01x09 - Episode 9

[bunniefuu]

(majestic music)

- Bighorn sheep live in the

western mountainous regions

of North America, ranging

from Canada to Mexico.

Mature males have

large, curved horns.

The horns are used as tools

for eating and fighting.

Females also have horns,

but are shorter with

a slight curvature.

These remarkable animals are

perfectly adapted to life

in some of our planet's

harshest environments.

Most of the current bighorn

sheep introductions are funded

through hunter-based

organizations

like the Wild Sheep Foundation

as well as private

foundations and individuals.

Hunting has become a

controversial practice

in modern times.

My name is Dan Cabela, and

I'm traveling the globe

to explore the true impact

that hunting is having

on our remaining

wild landscapes.

This practice goes as far back

as human history can remember,

but does it have a place

in modern conservation?

There have been bighorn

sheep living in North America

for thousands of years.

It is a North America icon

and is the official animal

of the state of Nevada.

Human expansion and disturbance

has a negative impact

on bighorn herds as sheep

are not able to live

near areas of human activity.

Habitat loss and fragmentation

by urban development

are examples of this.

Also, drought and

the warming climate

have a negative impact.

Competition from domestic

livestock is also a major issue

not only for resources, but

also the threat of disease,

particularly

pneumonia and mange.

We are headed to

Nevada to participate

in a hands-on sheep

conservation initiative.

The Cabela Family

Foundation is working

with the Nevada Department

of Wildlife to capture, test,

and remove Movi-infected

California bighorn sheep

from the Santa Rosa Range.

We're about two hours

outside of Winnemucca.

We left about 3:00

AM this morning.

We've gotten out into

a very remote area,

pretty rugged roads, and

I'm really looking forward

to putting my hands on

some live bighorn sheep.

That's something

I've never done,

and this is gonna be a great

day for sheep conservation.

Morning, you must be Jack.

- Dan, how are you?

- Good.

- Pleasure to meet

you in person.

How was your ride up?

- [Dan] It was a bit

rugged, a little bumpy,

but I guess that's the

environment we're in,

so expected a little bit.

- Welcome to Nevada.

Good outdoors, good sunshine.

Little cloud cover

today keep us cool.

But we have sheep coming

in here in a minute.

Helicopter's actually up.

You're gonna get your

hands on a sheep here

just in a few minutes,

so we're ready to roll.

- I can't wait for that.

- Oh, it's gonna be a great

day, appreciate you being here.

- [Dan] Bighorn sheep

in the Santa Rosa Range

first became infected with

mycoplasma ovipneumoniae,

better known as Movi,

in November of 2003.

- Mycoplasma is a bacteria.

It came initially

from domestic sheep.

And in domestic sheep,

it doesn't really cause

too many problems.

In bighorn sheep, it

initiates this cascade

of bacterial

infection that leads

to really severe

pneumonia and kills sheep.

What happens over

time, though, is

after the initial

die off of sheep,

some survive and they become

what we call chronic shedders.

So they continuously

shed the bacteria,

and then every year the

new lambs become infected

with that bacteria and they die.

And so after a time, the

population starts aging out,

your population starts

shrinking and you don't have

that recruitment to

replace your animals

that are dying

from other causes.

So what we're trying to

do here is we're testing

all these animals to find

those chronic shedders.

When we find those

chronic shedders,

we're gonna remove them

from the population

and hopefully allow that

lamb recruitment to recover.

We've already had

some success here

at the southern

end of the range.

We did the first stages of

the test and remove program

in the last couple

years down there.

And this year we had really

excellent lamb recruitment

for the first time.

(gentle music)

(gentle music)

- [Dan] Capturing bighorn sheep

in the mountains

is no easy task.

- Logistically, this is

one of the toughest things

that we could

probably accomplish

just because we are moving for

miles and miles days on end

to try to get every

population sampled.

- It takes a team like this

to have a positive impact

on the conservation

of these sheep,

and everybody is doing

their part to make sure

that we have a

successful initiative.

We are undertaking

to capture and test

as many sheep as

possible this morning.

And we'll be weighing,

measuring, and x-raying them

as well as collecting

samples to test

for various diseases,

including Movi.

There's extreme heat

here in the summertime,

so our aim is to

finish by mid-morning.

