Yeti GOBOX Collection

Selfless - A Wild Sheep Conservation Story (full film link now here)

Big Fin

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Planning for this project started in July 2017. Two years later and five trips to Nevada, it is finally ready to go.

This is a story about average people doing extraordinary work on behalf of wild things, in this case, wild sheep. They give selflessly of their time and talent, not knowing who might benefit from their work. To them, it matters not what people benefit, for they know the wild sheep and other wildlife will benefit.

The older guys in this film are some of the first generation to start putting water on the landscape with man-made guzzlers. They didn't have a blueprint to follow, rather used hard work, trial and error, and determination to figure it out. As a result, Nevada went from less than 3,000 desert bighorns in 1989 to over 12,000 in 2019. A remarkable accomplishment in just thirty years.


The film is over twenty minutes long and will premiere on Saturday at the Total Archery Challenge in Big Sky, MT. On Monday it will be live on our YouTube and Amazon channels. We showed an abbreviated draft last winter at the Sheep Show in Reno. This is an expanded version that goes into more history and expands on some of the neat characters involved.

Thanks to these volunteers who let us impose on them and their work. Few of the people we interviewed have ever drawn a sheep tag. Most have said it doesn't really matter. They continue to do this work as part of their passion for conservation. These are remarkable volunteers who have found a way to help wildlife with their time and talent. This same story exists in so many places for so many different species, where similar-minded volunteers do what they can, with what they have, to make a better place for the wild things they love.

Also, a big thanks to Wild Sheep Foundation, Mystery Ranch, and the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn. Without all of them, the story would not have been told.
 
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Good stuff, Big Fin. Eddie Pribyl was awarded the WAFWA 2019 Outstanding Citizen Wildlife Award yesterday at the WAFWA summer meeting in Kansas.

The metrics on this one will show just how unsexy wild sheep conservation is, and why the efforts of all those folks in NV are amazing. ;)
 
Unshaved guys in Carharts and those famous Schnees packs?? Having to chain up after you're stuck? Copenhagen snoose allover the white snow? Cold fingers dropping washers and lock nuts in the same white FLUFFY snow?
Not sexy???????
And oh yeah -the guy who takes fecal samples - unsexy? COME ON!
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Great video, I enjoyed how the conservation aspect was portrayed much more then the actual hunt. Good job on the film and explaining the story of sheep conservation. Amazon takes forever to load your episodes and then releases your video before your anticipated release date.
 
I really liked this video - particularly how it focused on a group of common folks coming together and doing amazing things for conservation.
 
I'm tempted to watch now on Amazon but am gonna wait to see it this weekend in Big Sky. What other hunt talkers will be there? Wouldn't mind putting some faces to some (screen)names.
 
Great doc. Randy! One question that might of been spoken of or written about here and maybe I just missed mention of it.

Is there a distance of avoidance that hunters must utilize around these guzzlers. Do hunters give space for the wildlife there?
 
Great doc. Randy! One question that might of been spoken of or written about here and maybe I just missed mention of it.

Is there a distance of avoidance that hunters must utilize around these guzzlers. Do hunters give space for the wildlife there?

To my knowledge, there is no restrictions. The good part is that sheep hunts occur in late November and early December, one of the wettest periods in Nevada, allow the sheep to disperse across the landscape. These guzzlers are critical from March-September, when the heat is at its apex and the landscape is parched prior to the monsoon season of late summer.
 
Great documentary! Thanks for sharing. Helps give me motivation to keep volunteering.
 
Great doc! Thanks to everybody for coming together and making a huge difference in wildlife conservation.
 
Awesome film! You and the crew always do a great job. Having someone use their platform to portray hunters in a positive light is desperately needed these days. The platform change has truly taken things to another level by enabling you to fully tell the whole story to your audience.
 
Hoping for a wide distribution and viewing numbers for you and your crew. Stellar work once again to show how folks can make a difference for nature.

Thanks to all involved.
 
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