EP77 Save The Hunt – A conversation with Dan Gates of Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management Of the Rocky Mountain states, Colorado has been ground zero for animal rights and anti-hunting, trapping, and science-based wildlife management extremists bent on challenging more than 100 years of successful and sportsmen funded wildlife restoration and management. After a stingingly narrow victory of a ballot box biology initiative to introduce grey wolves into the state, conservation minded Co...
Jul 16, 2025•1 hr 3 min
This week on Sheep Fever we visit with Eric Dippold, Secretary for the newly formed North American Pronghorn Foundation. A uniquely North American goat species often referred to as being in the antelope family, the pronghorn is a cherished big game species by sportsmen from around the world and an out-the-window wildlife viewing favorite of travelers indicating they are now “out west.” As celebrated as they are, there has never been an organization dedicated to their future, until now, and their...
Jul 02, 2025•53 min
Sheep Fever co-hosts Keith and Gray visit with WSF Chairman, Charlie Kelly (AZ) and COO Corey Mason (TX) about the Foundation’s raffling of the 2025-26 Arizona Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Raffle tag, auctions tags, conservation funding, and where the money goes. Sometimes celebrated, sometimes hated on, auction tags do get a lot of attention. Some cry for more raffle opportunities to be “fair”, while others want to see max dollars raised for wild sheep, which translates to more wild sheep on th...
Jun 23, 2025•51 min
Launched in 2015 with financial support from WSF and others, the Wild Harvest Initiative sought to calculate, for the first time, the total amount in pounds or tons of healthy, wild protein humanely harvested by sportsmen every year in the US and Canada. Keith caught up with Conservation Visions President and CEO Shane Mahoney to go over the numbers documented thus far and most importantly, how this data is being used to generate a broader public understanding and appreciation for sustainable us...
May 14, 2025•1 hr 21 min
Artist, film producer, television host, outdoor communicator, ambassador, hunter, conservationist, father are just a few descriptives of Montana native Jason Matzinger. In this episode Jason and Gray cover a broad range of topics from Jason’s roots, what makes him tick, outdoor media, where it came from, where it is going, and its benefits and burdens. Jason is the real deal and this episode covers topics coast to coast including the status of the outdoor industry. We also learn there is one des...
Apr 30, 2025•56 min
Tough to choose, but here is a Best of Sheep Fever 2024 special episode. Actually, our listeners choose for us by most popular downloads. A lot of ground covered by some pretty seasoned folks in sheep hunting, conservation’s history and future, wild sheep biology, predator management, shooting technology and marksmanship, to name a few. · Episode 40: Wild Sheep & Predators - Kevin Hurley, Kurt Alt, Tom Lohuis, and Eric Rominger (02:00) · Episode 46: Shooting Tech and the Era of Marksmanship ...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 34 min
Often consumed to celebrate victory, sometimes even survival, but just as often to mourn defeat, whiskey and wild sheep do go together. Such was the vision of founder Robert Gertsner when he conceived of wild sheep inspired distilled adult beverages now known as Full Curl Brand’s. Rob is a successful entrepreneur and a passionate and equally successful sheep hunter. A bowhunter, his coveted offerings of bourbon, rye, gin, and vodka match his pension for doing it the right way even if that is not...
Apr 02, 2025•1 hr 14 min
Admittedly, hunters are gear junkies. When it comes to our knives, as we learned from MKC founder and CEO Josh Smith, it runs deeper than that. Grandpa’s knife can be Dad’s knife; can then be our knife as a rite of passage. Sheep Fever sat down with Josh and a true American brand success story to discuss his humble beginning as a Montana boy knifemaker at age 15 to becoming the youngest Master Knifemaker in the country as certified by the Knifemaker’s Guild, onto becoming one of the most success...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr 2 min
Post Sheep Show, Sheep Fever co-host Keith Balfourd and WSF’s Director of Publications and Awards, Julie Tripp reconnect with Dustin Diefenderfer of Mtn. Tough Fitness Labs to walk, or limp back through the first TOUGH SHEEP workout that took place at the Show. The TOUGH SHEEP workout was conceived by Dustin and his team to engage mountain fitness enthusiasts. The event aimed to not only welcome participants to the Sheep Show but also to provide a calendar event for their workout goals, create o...
Mar 05, 2025•56 min
In Part II of our Spotlight on BC, Kyle, Scott, and Gray weigh into the status of wild sheep and wildlife in the province, and the status of wildlife conservation and management given Ministry, staff, and other recent political changes. The trio of CEOs discuss the prospects for restoring the grizzly bear hunt, other wildlife challenges, dollars to the resource vs. impact to the resource and social license issues effecting conservationists ability to fund our efforts.
