. We didn't believe we were getting the p~pubati~ocoming in that sbouad bdBeen,

'.Aldous-* We believe about the same way, The only thing is that the first year I was down here we scheduled a water hole count in July and were riiaed out, Subsequently we started the last week fn June. Maybe we &nlt have all the sheep in watering by then, but we get it over with before the summer rain hits. r 1 Manson, I think we can say we had the same experience on the &fa. By setting the water hole count too early the animals just don't come in some years. Pi year ago they were comizig in much better at the same time.

. St.& 'Mr. Slnnner did you have something to say? - Smmer. I was going to suggest that per*s some areas with markedly irregular and rather def idea precipitation annually may offer an exception to this sort of a rule. It has been indicated so far that lambing grounds are rather def bite compared to other areas. In Death Valley there are areas where sheep have been seen in the past, but there has been virtually no rain for several years. The sheep therefore have not been seen in those areas for several years. Conversely an area where lambs have been seen one year followed by a year or more of no rain does not show lambs again the following year. In other words, the irregular precipitation pattern necessarily results in irregular distribution of lambing areas and you cannot count on going back another year and finding lambs in the same area unless there has again been some precipitation. That is our tentative conclusion, at least on the DeathValley area. -Jonez. One thing that we did notice in this leambing area that I was speaking of was the hunt we had in 1956, The huuters hunted the -area pretty thoroughly. There were a few lembs in 'here however, mostly eves and yoMger animalsa It was one df the areas in the whole Muddy Mountains most devoid of .. - , vegetation - annual vegetation. It had apparently missed most of the rains that hit the southern part of the state, and it was really in sad shape. Even the creosote brush was brown and looked like it was just about on it's last legs, We know it isn't, but it was just to that stage. And yet the ewes and the younger animals had stayed in that area after the lambing that spring. It often made me wonder why they- stayed in such a devoid.ra.ge.. - after the lambing period,

Ftehe. I think this diseussfea again,psfnts up tlne.pazing adaptebility of the. animal we are talking: about. Water requirements, in. spite of the.,2mbfng seagon, not.-having'thestrict habitat requfrements for lambhg all adds up to one thing - that if these were not true, the desert bighorn would hot be here. As

Monson. Whan you compare it to other large nmmals, it certainly is,.. Provided you hwe enough rocks around the blgbrn sheep can get by where ar deer cannot. OEl the cabeza Prieta Game Range for instance, the country gets tco tough for the deer &?cutthe the yo^ leave the Organ Pipe National Monu- ment, but the bigborn is present all the way through.

Wen. Regarding the distribution sf mamais, the bf$iem does atead all the way to the Mediterranean across a mupie of continents, and as some of you gentlemen know, the distribution of this creature provides some of the best evidence for ahe land bridge theory, . , t . * . .-. , , , LAMB SURVIVAL AND HERD COMPOSITION

Hoason. This is mre or less related t~ our hst topic, md 1'11 ask for anyone to contribute whatever he has on this very interesting topic. \ . Aldous. The past two years our initial lamb drop has been very low, only about 20%, and survfxal has been low. We just havawtcome through with any lambs, adlast summer was an extremely dry summer, worse than what we have bad and *at had bean bad and yet we came up this spring with a tremendous lamb crop. We had figured a little better than 60% and tfie survival was good. As of the end of August, I'm just drawing from memory now, I think we still had something like a 34% lamb crop.

MOQSQD. We were talking about lamb survival and herd cornpodition. As Clair said.-their studies ixlirate that the nrnnber of lambs dropped is quite irregular with respect to any one given year, and I wonder if that same observation is the general thing with bighorn,

Aldous. There is something I would like to msntion here because I think with all of us kicking in our opinfons on it or if you don't have an opinion you can sleep on it until next year and maybe come up with aa opinion. I stumbled on thf s quf te by accfirgnt, f went to the Nevada Section meeting of the Range Society here a cosple of months back, snd they bad a pane1 discussion, During this discussion a group of renchers were talking about their operations and one thing and another. We do have a little livestock operation through some of this country down here. Having come down from range area up in eastern Montana where they have grass down to this stuff I still cantt see a livestock operation here, but the gist of the thi- is that these fellows operate on a basis of a calf every other year. If a cow calves this year, she is not sufficiently recovered, her health isn't built back up, physiologically she is not ready to breed that fall. She goes on through and breeds the following year, so every other year a calf crop is a normal operating procedure here in this desert area. That got me to thinking maybe that would answer our sheep thing because we have quLte a variation in our lamb drop year to year. Now 1 &ntt think that would follow right down the line. We hare a pretty good lamb amp this year and then way low next year or anything like that, but I do think if weather conditions are real good and the food is abundant and succulent all the sheep are probably in shape to breed the same year again, but I do think that in poor years that the same thing might hold true for these sheep. What do some of the rest of you think about that?

Jobson. Certainly this is borne out by some research data that we have gotten from the University of Nevada on cattle. Year before last the calf crop was 26%. This is low, especially when you think of a good calf crop as being in the neighborhood of 80%. This year however, the calf crop was near 409,. This I think we can tie in with the much better conditions. We did have some rain and a pretty decent winter. The annuals this year have shown it, The cattle are in good shape. Howem, if we are going to have say every other year, lambs produced in the bighorn sheep, environmental conditions re- maining the same, you would not f hid the fluctuation in your lambing percentage. They would remain low, but they would be constant unless you put in another factor of additional moisture to offset it. . I.. . . . I..,. .' I- i!? d'. ._ . .. ' r.: . ., ,:.;,.- . . Weaver. I think the moisture factor, the rainfall and resultant feed, is the biggest thing in the lamb drop. We don't have any investigations on it. I wish we did have. It is a big field which I think deserves more attention. But I believe from just casual observations that usual1y.a good lamb year will follow a year of gcod forage conditions. A good rainfall in 1952 would result in a good lamb crop in 1953. It might depend on when the rains fall. Good summer rains would bring a good lamb crop the following winter and spring probably.

-*Russo Let me ask you this, Dick. Don' t you believe that the lamb crop is a- survival factor more than a lambing factor?

Weaver. It could be. We don't have the intensified investigation, that is men in the field, to get the actuallamb drop. It is only a casual observation as to the number of lambs sea which already could be a survival factor within a year. -Russo. Do you believe that dropping of lambs is more or less a static thing? As far as your over-all population, & you believe you bethe same percentage from year to year? ...... ' ~eaver. :I:'&dlt how...! P-.d.sh...Idifi. doubt if, but I can't: say po.ei- a;-:.:.: - .. . : .. y . . . . &ely . .,...... *.. . . -*Russo The reason I asked this is that P hefooled around end there has been some study done along these lines as far as plant life goes. And I know in the desert in dry years we will have a good saguaro crop, good mesquite bean crop, good ironwood bean crop, good paloverde bean crop, which you might: say is a tendency for the plant to survive itself, that is to perpetuate itself, - And it produces a tremendous crop. We realize that much of this is going to be lost in subsequent drought, but some of it is going to take. I also notice that in our carnivores, our rodents in a dry year, young coyotes, bobcats, and other rodents, there are heavy litters, but the survival factor is low. Naw I wonder in our animal life if that iastinct to perpetuate the species does not in some way affect the breeding whereby you may have a large production but a small survival. If you were to tie this in with the human race, you could see where in your well fed families, average families, how many people have trouble losing childrea, and yet in your lawer type families they conceive and repro- duce rapidly and have no trouble at all. That is 'something to think about.

Johnson, I thick we should throw the h- out of here because we have a psyckmlogical factor that we don't have in animal life. I think it is mainly psychological here. I think ,that our survival problem and our reproduction thing are this. I don't think we wer reach a stage of nutrition on any animals except when we encounter a lot of straight starvation deaths when we da not have conceptions, I think that our losses are going to be in uteral, and because of this we do not find dead lambs out on the range. We just don't find any, and our immediate nutritive level is going to be the deciding factor as to whether we are going to have lambs, If the dam is not in sufficient health, she will not produce, the foetus will die in utero, and you never find anytkdpg. You just find less lambs. And because of this you will find that in a good year you will have lambs. Once again it is survival, only this time it is in utero survival, it is not a post uterine survival factor. It is in utero SUP vival. A resorption or possibly an abortbn. You will find the death of a foetus and all you will slough off is a little bit of soft tissue wbich you will never find. But certainly on the game,+range froq the factors we find here there are jast n~ lambi they just deo't show up, ~)nd!pudon't fi~dthe r-ios, 33 there were bones, you should be able to fhd them.

Omen. Maybe the buzzards fiad them,

t Johnson. They don't eat the bones though. They eat soft tissue, but they dongt eat many bones. . .

. I. Russo. Our field observations show that even in good years a surprisingly large number of ewes Qn't produce lar+s, and also you can definitely tall when you are close enough whether or not the ewes are dry or wet.

Weaver. I wonder if we cant t correlate this with deer, the one otlier game animal that we know more about on this fluctuation in the lamb survival or lamb production. It seems to me that there might be a correlation there,

Monson. I can say something about that for we hwe a pretty good example of that on the Kofa where in the surnmer of 1955 we got rain over the entire area. A rancher wb.has lived in the area for a long time called it a 20-year rain. The annual growth and the new gmwth on the parenrnieePa was atPaslestely sutstmding, I beawer seen azqthing like it, And every doe, almost every doe at least, dropped two fawns. We had terrific deer population just all of a sudden there. That wet summer was follcwed by a dry winter with hardly any rain.. The smer following there was alrnast no rain, =d the fawn crop just fell away.off. Unless the deer is able to forecast the weather, it just means that the fawns must have died before they were born.

Weaver, What happened to the sheep at the same time?

Monson, We certainly didn't have that sudden increase. I think you can say that undoubtedly the bighorn sheep has one of the lowest reproductive potentials of any of our big gme epe-ib. es.

