Alberta Badlands Bighorn

[MooseRiverTrapper]

This could be Drumheller: WSF AB chapter quit sending our sheep south of the border.

[cowmanbob]

Too high a likelihood of mingling with domestic livestock for that to ever happen.

[marky_mark]

They wouldn’t last 2 weeks

Sorry to say but it would be a waste of resources to transplant sheep into the badlands here

[Grizzly Adams]

They wouldn’t last 2 weeks

Sorry to say but it would be a waste of resources to transplant sheep into the badlands here

X2. They were never there in the past and the habitat isn't really suitable.

Grizz

[MooseRiverTrapper]

I’m sure that was said about the Missouri River breaks as well.

[roper1]

I’m sure that was said about the Missouri River breaks as well.

Missouri breaks vast compared to Red Deer River. As a young guy I took a job on a big ranch south side of the Missouri. Down fencing along the river, over 100F, I can feel something watching me. I hate snakes & there's gazillions big old nasty rattlers around.

I'm working hard & fast trying to get out of there ASAP but I still feel watched. Finally I look up. Fifty feet above me on a ledge a full curl massive Bighorn just standing there watching me. Big old yellow ear tag in one ear, I didn't faze him in the least.

There are plenty of cows & domestic sheep in those breaks, the Bighorns are thriving. There is a healthy cougar population as well.

[mightybuck]

AB is behind with sheep management. They use to rely on cadomin but with the big kill offs of big rams. I don’t think we will ever see those days again. Just look what the Ab minsters permit sold for this year . Sad wake up Alberta fish and wildlife

[marky_mark]

I’m sure that was said about the Missouri River breaks as well.

That pic was taken in the badlands of South Dakota

The red deer river doesn’t compare to that country

And it’s a national park

[MooseRiverTrapper]

That pic was taken in the badlands of South Dakota

The red deer river doesn’t compare to that country

And it’s a national park

Never made a comparison or a claim of where pic was taken.


Alberta has 100 miles of rugged river valley habitat multiplied by two banks.

[wildwoods]

Don’t know till they try!

If I’m not mistaken, bighorn existed in the badlands long ago. I totally forget where I read that. It would be an interesting pilot project in my opinion

[marky_mark]

Never made a comparison or a claim of where pic was taken.


Alberta has 100 miles of rugged river valley habitat multiplied by two banks.

That has relatively easy access to people
How long do you think they will last?

[Trochu]

They wouldn’t last 2 weeks



What would take them out? Wouldn't be much for predators around Drumheller would there, maybe more cougars than I think?

[roper1]

The ranch I was on, from the table on top where the breaks started, to the the river's edge, was seven miles of very rough, barely accessible up & down badass country.

Having said that, I'd like to try to transplant some sheep to the Red Deer. The elk & moose that are now thriving on the southern prairies are finally reaching some limited huntable numbers.

[gman1978]

Interesting concept and on paper it might work in that area. But.. and I don’t really want to go in this direction but I think the concern would be valid. Sustenance hunters would make short work of them if they ever did reach maturity. poachers would clean up the scraps.

[Full Curl Earl]

So are Canadians just such a bunch of poachers that we arent even interested in trying? Thats sad. Maybe we’d be surprised? Or maybe ranchers would cry foul and we’d have to kill them all?

[marky_mark]

So are Canadians just such a bunch of poachers that we arent even interested in trying? Thats sad. Maybe we’d be surprised? Or maybe ranchers would cry foul and we’d have to kill them all?

These sheep would not be fully protected so they would have a slim chance of establishing a healthy stable population.

[MooseRiverTrapper]

That has relatively easy access to people
How long do you think they will last?

Ya that will always be an issue in AB. Bighorns stand on the roads in the winter and seem to survive.

[Talking moose]

Why not transplant a small population of a dozen or so and see? Doesn’t sound like it would be hard at all. Or expensive.

[Full Curl Earl]

Why not transplant a small population of a dozen or so and see? Doesn’t sound like it would be hard at all. Or expensive.

