Bighorn Sheep Restoration in Nebraska Continues: A healthier, expanding herd yields rare Nebraska bighorn hunting opportunities

This past February, the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission (NGPC) successfully helicopter captured, tested, collared, and released 36 bighorn sheep in the Wildcat Hills as part of an ongoing effort to enhance the state's bighorn sheep population.

 
All hands-on deck: The final animal on day two was a beautiful 3 ½ year old ram. Laying hands on this ram was an incredible way to cap off our time in the Cornhusker state.

"NGPC's overall goal is to establish a self-sustaining, free-ranging population of bighorn sheep in suitable habitat in the state," explained Kevin Hurley, WSF's VP for Conservation. "The goals of this project were a health assessment check on the Panhandle’s bighorn sheep, and to fit GPS radio collars on individuals that did not have collars, to collect future data on their status and movements through the range."

 
Nebraska was once home to an abundant bighorn sheep population. By all accounts, they were gone by the early 1900s. Repopulating the Cornhusker State began in 1981 by translocating surplus wild sheep from other states. This population recently stood at 400. But disease, roadkill, and other issues have taken their toll, dropping their numbers to around 215. Historically and today, the loss of wild sheep has been traced to disease die-offs from pathogen/disease transmission from domestic to wild sheep.
 
"The health assessment involved disease evaluation using nasal swabs to detect the deadly respiratory pathogen Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, (Movi)," Hurley explained. "The swab samples were sent to the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL) for testing, and also provided to an exciting new testing method using man's best friend to detect infected animals." 

Working Dogs 4 Conservation uses specially trained dogs to detect Movi from bighorn sheep scat and nasal swabs collected while the sheep are sampled by biologists and veterinarians.

 
"Having Work Dogs 4 Conservation on hand at these captures advances our collective ability to double-check diagnostic laboratory results against field, “animal-side” diagnostic results, giving wildlife managers  added confidence as to which individuals are clean and not going to help spread this disease and those that could be a threat to the entire population," Hurley added.
 
The project was funded in part by the Wild Sheep Foundation and its partners, the Bergara Foundation and Gilchrist Foundation.
 

 
A collaborative effort: This project was made possible by the efforts of Nebraska Game and Parks, the Bergara Foundation, the Gilchrist Foundation, and the Wild Sheep Foundation. 

 
"The Bergara Foundation is proud to support this critical conservation initiative, both through direct funding and hands-on involvement in the field. We’ve committed 10% of our profits to conservation, environmental protection, and sustainable hunting practices, ensuring future generations can experience the profound connection between hunting and the great outdoors. Investing in projects like Nebraska’s bighorn sheep restoration helps ensure a thriving future for both the species and the hunting traditions that sustain conservation efforts."
 
A healthier, expanding herd also yields rare Nebraska bighorn hunting opportunities, which in turn helps fund conserving and maintaining bighorn sheep on the landscape. If state officials authorize one sheep tag, it goes to a Nebraska resident via lottery. If they approve a second tag, it is auctioned to a resident or non-resident, to raise funds for this bighorn sheep program in Nebraska's Panhandle. The 2025 Nebraska bighorn tag raised a record $420,000 at auction at the Sheep Show® this past January.


 

Essential research: In the short time they were in our care, each sheep underwent 6 nasal & cheek swabs, blood testing, tick checks, collaring, and ear tagging.

 
Todd Nordeen, NGPC Big Game Disease & Research Program Manager, added,  “Despite above average temperatures, the capture effort went well,” resulting in another opportunity to evaluate herd health, disease testing methods, and continue with a goal of self-sustaining, free-ranging bighorn sheep populations in Nebraska. Progress towards reaching this goal wouldn’t be possible without the collaboration partnership with the Wild Sheep Foundation and numerous other agencies and organizations.  The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission extends our gratitude to all those who made this another successful event.”
 

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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.