Winter 2006
SHEEP TRACKS NEWSLETTER
Return of Royalty:
Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep and Horn Bows
A special temporary exhibit is now in the planning stages for the Ron Ball Memorial Gallery. The theme is the return of bighorn sheep to their historic ranges and the return of the art of making sinew-backed horn bows and horn spoons. The historic range of the bighorns will be compared with the historic homelands of the Native American tribes that created bows and spoons from ram horns. Tracking down the rare old bows in museums across the country is challenging. These highly prized weapons were traded far and wide so many were often collected far from the region where they were made. Just as populations of wild sheep have increased the number of contemporary craftsmen making horn bows has also increased. Archers of the Mountains, a film showing Tom Lucas of Lander making a bow, will be featured. Let us know if you know of other horn bow makers.
New Summer Hours
Beginning Memorial Day Weekend
The National Bighorn Sheep Center will open at 8 AM starting Saturday, May 27. The Center will close at 7 PM in the evening so visitors, community members, and staff can attend the summer evening programs sponsored by the Bighorn Sheep Center, Dubois Museum and Western Activities Association.
Please share these new times with friends and visitors as there are many brochures out there with the old hours of 9 AM to 8 PM!
Dubois Antler Rendezvous
May 15 through May 19 Dubois will welcome the second annual Antler Rendezvous to the Headwaters Town Park just across the street from the National Bighorn Sheep Center. Antler vendors from around the country will set up their booths and sell antlers in bulk as well as antler chandeliers, candle holders, whistles, jewelry and more. Until last year, these vendors had been selling in Teton Village in Jackson Hole during the Boy Scout antler auction there. Don’t miss this unique sale!
Dubois Appreciation Day
Mark your calendars for Dubois Appreciation Day Saturday, May 20. This open house will be a great chance to visit your Center before the busy summer season. You might get a glimpse of a new exhibit or video program too.
Dubois Appreciation Day is also the Center’s opportunity to say thanks to Dubois people and businesses – motels, restaurants, gas stations – for sending so many visitors our way! Join us for refreshments and recognition.
Find Reports at biologists’ journal
If you were not able to attend the National Bighorn Sheep Interpretive Association’s annual meeting in January, visit the Center’s web site to see some of the data that Greg Anderson, wildlife biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Lander Regional Office, presented concerning the status of the Whiskey Mountain herd. Look under the heading “Biologists’ Journal” for a summary of the ratio between the number of lambs per hundred ewes from 1986 to 2005. The numbers show the terrible “crash” in population in 1990 and the slow recovery.
Numbers for the three year predator control project on Whiskey Mountain may also be found under the Biologists’ Journal section of this web site. Will the agencies and the Wyoming Chapter of FNAWS continue this effort? Stay tuned!
Student Consultants Visiting Center
Dubois 7th and 8th grade students will be visiting the Bighorn Sheep Center during March to review the activities offered to school groups that tour the Center. “Seek and Identify” maps, coloring pages, multiple choice questions, and a film Life of the Bighorn are activities that have been the mainstay of school tours since 1994. We are looking for suggestions on how to improve these activities or what new ideas they have to improve our educational message. Most of the students have visited the Center on their own or have participated in these activities in elementary grades. Now is their chance share their ideas and to improve their Center!
Summer Campfire Talks Continue
The National Bighorn Sheep Center will again present a series of nine free evening programs during June, July and August of this coming summer. When weather permits, the programs are held at the Eagle Scout campfire circle in the Headwaters town park. There will be some repeat programs such as “Make Your Own Hiking Stick” and new ones too. What better place to tell spooky Big Foot stories than around a campfire? Or talk about protecting fish habitat than right next to the Wind River?
Look for the final schedule of dates and speakers in our next Sheep Tracks. Please call or email the Center if you have ideas or suggestions for program topics or speakers.
Memorials and Endowment Building
Since our last issue of Sheep Tracks, several Memorial and Endowment gifts came to the Center at the end of 2005. These contributions are listed below.
Gifts to the endowment are welcome anytime during the year and are thoughtful birthday or anniversary gifts. We will send a bighorn card to the anniversary couple or birthday person on their special day with greetings from you and a note that you have made a gift to the bighorns in their honor. Call, write or e-mail us with the details and your card will be sent out in time for the big event.
YEAR IN MEMORY OR IN HONOR OF GIVEN BY
2005 A Contribution to the The Davies Family
Endowment
2005 Teri Lynn Bernard Lloyd and Dolores Haslam
John and Ramona Finley
Whenever memorial gifts honoring an individual reach $500 or more, the name will be recognized with a plaque in the Center’s lobby.
