I always mull over what I will say in my president’s message as I want to make each article genuine and somewhat interesting. This time I have some exciting news to report! I will have an opportunity to get kicked out of the WSF <1 Club because I finally drew a Montana sheep tag in area 270 in the southern end of the Bitterroot valley where I live. It is an area I know quite well and I’ve already been able to do some scouting. Montana Wild Sheep Foundation (MTWSF) has donated funds to habitat enhancement in the area so it will be nice to put boots on the ground to check the progress while I’m looking for my chance of a lifetime ram! I am thankful and humbled for this opportunity and I look forward to writing a story about the experience.
This spring has certainly brought some interesting times to our world and we’ve all had to change our routines to accommodate those changes. I am thankful MTWSF was able to conduct our annual expo and fundraiser in February for there are many chapters that had to cancel or postpone their events. We are certainly fortunate to live in Montana where the impacts of the pandemic were minimized by our natural “social distancing” in our beautiful state. Our fundraiser was indeed a great success. We once again broke records for attendance, gross and net fundraising. On Saturday evening at the banquet it was particularly exciting to be able to announce the new opportunity for an experimental wild sheep transplant into the Bridger Mountains. Since the announcement at our fundraiser FWP, MTWSF, and MTWGA have been working to move the Bridger transplant opportunity forward. We hope to see the transplant come to fruition by 2021. Our board has also decided to adopt an online membership management platform called NEON. This program will help us to better serve our members and will allow us to increase efficiency. We’ll be working on the program and will keep you updated as to progress. As always, thanks to all of you who support MTWSF. I wish you all health and prosperity.
Shane Clouse
Montana Wild Sheep Foundation President
shane@shaneclouse.com
(406) 370-4487
Highlights from this Issue
Science Corner
with Matt Rippentrop
In 2015, Matt Rippentrop of South Dakota contacted MTWSF regarding funding assistance for a (3) year study with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks in Custer State Park. The project was entitled “Determining the role of chronic shedders in respiratory disease persistence, annual lamb recruitment, and transmission in bighorn sheep.”
For those of you who don’t know Matt, he drew a Missouri River Breaks tag in 2010 and killed a 203-6/8” giant (see attached photo). Matt is a Life Member of Montana WSF and has been instrumental in working on bighorn sheep conservation in South Dakota and Montana.
Matt brought this study project to MTWSF for funding in 2015 and the chapter approved funding through our Grant in Aid program. The project has reached its conclusion and the full study is posted on our website under PROJECTS (montanawsf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SD-Disease-Study-Garwood-et-al.-Final_2020.pdf). The project hypothesis was that by removing chronic carriers of MOvi, they could reduce the persistence of disease in the herd.
Read the whole article in our WildSheep Newsletter, Summer 2020.
Memories 2020 MTWSF Annual Banquet
February 28-29, 2020 | Billings Convention Center
The 2020 Montana WSF Annual Wild Sheep Expo & Fundraising Banquet was a great success!
- Annual Banquet & Life Member Raffle Winner: Josh Burden
- Stories with STHEALTHY HUNTER – Ryan Lampers
- Expo
See more pictures in our WildSheep Newsletter, Summer 2020.
