BIGHORN SHEEP CURRICULUM KIT

DO YOU KNOW A TEACHER WHO TEACHES LIFE SCIENCE, OR THEMED UNITS ON WILDLIFE?

The Wild Sheep Foundation has put together an educational kit that includes a variety of information and hands-on items that teaches about bighorn sheep and their conservation. The kit can be checked out for week-long segments for free and shipping is paid for.

Kit includes a ram skull, GPS collar, hide sample, curriculum book with over 20 lessons, Ovisopoly game, consumables to hand out to the students, a curriculum book and a USB drive with PowerPoints and movies for lessons with an optional “talk to a sheep expert” through Skype or Zoom class meeting.

To reserve your week, contact:

Ryan Brock Youth Education Coordinator Rbrock@wildsheepfoundation.org

With instruction, they learned how to make plaster impressions of the track and got to take that home after it dried.

Also new this year was a group of professional bass anglers who brought in three amazing bass fishing boats. They taught the kids the difference between a variety of lures and then instructed them on some common knots to use when fishing.

Nature Niños, a program from New Mexico, was also new in participating in the YWCE. They set up a campsite and had kids identify items that could be improved, such as picking up trash and leaving the site as you found it (if not better).

Saturday, the YWCE opened to the public. This day looked a little different than the school day’s events. All the hands-on stations were open the entire time. Although there were no keynote presentations, or career seminars, there were free raffles for the kids. Additionally, the Tracks Program took place for kids ages 1217. Originally the creation of Leica a decade ago, this program has been strong ever since. Youth were given a punch card and followed wild sheep tracks on the ground throughout the exhibit hall, visiting and learning from seven different participating vendors. These included: Leica, Sitka, Kenetrek Boots, Bear Trust International, Mystery Ranch, Nevada Department of Wildlife, and Northern Nevada SCI. Once their punch card was complete, it was deposited in a special raffle that took back in the YWCE area on the main stage. Prizes included binocs from Leica, a Sitka outfit, Kenetrek boots, and more. We thank these organizations for their strong support of this yearly program.

A new record was set for the amount of kids coming through the YWCE on Saturday this year, breaking our prior record by close to 200. Additionally, we know there were a hundred or more kids who came through that we just couldn’t keep up on families registering as they entered. The data we were able to collect showed 1,245 kids coming through on Saturday alone (but many estimate it higher at 1400-1800 kids). With the 590 school kids who came the prior two days, we can account for at least 1,835 total kids. This also broke prior records of 1,597 kids in 2019 and 1,569 kids in 2020.

This event has surely grown in the twelve years it has been put on. Each year we can offer more learning experiences as more groups come on board to help. Even our volunteer base has increased. This year 293 name badges were printed with individual volunteers’ names JUST for the YWCE area, and there were still several volunteers who came and helped who didn’t receive a badge. As this event grows, so does the impact it has.

With deepest gratitude I thank all those organizations and individuals who helped make this year’s event a success. A special thanks to the Nevada Department of Wildlife, who not only provided over 50 folks alone to help out, as well as putting on a special hunter safety class at the Sheep Show® itself. A youth event of this size is successful based on its volunteers, so a huge shout-out to all those who were involved in any aspect of the event. Thank you! WS

Congratulations to Rob Kopecky, the lucky winner of the 2023 Bernie Fiedeldey “1 More For 4 Challenge”. This opportunity is for WSF members in good standing who lack only ONE of the Four North American Wild Sheep needed to complete their first FNAWS! Entry is easy… submit your hunt reports, come to Reno to attend the Saturday Grand Finale Banquet, cross your fingers and wait for your name to be called! Already have your FNAWS? Consider becoming a sponsor and send a fellow hunter on the trip of a lifetime.

Thank you, once again, to Bernie Fiedeldey and all of this year’s sponsors listed below.

