By Jim Shockey
Deer are one thing. Moose, caribou, bear, antelope, bison, elk and muskox are the same thing. Wild sheep are another thing.
As a born and raised deer hunter (and I thought expert) my first British Columbia (BC) deer “hunt” at the invincible age of 21, opened my eyes to one undeniable reality of the place… it was big! Really big! The miles and miles of forest, cut by deep canyons, made the flat Saskatchewan fields and poplar bluffs of my youth look like child’s play. I was lost, literally and figuratively. Deer I didn’t find that first “hunt,” but I did find, as so many who have ventured into the wildlands of BC do, both love and wonder. Love of the fresh air. Love of the effort. Love of feeling free and unfettered in a raw land of untamed beauty. And wonder. Wonder at how in the heck the best of the best, the whispered about legends of the BC hunting world, the sheep hunters, ever managed to get to, let alone hunt on, the rugged peaks poking skyward in the impossible distance, taunting and haunting and tempting me from the valley bottom deer forest.
And so, at the age of 21, deerless and bursting with unearned self-respect, I returned to civilization, re-outfitted myself in the latest greatest backpacking gear from the Army Surplus store and returned to the wild lands, rifle in hand, determined to test my mettle, determined to be a sheep hunter.
Not once did I try. Not twice. But seven times over the ensuing years did I attempt to reach and climb those craggy peaks, to prove to myself that I was equal to the challenge, that I too could walk the high hanging basins, shoulder to shoulder, with the giants of the hunting world, the sheep hunters.
Thank you, God. In retrospect, the lesson in humility was probably warranted, but really? Not doubting Your wisdom, but did You really need to flay the layers of undaunted confidence away with the blunt edge of brutal failure SEVEN TIMES?
Enter Bill Pastorek.
He was what I wanted to be. He was a sheep hunter, a real sheep hunter. He lived and breathed sheep hunting, was a student of sheep behaviour and was obviously in need of a “good will” project! My lucky day! Grasshopper I became, and my sheep hunting Sensi he became. Wax on. Wax off. He taught me that sheep hunting isn’t about killing a sheep, no, to be a sheep hunter, a true sheep hunter, one had to BE a sheep hunter.
Huh? Frankly I didn’t understand what the heck he was talking about either, but over many a freeze-dried meal, hunkered down beside our tiny backpack tents somewhere beyond Arthur’s Seat (I was still figuratively and literally lost), I listened to Bill wax eloquent about every nuance of sheep character, of sheep diet, of sheep biology and of the history of sheep hunting in North America. That he knew his stuff, there was no doubt, but that his student (who by the way was older than Bill) was capable of understanding wild sheep as deeply as he did, was thankfully for me, his mistake!
I learned as much as a journeyman can from a master. We didn’t take a sheep on that hunt, (my eighth attempt but who’s counting) I’m pretty sure that wasn’t Bill’s intent. What I did take, was as many of Bill’s words of wisdom as I was capable of assimilating and headed back into the sheep mountains the next time, armed with a new respect for these wondrous wild sheep and the magnificent mountain haunts they live upon.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was wrong when he wrote, “Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself.” Since that hunt with Bill, I’ve been fortunate to climb most of the sheep and goat mountains of the world, but with all due respect to Sir Arthur, I know I will never, ever BE the sheep hunter Bill Pastorek is, it’s impossible. To be that, one has to walk the sheep hunter’s walk, climb the climb, live the life, day after day, season after season, for a lifetime. One would have to dedicate his heart and mind to sheep Conservation as Bill has, and would have to give and give and continue to give to the wild sheep of North America.
And now Bill has given the sheep hunting world this book.
As I page through, I am again filled with wonder, but this time not wonder at how the best of the best, the whispered about legends of the BC hunting world, the sheep hunters, ever managed to hunt the rugged peaks poking skyward in the impossible distance, because the legends aren’t whispered about any longer! They have come alive on these pages! Their stories told by the only one qualified to tell their tales of challenge and endeavour… one of their own.
A man who knows what it really means to BE a sheep hunter!
Jim Shockey
By Gray Thornton
President and CEO of the Wild Sheep Foundation
There is no doubt wild sheep are special. Ask a hundred sheep hunters why they are so and why they pursue them with feverish passion, and you’ll likely get a hundred different answers. Yet, you will also see patterns and themes. You’ll hear responses such as the mountains they call home, the beauty of those mountains, the challenge and the physical demands of sheep hunting, the mental demands, the rarity, their stunning horns which as Jack O’Connor notes “they write their autobiography,” and similar. Speak with a hundred sheep hunters and another fact will be clear – sheep hunters and sheep conservationists are special too.