Omen. In my four years scudy of the mall population of Rocky Mountain Bighorn on Wildhorse Island in Montana, which incidentally was a lamb survival study, we did mark ldsas they were dropped, This is the only way we can measure productivity of course. men we see a ewe-lamb ratio even a month after the breeding season, we don't know if it is a low ratio due to.surviva1 or productivitp. Unless you mark the lambs as they drop out of the ewe, it is pretty difficult to measure productivity and survival. Both productivity and survival tended to influence the resultant ewe-lamb ratio. SEASONAL FOOD P3QUIRZMENTS AND NUTRITION

Albua. We feel, that tlieze is no lack of food on the Desert Game Range. Some years it is in -a drhd &red state, a carry-over; but even in a poor year we have a pretty good"c&rry-cver. As far as preferences go, list all the plants on the Desat Game Xange, and if ji0i.i follow the sheep long enough h thlnk you will find them tryLhg just about everything. We do hope to acke a preferexe index, but that 3s #going m take a lot of observations ~nda lot of time. We have a checkli.st of the plants on the area that runs very close to 1,000 species,. Both Ged and I came down here from, Montancl,' the de.dert'4tW new to us, and we &e.had a big job learning all these plants, -7 - - . . &. -Mo~sou. I wontie= if any of ybu.bave noticed that when this patticular itan was first picked up by Nichols way back fn the late 30's when he was making his survey of thz i~igbrapopulation in Aribzona, and that is that there is a particular euphor3iaceons plant that grows in the Lower Sonoran zone in Arizana, the name is Ditais, the genus is Ditaxis, and recently I understand that has been supplanted by another cme; that seemsr'to bedi invariably browsed. It is n4t a plant that is common anywbeze; The plants afEq8dattered and thin, but almost always especially in dry ~eriodsthey are browsed right back to the root. That is one -project that we have always had in mind' doing something about, but we never- kwe',dq I war to cut' z lot of it some t-bni" and send it away for chemical adnutf%itional halyses. I wonder if thgfe &refanyother plants that sea %Q be especially souzht after, -+ 11' . Weaver. P never cs~ld'find my flovess on it. The sh'eep Ifad 'eaten them all off, There is zn ice crem plwt, and I can almost find the index to the sheep population by looking at this plact. If the plant grws up to a foot or more high, thete*larenttany sheep there because they Wndd.haue found it and eaten it off, .~f"itis gone, 'there are some sheep there2 , ;, . .. ., r l :< :< L- r 6. - Monsan. That is one of the more fascinating things td me about the sheep food habits - this particular predilection for this one plant. 2, . . - .I) -J- i Ingram. Welles has 'discover&?d!fh: his observations +hat cer-tain individuals won't touch that but will feed on something else. Also oaa year one individual at a certain time of the year will show a preference for one species and maybe he won' t touch it -for the next twoL years, or the next year, and then come back to it the fb'llowing year. -. 1J :-., Cecil kennedy, We' have noted on the San Andres that the sheep utilize the mountain mbgany and the silk tassel bush the year long. i-," 1.)-, . . Monson. When you speak of silk tassel, what is that? -. I?, Cecil Remedy, That is Wrigbtsilk tassel, or Garijra writzhtii. , - r I1 ' 9 .> , ,- Monson. I think 'it is pretty &Ye to say that bn the Kofa anyway the most important sheep-browsed plant is the staonsia, or come bush,ldeet.nut? 6r any one of a dozen other n&s. On the €kbezs~'Prdetsr~-ieiW eattrely lacRir?g. They go to quite a variety of food there. The topic here is more or less seasonal food requirements, and I wonder 'if we have &~ythiiizon: that. - : ! .. .'-i~i Aldous. I have a couple of observations here. This year- was the first year since I have been down here when we had a good general flowering of r l . k'\. . .I:- - 1.2 3;1 >2 2);' J.;: I.? Jodhuas, 8nd we ma& quite a few observations this spring of sheep feeding on these joshua blooms. They rare up on two feet and eat on them like mad. They really u'eht foi thgt bloom. In the sprh!ig of the yead we find a lot of use on Stipa speciosa, which is needle-grass, that is quite abundant in the hills. Thtough the summer green ephedra is quite a preferred browse plant, and the two mahogany6 that we have here are used quite extensively. 1 would say they are ehut our chief browse species. I think that Deming believed that the cliffrose was about the most important. I believe it Ls important, bbt 1 htwentt seen the use on it that I have on these other plants.

Weaver. The plants you mention are familiar, but they just &aft seem to be typical of the plants I associate with desert bigborn sheep. -Jonez. I might say that probably our Eldotado or Muddy Ranges are more comparable to what you are thinking of in California. We don't get into the plants that Clair has just mentioned at all in those lower elevation ranges. They are dependent on a little different food supply there than they are in the higher elevations of the Sheep Range. ,

Kelly. They depend almost lntirely on this Hvrnenoclea in the Eldorado and Muddy Ranges. It is wideeraread and it is ueed pretty heavily. It is probably a matter of choice rather than preference.

i.ioiison. TLlit's very interesting for it is very cornon on the kf~,ad as far as I can tell they never touch the stuff.

Cecil Kennedy. P would like to ask you and Mr. Russo - there was a stomach analysis run I believe on that sheep study you made on the bfa, wasn't there Jobnay? Did it run for a period of 12 months? What were the results of your findings on thsse stomach analyses? What-was your opiaon of their preferred food? -Russo. Well, surprisingly enough the outcome of that showed a tremendous preference for dtied grasses. Of course simonsia rated very.highly, and the legumes were next.

Monson. I think we are pretty well agreed that unless you have a terrific number of samples and they are analyzed almost at once, you can't rely bo much on stomach samples as a gauge of what the sheep are eating. Personally I would rather depend on sight observations as being a truer index of food habits. They don't need grasses in every case because down on the weet end of the Cabeza Prieta you just can't fhd grass most of the time. -Jonez. Sometimes for two or three years running we will not have any grasses produced on our ranges here too. Checking through the names of some 06 the plants we have seen eaten out here - the white Bursage, burrow brush, brittlebrush, cat claw leaves, faenant holly. Wild buchzheat was one that they prefer, but that comes up only when you have your annuale coming up. Of course there are other grasses at the same time usually. -Devan. Under food requirements I surely would like to hear if anyone has any comnents or observations on animals utilizing licks to supplement mineral deficiencies. -Reed. A ewe and lamb cane in and went down to water, and when they came oat they got into some old skeletons and spent several minutes chewing the bones. .. . Cecil Kennedy. In a&msg all oe our suaaner sheep areas we have salt licks - a substance faund on the botndary of the Wte Sands National Monument. We have deeper substance in our soil there that we think the sheep utilize. We have be= having the soils analyzed by New Mexico A & M College &d found they had a Ugh salt content: in them. We have also experimented some with salt, We fetmd by putting ic around in various areas that the sheep use the suPFurized salt. Of course it is utilized by both deer &d sheep.

, , -Devan. Have you ever put out just sulfur? i Cecil Kennedy. No, we have never tried that. : .-:. Weaver, I have been interested in this question of salt, and several of us have put out salt in concentrated mixtures, I have never found any evidence of the Nelson Bighorns utilF~i~8sdt or food supplement. This is interesting to me because they have been ignoring it when it was available.

Russo, I tried salt in area in which we don't Lye ax~ydeer or livestock, and I put out salt in various ways - wen natural salt as it comes out of the mine, For five years it has been there, ad the only time it was missing was when the rain washed it away,

Dr. Jobson. Wa know that rahersls have been important to the livesdrock %n southern !wad=, Ye how that in general we have t? phasph~rtla defici~nt area. It is always written up when you have phosphorus deficient animals. They chew on old bones. But whether it affects the sheep I donPeknow. But this area is generally phosphorus deficient, and you are going to find increased phosphorus deficiency when you &n"t have maturation of your plants. That is where they get the phosphorus - from plant seeds. This area down here is iodine deficient. They call it a goigro-genic area because it is iodine deficient. Another thing we f3nd in different areas are high selinium toxicity - and high magnesium toxicity. I don't think yuu will ever find a place where you will have sodium chloride deficiency. They eat enough of these atriplexes to get plenty of sodium chloride, We do know we have these selinium toxicities, and they will show up. f think Wyoming makes reference to them inntheir book on Wildlife Diseases. I haven't seen any here, but I think we can expect it. -Ruaso. To go along with what Joh said there we collected a deer that had 14 pieces of bone in its ktomach. On several occasions I had seen deer chewing very much like a mine and absolutely chew on it until they break a piece off and you can hear that. It has quite an audible sound. I sat within 50 feet of one, and I am sure I could have taped it very easily.

Dr. Johnson. f think another thing you will find here is fluorine. When yuu have an iodine deficient area, it ..remains deficient unless there is sufficient moisture to cause an increase in organic matter to increase your iodine and thereby decrease your fluorine. There may be a marginal fluorine situation here. The teeth look like it. I would suggest that if you are going to supplement anything on these animals that it be phosphorus supplementation, in southern Nevada anyway. You can get from phosphorus supplementation increased weight gain over what you wauld f ied with alfalfa supplemtation. Owen. Posslbly the eating of the lamb by the ewe would account for the lack of findfag lambs. -Johsolr.- I have never seen or observed this, but certainly we find this in pigs.

Chriclc Kennedy. Generally speaking, don't you agree that bones d$mappear very rapidly?

Msnson. In some places they certainly do, but not so much on.the Cabeza Prieta end the Kofa. We do find bones lying for cnnsiderable periods of the. ,. .That is something ape can all make some good obsdrvations on I am sure, :*. TERRITORY OF INDIVIDUALS AND BANDS

Monoon. Just to start this off I want to make a comment that seems to be made by a good mauy people, and that is that the Desert Bighorn sheep don't have a tendenay to gather into large bands as exhibited by the Rocky Mountain sheep. Does acyone have any.,comments to make on that particular observation?

Fecdl Remedy. The largest group we have ever noted after 16 years of + observation in that particular area is 27 head, and this was fn the rutting seflmn. Generally erpeakdng from 4 to 7 to ?Q are the largest g;?=ups we see.

Aldous. 1'11 back CBcilts statement on that. The largest group that I have ever seen was 29 head, and that too was during the rut. Several times during the lambing season but past the peak, when the lambs were moving around, I have seen groups of 22, 23, or 24. But I think these bands are all extremely loose, and I think we can back that up with our marked animals. One time we will see a marked animal in a group of 10 or 12, and we might be lucky to see her again in a week and she will be all alone. So I think this band association . is anextremelylooseand flexiblething. They drift into largegroups and then break up into smaller ones and then drift back again.

. , Groves. Four of us saw 63 ewes cnd one lamb feeding out on the tallus elope. They had- left their lambs in the rocks, and there was only one lamb with the 63 eves feeding on the alopa, As we cme amtiod thz poiht of the cliff, regardless of us bebg there they casz right back through us. As they regrouped again to go up out of the valley there were 103 or 186, It was in April at the south adof the Sheep Mountain Range.

Cecil Kaaedy. What is the total pooulatimn?

Aldous, 1100 to 1200 sheep.

Cezil Kennebv. You say they were all lambs and ewes?

Groves. Yes. It is primarily what they call lambing grounds. It was the southern exposure of the Sheep Mountain Range where the small weeds and grasses start early in the spring. It is rough country and the,sheep like to stay there. As summer advances, they work right back up the mountains,

Weever. In the Santa Rosa Mountains we have quite a few observations on lamb yearling and ewe bands, and the most I have ever seen was 14. In different areas I have seen about this same nmber during the rut, There are larger numbers as we often hear reports of people seeing as high as 25. This is one of my favorite questions tossk the oldtimers. 'What is the most sheep they ever saw in a band?" Then I decide if they are lying or not,

Monson. Sumner, do you heany data on how many Death Valley sheep bands there are?

Sumner. Our numbers in recent yeas at lea6t have been low just like most of those recorded here with seven or eight being a fair-sized group. In 1936 or 1937 our chief ranger found 33 at Quartz Spring during the rut, but never since then have we been able to find any number like that at Quartz Spring or anywhere else in Death Valley. Kelly. Around Boulder Dm there was a group of ewes ad lambs - about 12 in the group. That was a good percentage of the total population in that areai. -Jonez. The Colorado River prior to the fomatgon of Lake Mobe and the loss of aur river habitat was a fine area in which to see fairly large bands of the Nelson bighorn sheep, It wasn't uncommon to take the boat and go the dm, a trip of about 25 miles, and see sheep nearly every day. Bands sf 6 or 7 were not uncommon, at least during the hot summer periods. I think the largest group I heard about was 30, I didn't see it myself, I believe you saw several large bands down there, didnl t you Prank?

