Andy Moeckel is well known in the hunting and conservation community as The Flip Flop Guy and his unique cooking style called the Flip Flop. He has turned a culinary technique, that has been passed down for three generations, into a thriving business that sells a full line of sauces, spices, flip flop mops, and even whole bone in Maui Nui Venison legs perfect for Flip Flop.

It all started with his grandfather, Al Giddings shortly after WW II when he got off the ship in San Francisco and decided to join the California Department of Fish and Game in 1948. He became the main warden for the North Bay area, Marin, and Sonoma counties. He knew all the ins and outs of Marin county’s big game hunting, from mountain lions that he issued bounties on, to blacktail deer.

In his time spent in west Marin, Al helped oversee fish ladders coming into the streams for the spawn as well as became familiar with all of the local hunting clubs and ranches. It was at a small sheep ranch in Nicasio, CA where it is believed that he picked up this amazing style of cooking from a Portuguese rancher. This family would do entire sheep legs on a spit and feed their families and local community. Al being the outdoorsman instantly had the idea that, “if sheep is this good…venison will be better.” And it is…

Andy is a third generation Flip Flopper learning the technique from his grandfather and father. Andy performs Flip Flop BBQs around the country for special events as well as industry and political celebrities.

In this episode of Sheep Fever, Co-Host Gray N. Thornton talks with Andy about his past, an amazing turn of events and life challenges, Flip Flop cooking, sheep hunting, gear, calibers, long range shooting, and Andy’s recent role as Sales Director for Best of the West Arms out of Cody, WY.

This episode has plenty of short dirt roads, unanticipated nuggets, and antics you will be sure to enjoy! For more information on Best of the West visit www.bestofthewestarms.com. For more information on Flip Flop visit www.flipflopguy.com.

Sadly, wild sheep numbers are down in many of their ranges. For our thinhorns up North, environmental factors, some of which are beyond short-term human control, have taken a toll in recent years. In other wild sheep ranges, fragmentation, contraction, and loss of habitat, both from a changing climate and land use policies (fire suppression, conifer/shrub encroachment, human footprint, public land grazing allotments, feral horses and burros), as well as disease from exotic and domestic ungulates in bighorn range, are all contributing factors.

What can we do? Ensuring wild sheep have quality habitat is #1, but can we improve the resiliency of wild sheep to environmental factors? Can we “grow” wild sheep? These are contemporary and often controversial topics that wild sheep advocates and some agency/ministry wild sheep managers are trying to define and address.

In this episode of Sheep Fever, co-host Gray N. Thornton speaks with WSF’s “Tres Amigos of Conservation” - VP of Conservation Kevin Hurley, Conservation Director Kurt Alt, and retired Conservation Director Clay Brewer, on these topics.

With nearly 150 years of combined wild sheep management and experience, the three speak of “growing” desert bighorn in the US southwest and Mexico and the successes, challenges, and failures experienced. They also speak of attempts to do the same with Rocky Mountain bighorns, and whether intensive management practices for desert sheep (water developments, captive propagation facilities, supplemental nutrition and minerals, etc.) are feasible, practical, sustainable, or even possible for thinhorn sheep.

There is no question that forces are being placed on our systems, institutions, philosophies, and the science that manages wildlife. Situations and conditions change over time, and adjustments are necessary improvements. Balancing change and maintaining stability is crucial to ensuring the best outcomes for wildlife and people. But this doesn’t appear to be where we’re heading.

Sheep Fever co-host Keith Balfourd visits with two guests who keenly understand historical precedents and the current pressures calling to rewrite wildlife management policy. Is all coming from anti-hunting efforts? What about wildlife commissions being stripped of diversified stakeholders to change the game against sustainable use? Is the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation a complete handbook, or is it vulnerable to criticism, misuse, and a tool for misdirection?

If you're pushing for change in the court of public opinion and using ballot initiatives, does acknowledging ecological and social realities, past achievements, and who was responsible for these successes undermine your narrative? Is what's being left out of the conversation by design? Are there things that we, as hunter-conservationists, can do better? Are there things we should be distancing ourselves from? As a significant minority of the population, do we have allies? If doing right by wildlife is our mantra, does digging our heels in on everything sustainable?

Change is inevitable. Sportsmen and women have had the lead in wildlife conservation. How do we maintain this lead? These are all good questions. Some, but not all, were answered in this episode. Like conservation itself, this topic is on a continuum.

The Wild Sheep Foundation is growing and is pleased to announce the formation and official charter of the Southeast Chapter of WSF!

The mission of the Southeast Chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation is to build a community of conservationists to raise resources in support of scientific wild sheep management practices and habitat improvement. This is to ensure that future generations will enjoy the healthy populations of North America's sheep herds. We are a volunteer organization dedicated to sharing our passion for mountain hunting, educating the public and youth about the sustainable use of mountain resources, and highlighting the important role hunters play in wildlife conservation, regardless of where we live.

