Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep In Sequoia Kings Canyon - Mount Baxter

Mount Baxter herd movement data

S263 - Ewe (kml)

S202 - Ram (kml)

Recent Events

• 7/29/2023 The Baxter herd is one of the few herds that appears to have made it through the record snowfall winter in decent shape. We observed 75 sheep on our summer survey here.
• 3/23/2022 3 males and 4 females were captured in this herd and translocated to the Laurel Creek herd unit, to augment the small population there.
• 10/22/2020 During the fall capture 7 females were collared. Some of the females were captured from a smaller deme where more information was needed.
• 4/3/2019 Starting in late February and into the middle of April, staff conducts three field trips for the public. There is limited space so email asksnbs@wildlife.ca.gov if interested in joining an outing.
• 2/13/2019 A ewe with a known age of 12 was seen on the winter range.
• 1/23/2019 A group of 92 sheep were observed by staff on the low winter Baxter range.
• 8/19/2018 A hiker (citizen scientist) saw and reported to asksnbs@wildlife.ca.gov about 15 sheep north of Golden Trout Lake. Anyone can send in a Sierra bighorn observation to this email address.
• 2/8/2017 S438, a ewe, crossed north over Sawmill Canyon. Ewes do not typically cross the mouth of Sawmill Canyon on the winter range.
• 6/28/2016 We saw a total of 51 Sierra bighorn on our summer survey of the Mt. Baxter herd. Many were located on the Mt. Baxter plateau.

Photo by Steve Yaeger - Ewe group high above the Owens Valley on a cloudy fall day.

The Mount Baxter herd is one of the original native Sierra bighorn herds, and has been used as a source for translocations to many other herds in the Sierra, including Wheeler Ridge (1980), Mt. Langley (1980), Mount Warren (1986), Laurel Creek (2015), and the Cathedral Range (2015). Mount Baxter is one of the largest and most productive herds in the Sierra, with a population of approximately 93 animals in 2021.

Much of the herd tends to be highly visible on low elevation winter range on the front of Black Canyon between December and early April. Because of this most of our best counts of the Mt. Baxter herd take place in winter.