Fellow Utah FNAWS Members,
Recently, I was reading that Idaho’s bighorn populations have declined over the past ten years from 6,500 to around 2,500, and I know that Arizona wild sheep populations are down significantly as well.
It is thought that Dall populations are down in Alaska, but the game and fish up there doesn’t even know because there is little survey or sheep work done. Most other states, sheep populations have remained about the same over this period of time.
Contrastingly, Utah wild sheep populations have gone up TEN times from about 500 to 5,000 and permits have followed the trend from 8 to nearly 80. Utah FNAWS has played a major role in this expansion.
And, I am going to share a little secret why Utah FNAWS and Utah’s sheep program has been so successful.
It is all about the members, and when you get enough people involved, there is the money and the policy influence required to get things done.
A strong partnership with Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, national Wild Sheep foundation, and the Iowa, Montana and Minnesota Wisconsin FNAWS Chapters have also been a major reason for success.
So while some organizations seem to want to be a small and exclusive group of rich and powerful members, so they can stroke their egos amongst the elite few, we have purposely designed Utah FNAWS to be all inclusive and let every hunter see their dreams of hunting sheep, and obtaining the Full Curl – taking all four north American Wild sheep become a dream come true.
Utah FNAWS started the drawings that only allowed hunters who had taken a certain number of sheep to apply or buy certain sheep hunts. Desert sheep tags for those who only needed a Desert to have taken all four north American Sheep – the Full Curl, or Dall sheep hunts for those Quarter Curl hunters who have taken just one ram – most likely a Utah desert or bighorn, and even the Half Curl guys who needed a Stone hunt. These actions were designed to let all of our members achieve their dreams, and it also has provided the money and membership to GREATLY benefit wild sheep conservation.
This past month, I had the chance to go with 5 fellow sportsmen, who literally were living a dream. They had grown up dreaming to hunt Dall sheep some day, but didn’t think there were the financial resources to do so. They had drawn Utah desert bighorn tags, and had the sheep fever bad. A few quotes: “The best experience of my life – unbelievable.” And “Thanks to Utah FNAWS for allowing me to achieve a lifetime dream, I am a Utah FNAWS supporter for life”. Sharing the wealth, making dreams come true for all of our members.
So, I hope each one of you can share in the joy of knowing that you are part of the BEST wild sheep conservation organization in America, the wild sheep benefit greatly, and also, our fellow Utah FNAWS member get to live their dreams chasing wild sheep in God’s most wonderful creations. It don’t get much better than that, I look forward to seeing you at the annual fundraiser, or better yet, in a sheep camp somewhere.
Send in your photos, and update us on your status to become a Full Curl Sheep Conservationist and Sheep hunter! Don |