Groves. Yes, 27 right across from the cabin, -Zones. I don't beliwe that Is the case now - irs fstx I know it isn't. I have made many checks shce Lake Mohe has formed, and wxy seldom now d~ I see a band over 3 or 4, I don't fid the big bands chat once played the - river, 1 believe there uazd to be an ice cream food along we river which of "-course was covered up with the formation of the Lake, ad tL.8 l,wk of attraction has eliminated them coming to the lake, - 70 -

BUM-BIGiZORN COMPETITION AND CONTROL

-Jonez. Nevada hasn't experienced too much of a problem with burro concentrations or the need for burro controls on the Desert Game Range. I might say that in the Eldorado Mountains there are problems wfth burros, especially at waterholes, However, there is not the large burro population in there that You might 8ef2 In California, and possibly just a little bit of control solved the problem. I would like to see mme of these problems of burro control or burro concentration discussed and eee what the cBDCensus of ppinlon is on this very controversial problem, To start it out - how many think there is a problem at all? Elwen out of the group believe that it is a problem. Where does it fit in? Do you believe it is a problem of food competition or water competition'! Weaver. The competition is real - and at waterholes definitely, When there is a small quantity, they monopolize the waterholes and keep other ankaala out. They range about eight miles from water. They are a little bit more dependent on water than native species,

Jonez. Bo you find they contamioate water?

Weaver. Yes, very much so. The water looks like ink, and ft smePls worse, They foul it terrifically, -Jonez. Do you have any before and after examples where the burro moved in and the sheep have left and after contml the sheep bemoved back in? Weaver. I have been in the desert some nine years, this year. I am - finding burros in areas where I haven't found them before. I don't know of any specific areas where burros have moved in and have left. The burro populations have been established for some time, ,I have seen then: using the same water and watering at the same time even. A couple of years ago I had 8 chance to observe a'small group of bighorns watering, As a matter of fact there were all sorts of wildlife watering there that day - coyote, bobcat, quail, and chukker partridge, The sheep were watering at the same time. A jack came in by himself. There was no animosity - m aign of a fight or anything. The sheep just left and the burro drank. So I stuck around to see if they would come back as I felt that their drinking had been interrupted. The particular individuals did not-come back while I obsenred them, However, others that I had observed previously came in and drank. And I have had examples of them damaging work that I had done - development work on water. In these instances they had brought in so much tallus from rock slopes with their hoofs that they completely blocked the natural drainage in one area and caused flood water to flow over, In the other instance they actually went right into the water basin itself, In my water development work I have actually refused to make water available to bighorn when I knew there were some bighorn in the area, the signs were there - it was obvious, There were so many more burros in the area that I muldn' t open the water up because I thought that although I would make another water for bighorn I would actually be defeating my purpose in cuttbg out some potential bighorn range by anly increasing the burros in the area. -Jonez. Actually you were using water manipulation as a means of control on the possible spread or build-up of the burro? Weaver. That is just an example of one thing to be considered in water development - the possible effect of competitive animals. In this case it was the burro. It could be livestock too. ln a sense it was control, The ranchers quite often try control. They fence troughs and one thing and another in order to get than out of a specific area and make them concentrate in any area $here they -am ccctrcl thsr? if control is possible, Jonez, I tW that is what we are trying to arrive at here - what can we use for control. -Weaver. I wouldn't say that was burro control. I would far rather have not had the burroe and used the water development for bighorn, but1 it would only be defeating my purpose if 1 had in that instance. You know in California our hands are tied by legislation. Wa as individuals can't do anything.

Al&us. Will you give us a brief rundown on that burro low in California.

Weaver. I &nit really know enough of the dehils, but in the last session of the legislature to upset things we got a refuge for burros, and it includes most of the desert area of Inyo Couhty, a small chunk that surrounds Death Valley, That ntakes us very happy for we can't: even control them in Death Valley because they would come In from outside. We have had prohibition on shooting burros in California for four years prtor to this session, and for two years prior to it you couldn't catch one without a permit, and there were only 12 permits granted. The prohfbitlon on shooting burros will continue.

Omen. What experience have you had building a fence which was accessible to sheep and deer but not to cattle and burro? -Cowel. Maybe I can answer that, We had a fence to keep burros out around a deer guzzler, and same very kindhearted perso6n proceeded to cut the fence. The burro went In and drained the 3,000 gallon tank, and as a result everything disappeared, The burro population wasn't too big in that area, but they drained that tank,

Onren. Do you beliwe that other than human interference burro-proof fences are feasible?

Wewer. Only in a few unique localities in bighorn counrry where you can fence on three sides and allow a route of travel. Both here on the Desert Game Rqeand the Rofa you have situations where you have been able to & that. I think we must admit that you clanlt find that situation everywhere. It would probably be pretty rare. Where it will work, I would advise it. Ln &iag something of that nature it comes to my mind just how steep a place will a burro not go and the bighorns, particularly young animals, still be able to go. I do have one location where if I can't do anything else I will go in with a barko and drill holes in the rock and try to fence this particular area. It is the same place I mentioned where I had this observation of both using water at the same time. There is a fairly large bighorn population in there and a terrifically heavy burro population. It is the only waterhole for miles.

Cecil Kennedy, Have you ever had the idea of taking the party that is supporting this burro control and asking him to develop water for the burro in certain localities and you develop it for the sheep in other localities? Is it possible to coordinate your plans w they can take care of their own and you can take care of yours? Weaver. ' I have tried in my own meager way t~ educate a few people. People like to see the burro. But unfortunately they only see them along the roads and routes of travel. For everyone they see down there there may be 20 t~ 100 back in the mountains. Usually there is no water on the desert floor - to hold them there, and I feel that every desert range in California if it;isnlt bighorn range is at least potential bighorn range. I can' t see sacrificing any area to the burro. I think a compromise is necessary.

Cecil Kennedy. As he said there, he had a water development there that .was fenced and someone cut the fence. If you wuld get any coordination between that group and the person who is doing this work, he might stop cutting the fences where your bighorn water and let 'the burros water in their own locality.

- Omen. I just have a few observations. I have seen a number of animals crossing fences. The usual thing is for the buck to go over, then the doe to go under, and the sheep will walk through say a 5-wire fence. A horse end b a few cases a burro were unable to penetrate it. -Weaver. It is my opinion that a burro-proof fence is difficult to build. f have seen instances of where. they have tried to fence springs, exclude them from the sourhe or exclude them from the trough, either one or both, and wen- tually they go through. Somethes they sacrificed a burro, it got tangled up in there and it died, but he got the fence down and the rest came through.

. Kelly. Dick, have you done aw,public relations work as far as the damage burros are doing to the sheep ateaB?

Weaver. Yes, maybe I am the *onlyone, I that has. Maybe that is the trquble. P hespoken to sportsmen's orgarttzarians and service clubs and I Uve recited it to anyone who will lend an ear. ,- - Kelly. What is the Department's polioy on that?

I I Weaver. Those who are familiar with the situation believe as -strongly as I do, but there isn't my activity. One of the unfortunate parts of the whole ' thing is several years-.ago there wasapress release that encouraged burro shooting and mentioned that .they were good to eat, .etc, That among other things precipitated the legislation.: The fact that this came out and focused attentian on them threw them In the wrong light, and people had gone into problew areas in Inyo Couht* 'and Panapint Valley and maliciously shot them, in -some tnstances only woundfng them. SPCA and those organizaticlns can quote dl'ikinds .of examples of. wounded burro. Nobody cares about the goose that goes back to Canada with lead in his brisket,;.,No Boubt they can substantiate many of these stories. However, I got so I could recognize any &tory when it was told a little differently by each individual. Doubtless they were true, but they: &dn8 t warranti- in my mind, the atrenthn they got. They got TV time and everything. -Jonez. What does Arizona do on burro control besides shoot than? .T 8 ' i -Russo.- 'Well actually we don't have any control as a program. The burro situation in Arizona is removed fnmn the,,Garae ~epartanenp'shands, and the burro are actually controlled by the Livestock aftUanitation Board, I believe it is called, and anytime you have anything to do Cith burros you should go through that organization and either get penniasion to trap than, Generally in trapping operations they do that. The majority of the animals are on BUl land. Bob Bendt has quite a few of them there in the Grand Canyon. And along the recreation area there are quite a few in the Black Hountains. Now wherever we have run Into burro popuistions t'mt are in direct competition wich the sheep or deer, we have done everything in our power to cnntrol them to cut down this competition. We worry more for our water than we do for the feed for we don't want the same thing happening there that has happ-ened in California. ' A small band of burro can very easily eliminate a waterhole by csnsming it. They are very difficult to eliminate. I have worked areas that I thought were abeo- ;Eutely without burros after I was through, and I would go back there six months later and find burro tracks and trails all over and new dusting grounds. Where they come from I don't know, They have trapped burros in the Black Mountains time and t'he again. At the time there was such a demand for braes and burros and anything else they could throw into a can for dogs and cats, several enter- prising gentlemen went out and they did round up quite s few burros and moved than from Arizona. But even that has failed to elisinate them.

Weaver. The burro distribution in California is basically along the mountain ranges cloeest to the Colorado River. Practically all the desert ranges of Lnyo County, possible the Pinto Range and Death Valley being the one exception I can think of, and a good number of the desert ranges in eastern Saa,Bernardino County, Thie thing that be vae speaking of - elhinati=g thea? c~aapletely- I don't think any organization has to be airaid of that hsppening Lrr California, They got ZP~~YOPIISWfth- no protection, and then we suddenly had protection. ft is practically impossible to get rid of them. Cattlemen have made organized efforts to get rid of them, and they get the numbers reduced and then they relax, Uo ggme animal is as proliflc as the burro. Goad year or bad, it throws a colt, and in a few years you have the same burro population you had before. They will eat themselves out of buse and home,,

Aldous. We don't hea burro problem here. Everyone has a burro problem except ae San Andres and the Desert Geme Range. The San Andres has a feral horse problem.

Cecil Kennedy. I was going to bring out some of the legal aspects of this. I don't know what yout laws are pertaining to your state sanitary bard in California and Arizona, but in New Mexico any animal on the open range wer two gweold unbranded is the property of the State SsnLtary'Board. If the ranchers in the locality went to petition the Sanitary Board, they can force them to remove the animal from the open range. That is the law of New Mexico. If thare is such a law that exists is your atate, it can come to pass that your \ state sanitary board could eend men in there and ranove them from ranges where they are RO~:desired. Weaver. The legal status of the burro in California - the wild burro belong to the people of California the same as the game animals do, and wen under this legislation for those people who are pennitted to trap thein, the burros still belong to the State of California for a period of three years, and you couldn' t sell it or anything except under certain specifications, And so in that sense it has the same status as the game animals except that they can't be harvested or cookolled in any way, Fredine. Isn' t it also true in Calffornk that the Department of Agricul- ture has jurisdiction over the burro? ,.I

Weaver, They have the jurisdiction over issuing permits for their capture. At best it could control only the one water hole or the limited area where they were captured. We have thousands of anbale throughout the state - probably 3,000 all together. -Joaez. Put a season on than and make a game animal out of thap. --weave;. Well Qn't think that hasn't been wneidered. But it aeems ill advised too in view of what has ludppgaed ia the past,

Omen. If the State of California owns these animals, the State must be responsible for them, muat they not? Here are some ranchers who have been hurt by the burros. They can pc,':in a claim to the state. This will be hitting the state iP the pocketbook. This is usually the tender spot to get immediate action, if possible. Has anyone considered trying that? know -*Weaver . Yes, X a rancher who schitted a 5111, and it was ignored. He ehq&t he mu14 docas Bane. get-mtE-on on the canpetitton situation, and the senator who sponsored the leglnlazinn wrote him and Zold him what kind of a guy he thought he was that he begru6ged the pcsr Little burro the native grass. ThaS was the aceisa tdeea QB tkbCs -Cowel. The Department of AgricuLture of tbe State of California has control of issutng the permits for burros. The law is that you may capture the bum 16 you have s permit, but the burro must remain alive for three years before you get final ownership. And during that time it can be used only as a pet or a pack animal. - Strmner. The new law says that they can be killed, If yau can show damage, you can get a permit. There is no restriction as to nwnber. -Cowel. I understand that, but isn't that only within the refuge? Swnner. No, I don't believe so. f think that is for the entire state, That is the state bill, and the refuge bill only describes the refuge and the other bill the state.

