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Forest Service mulls cutting wild horse numbers in Ochocos
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
By Michael Kohn
EO Media Group
The 7mm-08 Remington
I
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
’ve got to confess, it’s eas-
combined with excellent accu-
racy and more than sufficient
ier to love some cartridges
than others. The 7mm car-
power are what endears it to
tridges among others have
so many shooters, especially
taken some convinc-
the young or just start-
ing, being as the hear-
ing out. Even veteran
say around campfires
shooters find it a qual-
ity choice for just about
I have frequented over
anything. Were I to build
the years were some-
times less than char-
or buy a rifle whose pri-
mary focus was to be
itable. Still, despite
as lightweight, com-
our personal biases,
Dale Valade
pact and yet powerful
each cartridge in exis-
tence, objectively, has
as could be, the 7mm-
both pros and cons. The 7mm-
08 would be high in the running
08 Remington is definitely a
especially if its primary use was
standout with a lot of dynamite mixed cover, high country deer
to offer in a small package.
and elk hunting. The 7mm (.284)
The .308 Winchester case
has an excellent range of bul-
has, like many others before it, let choice for handloading; the
most desirable and useful for the
been the parent case to a myr-
iad of wildcats and standard-
deer and elk hunter will run from
ized factory offspring. Not all
140- to 165-grain as these are
of the factory cartridges are as
most balanced in bullet weight to
popular as they could or should velocity ratios. Medium to slow
be, but the 7mm-08 is sec-
burning rate powders will result
ond only to the .243 in popu-
in at least hunting grade accuracy
larity among the various .308
at worst and eye popping clover-
leaf groups at best even in light-
progeny. Designed to dupli-
cate the performance of the old weight short, skinny barrels.
7x57mm Mauser but in a true
Last fall my wife Emma
short action, the 7mm-08 is as
took her first cow elk with a sin-
gle, well placed shot from her
they say “all that and a bag of
7mm-08 at 200 yards. That was
chips.”
with 140-grain Remington fac-
Although we revere the
tory ammunition. This year,
7x57mm Mauser, the few
selections of contemporary fac- she decided to bring it along to
tory ammo are held to lower
fill her LOP antlerless deer tag.
than potential power levels
Armed with 140-grain Sierra
in deference to the old 1893
Gameking handloads, she did
Mauser and Remington Roll-
not fail to impress yet again. This
ing Block rifles lingering in the
is typical performance from a
hands of the potentially unin-
properly loaded and operated
formed. Unlike the maligned
7mm-08 Remington to those that
.284 WCF, the 7mm-08 is easy
have them. If you’re in the mar-
ket, this may be the next gun you
to find, both components and a
buy that you never knew you
wide variety of available fac-
tory ammunition choices. Rifles
needed to have.
Are you a fan of the 7mm-
are compact and lightweight yet
08? Write to us at shootingth-
don’t kick so badly as to send
you out from under your favorite ebreezebme@gmail.com!
Dale Valade is a local coun-
sombrero. Practically anyone can
try gent with a love for the out-
master a rifle with these choice
doors, handloading, hunting
features.
and shooting.
These desirable attributes
A herd of feral horses that grazes on land
within the Ochoco National Forest could
have its numbers slashed if a new manage-
ment plan for the horses is adopted.
The appropriate management level of
horses in the Big Summit Wild Horse herd
is 12 to 57 animals, according to a plan
released by the Ochoco National Forest.
Currently, the herd includes around 135
horses.
The Big Summit herd is unique in the
Pacific Northwest as it’s the only one in
Oregon and Washington to be managed
solely by the U.S. Forest Service. The
Bureau of Land Management is responsi-
ble for most of the wild horse herds in other
areas of Oregon.
The herd is located about 30 miles east
of Prineville and grazes on 27,000 acres of
land located between 4,000 to 7,000 feet in
elevation.
A 1975 management plan set the num-
ber of horses in the area at around 60. When
numbers exceeded that amount, the Forest
Service worked with the Bureau of Land
Management to transfer horses to a facil-
ity near Burns. Funding for that agree-
ment ended in 2013, and since that time,
the Forest Service has witnessed a dramatic
growth in the herd.
In its updated management plan, the
Forest Service says it aims to keep the num-
ber of horses at the “high end” of the appro-
priate management level.
The numbers will be maintained through
contraception and sterilization. Contracep-
tion includes tools such as PZP, an immu-
nocontraceptive vaccine. Other methods to
slow population growth will also be con-
sidered, but only if approved by the Wild
Horse and Burro Advisory Board or other
governing agencies, according to details in
the Forest Service plan.
DNA samples will also be collected to
ensure that the herd maintains an accept-
able level of genetic variability. New mares
from similar habitats will be introduced if
it’s determined that greater genetic variabil-
ity is required.
Excess horses will be removed by gath-
ering them together and trapping animals.
Trapped animals will then be prepared for
adoption or sale, according to the manage-
ment plan.
The Forest Service says it needs to
EO Media Group/Ryan Brennecke
A herd of feral horses graze in the Ochoco National Forest near Prineville in 2018.
reduce the number of animals to protect
forest ecology, which is at risk of being
overgrazed if the numbers of wild horses
remain at current levels. The management
plan specifies that riparian areas, where
the horses graze in winter, are particularly
vulnerable.
In addition to protecting the ecology, it
is believed that the larger numbers are not
sustainable in winter, when grass is difficult
to access through the snow.
In its plan, the Forest Service acknowl-
edged that wild horses have survived harsh
winters at population numbers above the
proposed management level. However,
the report states that riparian areas suffered
damage from overgrazing during those
periods. It adds that “less than desirable
body conditions” were evident on some of
the horses that survived the harsh winters.
The Forest Service decision was based
on consultations with wildlife agencies,
which consider the needs of all species in
the area. Based on those discussions, the
Forest Service determined that the size of
the current herd could threaten other spe-
cies by depriving them of forage.
The 1975 management plan in current
use recommends the herd be maintained
at 60 horses, and does not allow numbers
to fluctuate based on changes in climate,
available forage or resource conditions.
The new proposal states the determina-
tion is based on the best available science
but adds that the suggested changes have
provoked public controversy.
“Although some aspects of wild horse
management are socially controversial,
there is no evidence to demonstrate a sub-
stantial dispute within the science commu-
nity about the effects as described in the
Environmental Assessment,” the report
states.
Gordon Clark, 87, a Jefferson County
rancher who supports the Forest Service
plan, agrees with scientific claims that too
many horses can cause environmental deg-
radation and put other species at risk.
“Would the general public rather see an
elk or a deer or a horse in the forest? The
horses are the alpha species so they push the
elk and the deer out of the area,” said Clark.
“The horses really overgraze that area; they
are bad for the forests.”
Clark does have a stake in the decision.
For more than two decades he grazed sheep
in the Big Summit area with an agreement
from the Forest Service but stopped three
years ago when the number of wild horses
increased. Since 2014 Clark has been advis-
ing the Forest Service that the grazing plan
was “falling apart.”
“The horses use certain areas a lot, espe-
cially in the winter, and the horses use ran-
dom grazing patterns,” said Clark. “There
is nothing uniform. The horses go to one
place one summer then another place
another summer. So grazing allotments are
gone. They don’t work anymore.”
Opponents to the plan argue that winter
conditions do not pose a threat to the horses.
Frank Porfily, a Prineville resident, says he
has observed the horses over the past five
years and does not believe their increased
numbers are a problem.
“I have not observed a lack of forage in
the area,” said Porfily.
The plan is currently in an objection
period during which people who made pre-
vious comments can comment again.
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