Bighorn Sheep Biology and Management

Information regarding bighorn sheep population status and the New Mexico management program. Click the tab headings below to learn more.

Group of desert bighorn rams - New Mexico Game & Fish conservation

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep alpine rams under conservation management of mammals by New Mexico Game & Fish

pdf - Top_Down vs Bottom_Up 35 Years as a Field Biologist
 an article in Boone and Crockett Club’s “Fair Chase” magazine by Eric Rominger, Ph.D., bighorn sheep biologist.

Desert Bighorn Sheep

Rocky Mountain Bighorn

Bighorn Sheep Survey Reports


Additional Information

Other pages of interest on this website:

Mountain Lion Management in Desert Bighorn Ranges

Bighorn Sheep Hunting in New Mexico

Ewe Harvest Results

Biologist surveys for desert bighorn sheep - New Mexico Game & Fish mammal conservation

Biologist surveys for desert bighorn sheep.
Photo: M. Birkhauser

Disease

Disease is a primary threat to wild sheep populations throughout North America. Most concerning are respiratory pathogens carried by domestic sheep and goats. Although domestic sheep and goats are unaffected by these pathogens, cross-transmission during comingling events can result in severe pneumonia and potentially disastrous die-offs in wild bighorn sheep populations. Preventing disease transmission from domestic sheep and goats, in free-ranging or penned flocks, is essential to maintaining healthy and viable bighorn sheep herds. When assessing release areas for translocated bighorn, wildlife managers consider the abundance of domestic sheep and goats in an area, as well as their proximity to potential bighorn habitat. However, it is not uncommon for bighorn to go on forays or exploratory movements outside of their core ranges. There is also potential for domestic sheep and goats to escape or to not be ‘gathered’ at the end of the grazing season. Greater overlap between wild sheep and domestic sheep and goats will increase the likelihood of disease transmission. Many states rely on cooperation from neighboring stakeholders and members of the public to improve separation techniques and to alert state wildlife management agency personnel when contact between wild sheep and domestic sheep and goats is observed. Although New Mexico has not experienced as high a level of pneumonia mortality as other western states, it remains a significant risk to New Mexico bighorn sheep.

Further information on the risks of disease transmission can be found at the links below.

Wild Sheep Working Group – Resource Publications (website)

Wild Sheep / Domestic Sheep – Disease Transmission (website)

Desert Bighorn Sheep

Click to view larger images.

New Mexico Game and Fish chopper slinging a desert bighorn ram.
New Mexico Game and Fish helicopter lifting desert bighorn ram.
New Mexico Game and Fish processing a desert bighorn prior to transport.
Loading desert bighorn into the New Mexico Game and Fish transport trailer.
Desert bighorn ram released with New Mexico Game and Fish radio collar.
Desert bighorn rams after New Mexico Game and Fish release .

Rocky Mountain Bighorn

Click to view larger images.

New Mexico Game and Fish crew setting up the dropnet.
New Mexico Game and Fish crew securing a corner of the net.
Bighorn ewes and lambs gather under the New Mexico Game and Fish net.
New Mexico Game and Fish crew works to extract a bighorn lamb from the net.
New Mexico Game and Fish biologists place a radio collar on a bighorn ewe.
Receiving bighorn sheep at the New Mexico Game and Fish loading site.
Bighorn sheep in the New Mexico Game and Fish transport trailer.

Desert Bighorn Capture & Release

In October of 2018, the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish captured and relocated desert bighorn sheep in Southern New Mexico. The bighorn were successfully captured from the San Andres National Wildlife Refuge population on White Sands Missile Range, and relocated to the Sacramentos in southeastern New Mexico. This is historic desert bighorn habitat where sheep have not been present in over 100 years. The operation is part of a continued recovery and management strategy that has significantly increased New Mexico’s population of desert bighorn sheep from 170 in 2001, to about 1500 today.