• David & Sona Combs

• Renee Snider

• Darin & Tonya Fiedeldey

• Charles & Denise Swanson

• Midwest Chapter

• Kris Kohlhoff

• Ed Pabst

• Kevin Gilbert

• Jeff Haynie

• Washington WSF

• Charles & Denise Swanson

• Darin & Tonya Fiedeldey

• Darla Fiedeldey

• Richard Pierce

If you would like to be recognized as a sponsor of the 2023 “1MF4 Challenge”, please contact Paige Culver at 406.404.8758 or pculver@wildsheepfoundation.org

*must be a member in good standing and have a hunt report form and field photo of each ram submitted to the WSF Headquarters. For more information, please contact Kim Nieters, Awards Manager at KNieters@ WildSheepfoundation.org or 406.404.8750

Townsend Youth Conservation National Award

Sheep Show® 2023 marked the beginning of a new award that is given out at the show during Thursday’s Conservation Night. Dedicated in the memory of Butch Townsend from Wyoming, Butch was passionate and devoted much of his life to wild sheep and knew that there wouldn’t be sheep on the mountain in the future without kids on the mountain today. Thus, he and wife Kathy made considerable investments in putting and keeping kids on the mountain with wild sheep. It seemed fitting to name a conservation award after him.

The award is for a youth in 7th12th grade, as of January of the year the award is presented at Wild Sheep Foundation’s national convention, the Sheep Show®

Chapters or affiliates look within their organization for a youth who stands out in the area of wildlife conservation. Ideally, the chapter or affiliate would select a top candidate to be recognized locally, perhaps at the banquet. Once recognized by the chapter or affiliate, the official WSF application is submitted by the nominee to the Wild Sheep Foundation through Ryan Brock (Rbrock@wildsheepfoundation.org) by August 15 of each year.

This year’s recipient is Autumn Richmond of Beaver, Utah. This fifteen-year-old has demonstrated early effort in conservation work. At an early age, Autumn began attending Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife banquets with her parents. She eventually began helping with conservation projects with her parents when she was old enough. These include youth fishing events and pheasant hunts. More recently, she participated in the original meeting to discuss putting desert bighorn on the Mineral Mountains. Later on, she was present and helped release the bighorns out of the trailer and into those mountains. Upon reflecting on the release of these sheep into mountains that haven’t seen sheep in almost a hundred years, she felt amazing and proud to be involved in both the decision process and the actual release. Another project she was involved with utilized putting transmitting collars on mountain goats. Part of this process saw her being the scribe to record all the data collected by wildlife biologists on the goats.

Autumn is an avid hunter and understands how hunting plays a part in wildlife conservation. One of her future goals include learning more about why some particular deer herds in her area have been declining and possibly see how she can be a part in reversing that trend. Autumn looks to the future and a possible wildlife biology degree.

Chapters and affiliates, please begin looking within your organization for a youth who stands out. We would love to receive a nominee from you. WS

New Laser Shot

The decade-old Laser Shot, which has been used in hundreds of youth events, finally began running out of steam this past year. After having it worked on and still not being dependable, we reached out to the Wild Sheep Foundation’s chapters and affiliates for help. By the time Sheep Show® arrived in Reno, our Shooting, Hunting & Ethics Education Program (S.H.E.E.P.) had a new Laser Shot to use for the first time at the Youth Wildlife Conservation Experience.

Thank you so much to those organizations who made an impact in helping us order a new simulated shooting range. These organizations and individuals include: The Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn, Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation, Northern Nevada SCI, Wild Sheep Society of BC, Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society, Utah Wild Sheep Foundation, Elko Bighorns Unlimited, Washington Wild Sheep Foundation, Glen Pyne DVM, Brett Jefferson, and Zach Walton.

The new Laser Shot has the advantage of being smaller, so it will cost less to ship and also utilizes infrared technology, so two youth can compete against each other on some of the programs. WS

Lost Creek Outfitters treated me with respect, kindness, and real honest hospitality while hunting sheep outside Cody, Wyoming. Without their heartfelt commitment, my dream hunt would have not been possible!

Thank you Jimmie, Jozie, Cameron, and Lost Creek Outfitters!

- Steven Austin

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Wsf Salutes Our 2023 Convention Sponsors

WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO PATRONIZE THOSE WHO SUPPORT THE WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION

OFFICIAL SHEEP WEEK® SPONSOR

Presenting Sponsors

Diamond Sponsors

PLATINUM SPONSORS

JEFF & JANN DEMASKE

KEVIN & TUESDY SMALL

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