Events
Summer Convention
Join us in Cheyenne!
Our 39th Annual Convention will be held at Little America in Cheyenne beginning on Friday, June 2 through Saturday evening, June 3, 2023. Come rendezvous with old friends, bring the kids and spend a weekend of fun and entertainment with us.
Convention Highlights
Register beginning on April 1, 2023
Winter Meeting
2022 Winter Meeting Update
Our 2022 Winter Meeting was held in Cody, WY on December 2 & 3, 2022. Friday Night was a Members Only Get Together for which over 100 loyal members turned out to visit and talk wild sheep. Biologist, Tony Mong treated us to a slide show featuring the 2022 wild sheep harvest results. This was followed by our annual Saturday field trip. The Cody G&F department gave us a tour of their brand new and beautiful facility and biologist Tony Mong gave an overview of the Shoshone Wild Sheep herd. Then over 80 people journied up the North Fork where Dr. Kevin Monteith and his crew recaptured a ewe and showed all how the animals are tested for disease, body condition, and pregnancy. Many members and their children were able to get their first really close up look at wild sheep.
Saturday evening was “Dinner and a Movie Night” with over 180 people in attendance. We offered a great buffet, prizes for all of the kids, games, raffles, a silent auction and we premiered the Wyoming Migration Iniative film series “My Wild Land”. These 3 short films feature three inspiring stories of commitment to preserving western heritage and wildlife, come hell or highwater including the Bischoff Ranch near Lovell which is home to most of our HA 12 herd. Due to the generosity of our donors, 31 children received lifetime conservation stamps to get them excited about hunting and fishing in Wyoming. Meet us on December 1&2, 2023 in Dubois for the next winter meeting and a close up look at the Whiskey Mountain herd.
Spanish Mine Exclosure Work Project
“As they say, you can’t have habitat without water,” said Michael Murry, Rangeland Management Specialist with the Rawlins BLM Field Office, while explaining the need for water improvements across the landscape.
On August 6th, 2022, twenty Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation (WY-WSF) volunteers gathered on the northeast side of Ferris Mountain in central Wyoming to help rebuild the Spanish Mine Spring exclosure. This volunteer day event was organized by Rawlins BLM Field Office personnel and led by Rangeland Management Specialist and WY-WSF Life Member, Mike Murry.
The Spanish Mine Spring is just down drainage from the Miner Creek guzzler that the WY-WSF helped construct in 2017 in support of the Ferris Mountain bighorn sheep herd and continued bighorn sheep transplant efforts in the area. Creating and maintaining water features across arid wildlife habitats, not only provides water wildlife but also spreads livestock grazing pressure out across the landscape, increasing habitat availability and forage for both wildlife and livestock. This particular spring exclosure had become dilapidated and the spring source was no longer protected.
The WY-WSF volunteers helped restore the exclosure by installing steel continuous panel fencing around the spring. Protecting the spring source will ensure that the associated tire tank will continue to provide water for both wildlife and livestock for years to come. Moreover, the cumulative efforts of the Rawlins BLM, WGFD, and WY-WSF in the Ferris Mountain area will enhance bighorn sheep habitat and we will continue to see the growth of this herd and opportunity for harvest for years to come.
A huge thank you to the Rawlins BLM Field Office for their commitment to conserving bighorn sheep habitat in the Ferris Mountains. As well, we’d like to thank the following volunteers for taking time out of their busy schedules to join us for the WY-WSF 2022 Volunteer Day!