Sheep Fever

Is conservation at a crossroads? If challenges to wildlife and the environment are evolving and, in many cases, mounting. If we believe that conservation is everyone's responsibility and that it is a progressive journey rather than a final destination, then we are at a crossroads. 

The conservation movement in the early 1900s was born out of crisis. We were taking too much off the land and taking too much for granted. The Environmental Revolution of the 1906s and 70s was another gut check. Both resulted in the establishment of new laws, organizations, and institutions to address the challenges of those days. We knew what was bad and wasn’t working, and we set out to fix things with nothing more than the motivation that using natural resources wisely and not wasting them was the right thing to do. In those days, there wasn’t a roadmap to follow, nor was there a conservation policy or constitution to hold up as a litmus test for decision-making.  Would something like an overarching conservation policy, something a board cross-section of stakeholders could agree upon, take conservation into the next century?

 In this episode of Sheep Fever, we talk with Conservation Visions president and CEO Shane Mahoney about where conservation is today, what it is facing, how it is being pulled in all directions, and the need, for the lack of a better term, a conservation template that puts wildlife, the environment, and people all in the same house. After all, we are living in the same house.

Bill Pastorek, author of Dream Rams of British Columbia will soon release his recent and highly anticipate work, Dream Rams of the North. Bill caught the sheep bug early in his life and his chosen career path of self-employment and building a successful gardening business allowed him plenty of time in the mountains to pursue his passion for wild sheep.

An avid conservationist, and one who walks the talk of giving his time, talent, and treasure to the resource he loves and the organizations focused on their conservation, Bill has dedicated Dream Rams of the North to those volunteers, staff, and organizations focused on putting and keeping wild sheep on the mountain.

Sheep Fever co-host Gray Thornton sits down with Bill to talk about his new release, its inspiration, how he curates the stories in it, and his plans for at least two more books in his Dream Rams series.

Dream Rams of the North in the regular, limited, and conservation editions are available to pre-order at www.dreamrams.com. Bill will also be doing book signings and sales alongside his friend and fellow author Jim Manley at the January 16-18, 2025 Sheep Show® in Reno Thursday, Friday, and Saturday near the WSF Membership Booth.

Spike Camp is an online community of hunter conservationists. On Wednesday, September 16th Spike Camp founders Chuck and Blake Peeling conducted a live stream podcast featuring WSF Ambassadors Jana Waller Bair and Rachel Ahtila as well as WSF Women Hunt® Committee members Julie Chapman, Brandi Love, and Women Hunt® founder & chair, Renée Thornton. The seven of them talk hunting, conservation, the Wild Sheep family, the Sheep Show®, and the impact hunting has had on their lives. They also covered the three current programs under the WSF Women Hunt® umbrella: 1) Women Hunt® sponsored FTW/SAAM Field to Fork class in Texas, 2) the Women in Hunting® community, and 3) the Ruby Mayflower Blake Legacy Fund.

Sheep Fever co-host Gray Thornton visits with Chuck and Blake on their vision for Spike Camp and they tee up their guest podcast featuring these exceptional women hunters and leaders.

For more information and to join Spike Camp visit https://spikecamp.com.

For more information on WSF’s Women Hunt® programs visit https://www.wildsheepfoundation.org/womenhunt

In this episode of Sheep Fever, co-host Keith Balfourd visits with Mountain Tough Fitness Lab founder Dustin Diefenderfer to learn more about their specific fitness programs for mountain athletes and the new TOUGH SHEEP workout scheduled for the 2025 Sheep Show® in Reno on January 17th.

Inspired by modern-day military readiness and NFL training programs, MTNTOUGH designed physical and mental fitness programs geared for the mountain athlete/hunter that better prepared them for the strenuous weighted pack movements encountered and the duration on the mountain these hunts represent.

When we are tired and worn down mentally and physically after just a few days on a long hunt, even though we’re still in the field, we can quit hunting or are, at a minimum, not as sharp, alert, and willing as we were on Day 1. With so much invested in these hunts, investing in yourself and your preparation can make all the difference.

