I hope everyone is doing well. By the time you read this, the Montana big game season will be coming to a close. For those lucky soula who had a Montana Bighorn Sheep tag in their pocket, I hope to see all the photos and hear the stories of the hunt. We would also love to hear any unique hunts and experiences, and if possible we would love to print in future newsletters. Please send any photos or stories to bsolan.bs@gmail.com.

Montana Wild Sheep Foundation (MTWSF) Board Elections

Operating in a post Jim Weatherly world, we were a little late with our board elections this year and had some issues mailing the ballots. I apologize for the delays and we are working on getting the process dialed in moving forward. With that said, we had Max Bauer re-elected as well as Grant Winn, III and D.J. Berg elected to our MTWSF Board of Directors. We were lucky to have a slate of (5) great candidates this year and we are planning on putting both Levi Bowler and Luke Coccoli to work on committees moving forward. We also had Bruce Sterling leave the MTWSF board as he was term limited out. Please join me in thanking Bruce for his (9) years of service and all of the critical, thoughtful and intelligent input he brought to the board. His expertise with wild sheep was a great asset to the board and will surely be missed.

Bighorn and Domestic Sheep Working Group

In the past six months, we have been doing a substantial amount of work with the domestic industry and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP). The focus has been “Montana” solutions that are practical and work to provide a place for both wild and domestic sheep on the Montana landscape. The kickoff event will be a Wild & Domestic Sheep Symposium that will feature experts on both wild and domestic sheep. This event is tentatively scheduled for February 9th & 10th. More information will be available on our Facebook page and website when it becomes available.

2017 Fundraiser – 25th Annual

We will be in Bozeman March 3rd & 4th 2017, at the Gran Tree Inn, and big Tom Grimes is leading the planning effort. This will surely be a not to miss event as we will be GIVING AWAY A FULLY GUIDED ALASKA DALL SHEEP HUNT TO A LIFE MEMBER PRESENT AT THE BANQUET. Someone present in the room will be going sheep hunting in Alaska – August 12-25, 2017. This will surely up the ante for the 2017 banquet. Make sure you get signed up for your LIFE MEMBERSHIP online, as well as put the banquet on the calendar now. You MUST be a LIFE MEMBER and MUST BE PRESENT to win. As those of you who were at the banquet in Helena will tell you, we had a packed house! We sold out the room a month in advance and adding a Fully Guided Sheep Hunt raffle to the mix will mean that you will need to get your tickets early. Our board members will start selling tickets in December 2016 and we will have online ticket purchase up and running by the end of December.

Brian Solan,
Montana WSF President

Montana’s Wildhorse Island: Bighorn Factory

Story by The Biologiest’s Corner
Bruce Sterling, Wildlife Biologist MT FWP

Montana has a very unique landscape feature when it comes to bighorn sheep management. We have an island that is also a state park, which grows a lot of bighorn sheep. Wildhorse Island is approximately 2,200 acres in size, and is located in northwestern Montana, surrounded by the clear, pristine waters of Flathead Lake. Wildhorse Island was privately owned until 1977 when the Bourke MacDonald family, with assistance from The Nature Conservancy, donated the island as a state park to the people of Montana. 

Read the whole article in our October 2016 Newsletter.

2016 Youth Expo Camps

Story by: Tom Powers

It has been nearly five (5) long years or five (5) short years since the National Wild Sheep Foundation offered a challenge to the state chapters to get a youth program going in their areas. Much work has gone into this for us here in Montana and many organizations and agencies have joined us at our annual (Youth Conservation Education Expo) held at the Teller Wildlife refuge at Corvallis, Montana held each May. It is a one day event when all the area youth get to listen to or participate in each organizations presentations. Everything from horse packing to archery, pellet gun shooting, fly fishing, aquatic identification, etc.

Read the whole article in our October 2016 Newsletter.