Bozeman, Montana. The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF) today unveiled plans for the organization’s online Sheep Week® event that will take place on January 11 – 16, 2021.

“We’ve been talking all summer about a virtual alternative to the 2021 Sheep Show®,” said Gray N. Thornton, president and CEO of the Wild Sheep Foundation. “Being online is nothing new for us but moving exclusively online has taken some time to build what we believe will be a best-in-class experience for our members, attendees, exhibitors, agency and conservation partners, and sponsors. With the help of some experts in the field and a proven platform, we’ve done that.”

The Wild Sheep Foundation has hosted in-person conventions since 1978 as an expression of its commitments to restoring wild sheep populations and allowing its members and partners to participate in these efforts while networking with each other directly. The result has been an annual celebration of wild sheep hunting and conservation. To date, over $135 million have been raised and spent on wild sheep restoration.

“It’s been an annual party, or our annual bake sale for wild sheep, as we like to say,” Thornton explained. “This part will not change. The only difference come next January is, instead of having to come to us, we’ll come to your computer or mobile device. The possibilities of an online event of this magnitude and our ability to promote and drive participation and engagement are very exciting for us, as everyone will soon see.”

Sheep Week®, The Experience will feature all the elements of a Sheep Show® convention, including interactive exhibitor booths where registered attendees can communicate with companies to purchase everything from their next hunting adventure to the latest gear and equipment, to sporting art and taxidermy services. There will be opportunities to learn and interact through seminars, Zoom chats, sportsmen’s lounges, and forums and build points to win an unrivaled amount of gear, hunts, and other prizes.

In keeping with its purpose of Putting and Keeping Wild Sheep on the Mountain® and raising funds for this effort, Sheep Week will also offer amazing raffles and live online auctions, including the chance to be the winning bidder for one of nearly 40 special state, federal, provincial, and tribal agency wild sheep and other big game conservation permits.

Thornton said, “We’re calling it ‘The Experience’ for a reason. We’re excited to offer this new all-stakeholder, all-inclusive, total emersion event, especially the opportunity to engage a significantly larger audience of hunter-conservationists than we could for an in-person show. That’s good for our exhibitors and good for wild sheep. Of course, we’ll also have our biggest party of the year to introduce new people to the sheep hunting experience, our <1Club®, and <1iClub® events. In total, we will be giving away or offering the chance to win more than a dozen sheep or other big game hunts in North America, Europe, the South Pacific, and Central Asia.”

Online registration for Sheep Week® will be live on November 15.

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The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), based in Bozeman, Mont., was founded in 1977 by wild sheep conservationists and enthusiasts. With a membership of more than 8,500 worldwide, WSF is the premier advocate for wild sheep and other mountain wildlife and their habitats. WSF has raised and expended more than $135 million on wild sheep habitat and population enhancements, education, and conservation advocacy programs in North America, Europe, and Asia to “Put and Keep Wild Sheep On the Mountain”®. These and other efforts have increased bighorn sheep populations in North America from historic lows in the 1950-60s of 25,000 to more than 85,000 today. www.wildsheepfoundation.org.