Taking this readiness and the success of their fitness programs to the next level, MTNTOUGH has engineered a multi-stage TOUGH SHEEP workout for the 2025 Sheep Show® where anyone who registers and completes the workout will be in a drawing for a 2025 Dall’s sheep hunt in NWT with Stan Steven and Mackenzie Mountain Outfitters. 

TOUGH SHEEP is limited to 500 participants, so the odds of winning are tough to beat. 100% of the registration fee ($100) will be donated to WSF to help “put and keep more wild sheep on the mountain”.

Visit this link to learn more and register before TOUGH SHEEP is sold out.

https://mtntough.com/pages/tough-sheep

New Chief Operating Officer and Executive VP of Conservation, Corey Mason joined the WSF Team in August, bringing decades of conservation and industry experience. 

Spending time on his grandfather’s farm and hunting with his father, Corey quickly grew into a passionate hunter.  Continuing to avidly hunt, but now largely enjoying time afield with his wife and daughter and making family memories.

At an early age, Corey desired a career in wildlife conservation. Beginning with undergraduate and graduate studies in wildlife conservation followed by years at Texas Parks and Wildlife and Dallas Safari Club, he has worked on private and public lands and across the globe on international conservation issues and opportunities.  

In this episode, Sheep Fever co-host Gray Thornton visits with Corey on his background and family, professional career, and plans and goals at WSF. Corey also shares some of his past experiences and perspectives on conservation, policy, work in international arenas and many of the relationships built and maintained along the way. 

Wild sheep matter, and so does selecting the future leadership of the Wild Sheep Foundation in our upcoming fall 2024 WSF Board of Director elections.

Last year, we started something new by introducing the candidates, not only in print with their biographies on our website and mailed ballots, but with brief interviews on this podcast.

We have four (4) current director terms expiring April 30, 2025. The Nominating Committee approved five (5) candidates for the fall ballot for these four open director positions. 

The fall elections open October 1, 2024, and close on December 15, 2024.

New this year is a hybrid-style election process to make voting even easier. All WSF members in good standing will receive a paper ballot with a postage-paid envelope. Plus, members for which we have a valid email address will also receive their ballot and bios via email. You can vote by email or mailed ballot…but of course, only one ballot will be allowed per member.

In alpha order, by last name, the 2024 candidates with recording time codes are:

1. Bralli Clifford from Wyoming 4:09

2. Larry Johns from Nevada 15:54

3. Kevin Kehoe from Alaska 25:40

4. Kyle Stelter from British Columbia 35:57

5. Dr. Peregrine Wolff from Florida 46:50

Lastly, as a special thank you to all WSF members who vote in this fall 2024 election, our independent election vendor, YesElections, will randomly draw one name to win a WSF/Weatherby Bighorn Edition rifle package valued at $5,400.

Read candidate bios and learn more about the Election and the Weatherby Bighorn Edition drawing on our Elections page.

https://www.wildsheepfoundation.org/about/board-elections?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=podcast

Acclaimed and award-winning journalist and author, hunter, and sheep hunter Craig Boddington had this to say about WSF Summit Life Member Jim Manley’s first book:

“Tracks On A Mountain is one man’s mountain hunting odyssey. Jim Manley and I have climbed some of the same mountains, enjoyed some of the same triumphs, suffered the same disappointments, and so often wondered why we are doing this to ourselves. Jim far exceeded my efforts in North America’s mountains…Wish we’d shared some campfires on chilly mountain nights out, but through his book, we all can.”

In this episode, Sheep Fever hosts Gray N. Thornton and Keith Balfourd sit down with Jim to talk about his inspiration for the book and the 12 hunts over six decades contained in it. Jim shares the how of his uncanny ability as a first-time author to bring the reader with him on the mountain, experience the climbs, taste the food, smell the smells, feel the burning legs and lungs, rejoice in the victories, as well as the anguish of the defeats. In his book Jim captures the essence of sheep hunting and the sheep fever infliction in spades - you’ll see why when you listen to this episode.

To order Tracks On A Mountain go to www.tracksonamountain.com. Jim will be conducting book signing sessions at the 2025 WSF Sheep Show® convention January 16-18, 2025 in Reno.

