Passing the Torch: Putting sheep on the mountain

The year started by attending the monthly meeting of the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn in Las Vegas. I met up with old friends and heard new stories of their adventures. This is one of Nevada’s premier conservation groups and I’ll share some of their stories in future columns.

They brought back memories and discussion of a guzzler (water collecting project) on which I was fortunate to participate.

These water projects are necessary to support our wild sheep and other wildlife populations in our shared harsh climate. The many dedicated individuals of the “Fraternity” deserve great credit for the success of our wild sheep populations.

While at the meeting I spent time with my old friend Eddie Pribble, a sheep guide and conservationist. He is the grand master when it comes to sheep hunters.

Eddie has hunted Dall sheep in Alaska, Stone sheep in British Columbia and Bighorns in Nevada, but his passion is for Desert Bighorn Sheep, and Nevada is the place to be for this species.

He loves the pursuit of desert sheep so much that he helps and guides other hunters and has become the go-to guy for those wanting to ensure their success. With over 114 successful hunts over the past fifty years, he has earned that reputation.

He has also worked tirelessly to help “Put Sheep on the Mountain,” which is the motto of the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn. His name has become synonymous with that fine organization and their conservation efforts.

Their main focus has been to build “guzzlers,” on current and former Desert Bighorn mountain ranges. There are now over a hundred of these throughout Southern Nevada, from Tonopah to Searchlight, and Eddie has helped with many of them.

These guzzlers are not simple devices and Eddie’s mechanical skills have been instrumental in their development and construction. They consist of a natural rock, or artificial sheet, to collect rainwater and focus its run-off to a container, which when coupled with a float-activated drinker serves to supply sheep and other wildlife their necessary drinking water. So far these guzzlers have a combined storage capacity of over 780,000 gallons of water.

Two hunters that have benefited from these efforts are Roy and Shelby Keefer. Both recently drew tags, and were successful, on the same hunt and in the same area. Imagine the odds of that happening. To my knowledge that has happened only once before and that was to me and my wife more than 20 years ago. Try explaining that to one of the hunters who has been applying for 15 or 20 years, or more, and still haven’t drawn. As they say, “Being lucky is sometimes better than being skilled.”

So what’s next? Well, as many of us with a little grey hair know, the torch has to be passed. This is being done by recruiting fresh, young blood, some with only a few grey hairs.The fraternity is doing this with Pat Cummings, a former Nevada Wildlife Biologist, at the helm and joining with organizations like Wildlife Habitat in Nevada (WHIN), Nevada Bighorn Unlimited (NBU) and others to accomplish even greater achievements, but most importantly passing knowledge on to the next generations.

This “passing on” was seen at a project to repair and maintain guzzlers in the Last Chance Range near Pahrump. Young James Reddick, sat spellbound during a work break as Eddie told him of past hunts and projects. They visited again later while waiting for the helicopter to take them off the mountain and back to base camp. I’ve no doubt James will be one of our future hunter/conservation leaders.

While on this outing, 44 men, women and youngsters gathered to work on water guzzlers. Helicopters repeatedly lifted equipment, materials and crew to the project sites. Cement was poured, rocks were gathered and repairs were made. All did a good day’s work helping wildlife and again “the torch was passed” during the evening while gathered around the campfire eating delicious steaks prepared by “Cookie Tiberti” and his crew.

It’s not over; these projects have been so successful the Nevada Department of Wildlife has been able to translocate sheep to some of their other historic ranges. There is still lots to be done however and projects continue to expand or are in need of maintenance. There’s a chance for you to help too, volunteer on a project, join the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn, or other hunting/conservation organizations.

Join Eddie Pribble and others at this year’s fraternity banquet; it will be at the South Point Casino and Resort on June 20.

This will be a unique opportunity to meet Eddie and members of the fraternity as well as representatives from WHIN, and other organizations. You can bet representatives from the Nevada Department of Wildlife will be joining their outdoor partners as they celebrate together.

It’s also a good chance to talk about Bighorn sheep and the coming seasons with other fellow hunters and sportsmen.

My hat is off to Eddie Pribble, “The Legend,” and all those that help “Put Sheep on the Mountain.” To learn more about the Fraternity of Desert Bighorn visit www.desertbighorn.com ; the WHIN at www.whinlv.org and NBU at www.nevadabighornsunlimited.org.

If you have a story or a comment, please e-mail me at dansimmons@sportsmansquest.org or visit sportsmansquest.org