The helicopter team will

fly into the mountains

to locate the sheep,

and after located,

they'll hang out with no

doors on the helicopter

and they'll net g*n these sheep.

It's a dangerous

business for sure,

but these guys are

prepared for it.

- The helicopter, it's a MD 500,

so it's a great

little helicopter.

It's very dynamic

and very nimble,

so it's perfect for

this kind of work.

Mike is a extremely

skilled pilot,

but he's also having

the wildlife background.

He really knows how

to read the animal

and what it's about to

do and where it's likely

to be heading, which

is quite critical

to maneuver it safely

to a spot safely

for the animal and safely

for us as the crew.

(majestic music)

(blades whirring)

Any interaction that humans

have with wildlife is intrusive.

And so as a crew,

as a capture crew,

we're very, very aware of that.

We do every single

thing we possibly can

from the moment that

we come onto the group

with the helicopter to do

what we can to minimize that.

- They're getting a

sedative up on the mountain

that helps keep

'em a little calmer

when they're being slung in

and when they're on the table.

- Once we've got the

net off, hobbled,

blindfold as soon as possible.

Sometimes the net's all

sort of around their heads

so you can't actually get it on.

But blindfold for sheep,

that makes an absolutely

massive difference

to calming them down.

And we always try and do

things as quickly as we can

just to minimize

that exposure time,

because their temperatures

are a critical part

of their health.

We're constantly monitoring

their temperature.

We have little thermometer

that we carry on us right here.

In Nevada, it can

get really hot here,

so we also sometimes

carry with us water

and isopropyl alcohol mix,

which is really effective

at cooling the sheep down.

once you've got them hobbled,

then you can kind

of wrangle them

and put them into that bag

and then do up the little straps

and get it all ready

for, flight ready.

So it's just like a little

sheep in a bag ready to fly up.

(majestic music)

(blades whirring)

(majestic music)

(blades whirring)

(majestic music)

(majestic music)

(majestic music)

- She's a little

warm, she's 105.2.

So we're cooling her off here

with a bunch of cold towels.

Bighorn sheep lose a lot of

heat through their horns,

so we're keeping her horns

wrapped in cold towels.

We're spraying her down on

her feet and on her hooves.

That's still hot,

she's still hot.

Let's get her some fluids

'cause she was

running for a while.

(majestic music)

We're drawing blood to

test whether she's exposed

to Mycoplasma

ovipneumoniae or not,

the causative agent

of bighorn pneumonia.

We're also taking nasal

swabs here in a minute.

They'll get sent off to a lab

up in Washington

State University.

We'll get results back

here in about a week.

And any animals

that are positive

we'll then remove from the herd.

Kinda like a COVID test.

And that'll tell us whether

she's actively shedding or not,

and that's what's k*lling

all the lambs in these herds.

The other four we had

this morning all had bags,

so they're all lactating,

which probably means

that they are negative

'cause it's unlikely their

lambs would still be surviving

if they were positive.

We're trying to grow the herd.

If we can clear all

the chronic shedders,

then we'll have the opportunity

to have year after year

of lamb recruitment

and hopefully continue

to grow this herd.

This mountain range

is really high quality

and can support a lot more

sheep than are currently here.

- Hunters have played

the most important role

in bighorn sheep conservation.

They have always played

a significant role

in reintroductions, the

creation and maintenance

of national parks and

conservation management

through regulated

and ethical hunting.

- Yeah, so we're gonna

take a couple x-rays

to the head here and what we're

looking for is sinus tumors.

There is an association

with continually

or chronically shedding

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae

when they have sinus tumors,

so we're trying to better

understand the dynamics

that we have playing out here

with the infection of this herd.

So this is gonna tell us

whether they have

sinus tumors or not.

- It's not every day you

get to put your hands

on a live bighorn sheep.

This is a pretty incredible

conservation moment

for me personally and

this is really awesome.

As the day starts to warm up,

we process the last few sheep

before releasing them

back into the wild.

(majestic music)

(blades whirring)

(majestic music)

(blades whirring)

- Ideally, the quicker

we can get animals back

on their feet and out of the

capture site, the better.

A lot of animals we try to

release right here, however,

if we get a ewe

that's lactating,

so we know she has

an attendant lamb,

we're gonna fly her up back

to the exact spot

where they caught her

so she can quickly get

back with that lamb

and they can get

back to nursing.

