Refer to this post dated 10/09/18 at The Daily Pitchfork for livestock grazing on lands managed by the BLM.  Grazing receipts from 2002 to 2018 were used to estimate the number of livestock on western rangelands vis-à-vis wild horses and burros.

The report did not indicate how many livestock were on lands set aside for WHB so comparisons of cattle and sheep to horses and burros may not be valid because they don’t have the same land-basis.

If all of the animals were found inside the 27 million acres managed for WHB, then yes, you could say that cattle and sheep vastly outnumber horses and burros.

Refer to this story by KUSI in San Diego, CA, posted yesterday.  BLM has admitted responsibility but who did the deed?

The gather was justified by lack of water at Boone Springs.  Madeleine Pickens, wild horse advocate and owner of the land, offered to provide water but the BLM refused.

RELATED: Intrigue at Spruce-Pequop HMA.

UPDATE: Added video by KUSI News.

Two wild stallions were found dead on 10/13/18.  Refer to this video from KPNX-TV in Phoenix, AZ (has mandatory ad).  Also this story from KPNX and this FB post.  There are no suspects at this time and a motive is not known.

The Heber WHT lies within the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, about 80 miles northeast of Phoenix, AZ.  It appears on the USFS map of WHTs but is not linked on the page.

On the Virginia Range.  H/T Lauri Duke.

A helicopter is now pushing horses into the traps at Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Range near Grand Junction, CO.  Refer to this report in Western Slope Now, posted today.

Don’t worry though, they’re being treated humanely, like the horses at Spruce-Pequop.

On the other end of the line are hundreds of adopters who have been around horses their whole lives, eager to suffocate them with blankets, shove big pain bits into their mouths and pound nails into their feet.

As for the nutjobs at Friends of the Mustangs, don’t give them a penny.  They have failed these horses miserably.

RELATED: BLM to Use Helicopter to Finish Little Bookcliffs Roundup.

The following map shows the approximate location of the Mustang Monument Resort and Sanctuary vis-à-vis the Spruce-Pequop HMA.  The red dot shows the approximate location of Boone Springs, where the wild horse shooting took place.

White patches correspond to privately owned land, while tan represents lands managed by the BLM.  Most of the sanctuary lies within the 600,000 acre Spruce Allotment in Elko County, NV.

As of today, the story has not been picked up by any of the national news outlets.

RELATED: Spruce-Pequop Gather Started with Wild Horse Massacre?

Virginia Range mustangs congregate at the stock tanks as clouds drift past the moon.

A report posted this evening in Las Vegas Now says that eight wild horses were shot by the BLM near Boone Springs in late August, at the beginning of the Spruce-Pequop gather.  The deaths do not appear in the gather reports.  Photographs of the dead horses do not provide a rationale for euthanasia.  Emaciation is not evident.

Businesswoman Madeleine Pickens owns over 20,000 acres in the area, with nearly 600,000 acres of public grazing allotments attached.  Those lands were obtained for the Mustang Monument wild horse sanctuary.  Pickens offered to take 30,000 wild horses out of government pens and put them back on the range.

“But Elko County is cattle country so Pickens has faced opposition at every step.”

The allotments cover much of the Spruce-Pequop HMA, and parts of the Goshute and Antelope Valley HMAs, which were also gathered this year.

Pickens believes the BLM wants to take her land and repurpose it for cattle grazing.

UPDATE: Added video.

Small band on the Virginia Range arrives for a drink after the permanent water and electrical lines have been installed.  A minute or two later, all heads go up and they leave, as though someone called them.

RELATED: Wild Horses Visit Stock Tanks During Construction.

The White Mountain Independent of Show Low, AZ posted an article this morning about the Heber WHT that actually mentions livestock on lands used by the horses!

“One of the primary complaints expressed by the ranchers is that the Heber horses are in competition with their cattle for food, water and resources.”

One of the ranchers interviewed for the story said the horses should be managed with permits just like cattle.

“Go through the process and set up payments for your range fees with Forest Service for your allotment.  Then put all of those horses on there and have at it.”

