All looks well with the Dall sheep population on Pilot Mountain and throughout the Miner's Range, say wildlife biologists with Environment Yukon.

Jean Carey, a veteran of several years with the department, explained at a briefing Tuesday that a recent aerial survey of the range north of the city limits shows a healthy population, with a normal age distribution.

There's nothing to suggest the sheep are in trouble, or that anything is out of the ordinary compared with other sheep populations surveyed in an extensive research exercise through the entire Southern Lakes area in June and early July, she said.

If anything, Carey pointed out, the population is showing an above-average concentration of rams among the 155 sheep counted on June 27.

There were calls last winter, however, for a two-year moratorium on hunting sheep on Pilot Mountain and inside the Miner's Range because of rising pressure from local hunters on ATVs who can access the area in a heartbeat.

The Lake Laberge Renewable Resource Council and the Ta'an Kwach'an Council brought forward a recommendation out of fear that continuing pressure may punch an irreversible hole in the population dynamics and genetics.

The Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board supported the recommendation, which was based on research headed by Manfred Hoefs, a retired management biologist who worked for the Yukon government for decades.

The board forwarded the recommendation for a two-year moratorium to Environment Minister Elaine Taylor last January, along with other proposed regulation changes, such as banning the use of ATVs on Pilot Mountain for the purposes of hunting.

Taylor rejected the moratorium in a March decision, and instead replaced the open season with a limited permit hunt of six permits beginning this season. She also rejected the ATV ban, in favour of increased monitoring to get a better understanding of what impact the off-road vehicles are having.

Carey and fellow biologist Troy Hegel said the aerial survey re-affirmed the government's belief the area can sustain an annual harvest of six sheep, given the population size and composition.

Issuing six permits, Carey added, doesn't mean that many sheep will be harvested.

But if they are, the population could indeed sustain that level of harvest, she said.

Carey said in a population of 150 animals, every year four per cent, or six sheep, will reach full-curl status, the requirement for hunting.

The 4 1/2 hours in the air surveying the Miners Range by helicopter produced a very reliable count, Carey insisted, adding they may not have counted all of the animals, but they did get a very thorough look at the population.

Carey said she has not seen the research compiled by the Lake Laberge Renewable Resource Council to support its concern over the sheep population in the Miners Range.

But she said she would have to disagree with any information suggesting the population was in any sort of trouble, given the results of the June survey.

Carey said her department did not want to say specifically how many rams are estimated in the 155 sheep they counted, nor does Environment Yukon release harvest rates for specific game management subzones.

Information put forward by the renewable resource council last fall, however, indicated the need for a moratorium was immediate, even though just two rams were taken by licensed hunters in 2007.

There's been a substantial surge in hunting pressure over the last two decades, in part because of the advancement in the technology of ATVs and other off-road vehicles, it was argued by the council.

"Over-hunting of trophy rams in (game management subzone) 5-50 is contributing to the creation of a population younger than normal," reads the renewable resource council's submission.

It also concluded the concentration of rams in 2007 was 27 per 100 nursery sheep. Nursery sheep include mature ewes, young ewes and young rams which are indistinguishable from young ewes until they are about two years old.

The renewable resource council said the concentration of rams was well below the desired ratio of 40 rams per 100 nursery sheep. A two-year moratorium, it was argued, was needed to restore a normal ratio, and age structure in the population.

Last month's survey, on the other hand, showed an a above-average composition of 63 rams per 100 nursery sheep, Carey indicated.

She said she can't explain exactly how the concentration of rams jumped from 27-per-100 in 2007, and 38-per-100 in 2008, to 63-per-100 last month.

It was pointed out at last December's public hearing on proposed regulation changes that the research into the Miners Range included technical expertise provided by both the Yukon government and the resource council.

Carey said the jump in ram concentration could simply be a result of having a high survival rate of young sheep a couple of years ago.

Carey noted that last year's sheep harvest reflected the general age composition of the population, with harvested sheep ranging in age from six to 13 years old.

But a graph developed by Hoefs shows that the concentration of older rams one would find in a normal population is quickly disappearing in the Miners Range, as is the gene pool they would normally provide.