The remains of the sheep, discovered and reported in late September by two Gardiner area residents, were found on Mt. Everts near the base of a Douglas-Fir tree bearing a recent lightning scar. The men who discovered the remains reported their find to the National Park Service. Park biologists and rangers conducted three site visits to investigate the remains and determine cause of mortality. At the time of discovery and investigation, the remains consisted primarily of bones and hair, due to decomposition and consumption by scavengers. A significant pile of hair and other remains at the base of the lightning-struck tree indicate that the sheep decomposed largely undisturbed at or near the base of the tree.
Scavengers appear to have visited the site after decomposition was advanced.
Biologists and park rangers found no evidence of poaching or poisoning at the site. Although wolves, lions and bears are known to use the area in which the sheep were found, the intact condition of the skeletal remains, along with the absence of scats or other predator sign and the obvious lightning scar, suggests that the sheep were not killed by predators. Wildlife and domestic livestock are both known to be killed on occasion by lightning strikes. In Colorado last fall a hunter reported finding 56 elk that had been killed by a lightning storm on one mountainside. In July 1987, six elk were killed by lightning along the Sepulcher Mountain trail in Yellowstone National Park, and in June 1995 a bison was killed by lightning near Old Faithful.