Azyre Gear founder and accomplished sheep hunter Cari Goss’ goal is to inspire and empower women to pursue their hunting and outdoors passions with confidence. A great deal of that confidence comes from functional clothing that fits, keeps one warm, and dry.  

For years Cari felt that the hunting apparel industry had overlooked women and that she and others had been left to wear apparel designed for men only later to be modified for women. She also feels that women have been often offered designs that don’t reflect their true femininity. 

Rather than complaining about the status quo, she wanted to do something about it. It became clear to her that she needed to create apparel as capable as the women who would wear it. In 2016 Azyre Gear was born.

Sheep Fever co-host Gray Thornton visits with Cari on the inspiration for her brand, what makes Cari tick, and how her passion for sheep hunting helped launch her clothing line. Cari and Gray talk sheep and sheep hunting and what’s next for Cari and her brand.

For more information on Azyre Gear and to order visit www.azyregear.com.

Andy Moeckel is well known in the hunting and conservation community as The Flip Flop Guy and his unique cooking style called the Flip Flop. He has turned a culinary technique, that has been passed down for three generations, into a thriving business that sells a full line of sauces, spices, flip flop mops, and even whole bone in Maui Nui Venison legs perfect for Flip Flop. 

It all started with his grandfather, Al Giddings shortly after WW II when he got off the ship in San Francisco and decided to join the California Department of Fish and Game in 1948. He became the main warden for the North Bay area, Marin, and Sonoma counties. He knew all the ins and outs of Marin county’s big game hunting, from mountain lions that he issued bounties on, to blacktail deer. 

In his time spent in west Marin, Al helped oversee fish ladders coming into the streams for the spawn as well as became familiar with all of the local hunting clubs and ranches. It was at a small sheep ranch in Nicasio, CA where it is believed that he picked up this amazing style of cooking from a Portuguese rancher. This family would do entire sheep legs on a spit and feed their families and local community. Al being the outdoorsman instantly had the idea that, “if sheep is this good…venison will be better.” And it is…

Andy is a third generation Flip Flopper learning the technique from his grandfather and father. Andy performs Flip Flop BBQs around the country for special events as well as industry and political celebrities. 

In this episode of Sheep Fever, Co-Host Gray N. Thornton talks with Andy about his past, an amazing turn of events and life challenges, Flip Flop cooking, sheep hunting, gear, calibers, long range shooting, and Andy’s recent role as Sales Director for Best of the West Arms out of Cody, WY.

This episode has plenty of short dirt roads, unanticipated nuggets, and antics you will be sure to enjoy! For more information on Best of the West visit www.bestofthewestarms.com. For more information on Flip Flop visit www.flipflopguy.com. 

Sadly, wild sheep numbers are down in many of their ranges. For our thinhorns up North, environmental factors, some of which are beyond short-term human control, have taken a toll in recent years. In other wild sheep ranges, fragmentation, contraction, and loss of habitat, both from a changing climate and land use policies (fire suppression, conifer/shrub encroachment, human footprint, public land grazing allotments, feral horses and burros), as well as disease from exotic and domestic ungulates in bighorn range, are all contributing factors.  

What can we do? Ensuring wild sheep have quality habitat is #1, but can we improve the resiliency of wild sheep to environmental factors? Can we “grow” wild sheep? These are contemporary and often controversial topics that wild sheep advocates and some agency/ministry wild sheep managers are trying to define and address.  

In this episode of Sheep Fever, co-host Gray N. Thornton speaks with WSF’s “Tres Amigos of Conservation” - VP of Conservation Kevin Hurley, Conservation Director Kurt Alt, and retired Conservation Director Clay Brewer, on these topics.

With nearly 150 years of combined wild sheep management and experience, the three speak of “growing” desert bighorn in the US southwest and Mexico and the successes, challenges, and failures experienced. They also speak of attempts to do the same with Rocky Mountain bighorns, and whether intensive management practices for desert sheep (water developments, captive propagation facilities, supplemental nutrition and minerals, etc.) are feasible, practical, sustainable, or even possible for thinhorn sheep.