Completion Form

2020

The legacy of recovering bighorn sheep in Utah using translocation projects has been very fruitful, and this past year was an historic success by all measures. In addition to capturing 68 bighorns in Utah for health sampling, we successfully translocated 101 bighorns from other states into Utah. This is the most bighorn sheep that the UDWR has ever translocated into Utah during a single year, more than we've translocated into Utah in the past five years combined, and more bighorns translocated across state lines than all the rest of the western states combined in the past year. Two of the most notable translocations were the reintroduction of bighorns onto the Mineral Mountains and Antelope Island. Fifty-one desert bighorns were translocated from the Stillwater Range in Nevada to begin a new herd on the Mineral Mountains where they have been absent for decades. Twenty-five Rocky Mountain bighorns were translocated from Rocky Boy's Reservation in Montana to reestablish a healthy nursery herd on Antelope Island. These two reintroduced herds will not only provide memorable opportunities to view and hunt bighorns, but also produce many bighorns that will be translocated to augment other herds or establish new herds in Utah for years into the future. We hope that countless once-in-a-lifetime hunting experiences will result from the success of the bighorn sheep captures performed this past year.

08/31/2020 16:46:38