The incident concluded today, with 309 horses captured, 137 shipped, 165 released and seven dead.

There were no unaccounted-for animals.

The capture and removal goals were 350 and 138, respectively.

The death rate was 2.3%.

The capture total included 92 stallions, 187 mares and 30 foals.

Youngsters represented 9.7% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of five percent per year.

Of the adults, 33% were males and 67% were females, not what you’d expect from a herd that’s 50% males / 50% females.

All but three of the mares returned to the WHR were treated with Gonacon Equine, but apparently just one dose.

The event was billed as catch-treat-release and was not open to public observation.

The news release does not discuss death rates, birth rates or abnormal sex ratios.

RELATED: Nevada WHR Roundup Starts This Week.

The herd on the Maryland side of the island consisted of 15 bands and 81 horses according to the December 6 inventory, no change from October.

Two horses were in a bachelor band and one was alone.

Only seven foals were born this year, seven years after the darting program was shut off.

The pesticide of choice was Zonastat-H, a favorite of the advocates.

Not included in the report:

• Ratio of females to males
• Size of breeding population
• Number of sterilized mares

The BLM WHB Handbook indicates the breeding population should exceed 50 animals to maintain an acceptable level of genetic diversity.

The herd likely has an abnormal sex ratio, which the advocates describe as mares living longer, and this may explain why there are so few unattached stallions.

The Assateague Island Alliance updates the lists.

RELATED: Assateague Pony Census, October 2023.

The schedule dated October 16 called for 8,826 animals to be captured and 8,214 to be removed but the schedule dated December 8 calls for 20,942 animals to be captured and 19,870 to be removed.

That’s a 137% increase in gathers and 142% increase in removals.

The North Lander Complex has been added, rivaling the East Pershing Complex in size.

Kiger and Riddle will see action, first time since 2015.

Marietta will lose horses and burros, along with Twin Peaks and Blue Wing.

Triple B and Maverick-Medicine have also been added.

Four gathers will occur during foaling season.

The first section in the schedule covers nonmotorized removals, the domain of the wild horse advocates.

These incidents support the three tenets of rangeland management.

“Resource not present” according to Table 3-1 in the Final EIS.

What about livestock grazing?

Figure 1-1 in the SER for grazing management shows the location of the mine relative to the towns of Battle Mountain and Carlin, NV (page 12 in the pdf).

Figure 2-1 shows the affected allotments (page 21).

Table 2-1 indicates the four allotments offer 70,430 active AUMs on 1,193,627 public acres, or 59.0 AUMs per thousand public acres, equivalent to 4.9 wild horses per thousand public acres.

This brings more embarrassment to the bureaucrats, ranchers and advocates who claim that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

The mine is hard to find in the National Data Viewer if you’re looking at the wild horse areas but if you turn on the grazing allotments it’s a piece of cake.

Wild horses don’t pay much attention to HMA boundaries unless they’re marked with fences, so the conclusion of no impact could be open for dispute.

The EIS and related documents have been copied to the project folder in ePlanning.

A December 12 news release indicates the BLM has given it the green light.

The incident began on December 8.  Results through December 12:

• Scope: Nevada WHR
• Purpose: Pest control, resource enforcement, rancher protection
• Target: Horses
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly*
• Better way: Beat their numbers down with ovary-killing pesticides*
• Captured: 298, up from 123 on Day 3
• Average daily take: 59.6
• Capture goal: 350
• Removal goal: 138
• Returned: 1, no change from Day 3
• Deaths: 2, no change from Day 3
• Shipped: 97, up from 58 on Day 3

The death rate is 0.7%.

The capture total includes 88 stallions, 180 mares and 30 foals.

Youngsters represented 10.1% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of 5% per year.

Of the adults, 32.8% were male and 67.2% were female.  These figures don’t look like they came from a simple random process centered at 50% males / 50% females.

Body condition scores were not given.

The WHR is not subject to permitted grazing but surrounding lands are.

*According to advocates.

Day 5 ended with 198 unaccounted-for animals.

Up to 106 mares will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide, before being returned the range with up to 106 stallions.

Operations will likely conclude this week.

Other statistics:

• Forage liberated to date: 3,564 AUMs per year
• Water liberated to date: 2,970 gallons per day
• Horses allowed by plan: 500
• Pre-gather population: 438
• Forage assigned to horses: 6,000 AUMs per year
• Forage assigned to livestock: None
• Horses displaced from HMA by permitted grazing: None
• True AML: 500
• Stocking rate at new AML: 0.4 wild horses per thousand acres
• Horses displaced by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

RELATED: Nevada WHR Roundup, Day 3.