Weaver. I hgwen't been able ta interpret it that way fm the wpy of the legislation that was passed.

Sumner. I had the good fortune to talk to W. C. Jacobsan, the Director sf the Department of Agriculture ia the state of California, and he clarified that, so that according to my understanding if you are a rancher a11 you have to do is make put a request for a control permit to the Department of Agriculture. , They will--probably ask you how many you need to control, but bhere is no limit on t,henuxnber; bw, you can't sell them. You can shoot than, and there you are ;:$u just have to let them lie, I guess. The other way of ushg them is the way that you have described, namely as pack animals and pets or beasts of burden. In that case the state holds the trtle for a perbd there after. If you sell the animal, you can only sell it for the seme purpose, namely as pet or beasts of burden. But there are the two different methods of getting rid of the burros. One is destruction where a range is being damaged, and the other is capture, :.,I;* d. - Weaver. I am glad you .t.alked with the' Department of Agriculture, for it does help. If there is a cat'tle lease on a particular range, then the thing to do is-tWiencourage this cattleman to get a pennit to reduce burros.

.. !.- Sumner . Correct, Bob Bendt. As I mentioned yesterday, I think we at the Grand Canyon have a wonderful example of the bighorn range being altered. As I mentioned the observations have decreased in those areas that do have burros at, the present time. Both above and below this existing burro range at the present time where burros are restricted by natural barrfera. You think you control the burros in a specific area but what I think they are doing is reacting the same way as the either sex deer hunt. We have killed a number of burros, but we don1t completely exterminate them. Their habitat improves. Bssiblp we allow the more prolific animals to remain. And therefore as Weaver says they drop more colts every year. Partict?Larly et Grand Canyon where we have been carrying on burro control since 1924 and killed an estimated 2,500 burros, At the present rime the population muld probably be between 1,000 and 1,500. But again that is just an estimate because of the inaccessibility of most of the ereas.

Smer. I think I caadd to Bob ' at remarks with some figures that- are fairly exact for Death Valley that nicely illustrate the difference between habitat that is occupied by burros and habitat that is not. Due So a control campaign and also the' fact that there were fewer burros to begin with on the east side of Death Valley, there are at present no burros 03 the east -side of Death Valley. Possibly two or three bestrayed 4 frmm Nevada, but.we can say that nowadays there are no burros there as compared with their frequency in the old days 20 years ago. In contrast on the west side where the mountains are so rugged and so extensive tkt control measures have never been effective, the burros have continued to increase. The result has been that 65% of the total-.bighorn range counting now both sides of &he Monument - 65% of that contain: only about 10% of the total bighorn population at this time, and the other 35% of the bighorn range contains 90hf the bi'ghorns- The significant thing is that 659,, that larger part, that western part, is the part that is overrtm by the burros. The other side which contains only 35% of the bighorn habitat bs no burros md contains 90% of the remainnng bighorns.

Groves. What is the policy df the Park,Service in regard to the Lake Mead Recreational Areas as pertains to burros? . Unknown. We don't think that we Wetoo acute a problem on the recreation area, but we do have a sort of limited c~trolpolicy permitting their capture. We have not permitted hunting or shooting on the recreational area by outsiders. A few have been eliminated in critical points by the rangere;: but we believe our policy in permitting a few to be captured by folks who want them for a - carnival, pets, or thiagslike that is as far as wd need to go. At least to my ' knowledge we don't have a great problem at present.

Groves. In the forties in the days of the Boulder Canyon Refuge, which was in conjunction with the Lake Mead Recreational Area, that area south of Boulder Dm down to Willow Beach was one of the best mountain sheep concentrations in the area. Andyet as the years went by, I am guessing as to dates now, but up around '46 and '47 that became EXJ heavily populated with burros in there that you could scarcely find any mountain sheep left on the Arizona side of the river, On the other side of the river on the Nevada side where there were burros at that time south of the dam, there was a goodly number of sheep. Qn the Gold Butte area I originally started furnishing shezls for the rancher in there, he was under bond - the legal aspect of it, but he could no longer raise cattle in that area from the killing of calves by burros. The last time I talked to him before his death thete were some 700 burros killed on Gold Butte alone.

Fredhe. I would like to cment on the Park Service policy in ganeral, V rOLi mst realize that we have types of areas t'mt we are talking about hare. Lake Mead is a national recreation area6 and their complete jurisdiction is not conceded to the Park Service for control of the animals, so in that case I think that Chfef.Ranger Reith was right in regulated control in cooperation with the state. However, in other areas of the National Park System like National Parks and Monuments our solicitors advise us that: where the state has conceded complete jurisdiction to feel freeq to use our own judgment and to control burros at will, which we propose to do. However, we would choose to y-. do it with the full cooperation and knowledge of the state in order not to ernbarrasa them In any way. Even though we do not have complete jurisdiction ceded to the United States in a national monument, we still have a very strong case because we are charged with responsibility for preserving and protecting and mahtaining the native species. Whenever we can show that an exotic or a feral animal' is jeopardizing the welfare of a riative species, we do have a very etrong doe to go ahead and control them, which we propose to do. And I think the attitude right now In many of our areaa is to really get tough with bui-ros and dispose of them as humanely but as coiapletely as we can with this one additional exceptlcn. In areas like Death Valley where the burro has some . Bhterisal significance we wi11 pr03ably arraaage to preserve somehow a small band of burros where visitors can see them and know that they are there and actm8ly protoet them. But that wf PI be dona in-a manner so as mt to intetf ere with native game, I -Jonez. I want to thank you all for your comments on the burro. I think they all lead to one thing - that a definite control of some type Ls apparently necessary, and it has been used in many instances where it is legal. mING

-Jonez. How may states here have hunted the bighorn now? Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. California has not.

Weaver. They have been protected since 1883.

In~ham. Although we are not concerned with hunting, at Death Valley, in most of our talks we do bring out the fact that there are bighorn in the areas. Men have meup to me afterwords wk# are hunters and said, Why I didn't believe that animal existed anymore. I just read about it in the histories." -Jonez. Where do most of these people come from? bgb. We have visitors from all over the United States. The greatest percentage of thmu I would say are from southern California.

Weauer, That is very common throughout California, I don1 t know how common it is throughout tbe southwest, But many people don' t realize the animal .exists, When they learn of it, it is a surprise, -Jcnez. Many of our fishermen from southern ~&iforniaart. more or lass enthralled when they see the bighorn out in our area here. Again they didn't realize it existed, even in numbers where they auld see it eltmsalves.

Monson. I know about a man who shot a .bighorn ewe in Arizona, and he was arrested. He claimed that it was an ibex, and the local jury acquitted him. That is just how much native Arizonans know about the bighorn. -. -Bendt . We have found the same thing at ~r6dCanyon where unlike Death Valley we have people comdng.lram all parts of the world, and looking down into the canyon the first thing they want to know is what are these trails they see on this Tonto Plateau, We hate to tell them they are made by feral burros. We tell them, Yes, we have bighorn. We take caution in making any estimates, but they are amazed that there are any bighorns.

Weaver. Ridfcutous as that sounds, I don't know of the case personally, but on one occasion I guess a bighorn ram got over the crest on the west side of the Sierras, and a fellow shot it and was acquitted becauee no one had ever seen a bighorn there and it was impossible,

Jonez. They donf t always do exactly whet we tell than to do, do they?

Aldous. I would like to ask Win to relate the Idaho experience he was telling me about. -Banko. At the International meeting I was talking to Mr. Kohler, wbo I believe is in charge of game management in the State of Idaho. He mentioned that they have been trying tocppen up their bighorn hunting a little mare, artd ff I und&stoad hkn correctly he said that last year they opened up one of their bighorn areas to general hunting on a permit basis, Anyone could apply and get a permit. I just don't recall now - I believe he said they disposed of 60 pennits for this area, and they took three dminasls I believe from the 60. This year they opened the whole state, %hat is the bighorn areas, tlo a general season, and the returns hadn't come yet and he was going to get someone to .-t forward them down. He seemed to think that there was quite a lack of interest , ..:- in hunting the bighorn up there prior to the time that winter sets in because they are inaccessible' and f t la just about a pack trip proposition. 1 think the officials of tbe game department were surprised that they had been able to put the bighorn on a general season and have such little interest S~QGP, \. -Jonee. I think possibly the little success was one of the key factors, tco. B&. Well, as he said, it is a real back-breaker to get in.

Russo. That is wtry they are having a later season this year. -Banko. He said of ccuroe that their success ratio could be raised. He seemed tq think that on one of the areas they could probably get 100% success, - but that was only in the wintertime when they come down around the road and . hang out right along the highway. -Jonez. As I said yesterday we have had several seasons here in Nevada. I have been interested in what some of the other states that have had seasons believe is the best time to hunt them. We have had both April and December _ seaaon8.

-*Russo Our first bighon sheep hunt was held in January, and after that hunt I realized that our season would have to be moved up because our capes were in very poor condition at that time of the year. They were badly braomed, rubbed, the hair was brittle and dry, We aow have a Decmeber season and it works out quite well, The capes are very good, soft, full, and very little brooming is evidenced. I would like ta see our season a little earlier if pessible, the latter part of November, However, I believe that is going to be - impossible since it conflicts with other hunts. I may add this as far as "Arizona hunts go that they have been received very favorably. We have generated considerable intereat in the bighorn sheep as compared to as late a$ 1950. It was 1951 before we had any hunting in Arizona. Just to give you an example of ' what can happen and the antipathy that you may develop in the public, pdlic sentiment as far as picking a season ar an area on an anh1,wahad two beautiful trophy bighorn rams poached in the Eagle Tails. The law enforcement agent8 that worked on it accumulated enough evidence that under normal court procedures the men couldn't possibly get away. There wece two people involved in this particularvblation. They not only had the cartridges that were fired that killed the sheep, but they also had found the gun. They had definitely proved that the cartridges had come from the gun through FBI identification. They had found blood and hair and bone that were technically proven to be bighorn sheep. They found it on the premises of this individual. There was other evidence too - I remember there was quite a narrow pass that this man had to get through; and' he had a high rack on the back of his truck and it is so situated that as you go through your truck goes over a big rock. And this rack hung up on the side of a projecting ledge. And he took his ex and cut part of this rack away so that he could get hie truck through:. And they had that as evidence, They also had the tracks of the two individuals and the meat. We held the trial. The man defended himself, we had all this evidence, and I heard the judge rew&akth@\;gyry was out deliberating, 'Why should we hag$ the man when no one else is alhed to shoot them? It is not going to do any- bqdy any good. Let ~~~~ebodybeme fun." ~ndthat is the general attitude, and the jury let him go. Now we have had other cases I believe where a man was brought in with the evidence, and I think he was fined a few dollars and that was all thee was to it. However, after we had had'our, hunts and we began to generate a little interest, we: had another court trial come up where two individuals had poached a sheep while on a deer hunt around Aho, Arizona; and if I am not mistaken, Ct;l=,"& tawinter, weren't they fined $300 cbiiars apiece? 8. Monson. The only case I kmw that I recall - y6u are thfnking now of the skins that were dug up in the back yard? I

Russo. Yes, $300 apiece. It just goes to show you. Many years ago they P set up the fees for hunting, and among them were fees for bighorn sheep although nobody ever anticipated hunting bighorn sheep in the near future or had in the past. At that time they set up a fee of $50 for resident license, $150 for non-resident. Now this i3 quite steep, When I first thought of recommending bighorn shesp hunting, that was one of the tbQgs that came up immediately - that many sportsmen felt that they ware being discriminated against. At $50 the average man couldn't afford t'o go. That is very true. But as it proved in Brizoaa I was more interested in getem trophy hunters out on the'.hat rather than people out there for the novelty of the 'thing, Out of the 20 hunters I would say 18 or 19 wzre trophy hunters. One or two every year sneak in who have enough rconey, who can afford it, and they will go out there, A very typical case is a man who came out there with his brother-in-law and I guess another relative of his in a Cadillas, and they intended to drive the desert t;oads and find a sheep. Well, after three days he went home.

