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Hi everyone! I am a new member here and new to the pack goat world. Trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible. I live in Arizona and I have a question pertaining to any bans that my state may have and how to find them. From my minimal knowledge, I understand that I am banned from using pack goats on any “core bighorn sheep habitat”? If so, what is defined as “core bighorn sheep habitat”? Does this mean any hunt unit that the Arizona game and fish department assigns bighorn sheep tags? If so that would be like half the state. I have tried to find a map showing where pack goats are banned but I have come up with nothing and was hoping someone wiser than me could point me in the right direction? Thank you in advance for having patience with my somewhat ignorant post!
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This is not an ignorant post at all and it's one of the things that can be most frustrating for all of us who pack with goats. The information is just not out there in a central location for each state. You have to read the forest plans for each individual area of public land. There is a difference between bighorn sheep habitat and "core" bighorn sheep habitat but you need to find the area you want to go into and look at the forest plan with the coded overlay map and see exactly which area(s) are considered "core habitat". It's a little tedious and you may need to call the district ranger office to help you find the correct online source. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that there is very little core bighorn habitat in your area. Hopefully that's the case!
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Nanno,
thanks for the quick response! It is good to hear that. So does each state have a PDF type forest service land use file that you can retrieve from any state forestry office?
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Wilderness areas, National Forest, and BLM land can all have different plans as how to protect Big Horn Sheep. The rules can range from no restrictions to a full on ban of packgoats. To make it more confusing the land mangers can be in different phases of revamping the land use rules. So when you call the office to speak to someone often times the person answering the phone will not know the answer. I have experienced the office personnel giving their opinion like "we really don't want packgoats here" Like Nanno said find the online version of the land use plan. If you find the land use project manager or wildlife biologist in the area they can point you in the direction you need. But always ask to see it in writing like what page or section is it in.
We all struggle with this.
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