"KELOLAND.com
Canadian Bighorns Find New Home Near Deadwood
February 15, 2015, 5:29 PM by Kevin Woster
DEADWOOD, SD - Pneumonia devastated the bighorn sheep herd in Custer State Park and hurt bighorn numbers elsewhere in the Black Hills. But work to rebuild the herd got help Thursday morning with the release of 26 Canadian bighorns near Deadwood.
After a two-day trailer ride down from Canada, the bighorns made a quick exit once the gates of two enclosed trailers were opened. Game, Fish & Parks Department regional wildlife manager John Kanta of Rapid City said the sheep had good reason to take off.
"We dropped a big net on them, we wrestled them down, we poked them, prodded them, radio collared them, stuck them in a trailer, drove them 1,300 miles and brought them here and released them," Kanta said. "And the amazing thing is they run out of the trailer and they don't look any worse for the wear."
Bighorn sheep are native to the Black Hills and other parts of South Dakota, but they disappeared as settlement expanded across the state. Bighorn herds have been re-established in the Black Hills near Rapid City, in Custer State Park and in the Elk Mountain area along the Wyoming line in the southwestern Black Hills.
The 26 bighorns released Thursday are the first in the northern Black Hills. Kanta and other wildlife specialists hope they will boost an overall Black Hills herd that has been cut in some areas and decimated in Custer State Park by a persistent pneumonia that has been linked to contact between wild sheep and domestic sheep and goats.
The sheep from Canada are thought to be free of such problems, as transplants from that region to other states have shown.
"The sheep from Hinton, Alberta are very healthy sheep," Kanta said. "They don't have domestic sheep or goats anywhere around these sheep, and for miles around."
South Dakota has a very limited hunting season on bighorn sheep. Just three tags have been issued in recent years. And one of those has been put up for auction the last two years. The initial tag went for $102,000, and was claimed by a South Dakota Hunter. The tag last year went for $82,000 to a hunter from Colorado.
The auction proceeds helped pay for sheep transplants last year from Montana to the southern Black Hills and, in an arrangement with the Oglala Tribe, to Pine Ridge Reservation. Safari Club International and the Midwest Wild Sheep Foundation have been instrumental in the project.
And Midwest Wild Sheep Foundation spokesman Matt Rippentrop of Oelrichs says the money matters to the sheep work.
"Without that auction tag, we wouldn't be bringing these sheep back to South Dakota," Rippentrop says.
Rippentrop took his son out of school to watch the release of the sheep Thursday morning near dawn.
"It was a big deal, big smile on the face and excitement," Matt Rippentrop said. "And to fulfill a dream of bringing sheep back to the northern Black Hills."
The bighorns were released in a rugged area near burned in 2002 by the Grizzly Gulch Fire. The two-week blaze torched more than 11,000 acres and destroyed several homes. But it also created ideal habitat for bighorn sheep, which prefer open areas to dense forest.
The bighorns scattered upon release, but Kanta believes they will soon group up and shape themselves into herd.
If it succeeds, it's going to become a herd to be seen for years to come in the northern Black Hills."
Funny follow up on this release, these sheep must like the casino scene in Deadwood. A couple of them have been finding their way into town in the past week apparently to try their luck at the slots or maybe sample the seafood buffet! Ha!
I was lucky enough to draw a few late season archery elk tags in Custer State Park and on one hunt I had harvested a bull and a park ranger was driving by as I was walking back to my truck. In the back of his truck I noticed a few sheep skulls and asked what was going on. He stated the cat's are decimating the sheep herd, not only in the park, but in the Black Hills. But like I said, probably won't find that story anywhere.
Mark
I've been to Custer park 3 times 09,10 taking bike to Sturgis then in 2013 with Morgan after my press release at the Coors Golden brewery.
For those that have never been that entire area is a trip of a lifetime!!!