Ogren. You've taken the best gene stock out when you are looking for Gig heads.

Russo. You aren't getting thee big heads until they are so old they are - -// ready to die. -

Ogren. Are yau eaying you are not artificially selecting genes which do produce big heads? -Russo. No. If that were the case, I. think we would Weeliminated may of our trophy animals, but each year we get bigger and bigger animals, That is proven by the Boone and Crockett Club.

Weaver. They are taking equally as large heads now as when they started keeping records. -Ruseo. You take the plains antelope, He was practically exterminated during the opening up of the West,

0p;ten. We no longer use pedigrees or selection like we have judging at County Fairs. We use a progeny selection techuiqu8s This cannot be applied to game animals, eo I believe that we cannot compare these two kinds of animals - bulls versus the bigborn rams. -Janez. Look at it this way for example. .The animal that we beliwe has the nice trophy head, possibly the most sought after animal, nonually is at least middle-aged if not what we should say old-aged. Again, if he was such a wonderful specimen, he probably has done more than his share of breeding and left his genes in the herd before he has been killed and possibly the next two or ;three years of his life, which may be all that is left, he would be on the downhill grade, Dr. Johnson, can you balp? Dr. Johnson. Yes, your trophy heads are merely an expression of age in mat things. It doesn't say anything abut their viability or their pre- potency of passing it on to the herd. It is already back in there. You want the young vigorous Animals that aren't carrying around a lot of wieght. The really best ones to get off the range in order to keep up the herd are these old decrepit ones, and those are the ones that the trophy hunters want. Age is all you are expressing here, nothing else. The size of the heab'.is;nat an indication d how long he is gopg to live, or how good he was, or what... , he has.produced. . ,,. , . . -. ?- i. I 1-7,...... ' , -*Russo &.what Be can pass on, That's the thing. . .- , , 4. Johnson. ~e has alr&dy done this. He is so old then you shouldn8t

keep him around, a

Russo. What I was drAving at there is that this ties in a little bit with inbreeding. Here in Arizona is a good example. Our antelope herds were Gown to no thiag not too meny years ago, We begradually built them up, ad we are pulling out beautiful heads, They dl1 say tht inbreeding will tend to degenerate a herd, Well, you start to tbink ahut these remnant herds, especially sheep herds that 'ke i$clatd in marmcjin areas, Tucson Mountain is a p03d exmpla rf &at. Thers b,ve been &eep up ;athers fro9 the y& ace, There are sheep-up there now, and tmduubtedly they mat have in-bred, But pet t3era are nice rams up there. John sin testify to that.

Monsoq. I would like to make one remark here. I think you said the size of the horn was nothing but an indication of the age, and I don't think that is true. You can't take two rams and expect them to have the sane type of born*

Johnson. Generally I think it ie the type of horn you are looking for here, .Alls the horns in your sheep are the total life time production. They are not - -an anual thing as you do find in your deer, merely an annual production, and then. your nutrition and a lot of other things come in ad apply to those, It ie primarily age I think. .. Groves. Well, I'd just like to throw in a question. I think our primary purpose and all our interest in sheep is to preserve the species. Secondly - It is to utilize that resource. Now have we been doing it in the past? Is " total protection the ansver to agvingour bFghroms? is it going down in spite of protection? Are we mis$frtg the boat in bringing back our bighorn, or is it possible? We do know ia comparison, and maybe there is no comparison, but in our deer herds that have been heavily shot on the buck angle they be had better reproduction and better carryover than in herds that have nwer had any hunting on them. Can we do something vith our bighorns to stimulate reproduction, stimulate survival, stimulate static herd conditions by harvesting some of these aoimals? Can we also stir up and get the public interested in our shaep problem by having hunts? I know in the State of Nevada we are criticized. Why should the State Fish and Game Commission that is utilizing sportwnenls money put any money into sheep transplanting? Why should we do anything to help the sheep herds; we'll never huut them. That is the general attitude of the sportsman. Now there is a big step. Once you become a biologist you seem to have something, but once you step from a biologist to an administrator you are knmedlately in a different class. I &ntt say that sarcastically. I say it because you have to look at things in a different light. You have to look at them fma different angle. I appreciate very much the intense interest and the desire of the fellows here to try and find out minute life history studies and minute information on the bighorn. But are we getting at the bottom of it in order to insure and increase our bighorn populations? Let's leave out the Park Service, which has a special function and a special policy that_ they must go by, L have GQ qurrel with that-, policy, The State Fish and Game Departments have a definite function to the sportsmen of their states, and their sportsmen are the 'ones who are footing the bill and paying most of the salary of the technician. If the technicians by getting too 'narrow-minded, too insistant on finding out the exact answer to everyihing bef~rethey are willing to make a recommendation, they are sametimes ctitting their own throats, cutting thier own jobs off. They are belittling i;n 'the eyes of the sportsmen the work of the technician because he is afraid tp take a chance. Now again you have all had it drurmned into you - don?t make any reconmendation until yau are sure, be sure of your facts. Yet I believe that in all of wildlife work in order to forge ahead sometimes we are going to have to take a chance to find out whether we are right or wrong. Sometimes we are going to have to jump and analyze the results later, I think you should consider very carefully whether or not you are fulfilling your function as a technician in best utilizing this game animal that to me is one of the finest big game animals we have. But are we going to lose it through technicalities?

Russo. Oh, boy, how I wish I could have had you on my side when I opened time. up the sheep season the -first -.. Dr. Johnson, 1 ;hi& there are a lot Q£ hunters though that are wer- anxious too. They expect the game technicians to go out and find out all the answers they need in one year and come back and say now you can.,hunt 50, now you can hunt 75, now you can hunt 100. They expect it in one. year, They think this stuff is found out by looking in your backard, I think that is another thing. They get too impatient. They give you a job, and they don't have any conception of how long it is going to take you to do it.

Groves. Don't you think though that the technicians and biologists also are partly to blame for that attitude? In other words things have been studied and studied like they criticized the Government that they wear out the land by going over it and making surveys until you can't grow anything on it. You hear that in the agriculture division. Sometimes lack of an action program can kill the very thing you are working for. I agree with you 1009,. Even our own Commissioners, not realizing the value of research and not realizing what it takes to find facts, are quite often too impatient to want an ansver right now. By the same t~kenmany times we have to go clear around Pike's Peak to get to the top. We can't go straight up. You have to go by public reaction, public opinion. As long as we give them the facts as we have them, they may not be all the facts, but suggest that we try this. Don't lie about it. Say that you don't know the answer, but we suggest that we try this on this basis of finding out this fact. If it is wrong, as long as you play square with the sportsmen, most of them will go along with you. As long as you lay the facts right out in front of thun. But they get very impatient when year after year we have to give it more study, more study, more study. And I know in many states that has absolutely killed the benefit of the technician.

Weaver. I think I ought to say sometaing as a representative of California here about hunting in California. I, as an individual, and several others who work for me believe that we have some knowledge of bighorn and believe that a bighorn hunt could be held, perhaps not numerically any more than numerically you believe one could be held in the Muddy Mountains, Bighorn will never be numerous as we think of other 6ig game animals and perhaps never were that category. Strictly from a biological standpoint there can be, in my opinion, no ham in it, and it will stimulate interest which we badly need and certainly should also pick up pertinent data which we also need badly. I believe we could have a hunt on that badis, There are these factors of economy. I don't suppose these hunts in Arizona or Nevada paid for thanselves financially. 1 don't know about New Mexico, probably tke sane situation, and we're all up qtaimt the wall for d~l~ars.we may neve.I;. have a hunt f~rthat reason, but then there is also the opposition to contend with. Fred Jones made a survey . hi the Santa Rosas, our best bighorn rabge, in 1953. Be made the reconnnendation that a certain nrrmber of animals be btirested, and it met with a storm of protest - what you can expect. But no action was taken on it, and you that got the quarterly last month will see that recommendation wasn't: in there when it was rewritten for publication in the quarterly. That is how California action on bighorn hunting is. I can't help but get into this bighorn deal a little bit on the size. I believe that the size of the horn as far as the measurements go for a trophy is probably an indication of the condition of the animal and the nutrition he has been on for the last six or seven years, however old be is, more than it is his heredity. Of course we know that certain areas produce larger ones than other areas because of heredity m doubt, but I believe the nutrition factor, like on a deer the antler growth indicates forage glpd wnnddthcn for that year, while on a bighorn it wuld indicate six or seven or more years of growth. I believe that very strongly. Everybody knows that a deer in poor condition will go back ko a fork whereas a yearling deer in goodl condition will be a fork-in mule deer. It applies to a certain . expent. on the size of the big horn, -Jonez. How about any more questions on the bunt specific now or anything you are intere6ted in. I saw a hand dmthere.

-*Bendt Not on hunting, Al, but I would just like to add something to Frank's comments on this studying and restudying and trying to come up with an answer. I think you all are acquainted with the Park Service's policy concerning, say, predators. Now certainly we don't have natural conditions in many of our areas because a condition existed either prior to the establishment of the park or monumant or it is a condition that we have no control over, but thinking of the various cornmerits on predation. Our policy states that our objectives are to obtain a natural balance and in so dofng it brings to mind that we are overlapping in a lot of our research. And are we fully utilizing some of the so-called wilderness areas we Wein some of our national parks and monuments? Are we utilizing them to the fullest extent as reaearch laboratories? Your management techniques are on areas that were originally disturbed when you started your program. Some of our areas have had relatively little interference, but I am sayislg that possibly we might be able to utilize thewe areas of our parks and monuments more adequately as these research l@oratories. L

r! -*Jonez The point is well taken. Monsnn. This business of hunting or not bunting as Mr. Groves and others have out strikes at some pretty basic fundamentals. Now getting down to a little bit narrower subjett. Leaving the trophy element out of the picture, do any of you beany conception or idea of what you would be driving at in - 83 - 'I . ,.$ t laying out a bigborn program of hunting to improve the herd? What can YOU in the way of improvement? On the other hand what can you expect in the way of adverse factors?

