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My guess is that the Bighorn Sheep are getting ready to relocate themselves. I'm also going to guess that even after this Fire is contained, it's going to get very ugly again in about a month.... Sad to see this get so big....

@outdoor_lover
Liz and I were discussing this, this morning. Both of us have a wait and see mentality. The slides and run off may not be what we normally would expect, as a lot of the area is grass, which will regrow fast, or at least that was the case for the last week. Upper Finger Rock and upper Pima Canyon will be different, and so will any of the stuff that burns up towards Summerhaven.

I wonder about the sheep, too. An article I read a week ago and posted talked about the fire removing cover that hides sheep predators. Will the sheep eat tender love grass regrowth?

Jim_H wrote: fire removing cover that hides sheep predators.

About five years ago,Belinda, Joel and I were involved in doing research for AZG&F relating to unusually high predation rates for the relocated DBHS. We were charged with surveying the areas supplied to us via waypoints from the GPS collared DBHS.

AZG&F was interested in the amount and type of "cover" in the waypoint locations. Vegetation, terrain, or other features from a one meter "DBHS" perspective, to 20 meters in all directions. We did the Finger Rock/ Pontatoc supplied waypoints. In those areas the majority of available cover was rock features and terrain.

The DBHS were relocated from the Kofa, any mountain lions there?

@Pivo
Recently was reviewing the obituary of an acquaintance of mine, Tucson biologist Dr. Linwood Smith, (RIP). Ran across an article he wrote regarding the previous herd on Pusch Ridge. He didn't agree with the prevailing theory about mountain lion hiding places: https://tucson.com/news/opinion/pusch-r ... 7c268.html

@azbackpackr
Nice article.

@Pivo
And who's to say? He could be right.

@azbackpackr
I am in agreement with him. The Kofa DBHS relocation choice to an area with mountain lions, is what I question. I surveyed those areas, mostly topography to provide cover. The human impact maybe the true issue.

Pivo wrote: ↑Jun 13 2020 3:35 pm @azbackpackr
The Kofa DBHS relocation choice to an area with mountain lions, is what I question.

Well, Sheep were there before and thriving. I'm sure the Mountain Lions didn't just show up out of the blue back then either. Just the houses. There was probably a balance of Lion and Sheep and the developments and humans just overloaded the scale as far as the sheep were concerned. Now, in order to give the sheep any chance at all in an area that's populated still, the lions must go. Three's a Crowd. The problem with that is you'll start seeing overgrazing and increased car/deer collisions. But the Deer hunters will be happy I'm sure. And more Deer means more permits and more permits means more dollars for Game and Fish. On top of Bighorn Sheep Permits that are mega bucks. Win Win for everyone but the Lions.

And... There didn't use to be Lions in the Kofas, but they moved in and Game and Fish started eliminating them too, to protect the Kofa Herd.

outdoor_lover wrote:Well, Sheep were there before and thriving. I'm sure the Mountain Lions didn't just show up out of the blue back then either.

Agreed on that.
However the DBHS had been absent for over a decade. My point is the relocated DBHS may not have been aware of the threat from mountain lions. Agree on dollars for DBHS tags, for AZG&F, the DBHS of the North American Sheep Grand Slam (Desert Bighorn, Rocky Mountain Bighorn, Dall, and Stone) is the most difficult to get.

Hunters do go into Mexico for that, however mucho pesos.

Coronado NF posted this on their socials. Interesting info. Couldn't find a static link at either AZGFD or AZDBSS.

More lambs, but fewer bighorns were seen overall in the recent air-to-ground survey of the Santa Catalinas by Arizona Game and Fish and the AZ Desert Bighorn Sheep Society. The five lambs observed were the most since 2017! In the Santa Catalinas, 25 bighorns were seen this year compared to 35 in 2021. The dense brush caused by the 2021-22 monsoons made the sheep harder to see and may have contributed to the lower number spotted.
The current report on the Forest:
Santa Catalinas: 25
Peloncillos: 99
The current report on BLM land:
Silverbells: 152
Picachos: 59 (up from 38 last year)

@chumley - To say the brush is thick in the Catalina's would be an understatement. Pusch Peak has chest high grass covering wide swaths of it right now. You can barely see the trail, let alone a sheep moving around. But I see as much, if not more sheep scat around the usual spots.

Morenci/Clifton Bighorns are now in Utah.

https://www.eacourier.com/copper_era/ne ... ium=social

@cactuscat I believe I read somewhere that the Clifton sheep are the Rocky Mountain variety whereas the rest of Arizona features the Desert variety. And I have no idea what makes them different!

chumley wrote:I have no idea what makes them different!

Honestly, it's pretty easy once you know what you're looking for. The Rocky Mountain variety don't have a typical bleat, it sounds more like, "sususubaru"

@chumley
I do know that the RMBHS are larger than the DBHS.