(majestic music)

- This was another amazing

conservation project funded

by the Cabela Family Foundation.

Bighorn sheep is an iconic

North American animal,

and to see our dollar

supporting this animal

in this space was

absolutely amazing.

The original population of

sheep that were reintroduced

into this area, the

California bighorn,

came from British Columbia.

And after seeing

conservation work

and doing this

project, I've decided

that I'm gonna travel

to British Columbia

and see what that looks

like, where they came from.

And I'm gonna hunt

a sheep of my own.

(gentle music)

Sheep commands some of

the highest trophy fees

of any animal, enabling

hundreds of thousands of dollars

to flow into sheep conservation.

Bighorn sheep hunting

opportunities are very limited.

The demand for

tags is far greater

than the number of bighorn

sheep available to hunt

as they are managed in a

very conservative manner.

There are less than 1,000

tags issued each year

in the United States.

Many western states hold

raffles for ram tags.

These tags can sometimes

sell for $400,000 or more.

This money flows directly back

into wild sheep conservation.

There are also state lotteries

that are less expensive,

but it can take up to 25 years

to actually acquire a tag.

After flying into Vancouver,

we took a long drive to

the Fraser River area.

As we approached this region,

it became quite obvious

that this was a very

wild space and we were

in an incredible forested

area that was rugged

and looked to be

quite challenging.

There are a few experiences

that can compare

to hunting wild sheep

in North America

and in their rugged terrain.

Although the hunt

can be mentally and

physically challenging

in a sometimes

dangerous habitat,

sheep hunting can be

quite intoxicating.

It is kind of a battle of will.

Just as at any sheep

hunt, the day will start

with a lot of glassing and

trying to locate sheep.

It's very dry and

unseasonably warm

and we have to get on perches

to try to locate sheep.

And you're specifically

looking for mature rams

that are at least

three-quarters length curl.

So you spend a good

bit of time looking

for specific type sheep.

(majestic music)

(majestic music)

(gentle music)

(gentle music)

(g*n fires)

- Made a pretty

good track up here.

Still recovering

from it, actually.

And by the time we got up

here, the rams were up,

so I had to kind of get

into position quick,

try to slow the heart rate down.

Took about a 450-yard

shot, I suppose.

And we've hit the ram, he

looks like he's hit hard.

But we'll know when we find him.

(gentle music)

(gentle music)

Thank you.

- No problem.

- Thank you for working so hard.

There's something very

unique about sheep hunting.

It's a difficult process and

a lot of time is put into it,

a lot of energy, a lot

of physical energy.

It carries a deeper meaning

when you harvest a mature ram.

It's just something that

you feel as you walk up

and you see that

ram laying there.

All the effort,

all the teamwork,

the things that go

into it to harvest

such an incredible

North America icon,

it's almost impossible

to describe.

The successful pursuit

of an animal that lives

in such an extreme environment

is an incredible experience.

And knowing that the

funds paid to do so

positively impact

this entire system

adds a whole new

dimension to this.

(gentle music)

Sharing food is a primal thing,

and man has valued this

act since time began.

(gentle music)

Nothing beats the

fresh taste of sheep

while still on the mountain.

It is an honest

celebration of teamwork,

enjoyed through the

wild and pure meat

that was earned together.

(gentle music)

Sheep are under many

threats and run the risk,

like many species,

of going extinct,

yet it's hunting that feeds

by far the most dollars

into sheep conservation.

(gentle music)

This has been an

incredible journey

and an unbelievable

bighorn sheep experience.

We've gone from studying

these sheep and testing them

for disease, doing

great conservation work,

and also at the same

time we've experienced

the very wildness of sheep,

we participated in a hunt.

And that really brings the

whole thing full circle for me,

to see conservation in action,

but also where those

hunting dollars come from.

I've participated on both

sides of the aisle on this deal

and it's great to see how

all this comes together.

You might feel like

the hunting is separate

from the conservation,

but really it's not.

It's one in the same thing.

These projects are

funded through hunting

and hunting dollars and

also the organizations

that support hunting.

So I feel like to participate

in both of these activities,

I have really gained

a lot of insight into

what a wild sheep is and

what they're all about.

To have healthy sheep, you

need a large ecosystem.

If that system is protected

for the benefit of the sheep,

there are many, many other

species that benefit also.