Russo. Before I answer your question I just want to make one coment of the Colorado Sheep. You probably all realize what happened there several years ago when they kicked around a hunt on the Tarryall herd. in rhe meathe they had this lungwmn infestation, and it just about wiped out that herd. THis year Colorado has opened a sheep season for managment control purposes. But to answer your question, and this brings in what Frank Groves was saying, I hadn't mrked f~rthis state but one par when I hag resmendsd the first sheep season, and that is why I say I had a lot of friction in that respect because I hadxilt been here long enough to justify a sheep season. At the time I open& up that sheep season I felt we were going to remove the mature animals which I felt was not a potential animal. A young ram, yes, I considered him a potential, and the ewes, yearlings and lambs of course I considered potentials too. My objective at the time from reading the history of Arizona zmd looking over our sheep ranges I could determine that from the year one we had a sheep herd there and almost it had disapp-ed adhad never oome back again. So we had a renmant herd in many of our areas, a fair populatian in some areas, but from all I could gather'population ~juamicswere practically nfl. I had some . learned men tell me that the reason for that was because as many sheep were dying as were being put on the range. Well, that doesn't sound right to me either. So I s tatted the ram hunt hoping to spread the ram-ewe ratio-.gradually so as to determine maybe if we whaulch't bebetter repmductbn, At the same time I was trying to remove the older animals that would be susceptible to L diseases. Of couroe there is one drawback right there, and anybody who is a biologist will say, well, yeah, you removed the older rams, what'is the matter with the older ewes? Are they susceptible too? That is true. I had no solution to that. At least I am removing part of it I felt. Then I; thought that possibly along these lines I my be reduding breeding competition, and right - - there I *ran in& a"snag too as far as an argument in saying your range is so lkrge and your population is ao widely dispersed, aren't you afraid that some of your ewes will go thmngh .the season without meeting a ram and hence not be bred? Well, if anybody hes ever been out among sheep long enough and observed than, I think at some time or another they are going to ccoss because that ram is looking and that ewe is looking; it is an instinct. But in the meantime we have created this hunt and were serving sev,eral purposes at one time, trying to spread the ram-ewe satio and that is gowg to be a long-range pra@xm. We are not going to get that over night: of five years and possibly ten years. We are going to study our reproduction, give the sportsmen an opportunity to crop these trophy rams, something they have wanted to do, and generate interest in the animals. Then at the same time, although you are ' receiving a very little revenue from the hunt permits, you at least have somethin, to offer them when you go up there and ask for $10,000 for development purposes and continued researdl projects. At least we are getting something done. Ih that respect I believe that we can hunt rams because we are not going to damage our population in any way, and that is the main factor. If we are going to damage our populatian, I would say no.

Ogren. If wild shebp are monogamous, won't we be damaging our populatiaa?

Russo. But they are not. That has been proven many times,

Omen. Have you ever read my thesis, John? -Russo. No, I never have. I wish you would send me a copy of it. Monson. To continue along here with your discussion then, Johnny, one of Fur aims then I gather is to express a ram-ewe ratio. In that light what do you consider to be:the optimum ram-ewe ratio? -Russo. Well, Gale, I will be very frank with you on that. I don1t know what would be the desirable ram-ewe ratio. But if we ase going to take into consideration our past findings on our other animals, antelope, deer and even our domestic sheep, why a sheep herder doesn't have but one ram for every 25 ewes or wen more. The sheep are highly prolific. -Manson. Well, leaving the trophy thing out of it again, I am trying to get away from that angle of it. What I am trying to get at is in order to properly manage a bighorn sheep herd what I want to know is what you have based your management polictes on, and one thing I think is the matter of recreation as you said, Ncw if you are going to shot some sheep in order to maks the population increase, then you should have some idea of has many sheep you can carry on an area.

Rusao. Well, that is true, and now you have brought up another point there. f cannot say and I wuld hesitate to guess what the carrying capacity is. As I mentioned before in the publication, I don1t think there is anybody who can give you a number as being the carrying capacity of a given range as far as bighorn go. I &nl t thi& there Ls anybody that can my that we have not approached that carrying capacity, NGWmy question fiere would be what constitutes a carrying capacity? Now there is going to be some fac.l;or in there that fs going to give you a static population. f heard someone here yesterday mention that they had more or less of a static population, At the time I wondered has he reached his carrying capatity. Now you may go out there and have lots of good range, lots of feed and water but yet there may be something else that determtnes the carrying capacity of thet range. Our historians tell us that we may have had 30,000 sheep in Arizona years ago. I believe that is what Seton's figures were. We cannot compare today's range with the range of the late 18001s. In the area we hunt I have been asked time and time again bw many sheep do we have there to justify a hunt. Well, 350. Are you going to call me a liar? If you are, go out there and see for yourself. If you can make a better estimate, you are welcome to it. But the thing that surprises me every year is the fellows will go in there and they will hunt sheep. I beasked them, one of the questions on our questionnaire, how many sheep they aau, how many rams and of the rme how many had full-curled horns. There is a decrease every year, but I think I can put my finger on that decrease. But then the surprishg thing is that one man will come out, and he says, "By gosh, I shot my sheep out of a bunch of eight, and they were all full grown with full-curled horns." Where did they come from? There weren't supposed to be any more in there because they had been shot out three years ago. Then here he runs into eight in one bunch. Or another thing that has happened to me is that a hunt has ended, and I'll go into the area and 1'11 run into this band. They are not a bit spooky. They are curious; they stand around. Nobody has reported than. They haven't been shot at. All big trophy rams. I 8m very interested in Clair's study on tagged sheep because I believe we are going to find in a given range we have more sheep in them than we anticipate and that we may see a small percentage of thm st one time, It is like a vicious circle. They will move off to the other side of the mountain, and some others will come over to their side. They will just keep on exchanging back and forth -Jonez.. I think this has been rear stimulating. Maybe we are at the poht now where we as technicians aze going to have to be swayed by public opinion or try to sway public opinion and use some of these tectmiques, say hunting, to possibly go ahead and see whether we can go ahead and try to change the zm-eiii ratio by bunting. we are going to have to cio iilce Frank eaid and give recarranendations without complete biological explanations at our fingertips to evaluate it thoroughly even after two years, or three years, or ten years.

Monson, If you are going to wait for public opinion on these things, you are going to put the cart before the horse. . . -.Jonez Well, you can mold public opinion though. Cecil Kennedy. I was fcrtunate enough to be on the Hatchet hunt the first year that it was held by the State of New Mexico and talked to biologist Paul Gordon recently pertaining the hunt that was held there. He doesn't know what the answers are nor does anyone else in that state. But they estimated about 100 head of sheep there when they beg= these hunts, and I beliwe hLs paper quoted that pess5.51~153 sheep is all they had left. The few they lid kill did not deplete tha population, For some reason or other it is on the downward trend, and he was very concerned about f.t, He was wmdering if any of you boys 1;8 your Bunting bad =me up dth any solutiao FQ meas of that type with the sane experience.

Monaon. There hasn't been enough hunting on a large enough scale to give you any answer on that 1 don't think.

Cecil Kemedy. They shut dom the huprs on this particular area for the simple reason we couldn't find the sheep.

Kelly, Didn't you make a statement here yesterday that you had undergone quite a drought in that particular area?

Cecil Remedy, Yes, seven years.

Kelly, Don't you think that might have some effect oa the sheep drop populathn?

Cecil Kennedy. Here is the point. The Department of Agriculture thinks that the area immediately to the south of the Big Hatchet Mountain formerly was used to migrate into old Mexico and out. There is no paint of migration now. They have a small range of mountains there, and unless they have just actually gone out into the flats here they don't find them, why is the population going &wn hill far some reason or other.

Jonez. This Muddy-Mountain area ve talk about - Warren and I both had a chance to go into this area with this guide on a hut that was so successful. He knew the country so well that we couldn't help but ask him after his 35 or 45 years in those hills what his estimate of the population was in there and had he seen any decided change in his lifetime. Well thinking back you have to use some discretion on anybody's memory. He gave the esthete of 100 to 200, and he felt that there wasn't any appreciable change in his lifetime. But when we go back tothis 1800's stuff, of course it does look like we were gatting a 1ittle.before his lifetime. Maybe he hadn't been there long enough to see the change that we were thinking of or looking for in drought conditions. We estimated a hundred animals :in there with our system, and it is possible that it is not aa good as his system of him living there all his life. Then we come up with a wonderment again, how to census the low density areas, and 1;Chhk that is-going to be a problem, It is becoming more and more important because if we go htt bats as a gekera? practice =r sva as a mimr pert af a pmgfmn and are going to get any biological information out of it we have to know what is there to start with and then have some ides what is there during the hunt or af terwards. A census technique is going to be very important, I guess we are all intereeeed in bow to census these animals.

Groves. I would like to just throw in one more comment on what was brought up yesterday in relation to the Barbary sheep, I think all of us would much rather see our native specLes increase. By the same token again public reaction and public demand if they fi~dsomething that is going to furnish a great deal more hunting, a great deal more recreation. The general public are not purists. Anything that will furnish recreation and sport will be brought into the picture. I think it behooves us more than ever to try to find out the answere, to try to utilize our resource, and to try to bring us to the fore front rather than to let them demand and get their demands that we turn to exotics. Maybe an exotic will flnally come. Maybe our climatic conditions and ecological conditions are changing to such cm extent that the mountain sheep will m longer fit bto ow picture. I hope uot, and I don't believe so, but by the same token it is something we should keep in mind because as eur population grows, a8 our workdays decrease, there is more and more leisure time, We are going to have more and more recreation axid msa and mere demands on our recreatiesal resources, and I think it is up to us to take the lead ;b the answer rather than to be pushed into it,

Charles Re~edy. It seems to me that everyone is talking about drought conditions on their areas. At the same time we are talking about poor coadittons- we are talking about increasing the sheep. I just wnder if this policy is good management, And I wonder if the idea of changing the sex ratio.tet this time the best policy to pursue. If it-could lead to an increase, why maybe an increase at this tima and the next feu years may raat be good for the sheep and species as a whole. In other words why don't we crop the annual increase and aMt that maybe we have reached the cazrying capacity. Some day you are going to have to admit that you are going to have to hunt both sexes. Why put it off? Why don't ve play the safe way mw and hunt both sexes and give the range a chance at this time to recuperate.

Omen. The great value of the hunts of the bighorn ar we have all conceded ia to put the picture before the public. These.other excuses of spreading the sex ratio, if 1 may use that tern, are useful if we accompany them with our research project and get a pretty good picture of what occurs. Now if we want data from these hunts, you get the data primarily from seeing the reproductive tracts, and I go along completely with you on the either sex sheep hunts.

