Category: Range

On the range

Chincoteague Foaling Season Underway

The list maintained by DSC Photography shows four new lives, all female.

Only 99 more needed to tie last year’s record.

The herd, known for its abnormal sex ratio and unprecedented birth rate, has been manipulated by the Saltwater Cowboys into a moneymaker for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company while FWS looks the other way.

RELATED: Trends in Chincoteague Pony Auction Results.

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

BLM Launches Vacant Allotment Finder

The web-based app helps ranchers locate allotments that might be suitable for grazing and provides easy instructions to obtain a permit according to the news release.

The disclaimer, which must be acknowledged to access the site, says it displays potential opportunities for grazing on Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service lands.

Acreage and AUMs are estimates and NEPA reviews may be required.

The announcement did not mention base properties and did not indicate if said parcels could be repurposed by interested parties as wild horse preserves.

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

BLM Announces Lake Pleasant Bait Trap Roundup

The incident will begin on April 1 according to the news release.

The capture and removal goals are 1,500 each.

The target is burros.

The current population is thought to be around 2,300.

The HMA covers 103,473 total acres, including 60,836 public acres, and the number of animals allowed by plan is 208.

Operations will not be open to public observation.

Animals identified for removal will be taken to the off-range corrals in Florence.

There are no plans to treat any of the jennies with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

The roundup will liberate up to 9,000 AUMs per year for other mandated uses of public lands, which is of little interest to drillers, miners, loggers, tourists, hikers and campers, but it’s great news for _________.

RELATED: BLM Issues Lake Pleasant Final Planning Documents.

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

BLM Announces Black Mountain Bait Trap Roundup

The incident will begin on or about April 2 according to the news release.

The capture and removal goals are 500 each.

The target is burros.

The current population is thought to be around 3,900.

The HMA covers 773,136 total acres, including 543,307 public acres, according to the 2026 population dataset.

Operations will not be open to public observation.

Animals identified for removal will be taken to the Axtell off-range corrals in Utah.

There are no plans to treat any of the jennies with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

The roundup appears in the new schedule.

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

Advocates Protest Spring Mountains Roundup

The announcement did not give the names of the organizers but the event was set for March 23 at the BLM office in Las Vegas.

The description included a link to material written by the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.

Demands included cessation of motorized removal, implementation of fertility control and transfer of captured animals to sanctuaries.

Pesticides are referred to as vaccines.

The advocates want them off the range as much as the bureaucrats and ranchers.

As of today, the gather page shows no wild horses captured, with seven consecutive days of “No animals were in the bait and water corrals by EOB yesterday.”

RELATED: BLM Announces Spring Mountains Bait Trap Roundup.

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

Mesa Verde Roundup Continues

The Park Service hasn’t updated its page in almost a year but a story by The Journal says 60 horses have been removed since low-stress trapping began.

Wild horses have been found in the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument and Weber Canyon according to the report.

RELATED: Mesa Verde Roundup Grinds On.

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

BLM Announces Bullfrog Bait Trap Roundup

The incident will begin on or about April 1 according to the news release.

The capture and removal goals are 500 each.

The target is burros.

The current population is thought to be around 1,100.

The HMA covers 157,180 total acres, including 146,701 public acres.

Operations will not be open to public observation.

Animals identified for removal will be taken to the off-range corrals at Ridgecrest.

There are no plans to treat any of the jennies with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

The roundup appears in the new schedule.

RELATED: Bullfrog Emergency Roundup?

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

BLM Defies Colorado Wild Horse Working Group?

The new roundup schedule ignores solutions developed by the task force according to a story by The Colorado Sun.

Despite the recommendations, Scott Wilson, former Director of Strategy and Awareness with the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, said “…we are back where we were in 2022, with more than 1,000 horses being targeted for removals by helicopter.”

The group argued that strategic darting, not motorized removal, should be at the center of the state’s management efforts.

RELATED: Colorado Wild Horse Working Group Updates Eradication Plan.

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

Rock Springs Roundups Delayed Until FY27?

They’re not on the schedule for FY26 and probably won’t be attempted before October according to a story by WyoFile, to make sure funding is in place and they’re on sound legal footing.

The changes authorized in the 2023 final planning documents have already been implemented in the ArcGIS Viewer.

Funding for FY26, which began on October 1, was not approved until late January.

RELATED: BLM Moves Rock Springs Roundups into Next Year.

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

Indigenous Livestock Grazing in Wyoming?

The authorization use report for Mosier Gulch indicates nine head on a twelve-month grazing season, species unknown.

The allotment master report gives the permittee as DEMATTEIS, JOHN AND LAURA.

A search for John Dematteis associated him with Yak Daddy Ranch in Buffalo, a small town east of the allotment.

Products and services include meat and live sales for starting your own herd.

Yaks were introduced to North America in the early 1900’s according to the site, putting them in the same category as cattle and sheep (not indigenous).

Does the permit comply with the BLM’s new understanding of the meaning of livestock?

Probably, in that the animals are used for production-oriented purposes.

They generate an income for their owners.

That’s what American Prairie needs to show in response to the agency’s flip-flop on their grazing permits.

An admission fee of 25¢ should do it.

RELATED: BLM Reneges on American Prairie Grazing Permits.

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

Bait-Trap Removals Clash with First Amendment Rights?

They’re usually not open to observation, interfering with the public’s right to know what their government is doing.

The risks of injury and death, after the gate closes, are similar to those of forcible removal, as the writer of a commentary in Nevada Current points out.

Especially during foaling season.

As of this morning, the BLM has not posted any results for the roundups mentioned in the column (Antelope & Triple B, Caliente, Pancake, Spring Mountains).

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