North Dakota bighorn sheep population sets a second consecutive record, Game and Fish reports
Mar. 28—DICKINSON, N.D. — Chalk up another record-setting year for bighorn sheep in North Dakota.
Results from the North Dakota Game and Fish Department's 2021 bighorn sheep survey revealed a record population of 335 bighorn sheep in western North Dakota.
That's up 4% from the previous record of 322 bighorns set in 2020 and is 15% above the five-year average, the department reported Monday.
Department biologists count and classify all bighorn sheep in late summer, and then recount lambs the following March as they approach 1 year of age to determine the number recruited to the population.
Biologists counted 99 rams, 175 ewes and 61 lambs. The tally doesn't include about 40 bighorn sheep in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and bighorns introduced to the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in 2020.
Big game biologist Brett Wiedmann said he was pleased to see an increase in the survey for the fourth consecutive year. Game and Fish completed the 2021 survey by recounting lambs in March.
"We were encouraged to see the count of adult rams increase to near record levels, and adult ewes were at record numbers," Wiedmann said. "Most encouraging was a record lamb count corresponding with a record recruitment rate."
The northern Badlands population increased 6% from 2020 and was the highest count on record. The southern Badlands population declined again to the lowest level since bighorns were reintroduced there in 1966.
Department staff, in conjunction with biologists from the Three Affiliated Tribes Fish and Wildlife Division, also reported the bighorn sheep translocated in January 2020 from Rocky Boy's Reservation in Montana to the Fort Berthold Reservation performed exceptionally well during their second year in the state.
The population has nearly doubled in just two years, which is exceptional population performance for bighorn sheep, the department noted in a news release.
There are currently almost 450 bighorn sheep among populations managed by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, the National Park Service and the Three Affiliated Tribes Fish and Wildlife Division. The next benchmark is 500 bighorns in the state, Wiedmann said, a number that seemed improbable just a few years ago.
A pneumonia outbreak first documented in the summer of 2014 killed more than 30 sheep by that winter and continues to linger at low levels within North Dakota's bighorn sheep population. The low prevalence of the disease, known as mycoplasma, is encouraging, but biologists did observe several bighorns coughing during the 2021 survey, said Dr. Charlie Bahnson, Game and Fish wildlife veterinarian.
That indicates the population hasn't completely cleared the deadly pathogen.
A bighorn sheep hunting season is tentatively scheduled to open in 2022. The status of the season will be determined Sept. 1, following the summer population survey.
Game and Fish issued five licenses in 2021 and four hunters were successful in shooting a ram.
