Tragedy, Triumph and Renewed Hope for the Future

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“Holy smokes! That ram is beautiful!”

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD DUSTIN WOLFE spoke those words as he looked through binoculars at a herd of desert bighorn ewes and lambs escorted by one big, impressive male.

Through the 400 mm lens of my camera, I could see the girth of his horns was massive and the herd didn’t seem bothered by our presence here on top of the namesake of Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area (WMA) near Alpine.

“We can get a little closer,” said our escort Benny Benavidez with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD).

“As long as we don’t move too quickly, they shouldn’t spook.”

The aim was to get photos of Texas bighorns for upcoming stories and at the same time teach Dustin about wild sheep and other wildlife of the Trans-Pecos.

Our Higher Calling Wildlife outreach mentors teens, especially those facing special challenges, to get involved in conservation and this was our very first outing.

Disease In The Desert

That was November 2019 and the Texas desert bighorn population stood at an historical high of 1,500.

That was after years of translocations of sheep from Utah, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico and very hard, innovative work creating viable sheep herds here.

As of the latest surveys conducted in Nov. 2022, the estimates were between 900 and 1,000 according to TPWD Desert Bighorn Program Leader Froylan Hernandez.

“After years without major disease issues, there was a disease event south of Van Horn in the fall of 2019 and another at Black Gap WMA in the spring of 2020. And then the numbers in some of the other mountain ranges are lower than average,” he said.

Disease is the number one issue facing wild sheep in North America.

When Lewis and Clark set forth on their historic expedition, some estimate there were as many as two million bighorns. By 1950, there were around 25,000. 

Domestic sheep and goats can carry Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (Movi), a pathogen that causes respiratory issues with wild sheep and can wipe out entire herds.

It is such a threat, in fact, Colorado has a policy that calls for killing any bighorns seen in contact with domestic sheep.

“Movi is particularly harsh on lambs and that is why disease-stricken areas will sometimes have zero lamb survival,” Hernandez said.

Aoudad Challenges

In the 1950s, a handful of aoudad (Barbary sheep) were released into the Palo Duro Canyon to create new hunting opportunities. In the following decades, thousands more were moved around Texas to stock on high-fenced hunting ranches.

Now, the free-ranging (outside of fences) population of aoudad is estimated at least 25,000 and the bulk of that is in desert bighorn territory. A 2018 survey showed 3,808 aoudads in three mountain ranges compared to 1,500 desert bighorns in seven. 

On top of that, recent research by Texas A&M University shows aoudad can transfer Movi to desert bighorns. These African imports are also far more aggressive and can outcompete sheep, mule deer and other desert wildlife for food, water, and space.

“Texas is 97 percent privately owned and aoudad hunting is a way for landowners to make income. We don’t slight them for that,” Hernandez said.

“We will however continue strong aoudad control on public land where we have the ability to do that, work with private landowners interested in bighorns about the aoudad issue, and move forward with positive actions to help our native desert sheep.”

Moving Forward

The Texas Bighorn Society, founded in the early 1980s,  sole mission is to aid the conservation of desert bighorn sheep in Texas.

A huge part of that is creating “guzzlers”, structures that trap rainwater and store them to benefit bighorns and other wildlife.

“When you have stresses on the herd as you have now, having access to water is even more crucial. We just completed two guzzlers on private land in the Eagle Mountains and did two last year there as well. Two years ago we also did two guzzlers in the Beach Mountains, again on private land. We are always working closely with TPWD and private landowners to improve things for desert bighorns,” said TBS President Dr. Sam Cunningham.

TBS provides an on-ramp for individuals to get involved directly with sheep conservation in Texas.

“We certainly raise funds through raffles, our annual Roundup, and its auction, but we are still very much a boots-on-the-ground conservation group. If you want to put in sweat equity for the sheep, we have opportunities to get involved in guzzler construction projects. We are also about to initiate an “adopt a guzzler” opportunity to help maintain those structures,” Cunningham said.

TPWD is currently studying at least one range in West Texas devoid of bighorns (and aoudad) for possible translocation and is continuing to improve habitat, work with private landowners and research how to get the desert bighorn population back to former levels and perhaps even higher.

“There isn’t a state or province that has bighorns that have not dealt with this at some level. We’re going to put our best foot forward and help keep the legacy of the desert bighorn strong in Texas,” said Froylan Hernandez.

Hope For The Future

In 2019, TPWD’s Trans Pecos staff generously allowed us to bring Reannah Hollaway to a desert bighorn capture. 

As part of our Higher Calling Wildlife outreach, she has cystic fibrosis and was wanting to find a way to contribute to wildlife conservation.

She had the opportunity to put a GPS collar on a big ram that day.

“I still can’t believe I got to do that. Those TPWD guys were so nice to me and honestly, that day is a big part of what made me sure I wanted to get into wildlife conservation,” Hollaway said.

Upon returning home, we realized the ram she collared was the same one me and Dustin photographed two weeks earlier.

Amazing.

But what is more amazing is the trajectory Hollaway’s life has taken after her sheep encounter.

This December she graduates from Texas Tech University with a Natural Resources Management Degree with a Conservation Science Concentration and is currently considering graduate school.

“A lot of great people have helped bighorn sheep in Texas and in a big way desert bighorn sheep helped inspire me. Now I hope to make a positive impact on wildlife,” she said.

There is no question Texas’ desert bighorn herd is facing a great challenge but TPWD, TBS, and others are working hard to get it back to those historical highs.

And there is a new generation of conservationists out there, ready to rise to the higher calling of wildlife and wild sheep conservation.

 

—story by CHESTER MOORE

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