BigGameHoundsmen.com

Guess this is why the SD lio season is structured to take so many females--an official here is saying the lions are suspected of reducing bighorn sheep and mountain goat populstions. The evidence cited is pretty circumstantial.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 03038/1001

Lions suspected in bighorn lamb decline
By Associated Press
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PUBLISHED: December 3, 2007

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RAPID CITY – The time has come for the state Game, Fish and Parks Department to do research into the effects of mountain lions on bighorn sheep in the Black Hills, according to John Kanta, GF&P regional wildlife manager.

Kanta said current assumptions about the impact are based mostly on conjecture and reports from other states.

Mick Vickers, a landowner south of Rapid City, said he thinks mountain lions have wiped out many of the bighorn lambs from a herd that has frequented his pasture the past two or three years.

“We see 50 or 60 ewes in that north pasture on our land, and maybe 10 or 12 rams,” Vickers said. “Two years ago, out of all those ewes, there were two lambs. Last year, I think there was one. And this year, I didn’t see any.”

Bighorn lambs could be easy kills, especially in meadows and open forest, Kanta said, adding that there have been indications lambs aren’t surviving.

“The last several years, we’ve had a very poor lamb crop in the Black Hills. By making some assumptions, we can attribute some of that at least to the mountain lion,” he said.

Vickers believes the bighorns in his area spent a lot of time in the open meadows and forest fringe.

“In my mind, we’re not going to have the bighorn sheep if this keeps up,” Vickers said.
The GF&P estimates there are 300-350 bighorn sheep in the Black Hills, not including a Custer State Park herd.

If lions are taking down bighorns, it’s most likely being done by a few individual lions, according to Kanta. “What I’ve seen in the literature says it’s typically one or two lions that get species specific.”

A bighorn sheep is harder to take down than deer, he said. “My personal opinion is that it takes the right mountain lion,” Kanta said.

“The defense for bighorn sheep is escape terrain. And in those situations, a lion is taking a risk in jumping on the back of a bighorn.”

In a few cases, mountain lions fitted with radio collars have killed bighorn sheep that also were wearing transmitters.

Kanta and others already are trying to figure out the role mountain lions have played in the decline of Black Hills mountain goats. That population has fallen from more than 300 to between 80 and 100 in recent years.

That decline has coincided with an increase in mountain lions. Officials plan to use radio collars and other techniques to learn more.

If it's just lamb numbers that are down in the population, I'm guessing lions are not the cause. Lions aren't going to just single out the lambs, they are going to take the ewes and rams as well so the whole population will decrease proportionately.

I think the dude in charge would be wise to examine some other causes that would cause high lamb mortality.......such as disease, parasites, or even coyotes.

my thoughts exactly, Kevin. However, this guy seems to have made up his mind already.

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article ... 769282.txt


Should state kill mountain lions to protect sheep?
By Kevin Woster, Journal staff Tuesday, December 11, 2007
26 comment(s)

A state Game, Fish & Parks commissioner from Rapid City wants agency biologists to determine whether certain mountain lions are preying on bighorn sheep and mountain goats in the Black Hills.
And if they are, those lions might have to be killed to protect the sheep and goat herds, GF&P Commissioner Jeff Olson said.

"I think we either do that, or we decide that we're not going to manage for mountain goats and bighorn sheep anymore," he said. "I think we're at a point where we might have to make that decision."

But lion advocate Tom Huhnerkoch of Deadwood said it's premature to consider targeting lions thought to be killing bighorns and goats. It's also premature to presume that lions are the reason for population declines in mountain goats and poor lamb production in bighorn sheep, he said.

Huhnerkoch, a veterinarian, said poor lamb crops can be from environmental factors or disease as easily as from predation. It also isn't certain whether the lambs were actually born, or whether ewes simply failed to conceive and deliver, he said.

Some diseases can be transmitted between animal species, and some of those diseases can hurt pregnancy rates, birth rates and lamb survival, Huhnerkoch said. Sheep and goats tend to be particularly vulnerable, he said.

"I think there is much more to this picture than what has yet transpired," Huhnerkoch said. "I think in general there is a mosaic of issues, but the 'shoot' thing is so easy."

The state's third mountain lion season ended last month when the established maximum of 15 female lions were killed. There were actually 16 females killed, however, because a hunter shot one before finding out that the season quota on female lions had been filled.

There were also three male lions killed in the season.

GF&P biologists now estimate the state mountain lion population at 200 or more, with most of them living in and near the Black Hills. Although deer tend to be the main prey of the big cats, they also eat elk, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, turkeys and other species.

Mick Vickers, who lives just southwest of Rapid City along the north rim of Spring Creek canyon, suspects that lions have decimated bighorn sheep lambs in a herd that frequents his property.

The lamb crop declined to what appeared to be zero this year, in a herd of about 50 animals, Vickers said.

GF&P official biologists say that's possible and assume lions are a factor. But they don't have any scientific data to determine how big of a factor lions are.

GF&P regional wildlife manager John Kanta of Rapid City said he is pushing for more detailed research on the effects of lion predation on mountain goats and bighorn sheep.

Kanta said lion predation has threatened small populations of bighorns in other states to the point where wildlife agencies focused hunting pressure on lions in those areas to protect the sheep.

Olson said that needs to be discussed for the Black Hills. Although more research will help, it's a logical assumption that lions are having an impact on the sheep and goats, he said.

"Those lambs are easy pickin's, I'm sure," Olson said. "It makes pretty good sense to me to go in where some of those herds are and find some of those lions and selectively take them out."

Olson said he has expressed those views to the other members of the GF&P Commission and expects it to be discussed again in the future.

Huhnerkoch hopes they also discuss disease and environmental factors and don't take any action against lions without more data to justify it.

"I just don't want them to take the easy way and raise quotas," he said.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com.

actually lambs will decrease at slightly more significant rate than the adults for two reasons one the predators would rather get a quick and easy meal than a hard and slightly more dangerous meal and secondly their have been many studies on sheep and one of the major causes of death for lambs is gravity. yup they fall to their death.