Researchers studying Dall’s sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) associated with a large mineral lick on Dry Creek in the central Alaska Range south of Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, claimed that removal of nearly all mature males by intensive harvest of three-quarter curl or larger males by hunters during the 1980s resulted in accelerated mortality of young males and low productivity in female sheep. Changing to a more conservative harvest of seveneights and then full-curl males purportedly reversed these trends and resulted in higher overall sustained harvest of males. Review of Dry Creek study reports and of original data records revealed questionable assumptions and errors in data analysis and study design. Conclusions about accelerated mortality of young males were based primarily on resighting data from marked males at the mineral lick, but data from aerial surveys of the larger study area around the lick indicated much higher abundance of males than was apparent at the lick. Reanalysis of data showed that males had low fidelity to the lick, and many years the lick was not observed frequently enough to detect all sheep that may have used it. Harvest only reduced abundance of mature males by about one-half and had no discernable effect on survival of younger males. Low ovarian activity and high rates of parturition in 2-year old females (thought to be associated with alternate year reproduction in later life, and therefore undesirable) were attributed to low abundance of mature males from 1972 to 1979, but most

Eighteen years ago, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) essentially withdrew from Dall sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) management. This withdrawal was driven by a regulatory change which defined surplus Dall sheep for harvest as full curl rams. Subsequently, changes in prevailing weather put sheep populations in decline throughout the state. About the same time predator management was suspended. Eventually, the abundance and subsequent annual harvest of mature rams declined from an average of almost 1,200 to the all-time low of 650 rams. In 2004 declining harvests coupled with rumors of significant harvests of sub-legal rams lead to mandatory inspection of most harvested rams. This meant ADF&G and enforcement wardens were to determine whether harvested ram horns met legal harvest criteria. A number of "litmus tests" which were not accountable to the legal or geometric definitions were developed, and confusion reigned. Almost a quarter of the reported ram harvest in 2004 and 2005 was not recorded as inspected. Data indicated a violation rate of about 1%. Nevertheless, the Alaska Board of Game increased the demand on the Department to inspect and plug most harvested ram horns. In this paper, I suggest these actions were inappropriate for Alaska's management needs. I also argue agency abdication of management responsibility, including user education to facilitate respect for regulations, led to this chain of events, and probably was causative. Managers are reminded that there is more to management than setting seemingly conservative seasons and bag limits. BIENN. SYMP. NORTH. WILD SHEEP AND GOAT COUNC. 15: 17-27

The unique success of wildlife restoration and management in the United States is tightly linked to the Roosevelt Doctrine, which states that the best management is based on the best science. This concept provides the underlying rationale for wild sheep and goat research. After 16 years of observing fragmented management thinking, I (WEH) articulated the concept of the working management hypothesis in 1988. I presumed that articulation and integration of current natural history/species biology into a management "prescription" would facilitate successful management by those without a specialty in wild sheep or goats. Prior to this effort, Alaskan Dall sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) management had proceeded on an ad hoc basis as politics and structural agency priorities trumped relevant sheep adaptations to environment on an ongoing basis. These problems persist. A typical case study is briefly reviewed in this paper. The putative goal for this symposium section is to refine the working management hypotheses for wild mountain sheep. Since the articulated working hypotheses have been largely ignored, three questions come to mind. "Is it possible to construct a working management hypothesis?" "If not, what is the point of biological research on sheep and goats?" and "Should we put any effort into a working management hypothesis for mountain goats?" These questions are offered for discussion.