Interesting idea.  Permits could be put up for auction.  The going rate for livestock grazing is $1.41 per AUM.  If a wild horse advocacy group offered $5 per AUM to graze wild horses, would the BLM be obligated to accept it?  Would ranchers be willing to pay $25 per AUM or $50 per AUM or more?

BLM said earlier this week (on Day 2 of the WHB Advisory Board meeting) that the cost of caring for a horse in off-range pastures is $2 per day.  That’s roughly $60 per AUM.

Another rancher used an analogy to explain why the current management approach for the WHT isn’t working and hasn’t for years:

“Consider that you and I were neighbors and we had a piece of property and it was fenced off.  And then I had 50 dogs running on my property and there’s a hole in my fence and all of my dogs go over onto your property.  Does that mean that you should take care of those dogs now?”

What he seems to forget is that the property doesn’t belong to him and a law was passed in 1971 to protect those dogs.

RELATED: Advocates Hauling Water to Heber WHT.

Bait traps have not been successful in capturing horses from remote locations, according to a report posted today by The Daily Sentinel.  Forty seven horses have been gathered so far, with twenty seven permanently removed.

Stupid horses, why won’t they surrender their freedom for a life of government benefits?

The stated reason for the gather is overgrazing, but could it be that the horses have roamed beyond the WHR boundaries onto lands covered by grazing permits, robbing forage from the public-lands ranchers?

RELATED: Gather at Little Bookcliffs in Progress, with Aid of ‘Advocates’.

BLM has reopened the nomination period for vacant positions on three Resource Advisory Councils in Nevada.  Refer to this news release for more information.

The Sierra Front-Northwestern Great Basin RAC, which serves Washoe, Humboldt, Pershing, Churchill, Storey, Douglas, Lyon, Mineral and Carson City counties, has an open position in the area of wild horses and burros.

Citizens on RACs provide input to the BLM in managing public lands for multiple uses.

RELATED: BLM Seeks Nominations for RACs.

Bait trapping ended 10/02/18, with 902 wild horses removed from the two HMAs, according to a news release issued today.  Fifteen deaths were reported, leaving 887 animals to be shipped to the Indian Lakes Off-Range WHB Corrals in Fallon, NV, where they will be offered for adoption or transferred to segregated long-term holding.

Two horses were put down due to blindness.

Ten were put down due to emaciation and weakness.

Three horses died after hitting panels (walls of the traps) and breaking their necks, sometimes referred to affectionately as ‘capture shock’ by those in the field.

All euthanized animals had been given a hopeless prognosis for recovery.

The announcement did not indicate if livestock were present on the HMAs and if they were also affected by inadequate food and water.

RELATED: BLM Wants Another Bite of the Apple at Goshute and Antelope Valley HMAs.

Youngsters being youngsters, somewhere near the Salt River.  H/T Lil Dumplin.

Small band on the Virginia Range arrives for a drink after a trench for the permanent water supply has been dug.  Tank on the left has automatic refill.  Second photo shows other visitors stopping by at night.

RELATED: Stock Tank Update.

Suppose an area can support ten or more wild horses per thousand acres.  The stated carrying capacity is one horse per thousand acres.  The current population density is three horses per thousand acres.

• Claims will be made that the area is overpopulated
• Arguments will be made that excess horses must be removed
• Meetings will be held to draft a management plan
• Helicopters will be deployed
• Horses will be gathered

Given that the area is now underpopulated, what do you suppose will fill the gap?

These guys stopped by for a drink on 10/05/18 then headed southeast.  They dropped the level in the tank around eight inches, easily 25 gallons!  Video posted here.

On McCullough Peaks HMA.  H/T Karen King.

At the intersection of Winters Parkway and Route 50, near Dayton, NV.  One way to avoid this is to provide water up in the hills, a practice known as ‘diversionary watering.’

Language warning.  H/T Miss Yvonne.

Virginia Range stallion grazing shortly after sundown on 10/05/18.  Unfortunately, the video stops abruptly due to memory card capacity.  He came in close after the camera quit, gentle as could be.  Could have kissed him on the nose but did not.  You guys are awesome!  (His band, nearby, appears in this video.)