The incident started on August 2.  Results through August 18:

• Scope: Bible Springs, Four Mile, Tilly Creek HMAs, Blawn Wash HA
• Target: Horses
• AML: 170
• Pre-gather population: 961
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Sterilize the mares with PZP (according to advocates)
• Capture goal: 800
• Removal goal: 800
• Captured: 650, up from 515 on Day 15
• Shipped: 493, up from 405 on Day 15
• Released: None
• Deaths: 4, no change from Day 15
• Average daily take: 38.2
• Unaccounted-for animals: 153
• Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
• Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The death rate is 0.6%.

The capture total includes 241 stallions, 277 mares and 132 foals.

Youngsters represented 20.3% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of 15% per year.

Of the adults, 46.5% were male and 53.5% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores were not given.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The contractor is Sampson Livestock and the contract amount is $497,130 according to a report at USA Spending.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range, a huge disappointment to the advocates.

The HMAs are subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 7,800 AUMs per year
• Water: 6,500 gallons per day

The Blawn Wash HA is unfit for wild horses, supposedly, and has no AML.

PREVIOUS: Bible Springs Roundup, Day 15.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The incident started on August 2.  Results through August 18:

• Scope: Piceance-East Douglas HMA, West Douglas HA
• Target: Horses
• AML: 235
• Pre-gather population: 1,145
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Stop genetic mixing with PZP (according to advocates)
• Capture goal: 1,025
• Removal goal: 1,011
• Captured: 727, up from 680 o on Day 15
• Shipped: 671, up from 586 on Day 15
• Released: None
• Deaths: 5, no change from Day 15
• Average daily take: 42.8
• Unaccounted-for animals: 51
• Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
• Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The death rate is 0.7%.

The capture total includes 284 stallions, 301 mares and 142 foals.

Youngsters represented 19.5% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of 14% per year.

Of the adults, 48.5% were male and 51.5% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores on Days 16 and 17 ranged from 3 to 4.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The contractor is CD Warner and the contract amount is $679,249 according to a report at USA Spending.

The area is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 8,724 AUMs per year
• Water: 7,270 gallons per day

The West Douglas HA is unfit for wild horses, supposedly, and has no AML.

PREVIOUS: Piceance Roundup, Day 15.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Found under ranching sympathizers.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

At the southwest corner of the Virginia Range, documenting the mass sterilization program, with Art.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The incident started on August 2.  Results through August 16:

• Scope: Bible Springs, Four Mile, Tilly Creek HMAs, Blawn Wash HA
• Target: Horses
• AML: 170
• Pre-gather population: 961
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Stop the transmission of life with PZP (according to advocates)
• Capture goal: 800
• Removal goal: 800
• Captured: 515, up from 427 on Day 13
• Shipped: 405, up from 361 on Day 13
• Released: None
• Deaths: 4, no change from Day 13
• Average daily take: 34.3
• Unaccounted-for animals: 106
• Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
• Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The death rate is 0.8%.

The capture total includes 191 stallions, 219 mares and 105 foals.

Youngsters represented 20.4% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of 15% per year.

Of the adults, 46.6% were male and 53.4% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores were not given.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The contractor is Sampson Livestock and the contract amount is $497,130 according to a report at USA Spending.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range, a huge disappointment to the advocates.

The HMAs are subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 6,180 AUMs per year
• Water: 5,150 gallons per day

The Blawn Wash HA is unfit for wild horses, supposedly, and has no AML.

PREVIOUS: Bible Springs Roundup, Day 13.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The incident started on August 2.  Results through August 16:

• Scope: Piceance-East Douglas HMA, West Douglas HA
• Target: Horses
• AML: 235
• Pre-gather population: 1,145
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Snuff out new life with PZP (according to advocates)
• Capture goal: 1,025
• Removal goal: 1,011
• Captured: 680, up from 627 on Day 13
• Shipped: 586, no change from Day 13
• Released: None
• Deaths: 5, no change from Day 13
• Average daily take: 45.3
• Unaccounted-for animals: 89
• Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
• Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The death rate is 0.7%.

The capture total includes 270 stallions, 278 mares and 132 foals.

Youngsters represented 19.4% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of 14% per year.

Of the adults, 49.3% were male and 50.7% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores on Days 14 and 15 ranged from 3 to 4.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The contractor is CD Warner and the contract amount is $679,249, based on a report at USA Spending.

The area is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 8,160 AUMs per year
• Water: 6,800 gallons per day

The West Douglas HA is unfit for wild horses, supposedly, and has no AML.

