Bighorns moved to new homes

Heather Rawlyk

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2003 | 11:03 a.m.

From a distance, the helicopter cresting the mountains surrounding Lake Mead on Tuesday morning appeared to have a large earring dangling from its underside.

As it came closer, the shape of three nets hanging in succession from a rope became distinct. From the nets came the plain bleat of desert bighorn sheep -- one or two per net.

The helicopter approached the makeshift landing strip near Echo Bay Marina, hovered above for a few moments, then slowly descended diagonally, its cargo gently touching down one by one as the aircraft approached the ground.

The blindfolded sheep poked their heads out of nets and shifted, trying to put hooves to terra firma.

Veterinarians, Nevada Wildlife employees and volunteers raced in the windy haze created by the rotors to carry the sheep to a blanket and evaluate their condition. The sheep remained still -- but clearly frightened -- as volunteers rubbed their chests to comfort them after their flight.

The flight was part of an ongoing program by the state agency to put bighorn sheep back into mountain ranges in Lincoln County, where they have historically existed. The Lincoln County herd has been decimated in recent years by drought.

Ten desert bighorns were trapped by the helicopter in the Muddy Mountains around Lake Mead between 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. Tuesday. Once they received ear tags, so wildlife officials could track them, the sheep were loaded into crates that held three apiece, and the crates were put onto a flatbed truck with 15 other sheep captured Monday from the McCullough Mountains, which run south of Henderson.

The final destination: the Delamar Mountain Range, just north of the Clark County line. The herd was to be trucked to the range, then transported again by helicopter, this time in the crates, to a remote location in the mountains to be released.

The sheep -- all ewes and lambs -- were to join a few single rams who had survived the scarcity of surface water in Lincoln but were left without companionship or progeny, wildlife officials said.

The Lincoln County range doesn't need any more rams, state Department of Wildlife spokesman Geoff Schneider said. "It is a lack of sheep that we have now," he said. "There are a good number of rams."

That made the roundup a little easier, he said. The rams are more aggressive and can be dangerous to transport.

"Adult rams are very difficult to handle in the trailer," he said. "They tend to fight and butt the other sheep."

A volunteer, Eric Dalen, director of the Reno chapter of Nevada Bighorns Unlimited, recalled an encounter that was too close for comfort during a similar transport operation.

"One year I had to get stitches above my eye from a ram's head butt," he said. "I was putting one ram in the trailer when I saw another ram looking right my way and then, bam."

Tuesday's capture was uneventful in comparison. Hawkins and Powers Aviation of Graybull, Wyo., tracked the herd down by helicopter and shot a net over them to restrain them. The crew then tied the animals up, blindfolded them and placed them back in the nets to be flown to the base camp, where veterinarians awaited their arrival.

At the landing strip veterinarians joined Department of Wildlife employees, the National Park Service and volunteers from Nevada Bighorns Unlimited and the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn, both sportsmen's clubs.

After the initial check, the sheep were doused with cold water to keep them cool during the trip. Speed was crucial, Schneider said.

"Doing this quickly decreases stress and also reduces the chance of injury to them," Schneider said

Pat Cummings, a state wildlife biologist based in the Las Vegas, said the sheep were in good condition for moving.

"All of them looked good," he said. "Their heart rates are all in the safe zone, they have good body temperatures and only a few minor abrasions."

The trapping and releases are part of an ongoing program that started in the late 1960s by the state agency to put bighorn sheep back into the mountain ranges they once populated. Every mountain range in Nevada had sheep in them at one point, but when the program was started only 1,200 sheep were left in the state, Cummings said.

Through the transplants and other projects, the state brought that population up to 5,300 last year, keeping the state's animal from becoming a threatened or endangered species. The drought has reduced that to 4,800.

The idea is to spread out herds and introduce them to different mountain ranges, which results in an increase of population in those areas, Cummings said.

While natural water sources in the Delamar Mountain Range are slim, the transported sheep will have access to man-made water devices that were built by the Department of Wildlife, Schneider said.

"They've installed artificial water devices that capture rainwater and hold for the sheep," he said. "They are basically big tanks that allow water for drinking. These tanks will continue to bring the sheep back."

Wildlife officials track the sheep through radio transmitters attached to their ears. The ear tags are a new technique being used in this project.

"We are trying a new thing with the ear tags instead of putting a transmitter on their neck," Schneider said. "I think the big white lines on their necks from the transmitters were a little too visible for prey. The ear tags are less visible and less obtrusive for the sheep."

While the program has had success, more than doubling bighorn sheep population since it started, it hasn't fulfilled the goal of repopulating all of the state's ranges, Cummings said.

"There are some challenges," he said. "We'll continue to work on those."