-*Groves Thera is one point there that we donst know. Say we have a 50-50 sex ratio - how many of these rams can you harvest snnually2 Say our herd has reached a static population where the carrying capacity is only 1500. How many of those rams can we safely harvest each year and keep it at 1500 anyway. Or are we going to harvest both sexes? f want to see what can be done in etkmrlating reproduction, and if you go more than the carrying capacity, you can cerrkinly then tu.itn\ td:haitve's'ting' the surplus. Why shbuld we jump &n and try .to sell an either-'sex, pfogram 'on sheep" when we don' t Tknow these, answers yet. , .a I 7 iL ' r .I Mo-mol?: C~nqteven sell a bcth sex program on deer cr a oce sex program on -- -. s$eep . - 6

.. ': , . - - 88 -

CENSUS LNG TECHNIQUES

.. . -Joncz. Getting on to this census technique, 1 think probably Clair has done quite a little work on censushg already, and I will let him start out,

AlbQu~. Uhe~re outlined our study, we rnentianed sekd diffeknt 'kh- niques that we might try. The first one we used was the water hole count. At the time we made'that water hole count we had a few marked animals and through a lot of manipulating we came up with a population figure; Following that count we had some atore-good luck, and we got quite a few more sheep marked. Twice since then we'bve calculated populations by use of Lincoln's index. The two figures we arrtved at as a result' of both methods have complimented each other very, very closely. I don't think there is a statistician going that would question the results. If si?y of you have the set-up possible to mark sheep, not only is it 'a very good cs;tsus technique but I think it is the only way we are going to work out a lot of these life history things that we don't wen have a fuzzy idea about. . ..i3 weaver,' Gotag on the census technique, we have kicked around this water hole count business which we hzve all used, and it seems to be that we have decided that three days aren't enough. Recent observations have pretty much proven that sheep may or may not corns to water once in three days even in the hottest weathef. We haven't had any intensified studies from California on any of the areas I work. It is just casual observation, and we have had a few spotty a;rt@mpt~to learn absut sheep. f bow that Fred Jones believes that there is 80 substituk for hiking, This is provided that you d~n't have marked animals and all that. The only way you can see sheep is get out there and get: over the ground. On@ a young man can do it, and I believe, Lowell, you will agree with me on this or disagree with me if you care to that two years ago in Death Valley I believe we saw more sheep by that technique than we would have had we stuck to the water holes. Although it was July, it still wasnl t hot enough to really get the intense use on the water holes as it would have a little later in the eeason if it didn't rain.

Monson. We have now counted water holes for' three years, an'd'the first year we made a three day count and the second year fewer water holes and a five day'caunt. This year we made three and four day counts depending on the situation. We have so many water holes that we have to have a pretty good sized staff to cover them all, That is a real problem. But I believe as Dick does that you can't rely on water hole counts only. There really is no substitute for wearing off the shoe leather. I think experience plays a very big part. I don't think you can take a fellow who has never been in sheep country before even though he has a good schooling on obsming wildlife and expect him to meup with a dependable conclusion. I don' t think that mad a11 be capable of it even though he has had a considerable mount of time in the area in which we work, I. Aldous. I would like to ask a question. One of the'census techniques that we proposed in our study and never have used is the belt transect, and both of you have mentioned this getting out and hiking around. ~aveyou ever tried to work up a population figure with that belt transect?

Monson. I would consider that would be very difficult to do, You couldn't possibly get a representative sample due to the extremely varied nature of the terrain, the water, vegetation and various other things. I don' t think that the belt transect would work. -Jonez. We tried several of the same techniques. Of course we bad the same outline that Clair was following on the game range, and we were trying to somewhat follow it on our lower elevation lands, We tried a water hole count. Of course, it was, as far as we can determine, totally unsno~essful. We have the lake shore which was a problem to try to figure out how to census, and we ended up trying to boat and covering the shoreline contfnuePPy drrrbg . the census with two boats and trying to pick up animals corning down to water, checking the major washes where we know sheep usually come down for tracks, brushing them out and so on, All in all we felt it turned out to be more or less a waste of time. So then we thought of this belt transect and again dealing with a low density populatton ln a terrific area,. Warren had a heck of a time trying to figure out where to put the transect rides to start with, and he put them'in several of them and tried than and coming up with zero readings many, many times is a little frustrating when you are trying to work up an index. Possibly it is fine I think if you have a population density high enough to see the anhals. Like the fellow said, it you have a field and wws are in it aad you set a course across the field sometime during each day you censused it, well, anyway, across the thing you would see so many,cows there. If you did that long enough, eventually you would come up with somewhat of an idea of how many cows are in that field without knowing it, Theoretically all this is. And the same thing should apply to our sheep, I don't think it probably will in these low density areas. I think that too many zero readings are going to foul you up.

Weaver, The lower the density the more plots you would have to have. -Jonez. And for one man to do it we have found out is almost impossible, even full time.

Wearer. I was going to ask Lowell if he &ws, I member when Beuchner was running- some transects, was he using that population dynamics any way?

Sumner. I donf t know, Dick. I wasn't there, and nothing mare was heard about it from him so I guess maybe it didn't work out. That was in Death Valley you are referring to, waan't it?

Weaver. Well, everywhere he went I guess he employed it. -Sumner. I just don't see how he wuld work them in that real rough country because we all know the sheep are in the cliffy country more than out on the flats as in the Death Valley type of country, and you just can't negotiate that type of country unless you were a goat; so how are you going to make a transect? You would have to be a sheep yourself.

Monson. I think in that parti'cular case Bevchner did quite a bit of work using the transect method in Texas on antelope. As I recall, he got some pretty good$stuff out of .it, and I think he had in mind that since he did get something out of it there maybe he could work up something on bighorn sheep. I think maybe he did in Wyoming or Idaho. If I am ao t mistaken, I think he was just experimenting more than anything else.

Jonez. We ended up during our hunt out in the Muddys with a.figure of 100 sheep, and we got that information as you said strictly by wearing out shoe leather and covering the country in a fairly short period of time and fairly well. We did try a helicopter in that area. Being a real desert area it was rather easy to see long distances from the air, and I believe there definitely is a place for the helicopter in that terrain. There are several limiting factors, one is the pilot. You have to have a pilot who has a terrific interest in what you are doing as well 'as being more than capable with the instrument. We found that out on several of our trips. One pilot could put us in on the sheep, arid the next one never could see them either when we were in the helicopter with him, while the next time we had no trouble at all picking up the sheep with the helicopter. Another thing wae the type of helicopter we were using. Of course we can't kick, We got it from the Air Force for free, but that isn't the best as far as f am mnce~~ed~1 th.tsk the bubble vdiety with better observation would be a much, much nicer instrument to use. -. , Kelly. I think the sheep have a tasdeacy to hide from that helicopter too. We ran into that once. We canie across this one ram, and he scooted into a cave right now. If we hadn't been pretty observant, we wouldn't have seen him at all,

Cecil Kennedy. One thing on this I have Qne quite a bit of flying in a helicopter in a Bell H-13 and a double wing. One thhg they have observed and I too with them is that helicopters scare the daylights out of wildlife where fixed wing aircraft don't. 'Ibis is a factor, and none of those fellows have seen eheep yet. I take that back - they heseen one sheep in all tbt sheep country. Of course they haven't hit our bast sheep country.

Jonez. Those are the two observations that we were thinking of. One was m instance on top sf a ridge where you would hardly bewar been on foot, the ram was right on top, and he ducked into a cave. I picked hkn up on top of a rock above the cave jirst, and when we circled to get a better look at him and hovered, we coul&;t find him. As we drifted down, he was poking his head out watching and lie was definitely hidden. The other instance - that was really noticeable was a i&~ln a wash. He vent helter skelter down the wash, and it was really very easy th pick him out. A Cecil Kennedy, I d9dntt mean to imply that I disagree with you. I think helicopters have a real potential.

-*Meneon I might cite another helicopter observation, the big jobs H-21 with a hump in the back and a rotor at each end, Two of the pilots flew over the Cabeza Rieta, and they jumped a 'bunch of four sheep there in the wash. Instead of running up the wash they took off up the side of the'mountaia. They were very easy to pick up.

Weaver. How many are going to be able to hide on you in desert hebitat? -Jonee. The Muddy Mountains country is the caviest country I ever saw, and it is a rough one from that standpoint. They can hide easily, Likewise

t p the barren parts aren' t always where they .are. We found the helicopter very helpful in picking up water pockets, especially after rain. After a good rain, I ' a simmer thunder storm, we would fly the area and pick up many water pockets we didn't know &istad. It is pretty important sometimes when you are trying to fan$ those animals after a rain. It gives you an index of where to start looking if they are dependent upon water. And another thing we were tempted to 1. do was have the pflot set it down on top of some of these areas that we don't usually get into so we could do footwork. There of course you would more or less have to have your own helicopter to use that much time up, but there is a definite possibility of working your inaccessible areas that you can't get to easily any other way. It would take a lot of money to have a helicopter

available for burs. 1 .:-' > 28 '. : .f

Fr edine. Notwithstanding the fact that you. said you would like to put off discussion of. trapping techniques till tpmorrow when we get out in the field, uniess you stop me, to talk about the method of using darc guns loaded with nicotine saljcylate to kob$lize anbale f0.r marking purposes which could be used then for caasua work. I would like to get it into the record because I had an opportunity just before I started on this trip to ta1k.t~dim Jenkins at the University of Georgia, who with Jack Cr~ckf~rdand . others developed the technique, There is a new development that I think is &portant. Their first equipment $nvolved a dart on which the nicotine salicylate in solid form was loaded in grooves and the dart had to be placed in-a heavy rnuacle so that the material wae dissolved intramuscularly. Snme workers who tried it out, particularly in Louisiana,,had considerqble difficul- ties because they hqd k be so careful about placement of the darts and quite often the absorption was slow and an animal wam't affected for seven or eight minutes. In the meantime he travelled eome distance, and they lost several animals that way. Now they bedeveloped a new method, and that is using a plunger type syringe which is fired by an air gun especially modified. The syringe projectile Fs about the size of my little finger. It is tufted at the rear end and has the syringe needle at the front of course. And what happens nay is that they shoot this dart up to distances of sixty yards, and it penetrates +he skh ealy ss ycru get a subcutaneous bnjectim rother thintra - muscular. You do not have to be so particular where you hit the animal. The dart penetrates the skin and then bangs down. There is a mechanism within the capsule thich injects the liquid in about ten seconds after impact, At that time a liquid charge of the nicotine alkoloid solution in water is injected under the skin. Their kaock&vn now is under tno minutes. They have tried this out thoroughly on many &meatic animals as well as deer; and they have even succeeded in handling 800 pound steers. st looks very promising. They have gptten rid of some of the bugs that they had in the original equipment. One reason for that ten second delay incidentally is a safety measure just in case some biologist gets in the way.of one of these things he has got time to take it out before it takes effect, -Jonee. fs there a barb on the point? What holds it on or under the skin? Freddne. The syringes are available with barbs or with collars that prevent their falling out.

Jonez. I was just wondering if possibly the dart hitting the animal would have the tendency to make him skedaddle in a hurry and the thing fall off.

Fredine. They say no, but of couree different animals and differant species may react differently. At least they are not going to get far. . They apparently don't run far if they are not ftightened.' by the operator. The sting of the penetration may make him go 20 yards or so, but then they probably will stop and look at it and then it ia too late. The drug continues to give exckllent results from the standpoint of its not being fatal except in rare instances, and recovery is cmmplete. When the animal has to be handled or held, they often give it a dose of barbiturate and really keep it snowed under for the length of time that they want to hold it. But for simple marking techniques a slug of this Btuff apparently will keep them quiet for a half hour and will give you plenty time far marking. -Jonez. Putting it to sheep application, I was wndering. Dr. Johnson do you believe that this heart condition thglt you were describing earlier mi&t have some application with this type of drug?