PREVIOUS: Piceance Roundup, Day 13.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Managing the HA as an HMA was one of the alternatives considered in the Red Desert Final EA but dropped from detailed analysis.

It’s unfit for wild horses but suitable for livestock, even though there’s considerable dietary overlap among the animals.

The HA lies mostly within the allotment.

The allotment master report puts it in the Improve category, with 47% of the permitted use in the suspended column.

Despite that, the allotment offers 15,077 active AUMs on 239,802 public acres, equivalent to 5.2 wild horses per thousand public acres.

That includes the area that can’t support any wild horses.

If conditions improved and the suspended AUMs moved back into the active column, the allotment would support livestock equivalent to 9.9 wild horses per thousand public acres—almost ten times higher than the target stocking rate across all HMAs of one wild horse per thousand public acres.

This is another example of double standard in resource management on America’s public lands.

Like the advocates, your faithful public servants aren’t playing for the home team.

Would the allotment make a good wild horse preserve?

It overlaps an area already identified for wild horses, which is a showstopper.

Numerous authorizations are attached, so you’d have to buy multiple base properties to access all of the AUMs.

Probably not a good investment.

The bureaucrats, who never have to face the voters, are trying to change the grazing rules to stop the conversion of allotments into wild animal preserves, not because it’s illegal but because the ranchers, especially the crybabies in Montana, don’t like the idea.

The proposal should not be taken as a barrier to your conservation project.

RELATED: BLM Issues Red Desert Final Planning Documents.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The August 15 map at Inciweb has a black border on the east side, indicating that little if any spread is expected in that area.

PREVIOUS: Palomino Valley Corrals Threatened by Wildfires?

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The incident started on August 2.  Results through August 14:

• Scope: Bible Springs, Four Mile, Tilly Creek HMAs, Blawn Wash HA
• Target: Horses
• AML: 170
• Pre-gather population: 961
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Sterilize the mares with PZP (according to advocates)
• Capture goal: 800
• Removal goal: 800
• Captured: 427, up from 367 on Day 11
• Shipped: 361, up from 269 on Day 11
• Released: None
• Deaths: 4, up from 3 on Day 11
• Average daily take: 32.8
• Unaccounted-for animals: 62
• Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
• Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

A horse was euthanized on Day 13 for a preexisting condition.  No details were given.

The death rate is 0.9%.

The capture total includes 151 stallions, 184 mares and 92 foals.

Youngsters represented 21.5% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of 16% per year.

Of the adults, 45.1% were male and 54.9% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores were not given.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The contractor is Sampson Livestock and the contract amount is $497,130 according to a report at USA Spending.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range, a huge disappointment to the advocates.

The HMAs are subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 5,124 AUMs per year
• Water: 4,270 gallons per day

The Blawn Wash HA is unfit for wild horses, supposedly, and has no AML.

PREVIOUS: Bible Springs Roundup, Day 11.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The incident started on August 2.  Results through August 14:

• Scope: Piceance-East Douglas HMA, West Douglas HA
• Target: Horses
• AML: 235
• Pre-gather population: 1,145
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Costly and inhumane (according to advocates)
• Better way: Beat the numbers down with PZP (according to advocates)
• Capture goal: 1,025
• Removal goal: 1,011
• Captured: 627, up from 589 on Day 11
• Shipped: 586, up from 500 on Day 11
• Released: None
• Deaths: 5, up from 4 on Day 11
• Average daily take: 48.2
• Unaccounted-for animals: 36
• Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
• Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

A colt was euthanized on Day 13 for a preexisting condition.

The death rate is 0.8%.

The capture total includes 250 stallions, 255 mares and 122 foals.

Youngsters represented 19.5% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of 14% per year.

Of the adults, 49.5% were male and 50.5% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores on Days 12 and 13 ranged from 3 to 4.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The contractor is CD Warner and the contract amount is $679,249, based on a report at USA Spending.

The area is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 7,524 AUMs per year
• Water: 6,270 gallons per day

The West Douglas HA is unfit for wild horses, supposedly, and has no AML.

