Bighorns in the Bridgers?

I'm so far back in the point game and will be paying student loans for a while yet that I haven't gotten real serious about sheep hunting. But I enjoy looking at them and hiking up to them.

Since I've been in Bozeman I've hiked quite a bit in the Bridgers north of town, haven't hiked too much south of town. But I haven't seen any sheep in the habitat wherein I'd expect to find a few. I see there is 1 tag issued south of town, but what gives north of town? I imagine there's enough country for them, and it sounds like we transplant enough to other states. Anbody know the story?

Couple of my friends bagged a sheep in the Bridgers a few years ago and unfortunately I didn't have my video camera.

I think Spitz is talking about wild sheep Greenhorn.....not one of Miller's dates. A transplant in the Bridgers was shut down a day before it was to take place about 15-20 years ago. The Bridgers did at one time have wild sheep there. A lot of effort and some cash has yet to make things happen. Call up Kurt Alt at region 3 head quarters and rattle his cage if you'ld like to see some WILD sheep in the Bridgers. Hopefully he hasn't given up on it.

Spitz:

As I understand it, MT FNAWS has the entire transplant plan ready to go when FWP gives them the OK. I think BHR would know more about it than i do.

FWP will not transplant to areas that have exisiting domestic sheep or domestic sheep allotments. Which given the history of disease when domestic and wild sheep are near each other, it makes sense to have this policy.

I have been told that there is currently one existing domestic sheep operator/allotment holder in the Bridgers. Attempts have been made to by out that allotment holder, with no success.

It is for this reason that no transplant has occurred to the Bridgers. If you want to get updated on it, call Tom Sather. He is an optometrist in Bozeman and helped with a lot of the FNAWS legwork to get the process to where it is now.

Might be time to make another run at it. Tom could tell you what the status is.

If you want to get tangled up with the local hunters, ask Tom about Headwaters Fish & Game Association. They have quarterly meetings and are the guys who really are on top of the hunting/FWP issues in the local area.

Happy Hunting!

Thanks for the info. I may just have to get tangled up in this kinda stuff, I enjoy the resources too much to not help when I can.

Good for you Spitz.

It's been a number of years since we have talked about the Bridger transplant, so I hope my memory is correct on it. A domestic allotment did stop the transplant that almost took place, but it's not an issue now. The big issue is getting conservation easements in place to restrict developement on the private lands that butt up to the public lands at the base of the Bridgers. With land prices and increasing populations in the Gallatin Valley, that has been hard to accomplish. Doc Sather is definately the sportsmen's ramrod for this project. Kurt Alt is the biologist with the most background. Talk to either one to get the current status.