One part of Wyoming culture that interested me was the relationship between hunting and wildlife conservation. During our visit to the National Bighorn Sheep Center in Dubois, I learned that these two pursuits are closely connected parts of the local culture.

Bighorn sheep were represented throughout the museum as wildlife in need of protection, but also as game animals and sources of useful material. Displays explained the problems facing bighorn populations, including disease, poaching, and other human activity. A board game let visitors work through some of these threats. Other exhibits focused on the role hunters and sporting organizations have played in the recovery and continued management of bighorn populations. Two large skulls were displayed with their Boone and Crockett scores, a system used to rank trophy animals by the size of their horns.

This combination initially seemed strange to me. The same culture that values hunting also puts considerable effort into preserving the animals being hunted. At the center, hunting was not presented simply as killing an animal. It was connected to wildlife local history and the continued survival of healthy bighorn populations. Exhibits described how Indigenous peoples made bows, vessels, combs, spoons, and knives from bighorn horns, highlighting the long history of people depending on these animals while also understanding them as an important part of the mountain environment.

In Pittsburgh, I usually encounter conservation through green spaces and efforts to manage wildlife within populated areas—like the control of the deer population. Hunting is big in Western PA but not really connected to the city’s identity. Pittsburgh often emphasizes protecting natural spaces within a city. Dubois presented conservation as a symbiotic relationship between the animals, hunters, government, and nonprofit organizations.