Sheep Fever co-host Gray N. Thornton visits with SE Chapter Steering Committee member Patrick Morse of Ponte Verde, Florida, on why the chapter was started, its goals, plans, and events for the coming year, as well as the inaugural chapter banquet in May/June of 2025 in Islamorada, FL which will coincide with the Chapter & Affiliate Summit XVII. While the chapter will serve members from Louisiana to Virginia and down to Florida, membership is open to everyone. Join us today! For membership options: https://www.wildsheepfoundation.org/memberships/chapters-and-affiliates/southeast-wsf

We’re going to Texas in this episode to talk about restoring desert bighorn sheep to a mountain range that hasn’t seen sheep since the early 1900s. Sheep Fever co-host Keith Balfourd visits with Texas Bighorn Sheep Society president Sam Cunningham, WSF’s VP of Conservation Kevin Hurley, and Texas outdoor writer and WSF contributor Chester Moore to discuss the Franklin Mountains State Park desert sheep restoration project. From water guzzler installations awaiting the translocation of 80 sheep to herd surveillance and predator management, there is a lot of ground to cover in what will be a historic move for the Lone Star State’s desert sheep population. The goal is a new nursery herd in a disease-free range for future translocations across the state.

Jana Waller Bair is the Host and Executive Producer of Skull Bound TV and Skull Bound
Chronicles, a hunting and conservation series on Carbon TV that is currently in its 15th season.
Jana has been a lifelong hunter and was appointed as a Wildlife Commissioner in Montana in
2021. After serving her term, she moved to Utah, where she resides with her husband and WSF
auctioneer, John Bair.

Jana is a proud member of the Wild Sheep Foundation as well as many other conservation and
hunting organizations. Jana is an active supporter of WSF’s Women Hunt® program and serves
on the recently launched Rubye Mayflower Blake Legacy Fund committee, a program of
Women Hunt®, which provides healing hunts, and other outdoor experiences, to women who
have experienced abuse or other life trauma.

In this episode Jana and Sheep Fever co-host Gray N. Thornton talk bear hunting,
conservation, her start, leadership, and award-winning work in outdoor media, as well as the
pivotal role women play in, and the powerful narrative they give, to the traditional outdoor and
shooting sports.

Jana also talks on a current Epic Hunt Series collaboration with WSF where a lucky raffle
winner will join her in the Northwest Territories in the fall of 2025 for a bucket list all expense
paid mountain caribou hunt with Mackenzie Mountain Outfitters. Both the winner and Jana will
hunt caribou. Tickets are only $60 and non WSF members receive an annual membership with
their first ticket purchased. The raffles concludes June 30, 2024 so don’t delay! Get your tickets HERE.

In this episode of Sheep Fever, we visit with Mark Truax, President and CEO of Pac/West Strategies, to discuss the attempted ban on mountain lion, bobcat, and lynx hunting in Colorado. This ban, proposed through a voter’s ballot initiative and backed by out-of-state animal rights groups, raises important questions. Why mountain lions? Why Colorado? Why a voter’s ballot process? The answers; because it’s winnable. Mark and his company are on the ground in Colorado, trying to prevent this measure from becoming the law of the land and opening the door for other attempts in other states.

As sportsmen, we understand the role of predator/prey relationships, ecological realities, and the necessity of science-informed wildlife management to prevent situations where too many are just as bad as too few, regardless of the species. But do Coloradoans have all the facts, especially those who have recently moved to this western state? Or does saving these beautiful cats from “trophy hunters,” as this initiative is being sold, look like the right thing to do?

Conservation has increasingly become a global topic and a global effort. In this episode, Sheep Fever co-host Keith Balford visits with Shane Mahoney, CEO of Conservation Visions, to discuss various topics, including the growing connectivity between conservation efforts here in North America and those happening beyond our borders. You'll learn how influential our North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is in other countries struggling to do what is best for wildlife and people, especially in the context of how important internal hunting is to these countries when most of their revenue comes from US sportsmen. The conversation shifts to an informative discussion on how hunting and sustainable use are being challenged like never before, who and what's behind these increased efforts, and what can be done.

The question is raised: is our current suite of hunter-conservationist organizations built to take on such challenges when the focus for many is species conservation, not bumper sticker campaigns and ballot initiatives being proposed by anti-hunter groups? Shane believes it's time for an overarching wildlife conservation policy to codify successes to date that can't be denied, one that accounts for the challenges wildlife faces today and into the future and guards against those pushing for change for the sake of change yet are offering no durable solutions other than they don't like hunters hunting.