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 6 min
British Columbia holds a special focus for the Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), with three of North America’s four wild sheep calling it home. During the past three years, WSF directed $1.9 Million in Grant in Aid to the province to conserve and enhance thinhorn and bighorn sheep, improve their habitat, mitigate the impact of predation, support the hunting and conservation industry, and fund outreach programs to educate the public on the conservation benefits of hunting. In addition, WSF directed $8...
Jan 29, 2025•48 min
With the Sheep Show just over the next ridge, Sheep Fever hosts Gray Thornton and Keith Balfourd sat down with Mike Schoby of Field Ethos to discuss what’s new and what to expect at the Show, what our new partner, donor, and exhibitor Field Ethos has in store, and announce a special featured auction item. Field Ethos is a relatively new outdoor adventure media company founded by Donald Trump Jr. and Jason Vincent. Their goal was to unapologetically revive the action-adventure into hunting, fishi...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 10 min
With the 2025 Sheep Show just around the corner, Sheep Fever co-hosts Gray and Keith visit with newly welcomed WSF Ambassadors Jana Waller Bair and Rachel Ahtila to discuss their journeys as hunter-conservationists, and to get their thoughts on why the Show is such a highlight on their travel schedules. Is it the positive vibe for wild sheep conservation or hunting in general, seeing old friends, making new ones, sharing stories where everyone is family, or simply a week of feel-good packed into...
Jan 02, 2025•1 hr 7 min
In our previous episode, we discussed that conservation is at a crossroads. More people are turning to nature and the outdoors for health and fulfillment, yet far too many are demonstrating a lack of knowledge of the differences between conservation and preservation and the benefits of both. As a result, emotion is trumping science, sound conservation actions are being pulled in all directions or tied up in court, and harmful measures are showing up on ballot initiatives. In this episode, we dri...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 24 min
Is conservation at a crossroads? If challenges to wildlife and the environment are evolving and, in many cases, mounting. If we believe that conservation is everyone's responsibility and that it is a progressive journey rather than a final destination, then we are at a crossroads. The conservation movement in the early 1900s was born out of crisis. We were taking too much off the land and taking too much for granted. The Environmental Revolution of the 1906s and 70s was another gut check. Both r...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 27 min
Bill Pastorek, author of Dream Rams of British Columbia will soon release his recent and highly anticipate work, Dream Rams of the North . Bill caught the sheep bug early in his life and his chosen career path of self-employment and building a successful gardening business allowed him plenty of time in the mountains to pursue his passion for wild sheep. An avid conservationist, and one who walks the talk of giving his time, talent, and treasure to the resource he loves and the organizations focu...
Nov 07, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Spike Camp is an online community of hunter conservationists. On Wednesday, September 16th Spike Camp founders Chuck and Blake Peeling conducted a live stream podcast featuring WSF Ambassadors Jana Waller Bair and Rachel Ahtila as well as WSF Women Hunt® Committee members Julie Chapman, Brandi Love, and Women Hunt® founder & chair, Renée Thornton. The seven of them talk hunting, conservation, the Wild Sheep family, the Sheep Show®, and the impact hunting has had on their lives. They also cov...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 54 min
In this episode of Sheep Fever, co-host Keith Balfourd visits with Mountain Tough Fitness Lab founder Dustin Diefenderfer to learn more about their specific fitness programs for mountain athletes and the new TOUGH SHEEP workout scheduled for the 2025 Sheep Show® in Reno on January 17th. Inspired by modern-day military readiness and NFL training programs, MTNTOUGH designed physical and mental fitness programs geared for the mountain athlete/hunter that better prepared them for the strenuous weigh...
Oct 09, 2024•50 min
New Chief Operating Officer and Executive VP of Conservation, Corey Mason joined the WSF Team in August, bringing decades of conservation and industry experience. Spending time on his grandfather’s farm and hunting with his father, Corey quickly grew into a passionate hunter. Continuing to avidly hunt, but now largely enjoying time afield with his wife and daughter and making family memories. At an early age, Corey desired a career in wildlife conservation. Beginning with undergraduate and gradu...
