National Bighorn Sheep Center
A small, serious center turns Dubois’s relationship with the Whiskey Mountain herd into an unusually focused lesson in wild-sheep conservation.
Artwork inspired by Carl Rungius
The National Bighorn Sheep Center grew from a community effort to interpret the Whiskey Mountain herd and opened in 1993. Its renovated museum now organizes bighorn biology, ecology, management, and conservation into a coherent story. The North American Slam compares the continent’s four wild-sheep species, while the Sheep Mountain diorama places rams, ewes, lambs, predators, plants, and seasonal change in one ecological scene.
Look beyond impressive horns. The rare albino mount known as Snowflake, the Horsecreek grizzly display, and the worldwide Carlsburg Super Slam all raise useful questions about adaptation, human choices, and how museum specimens acquire meaning. Take the Center’s map toward Whiskey Basin—or book a Torrey Valley Adventure Tour—but treat any wild sighting as a privilege: Stay distant, use binoculars, and never pressure sheep or stop unsafely.
- Focus
- Wild-sheep conservation
- Opened
- July 3, 1993
- Allow
- 60–90 minutes
Quick guide
- Begin
- Compare all four North American wild-sheep species.
- Do not miss
- Ask how disease, habitat, and migration shape management.
Read the collection at National Bighorn Sheep Center
- Start with anatomy
- Use horn growth, hooves, and seasonal condition to understand how bighorns live on steep terrain.
- Compare wild sheep
- Set the four North American species beside one another before focusing on Whiskey Mountain.
- Follow the herd
- Trace migration, winter range, disease, predators, and management through the Sheep Mountain scene.
- Carry it outdoors
- Use the habitat map with binoculars and distance; a mapped range never guarantees a sighting.
Good to know
The Torrey Valley Adventure is a K–12 school-group program, not a public independent-traveler tour. Conditions and herd location vary, so the habitat map never guarantees sightings. Confirm visitor logistics directly at 307-455-3429 if the website appears compromised or unrelated.
Notice these
- Whiskey Mountain herd
- Renovated conservation exhibits
- Four North American wild-sheep species