Meeting materials have been posted to the WHBAB home page.

Day 1 is a field trip to Lake Pleasant HMA.  No livestream.

Refer to the agenda for details.

RELATED: Next WHBAB Meeting Set for December 14.

The incident began on December 8.  Results through December 10:

• Scope: Nevada WHR
• Purpose: Pest control, resource enforcement, rancher protection
• Target: Horses
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly*
• Better way: Get rid of them with ovary-killing pesticides*
• Captured: 123, up from 60 on Day 1
• Average daily take: 41.0
• Capture goal: 350
• Removal goal: 138
• Returned: 1, up from zero on Day 1
• Deaths: 2, up from 1 on Day 1
• Shipped: 58, up from zero on Day 1

The capture total on Day 1 was changed from 59 to 60.

A stallion was released (escaped?) on Day 3.  No details were given.

A mare was dispatched on Day 2 due to a fractured radius (leg bone).

The death rate is 1.6%.

The capture total includes 36 stallions, 69 mares and 18 foals.

Youngsters represented 14.6% of the animals gathered.

Of the adults, 34.3% were male and 65.7% were female.

Body condition scores were not given.

The WHR is not subject to permitted grazing but surrounding lands are.

*According to advocates.

Day 3 ended with 62 unaccounted-for animals.

Up to 106 mares will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide, before being returned the range with up to 106 stallions.

Other statistics:

• Forage liberated to date: 1,464 AUMs per year
• Water liberated to date: 1,220 gallons per day
• Horses allowed by plan: 500
• Pre-gather population: 438
• Forage assigned to horses: 6,000 AUMs per year
• Forage assigned to livestock: None
• Horses displaced from HMA by permitted grazing: None
• True AML: 500
• Stocking rate at new AML: 0.4 wild horses per thousand acres
• Horses displaced by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

RELATED: Nevada WHR Roundup Begins.

At the Ozark National Scenic Riverways with Adventures With Crystal.

Handpicked for those who support the defeatists, pesticide pushers and ranching sympathizers at the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses and its affiliates.

On the cost of off-range holding.

Previous audio snippets can be found in the Index under Microcasts.

It’s the second of three areas identified for wild horses in the East Pershing Complex that’s now managed principally for livestock.

Table 9 in the Final EA for pest control and resource enforcement indicates seven allotments that intersect the HA.

The figures for overlap in the last column seem reasonable based on inspection of the parcels in the National Data Viewer.

The NDV indicates that the northern half of the HA is mostly checkerboard lands while the southern half is mostly public lands.

The Allotment Master Report provides management status, acreage and active AUMs.

Around 55% of the public lands are in the Improve category.

The condition of Klondike is unknown.  The custodial category is usually reserved for allotments covering a small percentage of public lands.

Low forage density in Star Peak and Dolly Hayden suggests they are not very useful from a grazing viewpoint.  Rawhide may be recovering from overuse, wildfire or some other deficiency.

The forage assigned to livestock inside the HA is 15,356 AUMs per year, equivalent to 1,280 wild horses.  The current AML is zero so the True AML would be 1,280.

The HA covers 451,904 total acres, including 321,328 public acres, so the stocking rate at the new AML would be four wild horses per thousand public acres.

This brings great embarrassment to land managers who for years have stated that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

These same managers collect 15,356 × 1.35 = $20,730 per year from ranching activity inside the HA, while spending 1,280 × 5 × 365 = $2,336,000 per year caring for the horses displaced thereby.

Would you say that’s a wise use of the public lands?

A 160-acre checkerboard parcel inside the HA and Dolly Hayden allotment was offered for sale earlier this year.  The listing included photos of wild horses.

The EA and related documentation can be found in the project folder at ePlanning.

RELATED: How Many Wild Horses Can the Sonoma Range HA Support?

The incident started yesterday as advertised, with 59 horses captured, none shipped, none released and one dead.

RELATED: Nevada WHR Roundup Starts This Week.

Which of these terms, when used by the advocates to describe wild horses, will convince you that removal by pesticides is better than removal by helicopters, that they really care about these animals and that you should shower them with your financial support?

RELATED: Adjectives for Equine Pests.

