The Wildlife Management Area

The views are fabulous, these mountains and the desert out here. There's just nothing else like it in the state. To just be able to get out and not have to worry with traffic or phone calls or any other of your life's problems, to get out in the desert here on one of these mountain peaks, it's just, wow, pretty neat. My name is Scott Lerich.  I'm a Wildlife Biologis there at Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area. I'm very lucky to be able to not only work here but also live here. And it's literally the chance of a lifetime for a wildlife biologist. We're out in the Big Bend country, the Trans-Pecos, 26 miles south of Alpine, about 400 miles west of Austin. I do just about anything that needs to be done, but also I'm responsible for conducting the baseline inventories on the property, which entails monitoring all the animal and plant life and I prefer to work out here in this Chihuahuan desert country. I never have a traffic jam to worry about. I actually sit on my front porch with my spotting scope and watch bighorns on the mountain. In the evenings it's just wonderful. This is great. This state's full of some amazing places but this is my favorite spot, the mountains of the Trans-Pecos. And in Texas that's the only spot you'll find Bighorn Sheep in their natural environment. 

Always amazing how magnificent these animals are. They make leaps and jumps that no other animals can do. They'll stand up there on the rocks. It's just. . .  an amazing site. I wish everybody could see them. One of the different things we do in this part of the state is trap and transport desert bighorn into new habitats. The original herd of bighorns was brought here in 1987. We had 20 that were released here. And in the last few years those number have reached over 100 animals. We're gonna get ready to transplant off Elephant Mountain to Black Gap Wildlife Management Area about 45 sheep. To be able to see one of these animals in their native habitat is a tremendous feeling. And to know they're out there on the landscape again where they roamed 100 years ago. The desert bighorn are our most visible, publicized spec is of wildlife here. They are looked after in detail. Because of the help of organizations like the Texas Bighorn Society, private landowners, many, many biologists that came before me, the State of Nevada, We have more desert bighorn in Texas today than we did 100 years ago. It's been an incredible success story. The helicopter lands at the headquarters with their load of sheep and when the dust clears a little bit, volunteers equipped with goggles for eye protection rush up and unload the sheep from the helicopter. 

Few people get a chance to run up to a helicopter that's running and that's exciting enough. And you grab this animal that's restrained, you literally have the life of that animal in your hands. It's just a tremendous experience. The animals are typically breathing fairly easily and calmly but you can still feel that animal's life in your arms. The breathing of that animal, it's physically making contact with your arms and it's just a tremendous feeling, unlike anything you can imagine. The animals are brought to the processing stations, examined by biologists and a veterinarian, and as they are being processed temperatures are being taken the entire time. If it goes too high, it's a sign of stress. We're going to place radio transmitting collars on all the animals. They'll be joining other sheep. They seem to be very calm when they're in the trailer like that. We're real lucky in this fact that Black Gap is only a short distance away from Elephant Mountain. As the crow flies, it's a very short distance. However the main route to drive there is about 120 miles. But the entire drive will take less than 2. 5 hours so the sheep are not in the trailer very long. When we get to Black Gap, we're gonna go to the predetermined location where they'll be released and we're going to turn the trailers around and open the gates. There they go! That's outstanding to see these sheep in a new range get them reestablished down here again. This is fabulous.  It's-- this is the one of the greatest things about wildlife management and it's a good feeling for wildlife biologist to be involved in something like this. This is outstanding. Hopefully even if you never get a chance to see them you will have an appreciation for the fact that they are actually here again. We're doing the best we can manage the habitat and wildlife species here at Elephant Mountain and because of that we see animals like the desert bighorn thriving here. I'm very lucky to be able to live and work on this property. It's a wonderful place and it's literally a chance of a lifetime for a wildlife biologist.