Tommy Caruthers Outstanding Chapter & Affiliate Award

The Wild Sheep Foundation is blessed with a wide, deep, and committed collective of Chapters and Affiliates focused on all things benefiting wild sheep in their respective jurisdictions.

Like manned satellite outposts strategically placed on a map, WSF Chapters and Affiliates have their radar up for the challenges our wild sheep resources face, the causes of these challenges, and what it will take to address them. They are, however, more than just a cannery in a coal mine.

Chapters and Affiliates create a home for their members to gather, share their passions for conservation, hunting, wild sheep, and each other. They provide opportunities to give time, treasure, and accountability for the wild sheep close to home, nationally, and internationally. As the eyes and ears on the ground for wild sheep, they also bring forward areas of greatest need, raising and putting up the necessary funding, as well as applying for WSF Grants-in-aid to get the job done. When there is a question or a need in the business of wild sheep, the answer is simple: reach out to a Chapter or Affiliate for help. This is how wild sheep conservation happens.

To achieve all this, these communities have strong, dedicated, and tireless leadership. An exemplary example of such leadership is Texas oilman and conservationist, Mr. Tommy Caruthers. Born in Denton, Texas in 1932 and the founder of Caruthers Oil Company Tommy epitomized volunteerism and leadership in every organization he was involved.

Hunting was his passion and conservation his avocation. Tommy was a Life Member of The Foundation of North American Wild Sheep with which he was deeply involved in the direction of conventions in various states for decades. In 2009, he again engaged to help rebuild the Sheep Show as it moved back to Reno, Nevada. Tommy was a founding member of the Texas Bighorn Society and served various roles within the Society and sat on the Board of Directors. He was a Life Member of the Dallas Safari Club where he served as director, convention chairman and co-chairman, and was active with conventions for many years. Lastly, he had been an active

Regular member of the Boone and Crockett Club since 1989 and served on various committees. It is only befitting that an annual award recognizing the outstanding service and contributions to the Wild Sheep Foundation and wild sheep conservation carries Tommy’s name.

2026 Tommy Caruthers Outstanding Chapter & Affiliate Award

The Texas Bighorn Society received the award for delivering one of the most significant wild sheep translocation projects in North America: releasing desert bighorns into the Franklin Mountains north of El Paso. This yearslong effort, funded by WSF grant-in-aid, included constructing new water catchments, installing monitoring equipment, public outreach and elimination of all disease risks.

While desert bighorns were native to Texas’s Trans-Pecos Region, which includes the El Paso-area Franklin Mountains, they had died out due to human activities by the 1960s. When desert sheep recovery efforts in the region were just taking off, a M. ovi outbreak, carried by aoudad (Barbary sheep), struck in 2019, and devastated bighorn herds statewide. With the Franklin Mountains translocation, Texas now has a second disease-free source population from which a surplus number of bighorns can be drawn to support future translocations of desert sheep into suitable Trans-Pecos habitats.

Led by the Texas Bighorn Society and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, the Franklin Mountains State Park desert bighorn sheep restoration was supported by several conservation partners. Funding for the transplant was provided by WSF, Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s Outdoor Fund, WSF’s Midwest Chapter, CampFire Club Conservation Fund, WSF’s Eastern Chapter and the Houston Safari Club Foundation. Funding for two water guzzlers came from the Texas Bighorn Society, the Panhandle Chapter of Dallas Safari Club, Idaho WSF, Oregon WSF, Washington WSF and the Water for Wildlife Foundation.

“With this translocation, we felt really proud that Tommy would smile down and approve,” said Texas Bighorn Society Vice President Sam Cunningham.

Click here for more information on the Franklin Mountains translocation project.

Texas Bighorn Society

Texas Bighorn Society accepting 2026 Tommy Caruthers Outstanding Chapter & Affiliate Award winners

WSF Affiliate, the Texas Bighorn Society (TBS), was the first recipient of the new Tommy Caruthers Outstanding Chapter & Affiliate Award. The award was presented by WSF Board Chair, Charlie Kelly (far left), WSF President & CEO, and Gray N. Thornton (far right), pictured with TBS members Sam Cunningham, and Clay Brewer, the most recent president and current president of TBS, respectively.