It’s one of three areas identified for wild horses in the East Pershing Complex that’s now managed principally for livestock.

Table 9 in the Final EA for pest control and resource enforcement indicates eight allotments that overlap the HA.

The National Data Viewer suggests that roughly half of Thomas Creek is outside the HA so 50% was used for the amount of overlap instead of 100% as indicated in the table.

The other percentages look okay.

The Allotment Master Report provides management status, acreage and active AUMs.

Approximately 61% of the public acreage is in the Improve category.

The forage assigned to livestock inside the HA is 9,989 AUMs per year, enough to support 832 wild horses.  The current AML is zero so the True AML would be 832.

The HA covers 212,587 total acres, including 150,095 public acres, so the stocking rate at the new AML would be 5.5 wild horses per thousand public acres.

An assumption in the calculations above is that forage is evenly distributed across the allotments.  If 95% of Clear Creek is inside the HA, then so is 95% of the forage.

The base property tied to the Sonoma Allotment was on the market earlier this year for $11.2 million.

The base property tied to Clear Creek sold last year to J6 Ranches.

RELATED: Habitat Loss in the East Pershing Complex.

The daily reports stopped on November 28 with 257 unaccounted-for horses.

Yesterday a report for November 29 was added, indicating 69 horses shipped and one death.

That leaves 187 unaccounted-for animals.

The sidebar at the gather page shows the release of 68 stallions but that figure does not appear in the daily reports.

The incident has not been marked complete and there has been no news release.

RELATED: Status of Clan Alpine Roundup?

Which of these terms, when used by the advocates, helps you believe that they really care about wild horses and that they’d never do anything harmful to the herds?

a. Cherished

b. Beloved

c. Innocent

d. Treasured

e. Iconic

f. Majestic

If you chose any of these words, and offered your financial support thereby, the joke’s on you because they’re beating the populations down with ovary-killing pesticides so ranchers can access most of their food and water.

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Defunding the Advocates Edition.

The 2023 auction was announced on September 7 but results have not been posted.

The 2022 auction was announced on September 6 and results were published on October 27.

An email inquiry sent on December 4 has not been answered.

Why would they want to hide the results?

Because they give insight on market conditions and going rates for livestock grazing, which dwarf the current fee of $1.35 per AUM, suggesting that it’s ridiculously low and that the American people are not receiving a fair return for the use of public lands.

This brings great embarrassment to the bureaucrats and ranchers.

RTELATED: Price of Hay Unchanged, Still Too High.

The Complex consists of six Herd Areas.  Three have been taken away and a fourth has been cut in half, roughly, leaving three Herd Management Areas.

The missing HAs are unfit for wild horses, supposedly, but not for livestock.

The Complex is south of Winnemucca, NV.

RELATED: Introduction to the East Pershing Complex.

This undated letter was sent by a reader.

The linked video from the Twin Peaks HMA was posted 12 years ago, possibly on the eve of a roundup or shortly thereafter.

HO! HO! HO!  You can have your wild horse and burro program as long as it doesn’t interfere with the grazing program.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife, in partnership with Utah State University and the U.S. Geological Survey, has approached the BLM about monitoring prey selection in two HAs that overlap or are near designated wilderness areas in southeastern Nevada.

The researchers suspect that predation behavior will change after a sudden decrease in the equine population, as would result from a roundup, shifting toward native species such as mule deer, elk and bighorns.

That would be unwelcome news for big game hunters.

Could it also shift to nonnative species, such as privately owned cattle and sheep?

The area is subject to permitted grazing.

The answers seem obvious: If you’re a mountain lion and you lose a major food source, you change your diet, move to another area or die.

The study is not consistent with the claim that wild horses have no natural predators.

Data will be collected with trailcams.

The Draft EA was the only document copied to the project folder.

Comments will be accepted through December 14.

RELATED: Caliente Complex in Pictures.

The case brought earlier this year by the Center for Biological Diversity, Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife Conservation and the Arizona Wildlife Federation, alleging that wild horses were destroying the habitats of endangered species in the Tonto National Forest, has been tossed according to a report by KPNX News.

The decision does not protect the horses.  It may have alleviated the risk of forcible removal, but nonmotorized removal by the Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group, an affiliate of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, will continue.

The goal is to take the population of approximately 400 animals down to 200 in ten years, after which the mares will be sterile and the herd will be lost—forever.

RELATED: Coalition Sues Forest Service Over Salt River Horses.