New Blue Sheep Hunting Area To Open in Nepal

Another huge hunting area will likely be opening next year in Nepal, increasing opportunities for blue sheep. The Kanchanjunga Conservation Area (KCA) in northeastern Nepal's Taplejung district is scheduled to become the country's second trophy hunting area next year. The KCA management council is in the process of finalizing the proposal with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation to open KCA in time for the 2012 hunting season. Continuing subscribers will remember we first reported about this possibility last August (see Article ID 2490). Deepak Rana of Tracks N Trails (shikari@wlinklcom.np) had told us that management of the KCA was now in the hands of a local council that was working to reopen the area to hunting and had approached him about operating there. Rana had previously conducted hunts in this area for nearly 17 years. In mid-July of this year, the KCA management council submitted a preliminary proposal to reopen hunting in KCA. After initial discussions, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation requested some additional information before sending the paperwork to the minister for final approval. A census conducted in 2010 reported a total population of 1,500 blue sheep in KCA, with particularly good populations present in the Yangma and Lelep valleys. These are likely to be selected as the hunting areas. The department anticipates issuing about 13 blue sheep permits for KCA in 2012. It's not a done deal, yet, but a spring 2012 opening is likely. We contacted Rana about this development, and he said he was in communications with the KCA management council, urging them to submit the additional information requested by the department. Rana plans to book hunts to KCA as soon as the opening is official. "We are the only outfitter in Nepal that has extensive exposure to both the East (Kanchanjunga) and the West (Dhorpatan) areas of Nepal," he said. As soon as the reopening is official, The Hunting Report will let you know.

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