The Arizona Game and Fish Department is offering this unique opportunity to view one of Arizona’s most iconic arid land animals, the desert bighorn sheep, on a 3 hour morning boat tour on Canyon Lake. Department biologists will share and interpret bighorn behavior and biology and discuss wildlife and conservation topics during the trip. Mating season will be underway and there is a good chance of seeing rams fighting or chasing ewes. This is an excellent opportunity to view, photograph, and enjoy bighorn sheep in their native environment. In addition to bighorn sheep, bald eagles, herons, and waterfowl are often seen as well. *10 years or older only. Fee: $75.00 per person for this small, personalized tour. We will depart at the Palo Verde Boat Dock at Canyon Lake before 7am. Participants will park at the Acacia Recreation Area just west of the Palo Verde Boat Launch. It is a 5 minute walk from parking to the boat launch area. *The boats will be departing promptly at 7:00; trip fees are nonrefundable, so please be on time. It will be very warm on the lake, please come prepared. What to bring: To park at the Acacia Recreation Area you will need a $8.00 Tonto Pass. This is a required pass for use in developed recreation sites on the Tonto National Forest. Visitors to the forest will be required to display the Tonto Pass in their vehicles when recreating at these sites. The Tonto Pass is a day recreation permit sold at all of the Tonto National Forest Offices and a variety of convenience markets, gas stations, and other venues. You will need to display this pass on your dash while parked. We recommend you bring a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, and wear a long-sleeve shirt and long pants to prevent sunburn. The boats do not have canopies so you will be in the sun for most of the tour. Each boat will have one or more ice chests on board where you may store any water or soft drinks and snacks you bring. We will have water available but we recommend you bring some of your own. We can offer umbrellas and cool sports towels as well. You will also want to bring along a camera and a good pair of binoculars. For you serious photographers: Because conditions on most boats will be a little cramped, please bring only a monopod to help with that problem. A lens you can hand hold would be the best option. A zoom lens works nicely. We recommend an 80-400 for Nikon users and 100-400 for those who prefer Canon cameras. What to expect: We will be traveling up lake from the boat dock toward the dam searching both shores as we go for desert bighorn sheep. Since we are dealing with wild animals we cannot guarantee that we will find sheep but our chances of encountering them are superb. With any luck we will see some at the water’s edge which will afford us the best viewing opportunities. The boats we will be using are much more maneuverable than the much larger Dolly Steamboat so we can get in close once we have sheep spotted. When we locate sheep we will likely linger and observe their behavior which will afford photographers and viewers alike ample opportunity to watch bighorns. If things are interesting, we may stay with a single band of sheep for a long time. Biologists on each boat will answer any questions you may have about desert bighorn sheep and their management in Arizona. While observing the sheep it would be best to keep noise to a minimum so please avoid shouting or talking loudly. You will also want to avoid making any quick movements that may scare the animals. This time of year ewes will have lambs and the rams are just finishing up the breeding season so it is possible that we may see rams fighting or groups of sheep with lambs of several different age classes. Timing: We will leave Palo Verde Boat Dock at 7:00 am sharp and we will be on the lake for about 3 hours returning to the dock at about 10:00 am. Please understand that we may run over a bit due to some unforeseen delay, like a particularly accessible group of sheep. Because this sort of delay is unforeseeable and even likely, please do not plan an appointment immediately following the event which you may miss. We will do our best to keep to our time schedule, but ask that you please be flexible in this regard to enhance your wildlife viewing opportunities. Details: See map. To get to Canyon Lake take highway 88 north from Apache Junction. You will find the Acacia Recreation Area on the north side of the road in roughly 13 miles of driving. If you have any questions please contact Cheyenne Dubiach cdubiach@azgfd.gov