Sheep Fever

Stone Glacier is recognized as one of the fastest-growing, innovative, and edgy brands in the outdoor space. Gray sits down with SG President and CEO Jeff Sposito to discuss SG's austere beginnings to trim gear weight to enable acclaimed Dall's and Montana Unlimited hunter, SG Founder and Lead Designer Kurt Racicot to hunt solo for weeks in some of the most challenging environments to SG's future as a gem of Vista Outdoors. Jeff talks about the brand, the products, the culture, and the future of Stone Glacier.

For this episode, Keith visits with Snowy Mountain Rifle of Montana president, Paul Donaldson to talk about custom rifle making and Paul's good fortune in pulling the 2021 Idaho Raffle Bighorn Sheep Tag, good for Unit 11 Hells Canyon – a raffle ticket he purchased at the 2021 Sheep Show.

The business of conservation is complex, with many moving parts. In this episode, Keith visits with Congressional Sportsmen Foundation President Jeff Crane to discuss one aspect critical to successful wildlife and habitat conservation and protecting and advancing our outdoor traditions – legislation and policy at the federal and state levels. If there is one takeaway, sportsmen and the issues we care about are better represented now than at any point in history.

With more than 35 years of experience, Jim Winjum is a leading authority on footwear design for mountain hunting. In 2005 Jim's passion for backcountry hunting and the equipment required to participate in these adventures led Jim (and his partners) to found Kenetrek Boots in Bozeman, Montana where he serves as President. Gray sits down with this accomplished sheep and mountain hunter with both rifle and bow to talk boots, hunting, the wild sheep economy, and the future of wild sheep conservation

One of the seven principles of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is; wildlife is to be managed by the best science available, not opinion, conjecture, or how some would like it to be.

Keith sits down with Steve Williams, past Chief of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and current president of the Wildlife Management Institute to discuss how this cornerstone of wildlife management came about, its contributions over the past century, and what challenges we face in keeping science at the forefront of wildlife policy and management.

One bright spot in keeping wild sheep on the Mountain is a new program called, Test & Remove. In this episode, Gray sits down with the leading experts in the field, Helen Schwantje, DVM formerly (retired) the Wildlife Veterinarian for the Province of British Columbia, and Peregrine Wolff, DVM immediate past WSF Chair, Executive Manager of the Wildlife Disease Association and member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Caprinae Specialist Group.

The loss of any wild sheep to predation or disease is heartfelt. It's even harder when an animal tests positive for the pathogen M.ovi and has to be euthanized. But the results of more lambs surviving to adulthood and progressively fewer sheep testing positive has proven its worth. Today, it is our best tool in the toolbox.

Like a tough piece of meat that gets bigger the more you chew it, there's more to this discussion on trophies and trophy hunting. Gray, Keith and Shane pick up where they left off and frame a path forward that just might make the most sense for steering this issue in a more positive direction.

If there's a hot topic aimed at the future of hunting today, it's trophy hunting.

Gray and Keith sit down with our community's sage advisor, Shane Mahoney, CEO of Conservation Visions.

Like the word conservation, trophy hunting has been highjacked by those trying to advance an anti-hunting agenda. This time as a bumper sticker campaign to launch into a more personal effort, anti-hunter.

Is the negative stereotype surrounding the notion of trophy hunting something we should be concerned about? Should we have adjectives that describe different types of hunting, or is hunting just hunting? Better yet, is trophy hunting conservation?

When it comes to Asian sheep hunting and especially hunting wild sheep in China, few have "been there – done that" than Albertan Robert Logan. Gray got with Bob in his stunning trophy room in Calgary to visit about his hunts, his trophies, his hunting friends, impromptu horse races, civil wars and strife including a few close calls Bob would rather not repeat!

For this episode of Sheep Fever, WSF President and CEO Gray Thornton and Vice President of Conservation Kevin Hurley visit with Kate Huyvaert DVM, the new Rocky Crate chair at Washington State University's School of Veterinary Medicine.

We've learned most of what we know about diseases and die-offs in wild sheep and what can be done from this think tank and research facility, which WSF and others have been supporting for years. While we've gotten pretty good at putting wild sheep on the Mountain, keeping them there has been a struggle in some areas.

Dr. Huyvaert gives us insights on new research and emerging technologies she and her team are working on, including a more reliable animal-side test for diseases.