The Convention will kick off Friday morning with a variety of hands-on workshops including 2 sessions each for Introduction to Sheep Hunting, Skinning and Caping Techniques, Trophy Scoring, and Introduction to Elk Calling, and a Tk’emlups Indian Band (formerly Kamloops Indian Band) sheep habitat tour. On Friday afternoon, Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations wildlife biologists will provide regional updates on the status of wild bighorn and thinhorn sheep populations in BC. This will be followed by our 3^rd Annual Gear Swap, and the ever-popular "Friday Night Fun Night" complete with gear raffles, a sheep horn aging contest, and the "Is That Your Final Antler?" wildlife ID contest.
 

Saturday will provide additional presentations from sheep biologists and experts, in conjunction with our Annual General Meeting and elections.  The WSSBC's large banquet and fundraiser will be held Saturday night in the Ballroom and is shaping up to be a spectacular event including many gear raffles (wall tent, spotting scope, boat etc), special raffles, silent auction and live auction. Funds raised during the evening event will be used to finance efforts to conserve and enhance wild sheep populations in BC, including radio-collaring and monitoring herds, conducting transplants to new ranges, conducting prescribed burns to improve forage, and working on the separation of domestic and wild sheep to reduce disease transfer to wild populations.  Members are invited to submit their official score sheets for a chance to win a coveted sheep belt buckle in the popular Trophy Ram Contest, and the Lex Ross Award will be presented to an individual(s) in recognition of their contribution towards the conservation of wild sheep in BC. 

The WSSBC is a chapter affiliate of the Wild Sheep Foundation (www.wildsheepfoundation.org), and this year we are honoured to host the WSF’s annual Board of Directors meeting in conjunction with our Convention. Please welcome the Directors who will be in attendance at our Convention, and Gray Thornton, President and CEO, who will give the keynote address at our fundraiser banquet.  

Also this year, the WSSBC is proud to co-host the 18^th Biennial Symposium of the Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council (NWSGC) which will be held immediately preceding our Convention on March 12 – 15 (www.wildsheepsociety.net/node/4383). This 3-day symposium (including a one-day fieldtrip on March 14) is a gathering of wild sheep and goat biologists, managers and researchers from throughout North America, and will include technical presentations, panel discussions, and poster sessions related to the research and management of wild sheep and mountain goats. Please note: The NWSGC has graciously waived their registration fee for WSSBC members to attend all or a part of this very informative symposium. You will find a section on your WSSBC Convention Registration Form this year about the NWSGC symposium; please check this section if you plan to attend all or a part of this symposium so that we can keep track of the number of attendees, and provide adequate food and meeting space.   For more information the NWSGC Symposium, please contact WSSBC Director Mari Wood at 250-565-4191 or Mari.wildsheepsociety@telus.net.

Registration for our 2012 WSSBC Convention is now up and running – please fill out and submit the attached form. Remember to register early, since this event has been sold out the past 4 years.    For more information on the WSSBC Convention, please contact Lani Dickson at 604-534-5711 or lanimike@telus.net. 

Mari D. Wood

Wild Sheep Society of BC