Johnson. I also have communicated with Dr. Hayes in Georgia. We were interested in flaxadel, and we threw that out. It is very difficult to get 1N a required dosage as it has a very narrow margin of safety. This I think b,. ' would be one of the biggest things we worry about - that margin of safety. , ;, Thoae deer down there in Louisiana that they were working on particularly I tbkwere closer to the mesize. MOW here you wuld have to figure your dosage on your per pound. You must estimate ag your sheep out here the weight of these sheep by eye for a considerable distance and load your gun accordingly. Your projectile in this case is going to cost some money. I &nlt know how long they last. I don't recall the name, but somewhere they used a twenty-two cartzidge, I think that they use thts thing, and it has a hypodermic injec- tion in a very mall outfit and is fired upon contact. It sounds very good. I can see the problems though in shoo thg dosage. You need something with a very wide margin of safety, One thing we were thinkrLng of was preparing a solution or a coated projectile so that it is absorbed slowly enough to Sive you an initial knockdown, but once they are down you can go up asd remove it. All you need do is get your hands on these animals as a rule, Then you could use any of your short acting barbiturates very easily.

Predine. I haven' t talked to Dr. Ellyes a&ut it, but Jmkhs seems W be quite sold on the idea that it is safe to use the heavier doses of nicotine on even smaff deer. 1 think it is going to take a Pot more aperience before we know this. And I think too that they are also working on antidotes which may solve part of your problems in preference to a slower acting drug. The quick knockdown seems to be quite important, so I think it is worth trying out in somaofthese cases. They &nlt want to put the equipment on the market until they are really sure that it is the best they can come up with. So it will be a few months before ygu can get it.

Aldous. The last listing f got from him I yas really surprised. They loaded two loads, the light and the heavy one, and their weights coincided with our average ewe and ram weights. They couldnl t have done it any better if we had given them the weights ahead of time, and so we can go ahead and use their darts loaded as is for deer.

Fredine. Anyone who wants further information on this should write to Professor James Jenkins, Department of Forestry, University of Georgia, Athens, or Jack Crockford, Division of Game and Fish, State of Georgia, State Capi-1 Building, Atlanta, or Dr. Frank A. Hayes, University of Georgia.

Ogren. Going along these same lines, one of the techniques I used in capturing animals was a tear gas gun. I just borrowed them from local law enforcement agencies and their out dated armnuirition. The first few shots that I made the materials were old and the fuses took 15 to 30 seconds to go off, and the animals had run away before the charge went off. On one occasion however, I just wanted to mention I did shoot into a group of sheep, and 1 don't know if I immobilized the lamb or not but All of the sheep ran off except one Iamb. Unfortuunately I shot upwind and waan't wearing my gas mask and I didn't recover for about ten minutes. I recovered at the same time evidently as the lamb did, and my bay and I didn't quite capture it, but it is a possibility too, Other techinques we use for capturing eIsare as follows. We followed the ems ahowing late pregnancy symptoms, and we cauld immediately capture new born k&s of course. Sheep dogs work very nicely if you can keep the ewe off zk bg. We had success with a couple of cases. A technique though that I bekse blds a very fine possibility is what I call a night raid. Stay with mz animals during the day, ttatch them bed down at eht(and this takes tremenime exberience and knbw-hod) and after dark you go in with very power- ful ~chtsand dazzle the ewes worktng in teams of two. The first man dazzhs tbe ewe; the second man runs and grabs the lamb. We have had pretty good -8 from kt. I have always thaugt that the Amy snooper scope would be haatpr here, but we have never been able to scrape up enough money to get one emugh to use in the field.

hdine.' Someone ought to try a red light on stalking sheep at night if you m bate them. As far as deer are concerned, they fbd that the deer are alums: divious to red light b8t the light is strong enough for you to see the deer. Zey seem to pay little attention to it, and it may be a technique to use zzsd springs or bedding grounds. -m. You better have a good flaehlight handy too. Running around this comeafter dark as has been said takes a lot of experience. Any other help on cezsxs techniques? heof these ic!eas that have been kicked out here have been wri good. Everybody ought to learn something from them. - 94 - . ,3 *, s, SIGN READING

-Jonez.2 Another item for discussion is sign reading, tracks, pellet counts and beds. 1 notice in some of the litersture different people have used alg3a ss ea indimtian of the total popdtitioa, and act-ally that 5s a census technique in a lot of situations. Has mybody got anytfiing specif ic to atart this discussion?

Weaver. It probably would be good if we-could come to a common ueage on terms. For instance I find myself using the terms "freshtf, *'recentw, and "old", and in reading signs somebody else may use- other terns. We may mis- interpret each other's words if.we don't have some common understending of what we ourselves mean, Maybe aomeSody has a better terminology than that, real fresh, or recent for a few &ys, old, months old, and that's general with me. Somebody may use tte terns more specifically or disagree with that tern- in0logy . Monson. Well, perhaps the best thing to & is to be more specific. Instead of saying recent say day old or at least that is your estimate and will help to pin it down' a little bit more.

-* bell b the desert how do you tell whether trasks are a day old or a week old? They will stay looking fresh for arnonth at a time,

Albus. With the amstant sf wind aasvsment we have a stnarp track soon gets a glazed appearance. With a little study you can tell the difference.

J Cowell. There are times when- f have gone into the desert with the power - wagon and left a' clear track. A year later I will meback and wonder who is ahead of me and find that was my own track from the year before. Now that's not cormnoa by any means, but I have done it a good many times.

Charles Kennedy. f have seen sheep moving through a certain place and have gone over and looked at the sign and it ,makes me wonder how about that sign I saw this morning. I couldn't begin to imagine then if it was as fresh as what I am looking at which I know was just made.

-*Monson The hardeat kind to read is the sand sign. -. ? - Cecil Kennedy. I think the moisture in the soil is going to be the deciding element in reading signs. 1f;it is real dry, it mLght remain the same for days, and if it is moist, you q,gm read it immediately and tell.

Jonez, How about pellets, expecially where you ape getting deer and sheep ranges?

Monson *. Any man who says tbat he can tell bighorn sheep pellets from deer pellets- is an artist in my opinion.

Jonez.. I think that is probablp.an honest answer. That is something I . .. have run into', and I think it is something we all run into with the sportsmen more than anything else is the fact that a lot of these observations on tracks and signs may not mean a darn thing telling that they saw sheep pellets in such and such a mountian range. .-,Clcil Kennedy. They will briag them into the checking station by the hand -fdls-.adask whether-*theyare sheep or deer. ', : , . ~r~~ne;;~alph Welles at Death Valley has worked out a rough indicator by means df which you can tell whether the pellet groups around a sheep bed were made during the day while the sheep were resting or whether the sheep were using the bed to bed down all night. Maybe this is coarmdn knowledge to most of -you, but it was new to me bedause I abit I nwer counted them before but mqhly and. In general %f'the pelLet group adqrs between I5 ts 100, usmlly on the short aide of 100, then it is a day bed, just a place wh0re- the sheep napped. the n;rmber of pellets in the pup exceeds 250 and up to 400, it is quite 8ure.indication that the sheep spent the night there and got up to defecate either in the night or early the next morniag. I wonder if that has been conrmon observance among others,

Oaren. +&t do you do with the sheep who gets up five timea during the niDght and takes a new bed? Suruner. Did you aver see a sheep get up five times during the night? I. 1 nine and Omen. Yes. Once watched a bighorn for. consecutive days, we never took our eyes off them. ..

I -Smner. You mean nine days? Omen. Nine days, yes.

Sunmet How did you see 'them at night? T' . -, 2s s-" Otsren, We were close enough on moonlkt nights and while I slept he observei and vice versa:

Sumner. So far, Ralph hasntt found themrmfng around very much, so that is why I asked. The question had not been raised.'

\ -Russo. 'That is something I would lFke to know - about sheep wing around at night. Now as many times as I have run counts at water holes and have been camped but many nights in various parts of the desert I feel safe in saying that we' correlate night activity with a full won, However, in the dark of the moon there ie no 'activity. Of coutae, that Is understandable in that country because anybody, thcluding sheep, could'very easily break a leg walking arouiadlthat country at night. But in the full of the mooa it is surprisingly easy even for a human being to walk around those mountains at night, It is so bright out there. That's one reason I would set up all my surveys on water hole couuts in the dark of the moon.

Monson. We have just one case of tryfag'to find out whether sheep water .- at night, and this is during the full of the moon when the won was rising about nine o'clock'jl and we watched at Tunnel Spring all night, Jack Hall and I. We ' were close Bhough to the spring that if a sheep came in we would have heard it too, We -had no indication of the sheep coming in that night although the water hole was being quite heavily used duting the day time, However, at the first crack of daun the sheep were coming in. -*Russo Now that also recalls to me that wer in that Hidden Tdsin the Plomosa Mountains country where I had a similar situation, the sheep had to go back into a narrow crevice for about 45 feet, There they didn't come in at night. Deer came in, but the sheep wouldn't come in at night even with a full moon. However, in the open water tanks such as High Tanks, I was camped in the old abandoned cabin down below and could look up in the mountains. I have seen sheep come off that rocky slope many times at night. - - .- . Moueon. se body else ran hto a rrrm that was cOmiD8 to water apparently st Little White Tanks one the. f t.-hinlk se far s~1we can tell frora brushing 4-' out sign and everythiag there is-very little watering at aightr r a .., 's , - - . -7 1 - . , < "2. , & :;'., I,' if. .-i$*, - - ". - - I _ uss so NO, I Adn*t say it was the up and c0mik8 thing. ~t does occur; -* ., . , .-< - .. >. . . -1 -- Monacm. Deer and burro are something else again.

Mowak. We had a hydrograptr at Cow Camp Springs, and that thing is operating 26 bows a day, seven days a week, "We wLll be able .go an-r the night watering question by the end of the season. \ - -*lkmmn Is that water wed only by sheep or by deer too? . s -,* - -. -Nowak. Ju8t sheep, isn't it, Clair? < -I . * " I . . r _ ' -*Aldous Yes, there are no deer in there. I haven't: se& any horse sign fn there rPlfs summer. We did a little brae control there fast year.

I wbld ldke to mdke a remark an what Lowell had to say about Ralph's findbga wer there. I sm a little bLt incliaed to disagree with that, and I thbk I can show you why tomorrow. Around Whiterock Spring, for Instance, there was one- ram in particular that used to come Qwn and drink, and then walk over aad bed down in the same bed. So if you break your beds down to day beds and night beds, it had all the indications of a nfght bed that was used time after time aad the droppings were real37 heaped up. The business meeting was.- called to order at 4:30 p.m. September 25, 1957 . by,&. Aldous. .., r & The '&up w& polled to aee if they felt thts meeting had be= a success. , . The answer was a unanimous yes.

The group was again polled to see if they thought the meetings should be an annual affair. Again the answer was a unanimous yes.

. J Gale ons son,‘ Fish '&id Wildlife Service, and Warren Kelly, Arizona Game and Fish Department, were elected w-chairmen for the 1958 meeting to be held in Yuaa, Arizona.

'time was that be The meeting was discussed, and' it decided April would a better month for everyone concerned.

. Fs. Frediii? naa asked to serve aa publieitj. cWmac azd get news tzleasc out on the meetSng. A11 state representatives were asked to get releases fn their state publications.

The question of preparing trmsections of the meetipg was raised, and it was everyone's wish the transactions be prepared. 1. * .. . ' FIELD TRIP

Three trap sites were visited: Ca5i.u Spring Trap, White Rock Spring Trap, and Cow Camp Spring Trap. Each trap was discxxed and the marking technique used on the Dessrt Game Range was demonstrated.