COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — In February of 2022, intense video and pictures of a bighorn sheep capture west of Colorado Springs was shared by Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW). The operation seems simple on the surface, a large net sitting above bait made up of apple pulp and alfalfa that drops, volunteers and CPW employees rushing to pounce on the wild animals. However, the amount of work and planning that goes behind the operation takes months to years for a goal to conserve the species and help our state's mammal thrive.
News5 had the chance to tag along with CPW Terrestrial Biologist Ty Woodward to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Rampart herd west of Colorado Springs and some of the work that goes behind conservation efforts. We are about a month out from another capture operation with the goal of creating a new herd. CPW says that in the late 1800s, market hunting and disease decimated bighorn sheep in the Centennial State. In 1885, it is estimated there were only a few hundred bighorns roaming Colorado, and the species needed help.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THE HISTORY OF THE RAMPART HERD AND HOW IT WAS ACCIDENTALLY CREATED.
"Those operations we use to supplement existing herds of bighorn sheep around the state, but then also we use it for the establishment of new herds of bighorn sheep around the state," CPW Terrestrial Biologist Ty Woodward explained while the Rampart herd ate behind him. "So really important practice that we do in Colorado, very important for the conservation of big horn sheep on a statewide basis, but also across North America."
Woodward is one of the people at the forefront of conserving bighorn sheep.
MEET TY WOODWARD
Woodward grew up in Lamar on the southeast side of Colorado.
"From an early age, we spent all of our summers in the outdoors, and I had a grandmother that was really good about making sure that my cousins and I all spent as much time as possible running around, fishing and chasing lizards and catching snakes," Woodward said.
Woodward is a graduate of Colorado College and received his master's at CSU-Pueblo. At one point, Woodward thought he would be a history major, but he pursued his bachelor's degree in wildlife biology while working in a temp position with Colorado Parks and Wildlife each summer.
"I did that for... let's just say a very long time," Woodward joked about his summer work with CPW.
He eventually was hired on as a partner biologist for his first full-time job and did forest habitat work out of the Woodland Park office, handling areas from Leadville down to New Mexico. He was working toward working with wildlife and got his chance to do that four years ago.
THE RAMPART HERD
The rampart herd of bighorn sheep live on the west side of Colorado Springs in an old quarry, and the bighorns often spotted posing majestically in Garden of the Gods are part of that herd. The herd itself was a mistake, click here to read more on the history of how the herd was accidentally created. Today, there are about 130 bighorns that are part of the Rampart herd, CPW explains it is one of the healthiest and most prolific herds in the state.
One of the oldest members of the herd has been tracked via a blue GPS collar for years, it is believed she is about 16 or 17 years old. Another with an orange ear tag is part of a collaring project examining movement data for the herd. Woodward explained the bighorn with the orange tag was tracked for her lambing movements in the Queens Canyon area.
"They find these really nasty topographic areas like Little Rock spires, and they'll give birth on top of those rock spires, and then they'll just spend that time with their land for the first few days, just the two of them," Woodward shared from the area of the old quarry where the sheep were eating. "Kind of hanging out in this really remote, rugged area before they move back into spots, like the top of the scar here, and then they form little nursery groups. And so you'll have groups of ewes that have given birth to lambs, and they'll all spend their time together until those lambs wean again."
Woodward spoke almost with a sense of pride as he described the Rampart herd.
"They are a highly productive herd, and so we do see a really high lamb-to-ewe ratio whenever we come in and do our classifications," Woodward added.
APPLE PULP AND ALFALFA: CONSERVATION WORK
Every couple of years CPW works to capture a few members of the Rampart herd to either supplement an existing herd elsewhere in the state or form a new one. Disease is still a concern for these mammals, and as Woodward explained they are critical to the overall ecosystem of Colorado.
The actual capture happens when CPW baits the bighorn with alfalfa and apple pulp, and then places a big net above the bait. The net drops, and about 60 people made up of volunteers and CPW employees work to wrangle a few of the sheep for relocation. However, the process of baiting takes months.
While many people are likely enjoying a cup of coffee getting set for the workday, Woodward and others travel to the bait site a few times each week to lay down alfalfa and spread an apple mash on top. They are building habits with the sheep.
"We actually get this from Talbot Cidery, over on the western slope," Woodward said as we collected the apple pulp and alfalfa to take to the bait site.
We headed up a sketchy dirt road, highlighting the partnerships CPW has with community members.
"Those partnerships are what allows us to be able to do this work, especially here at Rampart," Woodward said. "We work with the folks at the Flying W Ranch to gain access to this bait site, which is hugely important. These sheep are actually kind of finicky... Establishing a new bait site is pretty complicated. This bait site here we've used for decades, and that's only been done through the partnership with private landowners like the Flying W Ranch, which have allowed us to come up here and do this."
When we arrived at the site on Tuesday, about 40 bighorns were waiting for their special breakfast. After a few horn honks from one of the trucks we took to get to the bait site, more came running down the hill to eat.
Rain, snowstorm or shine, Woodward said this process is crucial leading up to the capture day. With a smell similar to fresh apple sauce in the air and the bighorn were chewing, Woodward and others were researching.
The habit-building is leading up to a capture day, scheduled some time for next month.
CPW plans to create a new herd in the Hardscrabble area west of Pueblo where a fire burned up much of the vegetation in the area 10 years ago.
CLASSIFICATION
"We'll try our best to discern each individual lamb for their age class grouping, and then also for sex," Woodward stated while motioning back to some of the bighorns. "We'll classify the curl length as well."
Woodward pointed to the circular, annular nature of growth from the base of a bighorn's skull to the tip of the horn.
"So you draw an imaginary line from the eye through the ear hole, and then imagine that line extending out the back of the head," Woodward said as he was visually measuring each ram. "If a ram's horns reach that imaginary line in the back, he's a half-curl ram. If he hasn't reached that yet, then we classify them as a quarter-curl ram. Quarter curls are typically your one-year-olds and two-year-olds, once the horn extends past that half-curl line... our next classification is going to be 5/8 curl ram. So that's halfway between one-half and three-quarters. And then we draw a second imaginary line that goes straight down or perpendicular from the ear hole, down to down from that original line perpendicular from the ear hole. If a ram's horns reach that line, then it's technically a three-quarter curl ram, and then between three-quarter curl our next classification is going to be a 7/8 curl-ram, and then a full curl ram will be once that horn is actually extended back up and has crossed that first imaginary line that we drew that's perpendicular from the one who is full circle right now."
Discerning the difference between a ewe and a young ram can be challenging according to Woodward, he uses characteristics other than just the horns. Pointing to a yearling ram, Woodward noted the nose length is shorter that an ewe, and they are generally going to "look younger" in the face.
"I know that's not a very scientific way of saying it," Woodward said with a smile. "But if you spend enough time with them, then you start to understand what I mean. And so those young rams, we look for the short noses, we look for the wide bases, because, as you can see, he's standing next to a ewe, and while she doesn't have big horns, for a ewe, there are some ewes out here that have larger horns."
WOODWARD'S PRIDE IN COLORADO'S STATE MAMMAL
"Having bighorn sheep one, it's iconic because they're just regal creatures," Woodward said as we drove back to the CPW office in Colorado Springs. "They're also kind of emblematic of the state of Colorado and the rugged nature of this country. If you look at where they live and the unique adaptations that they have to that they're tightly, tightly tied to the land itself, in a part of the ecosystem, and so maintaining robust herds on the landscape is important from an ecological perspective. It's also important just to continue to have that, that wild nature of the country that we live in"
Click here for more info on a previous capture in 2022 by CPW.
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