Bill Pastorek’s superb Dream Rams of British Columbia and this fine tome Dream Rams of the North covers the rams, as well as those who have hunted and taken them. Bill dedicates his latest work on these spectacular rams to the many volunteers and their organizations who have dedicated their time, talent, and treasure to ensure that wild sheep are, and remain, on the lofty mountains they call home. In this Foreword, I too want to salute these heroes of the heights and through their noble efforts, the wild sheep that inhabit them.
Jack O’Connor’s often noted 1960 truism of “There is no half way. After his first exposure, a man is either a sheep hunter or he isn’t. He either falls under the spell of sheep hunting and sheep country or he won’t be caught dead on another sheep mountain” might give us a hint of why sheep hunters are special and why they are so dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of wild sheep throughout their range.
Years ago, a very accomplished sheep hunter and friend shared with me his thoughts on why sheep hunters are a different lot. He surmised that sheep hunters are likely successful in most all they do. They are successful in their work, their business, and often their life. Of course, their myopic obsession and affliction, often called sheep fever, might be the reason for financial and other domestic challenges. And, while linking success in business and the ability to afford sheep hunting given the current prices is obvious, my friend opined that the likely link was that to be a successful sheep hunter, one must possess insatiable drive and ambition. It takes dedication, hard work, effort, and sacrifice. It takes preparation. It takes overcoming failure, sometimes again and again, before realizing success. The exact same traits as being a success in one’s work…and life. Be that of a mechanic, contractor, or plumber, a sales professional, or an executive in, or CEO of, a multi-million/billion-dollar corporation. As O’Connor rightfully stated, “there is no half way,” and as my friend and author Robert Anderson likes to say “there are no easy rams.”
As an American, and as a conservationist, Teddy Roosevelt is a hero of mine. He is one if I could go back in time, I’d wish to share a campfire with.
My all-time favorite Roosevelt quote was from his 1910 Citizenship in a Republic speech at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
I often quote President Roosevelt’s poignant words also cited as the “Man in the Arena” speech when speaking of the work of the Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), our chapters and affiliates, and the many men and women who dedicate themselves to WSF’s Purpose of Putting and Keeping Wild Sheep on the Mountain®. The exact people Bill Pastorek has dedicated this anxiously anticipated book.
Unlike North America’s mule and whitetail deer, elk, pronghorn, turkey, bear, ducks, geese, and other big game and bird species, wild sheep did not reach their population lows in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Consequently, they did not enjoy the mid 20th century comeback after visionaries coined the term conservation and created what would later be envisioned as the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.
In 1964 the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn was established in Las Vegas, Nevada. Other organizations followed, and in 1977 the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (FNAWS), now WSF, was formed in Wisconsin and later incorporated in Iowa. These organizations started raising funds and directing them to agencies to raise the profile of wild sheep. In 1980 another form of fundraising was created when Wyoming Governor Edgar Herschler started something special that would become the funding model for recovering wild sheep in Canada and the USA when he directed a bighorn sheep tag to be auctioned by FNAWS. Since then, the Wild Sheep Foundation alone has raised and directed more than $100 Million USD to programs benefiting wild sheep in North America and around the arc of wild sheep by special permit sales, direct donations, raffles, and our annual conventions.
Specifically in the north, WSF has directed to date $2.9 Million to Alaska, $5.7 million to Alberta, $7.1 million to British Columbia, $214,000 to the Northwest Territories and $2.4 million to the Yukon Territory to conserve wild sheep and advocate for them. Additionally, Wild Sheep Foundation Alberta, Wild Sheep Society of British Columbia, and Yukon Wild Sheep Foundation have raised and directed additional millions to the wild sheep resource we cherish. Conservation investment in wild sheep also comes from our guide/outfitter and First Nation partners, creating what Shane Mahoney, the world’s foremost spokesman and expert of the NA Model, calls a “conservation necklace” of NGO, private, indigenous, and agency partners who collaborate to conserve our iconic sheep species.
Bighorn sheep numbers have increased three-fold to more than 85,000 today from their 1970s lows. But, there is much more to do. Recent heavy spring snows, hard freezes, predation, fire suppression and consequent conifer encroachment, as well as improved access through energy and resource extraction, is exacting a toll on Dall’s and Stone’s numbers. The men and women in the arena, and the organizations they support, will be required once again to “…spend himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Additional men and women, and the resources they possess, are needed to come to the aid with their time, talent, and treasure for all wild sheep. Our work is not completed.
If you enjoy Dream Rams of the North, and I am confident you will, join us. Become that man or woman in the arena. We need you, wild sheep need you, and through these efforts, your efforts, we can all look to enjoy reading Dream Rams of the North II in a decade.
Yours in conservation,
Gray N. Thornton