Sep 25, 2024•58 min
Wild sheep matter, and so does selecting the future leadership of the Wild Sheep Foundation in our upcoming fall 2024 WSF Board of Director elections. Last year, we started something new by introducing the candidates, not only in print with their biographies on our website and mailed ballots, but with brief interviews on this podcast. We have four (4) current director terms expiring April 30, 2025. The Nominating Committee approved five (5) candidates for the fall ballot for these four open dire...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Acclaimed and award-winning journalist and author, hunter, and sheep hunter Craig Boddington had this to say about WSF Summit Life Member Jim Manley’s first book: “Tracks On A Mountain is one man’s mountain hunting odyssey. Jim Manley and I have climbed some of the same mountains, enjoyed some of the same triumphs, suffered the same disappointments, and so often wondered why we are doing this to ourselves. Jim far exceeded my efforts in North America’s mountains…Wish we’d shared some campfires o...
Aug 28, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Azyre Gear founder and accomplished sheep hunter Cari Goss’ goal is to inspire and empower women to pursue their hunting and outdoors passions with confidence. A great deal of that confidence comes from functional clothing that fits, keeps one warm, and dry. For years Cari felt that the hunting apparel industry had overlooked women and that she and others had been left to wear apparel designed for men only later to be modified for women. She also feels that women have been often offered designs ...
Aug 14, 2024•55 min
Andy Moeckel is well known in the hunting and conservation community as The Flip Flop Guy and his unique cooking style called the Flip Flop. He has turned a culinary technique, that has been passed down for three generations, into a thriving business that sells a full line of sauces, spices, flip flop mops, and even whole bone in Maui Nui Venison legs perfect for Flip Flop. It all started with his grandfather, Al Giddings shortly after WW II when he got off the ship in San Francisco and decided ...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Sadly, wild sheep numbers are down in many of their ranges. For our thinhorns up North, environmental factors, some of which are beyond short-term human control, have taken a toll in recent years. In other wild sheep ranges, fragmentation, contraction, and loss of habitat, both from a changing climate and land use policies (fire suppression, conifer/shrub encroachment, human footprint, public land grazing allotments, feral horses and burros), as well as disease from exotic and domestic ungulates...
Jul 17, 2024•1 hr 17 min
There is no question that forces are being placed on our systems, institutions, philosophies, and the science that manages wildlife. Situations and conditions change over time, and adjustments are necessary improvements. Balancing change and maintaining stability is crucial to ensuring the best outcomes for wildlife and people. But this doesn’t appear to be where we’re heading. Sheep Fever co-host Keith Balfourd visits with two guests who keenly understand historical precedents and the current p...
Jul 03, 2024•1 hr 29 min
The Wild Sheep Foundation is growing and is pleased to announce the formation and official charter of the Southeast Chapter of WSF! The mission of the Southeast Chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation is to build a community of conservationists to raise resources in support of scientific wild sheep management practices and habitat improvement. This is to ensure that future generations will enjoy the healthy populations of North America's sheep herds. We are a volunteer organization dedicated to sha...
Jun 19, 2024•42 min
We’re going to Texas in this episode to talk about restoring desert bighorn sheep to a mountain range that hasn’t seen sheep since the early 1900s. Sheep Fever co-host Keith Balfourd visits with Texas Bighorn Sheep Society president Sam Cunningham, WSF’s VP of Conservation Kevin Hurley, and Texas outdoor writer and WSF contributor Chester Moore to discuss the Franklin Mountains State Park desert sheep restoration project. From water guzzler installations awaiting the translocation of 80 sheep to...
Jun 05, 2024•40 min
Jana Waller Bair is the Host and Executive Producer of Skull Bound TV and Skull Bound Chronicles, a hunting and conservation series on Carbon TV that is currently in its 15th season. Jana has been a lifelong hunter and was appointed as a Wildlife Commissioner in Montana in 2021. After serving her term, she moved to Utah, where she resides with her husband and WSF auctioneer, John Bair. Jana is a proud member of the Wild Sheep Foundation as well as many other conservation and hunting organization...
May 22, 2024•59 min
In this episode of Sheep Fever, we visit with Mark Truax, President and CEO of Pac/West Strategies, to discuss the attempted ban on mountain lion, bobcat, and lynx hunting in Colorado. This ban, proposed through a voter’s ballot initiative and backed by out-of-state animal rights groups, raises important questions. Why mountain lions? Why Colorado? Why a voter’s ballot process? The answers; because it’s winnable. Mark and his company are on the ground in Colorado, trying to prevent this measure ...
May 08, 2024•50 min
Conservation has increasingly become a global topic and a global effort. In this episode, Sheep Fever co-host Keith Balford visits with Shane Mahoney, CEO of Conservation Visions, to discuss various topics, including the growing connectivity between conservation efforts here in North America and those happening beyond our borders. You'll learn how influential our North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is in other countries struggling to do what is best for wildlife and people, especially ...
Apr 24, 2024•1 hr 18 min
