June 2025

Bighorn Institute
Jun 30
3 min read

Lambing Season Still Going

Lambing season for Peninsular bighorn sheep typically extends from January through June; however, last year we had a unique double-lambing season in the northern Santa Rosa Mountains herd in which some ewes gave birth twice in the same calendar year. As a result, this year, a few ewes are now having late lambs or getting ready to give birth after having a fall lamb last year. This is very interesting because as the fourth time we’ve documented double-lambing in our 43 years, typically, ewes would forego giving birth the year after a double-lambing year. This year, that’s not the case and several of them are now giving birth. An incredibly interesting case is a collared ewe had two lambs in 2024, one in January and one in August. She lost her first lamb, but successfully reared the second lamb. She was bred again when this lamb was just 2 months old and had a 2025 lamb in April. Incredible. Having newborn lambs in June is certainly a treat to see, but most of the 2025 lambs are now around 5 months old and faring pretty well throughout our 3 study areas. That said, summer is starting so if they can make it through, they should be good.

Trail Cameras

We’ve had trail cameras deployed throughout the year and have seen some interesting things. Some things made us cringe, such as a person drinking from one of the water sources. Other things were fantastic such as a non-functional collared ram crossing ranges and showing up on camera. This information can be incredibly helpful to let us know that the animal is alive and that it’s using the area, particularly when we haven’t seen them while tracking the other sheep. One thing we have yet to see on our cameras is a mountain lion. While it would be exciting to see, it would confirm they’re in our range…where we hike… so fingers crossed, we’ll keep our no-sighting record going. You’ll be the first to know if we break that record so stay tuned.

*a fun collage of trail camera pictures

Vegetation Clean-up

At the end of June, we cleared out overgrown vegetation below Bradley Spring, an important water source for the sheep. Each year, we have to go in with hand tools to clear out overgrown vegetation that can present an ambush opportunity for predators. This year, the fountain grass was getting out of control so we got a pick axe with one of our Amazon Wish List gift cards (thank you donors!) and dug out tons of plants. It was a lot of work, but it sure felt good to make it a safer place for the sheep to drink.

*Before and after the clean-up

Waterhole Count

On June 25th and 26th the Institute, along with our team of amazing volunteers, successfully conducted our annual waterhole count in the northern Santa Rosa Mountains near Rancho Mirage. The weather was “cooler” with highs reaching 100°. As such, the sheep aren’t drinking every day, but every other day it appeared since the first day hardly any sheep came in to drink, but the second day, many came. Peninsular bighorn can go up to three days in over 100° temperatures without drinking water, which is why we do the count in the heat of summer over multiple days. We are currently working through the data and will let you know the results next month!

Wine Down Wednesday Fundraiser a Success

The Institute was the charity of choice for the Wine Down Wednesday fundraiser on June 11th at Fisherman’s Grotto, and it was a great success! The place was packed, the food and drinks were delicious and all enjoyed a rousing raffle with fun prizes. Special thanks to Meg and Todd Marker and Marker Broadcasting for including the Institute in this event and supporting the sheep. We got caught up enjoying our time with the guests so no photos. Thanks so much to all who came out!

Reminder – Annual Party and Golf Classic

Our Annual Party and Golf Classic fundraiser will take place Sunday and Monday, November 16th and 17th at the beautiful Stone Eagle Golf Club! The Annual Party takes place Sunday evening and the Golf Classic is on Monday. All proceeds benefit the endangered Peninsular bighorn.