Conservation Permits: A History of Impacting Wild Sheep Conservation

In 1980, a new strategy to fund wild sheep conservation emerged in Wyoming. The state auctioned off a single bighorn sheep hunting permit, raising $23,000—a staggering sum at the time.

Fast forward to today, and the concept has reached unprecedented heights. The sale of New Mexico's bighorn sheep tag for $1.3 million at the 2025 Sheep Show is the latest and most dramatic example of how conservation permit auctions have evolved.
 
This, however, is not without its questions. As the numbers climb, does this still align with the values that have long defined North American wildlife conservation?
 

The Birth of Conservation Permits

Maintaining healthy wildlife populations takes significant resources, and for wild sheep, whose numbers and range are far smaller than those of species like whitetail deer, traditional funding sources have often fallen short. 
 
Major efforts like translocations to establish new herds or bolster existing ones and disease management require additional support beyond the moneys generated from a limited number of hunting permits.
 
Recognizing this gap, Wyoming Governor Ed Herschler took a bold step in 1980. Partnering with the Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF) (then known as the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep), the state offered a single bighorn sheep tag for auction to the highest bidder, with all proceeds dedicated to wild sheep conservation. Other states quickly took notice. Over the next few decades, the auction model expanded beyond Wyoming, becoming an essential funding strategy for wildlife agencies across North America. 
 
Today, conservation permits, originally referred to as "Governor's Tags" or "Heritage Tags", are a cornerstone of funding for species like bighorn sheep, elk, mule deer, and pronghorn. Because of their expanded use by more states, provinces and tribes, to better reflect their use and the diverse jurisdictions they support, these are better described as Conservation Permits today. 
 

Direct Impact

The financial success of conservation permit auctions is staggering. In recent years, auctioned tags have consistently brought in six-figure sums, with several states relying on them as primary sources of funding for wild sheep conservation.
 
Wyoming's bighorn sheep conservation permit sold for $215,000 in 2025, following a record $305,000 sale in 2022.

Montana's auction permits have generated $8.2 million for bighorn sheep conservation over the past decades. 

"To date, WSF has directed more than $90 million to wildlife agency partners through the auction sale of their conservation permits. “We incur the marketing costs. We create an environment conducive to their sale and bring the buyers to the venue and auction to buy them. And 90-100% of funds go directly back to the agencies for the direct conservation of wild sheep," said WSF President & CEO Gray Thornton. But there's more.

 
"In some cases, federal conservation programs further amplify the money generated through auctions. The Pittman-Robertson Act, for example, allows states to match auction revenue with federal funds, 3 to1 tripling impact of a single high-dollar permit," said WSF Vice President of Conservation & COO Corey Mason.
 

Addressing Criticisms

Some critics claim that conservation auctions violate the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, which is based on the principle that wildlife is a public resource and should not be commercially exploited.
 
Wildlife biologist Shane Mahoney of Conservation Visions, a leading advocate for conservation funding, disagrees.

"There's a misconception," Mahoney said. "Some argue that auctioning or raffling conservation permits violates the North American Model because it 'commercializes' wildlife. But if that were true, then the entire hunting license system where millions of dollars are exchanged annually would also be considered commercialization."

 
Mahoney said Dr. Valerius Geist's (author of the Model) intentions in writing the Model never suggested that wildlife would not have any kind of value.
 

 
The sale of New Mexico's bighorn sheep tag for $1.3 million at the 2025 Sheep Show is the latest and most dramatic example of how conservation permit auctions have evolved. The excitement in the room was palpable.

"In 2021, approximately 15 million hunters in the United States of America bought approximately, between resident and non-resident licenses, 37 million hunting permits, licenses, tags, whatever you might want to call them. And that generated about $980 million for just the sale of those tags," Mahoney said.
 
"We have, in these particular special auction permits, obviously out of that 37 million that were sold in one year, a tiny, tiny fraction that is helping to fund many conservation efforts."
 
He noted there is a distinction between this kind of funding and the private wildlife concerns addressed in the Model.
 
Another argument is that these special tags take away from the opportunities of everyday hunters who can't fork over hundreds of thousands of dollars for an opportunity to hunt a wild sheep.
 
According to Gray Thornton, conservation Permits are additive to the draw tags. "They do not take away from the permits us regular gals and guys have the opportunity to draw. There are thousands of hunting permits sold each year. Conservation permits are a mere fraction of those offered," he said. "WSF sold 30 Conservation permits at our 2025 Sheep Show in Reno and will direct $6.7 to state provincial, tribal, and federal agencies."
 

The Arizona Example

Much of the discussion about conservation permits in recent months has come from the Arizona Game and Fish Commission's vote to end the auction of conservation permit tags in 2026 and opt for raffles and other means of fundraising. The Grand Canyon State has a rich history of wild sheep conservation, and millions of dollars have been raised through conservation permit auctions.
 
Funds raised from conservation permits since the inception of the Special Big Game Tag Program have increased wild sheep hunting opportunities from 44 tags in 1984 to 157 tags in 2023. By investing in just three bighorn sheep conservation permits yearly (two auctions and one raffle), Arizona has vastly increased sheep hunting opportunities for everyone.
 

Thirty desert bighorn sheep being released into Arizona's East Harcuvar Mountains in November 2022.

 
Since 1984, WSF has directed $7,107,000 to the Arizona Game and Fish Department from the sale of just one auction tag per year.
 
WSF and the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society sold the Arizona Desert Bighorn Special Big Game Tag at auction for $500,000 at the 2025 Sheep Show®, and the pronghorn conservation permit went for $215,000.
 
Future articles will address the impact of other fundraising mechanisms, and various concerns raised about this topic within the hunting community. 

But when it comes to a history of helping wild sheep, conservation permits are unquestionably a proven commodity. According to Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies data, in 2014, 73 percent of agency wild sheep conservation was funded by an auction or raffle permit with the majority of the revenue coming from an auction permit. 
 
In 2024 in the United States that number had increased to 83 percent.
 
"More dollars equals more sheep on the mountain. More sheep on the mountain equals more opportunity for all," Thornton said.
 

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The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), based in Bozeman, Mont., was founded in 1977 by sportsmen and other wild sheep conservationists. WSF is the premier advocate for wild sheep, having raised and expended more than $145 million, positively impacting these species through population and habitat enhancements, research and education, and conservation advocacy programs in North America, Europe, and Asia to “Put and Keep Wild Sheep On the Mountain”®. In North America, these and other efforts have increased bighorn sheep populations from historic lows in the 1950s-60s of 25,000 to more than 85,000 today. WSF has a membership of more than 11,000 worldwide.