Trans-Pecos Progress

That reliability has continued, according to Jose Etchart, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) desert bighorn sheep program leader. “We put those up in the spring of 2024, and since we started monitoring them, we have not lost any water,” Etchart said.

Even when one drinker temporarily went dry, the design worked as intended, and water remained available at the paired drinker. Recent rains have also helped refill the tanks and troughs. The importance of that consistency becomes clearer in how the sheep use the guzzlers. These animals do not rely on daily access to water and can go extended periods without drinking.

“They do utilize these guzzlers, but they are also sheep and can go for weeks without them,” Etchart said. “They’ll use them when they need them, especially when conditions get tough.”

When natural water is available through rainfall or springs, sheep disperse across the mountain; when conditions tighten, they return to reliable sources. That pattern shows up in seasonal use, with visitation increasing in late summer as natural moisture declines, dropping during winter, and rising again in early spring.

“Here in March and April, it picked back up,” Etchart said, linking the increase to lambing season. He noted that use of the guzzlers tends to follow environmental stress, increasing as the landscape dries out and forage quality declines.

The connection between water and reproduction is where the value of the guzzlers becomes most apparent, as lactating ewes require more water and access during that period, which can influence both their condition and the survival of their lambs. That access becomes especially important as lambing stretches later into the spring, when natural water sources can be inconsistent.

Lambing in the Franklin Mountains has not followed a rigid timeline, and that variability has become one of the most interesting aspects of the project. After the December 2024 translocation, the first lambs appeared early, in January and February.

“We had our first lambs in late January and February,” Etchart said, noting that timing reflected conditions and breeding cycles from the source populations at Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area, several hours to the east.  As the herd has settled into the Franklins, that pattern has shifted.

“This year, they were later compared to the first year,” he said.  “I think that has something to do with them adapting to the mountain and when breeding is taking place.”

What has emerged is a broader lambing window, now centering more into April and extending into May, with significant variability even within that period.

“Lambs are still hitting the ground, and we are seeing animals of all sizes, from older lambs to ones just a couple of days old,” Etchart said.

That spread, from early-born lambs already growing to newborns still arriving, creates a challenge for accurately assessing the population. Conduct surveys too early, and part of the lamb crop is missed.

“We have not done our lamb assessments because we do not want to miss any,” Etchart said. “We are going to wait until late May and then evaluate what our lambing looks like.” He added that variability in lambing is not unusual for desert bighorn sheep, but the degree of spread can change significantly from year to year depending on conditions.

Trail cam photos taken in April 2026 of desert bighorns using the guzzlers in the Franklin Mountains. Images courtesy Texas Bighorn Society.

Fall survey data across Texas reflects those same patterns and shows why that adjustment matters. In 2025, biologists counted about 730 desert bighorn sheep statewide, a rebound from post-disease lows near 500 animals, though still below the 2014 peak of 1,236. Recruitment is driving that recovery, with a statewide lamb crop averaging about 35 percent, while the Franklin Mountains herd posted a 37 percent lamb crop. That variability reflects how differently herds respond to local conditions across the Trans-Pecos, even within the same year

In the Franklin Mountains, those broader trends are playing out in real time, with lambing spread across a wider window and surveys adjusted to match. To better understand how sheep of all ages are using the guzzlers, partners have added another layer of monitoring. Through a partnership between the Texas Bighorn Society and WSF, high-tech game cameras have been installed at the sites, capturing images, identifying species, and logging when and how often the water sources are used.

“It is a pretty cool system that we have going,” Etchart said, noting the cameras help document sheep use of the water sources and the presence of lambs. The cameras can already identify other wildlife species that visit the guzzlers, including mule deer, birds, and predators, providing a broader picture of how animals are using the landscape.

The system is still evolving.

“They do not have a bighorn sheep category yet,” Etchart said, adding that teams are working to improve how the technology identifies desert bighorn sheep using images collected in the field. Even so, the cameras are already providing a clearer picture of how sheep use the guzzlers, information that feeds directly into management decisions, including survey timing and assessments of reproductive success.