PREVIOUS: Piceance Roundup, Day 11.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Data from USA Spending for roundups after the foaling season lull:

Roundup	Contractor	Contract Amount	Capture Goal	Unit Cost	Status
Montgomery Pass	Warner	$228,147	450	$506.99	Complete
Moriah	Warner	$357,282	500	$714.56	Complete
Lahontan	Sampson	$259,885	700	$371.26	Complete
Callaghan	Cattoor	$765,121	2,000	$382.56	Complete
Saylor Creek	Sampson	$92,170	100	$921.70	Complete
Piceance	Warner	$679,249	1,025	$662.68	Ongoing
Bible Springs	Sampson	$497,130	800	$621.41	Ongoing
Confusion	Sampson	$235,536	360	$654.27	Pending
Sand Wash Basin	Cattoor	$222,590	300	$741.97	Pending
Total/Average		$3,337,110	6,235	$535.22

The average cost was $535 per head.

In general, the unit cost goes down as the capture goal goes up.

Motorized removal usually doesn’t sterilize any mares, destroy any breeding populations or eliminate genetic mixing.

Fertility control programs do that.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The AML for the Pryor Mountain HMA did not increase in the updated management plan but the interval between high and low decreased, suggesting the birth rate will be going down and the death rate will be going up (as the age of the herd increases).

The range between the endpoints is usually based on a doubling of herd size every four to five years, which might make sense in areas where nature is allowed to run its course.

For example, at the Fifteenmile HMA in Wyoming, the AML is 100 to 230.

What about HMAs where the advocates are involved?

At Stewart Creek, where WYWHIP poisons the mares with PZP, the range is 125 to 175.

The closer the endpoints the lower the growth rate.

The previous AML at Pryor, 90 to 120, yields a growth rate of roughly 5.9% per year for five years.

The new AML, 107 to 120, yields a growth rate of 2.3% per year over the same period.

You can determine the growth rate by solving this relationship for GR, where AML_H is upper endpoint, AML_L is the lower endpoint, GR is the growth rate in percent and n is the period in years.

Or you can use this spreadsheet.

You can check the calculation by plugging the results into the formula.

How will the new AML be achieved?

Long-term use of PZP, much to the delight of the advocates, with the inevitable result of permanent infertility and herd collapse.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The Bug Fire is a few miles to the west and the Stallion Fire is a few miles to the east according to the August 13 map at Inciweb.

Both fires are believed to be human caused.

A report by KRNV News says that over 1,600 wild horses and burros will remain at the facility, the safest option for their welfare according to a BLM spokesperson.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Removal of 40 wild horses is not in the FY26 schedule, but that’s the plan according to yesterday’s news release.

The capture goal may be higher because some of the mares with be treated with fertility control and returned to the range.

The current population is thought to be 187.

A start date was not given.

Animals will be drawn into the traps with bait.

Operations will probably not be open to public observation.

Horses identified for removal may be taken to the holding facility at Britton Springs but the ultimate destination was not specified.

The HMA is not subject to permitted grazing but is surrounded by allotments on all but the east side.

The announcement contains two incompatible statements:

• The AML is 107 to 120 horses
• The gather will help ensure the herd remains healthy and genetically diverse

The narrow range of the AML implies heavy use of fertility control, as discussed previously, which destroys the breeding population and ends genetic mixing.

Removal of horses cannot improve or maintain genetic diversity if the remnant is too small and/or the mares have been ruined with PZP, which is the case at Pryor.

The advocates, evil beyond imagination, are 100% on board with the idea.

RELATED: BLM Issues Final Planning Docs for Pryor HMAP and AML.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

The incident started on August 2.  Results through August 12:

• Scope: Bible Springs, Four Mile, Tilly Creek HMAs, Blawn Wash HA
• Target: Horses
• AML: 170
• Pre-gather population: 961
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Sterilize the mares with PZP (according to advocates)
• Capture goal: 800
• Removal goal: 800
• Captured: 367, up from 282 on Day 9
• Shipped: 269, up from 221 on Day 9
• Released: None
• Deaths: 3, up from 2 on Day 9
• Average daily take: 33.4
• Unaccounted-for animals: 95
• Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
• Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

A horse was euthanized on Day 10 for a preexisting condition.  No details were given.

The death rate is 0.8%.

The capture total includes 123 stallions, 161 mares and 83 foals.

Youngsters represented 22.6% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of 17% per year.

Of the adults, 43.3% were male and 56.7% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores were not given.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The contractor is Sampson Livestock and the contract amount is $497,130 according to a report at USA Spending.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range, a huge disappointment to the advocates.

The HMAs are subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

• Forage: 4,404 AUMs per year
• Water: 3,670 gallons per day

The Blawn Wash HA is unfit for wild horses, supposedly, and has no AML.

PREVIOUS: Bible Springs Roundup, Day 9.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.