Bighorn Sheep Day gives residents glimpse of elusive animals
- Details
- Created on Saturday, 12 February 2011 22:06
- Written by Nathan
By TOM ROEDER, THE GAZETTE
Dozens of people headed to Garden of the Gods on Saturday to hunt for the city’s most elusive resident.
Some people, experts say, can spend their entire lives in Colorado Springs without spotting one of the bighorn sheep that cling to the rocky slopes on the west side of the city.
Bighorn Sheep Day at the park, conducted with the help of the state Division of Wildlife, attacks that problem with telescopes and expertise.
“You can’t just go out and see one anytime you want to, you have to look a lot,” explained volunteer Dave Durkee. “You have to sweep the whole area.”
The bighorns on Saturday were unusually cooperative. A few rams congregated on a steep hillside a quarter-mile north of the park visitor’s center.
But with tan hides and a talent for hiding, they still weren’t easy to spot.
The Division of Wildlife’s John Koshak has a system, though. Rather than looking for the huge horns, he searches for the southern ends of the sheep.
“They have white butts,” Koshak explained.
The city’s abundance of bighorn is something of a happy accident. In 1946, a truck carrying 14 sheep was headed to deposit them on Pikes Peak when it broke down.
The herd was released near Green Mountain Falls and made its way to Queen’s Canyon, north of Garden of the Gods, where its numbers have grown over the decades.
Koshak said as many as 80 of the sheep live within the city.
And those 80 bring joy to those who know how to spot them.
“We love them, they’re just so beautiful,” said Carol Savio, of Manitou Springs, who has learned over the years to spot the sheep. “They’re so majestic.”
That majesty led the General Assembly to designate the species the state’s official mammal in 1961.
Amy Pattin, of Fountain, brought her 8-year-old son Francis to the park Saturday to spot his first bighorn.
They’ve been in Colorado for three years.
“We’ve never seen one in the wild,” Amy Pattin said.
Looking through a long telescope, Francis was the first in his family to get a glimpse.
“They’re cool,” he said. “They have huge horns.”
—
Call the writer at 636-0240.
Weather
Current Contests
