WORK PROJECT 2005



(For a larger view of the photos, click on the image)

DATE: May 7^th, 2005

LOCATION: Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area 

This magnificent island in the sky about 60 miles north of Big Bend is home to a very important herd of desert bighorn sheep. It has become the primary source of transplant stock, as well as home to the annual Texas Grand Slam hunt for the last nine years, and as if that wasn’t reference enough, it has also produced the last two state record rams in just the last 12 months (including Mr. Terry Fricks 183 5/8 ram in March)! Throw in another 180+ class ram that died of natural causes the year before and it’s easy to see how important this area is! When Mr. C. G. Johnson donated this 23,147 acre ranch to Texas Parks and Wildlife in 1985 he recognized its potential for raising bighorns. So much so in fact, that he specified that as its highest purpose in his donation. His foresight could not have been clearer or more on target.

    Volunteers started showing up on Friday making preparations for construction of a conventional guzzler on the north end of the mountain to supplement an old slick rock guzzler that had silted up due to the last year’s exceptionally heavy rainfall. Dan Boone and Art Knowles organized and pulled everything together, Lynton Holloway of Holloway Company Inc. did the preassembly, the generous folks at Norton Metals and Summit Metals supplied the steel, Jerrell and Pam Coburn dished up the groceries, Don and Jo Jury hauled all the supplies and materials down to the site, and hard working volunteers made short work of putting it all together on Saturday. This part of the story has become familiar, but the rest of the circumstances surrounding this work project were extraordinary…..

     The nature of this project allowed us to drive to the site instead of having to ferry people and supplies by helicopter as is usually required, and everyone gathered at daybreak to caravan up the mountain in the Texas dawn. Maybe just due to good fortune, maybe just as a reflection of the wonderful wildlife habitat this place is, and just maybe as a payback from Mother nature for what we were about to do, we were blessed with inspiration such as no one could have ever imagined.
 

A stunning assortment of wildflowers adorned our path, jack rabbits and cottontails scampered from the road, mule deer appeared almost mystically from the brush backlit by the morning sun burning through the fog drifting lazily across the bluffs, and then as we topped out on the mesa, the coup de’gras…. a band of twenty or so rams looking at these intruders into their mountain kingdom. Needless to say we were all inspired to give this particular project our all!

     Texas Parks and Wildlife technicians Lynn Shackleford and Xavier Rodriguez had prepared the site by scraping off a pad for the storage tanks and smoothing a few of the bumps out of a rough old road, and everyone was quick to start unloading supplies and putting the pieces together. The apron was assembled and anchored, tanks leveled and put into place, and the new freeze proof style of drinkers were set and lines run to supply the water. In just a few hours a reliable new source of year around water had taken shape on this Chihuahuan desert mountain.

     As people started packing up and heading down the mountain, more of the local wildlife put in an appearance, as if they had been supervising the days work from a safe distance all along. Most years someone gets the opportunity to see the occasional bighorn from afar, but never in anyone’s memory had everyone had the good fortune to see so many, and so close up! We really appreciate all the help from everyone, especially Mike Pittman and all the other fine folks at TP&W, and promise to try and give more notice next year so that more of you can get involved when we once again take to the mountains to showcase the hard work and dedication that TBS is famous for as we support a program that has returned nearly 800 bighorns to the mountains of Texas.

David Wetzel

President, Texas Bighorn Society