Exactly, letting poachers rob us of ideas and future programs would be a real shame and a fools life.

[Esox]

Drumheller area on the red deer I dont think would work. You would have to do it along the milk river ridge in the writing on stone area and to the east of that. Or along the south sask river where it crosses through suffield and out that way.

[calgarychef]

Lots of people don’t realize how vast some of our southern coulees are.
I’d like to see it tried. Not sure what the locals would think. Sustenance hunters might be an issue, with the right rules maybe not.

[Grizzly Adams]

Lots of people don’t realize how vast some of our southern coulees are.
I’d like to see it tried. Not sure what the locals would think. Sustenance hunters might be an issue, with the right rules maybe not.

Good Mule Deer country, but the Red Deer river valley itself is very restricted. Predators ? Lots of coyotes , cougars and no escape terrain.

Grizz

[bdub]

AB is behind with sheep management. They use to rely on cadomin but with the big kill offs of big rams. I don’t think we will ever see those days again. Just look what the Ab minsters permit sold for this year . Sad wake up Alberta fish and wildlife

Exactly. What management? We cannot continue to kill every ram that reaches 4/5 curl, which are usually 5-7 years old rams, and expect anything different. Its a bad joke supported by a lot of sheep hunters and sheep outfitters. A bit off track but it's sad to watch Alberta sheep hunting continue on this course.

[Pudelpointer]

Drumheller area on the red deer I dont think would work. You would have to do it along the milk river ridge in the writing on stone area and to the east of that. Or along the south sask river where it crosses through suffield and out that way.

^^^

IF landowners can be convinced to keep domestic sheep and goats far away, sheep would do fine along the Milk between WOS and the border. There are historic accounts of sheep along the Milk River in that area from the 1800s.

[Smoky buck]

Why not focus on present struggling sheep populations first before taking long shots on creating a badlands heard

[SLH]

^^^

IF landowners can be convinced to keep domestic sheep and goats far away, sheep would do fine along the Milk between WOS and the border. There are historic accounts of sheep along the Milk River in that area from the 1800s.

Not saying you are wrong but do you have a reference for that claim?

The biggest issue (if it is a suitable area for sheep) will be contact with domestic sheep. I know at least a couple sheep herders out that way and there is plenty of Hutterite colonies I'm sure that have sheep. Could be more trouble than its worth.

I'd also say that the Milk River isn't even comparable to just branched coulees to the Missouri Breaks. That is big big country well suited to sheep. If we had no other management issues it might be a worthy project but I can't help believe that it is a very low priority.

[buckbrush]

Exactly. What management? We cannot continue to kill every ram that reaches 4/5 curl, which are usually 5-7 years old rams, and expect anything different. Its a bad joke supported by a lot of sheep hunters and sheep outfitters. A bit off track but it's sad to watch Alberta sheep hunting continue on this course.

This X10. Seeing the quality of sheep in the parks and protected areas is really an eyeopener. We could have that all over with the proper management.

What do you think the answer is?

Full curl restrictions? I'd vote for that BUT I've seen sheep that are so heavily broomed they would never reach full curl. Full curl OR broomed might be an option?

I don't think the answer has anything to do with outfitters. Do you? I would like to see the comparison of resident to non resident tags filled each year.

bdub, what are your thoughts on predator impact? Should they make you earn your tag for the next year by registering a wolf or cougar first?

Back to OP,
So far as sheep in the badlands. I don't think they would last long at all. Between the sustenance hunters and all the new sustenance hunters... Good luck.

[rottie]

In the book 'The Mammals of Alberta ' by Dr J. Dewey Soper published in 1964, they list sheep as at one time being in the Sweetgrass Hills along the Alberta / Montana border. So maybe a transplant back into some of these old area's and a few new would be a bad idea.

[sage 13]

This X10. Seeing the quality of sheep in the parks and protected areas is really an eyeopener. We could have that all over with the proper management.

What do you think the answer is?

Full curl restrictions? I'd vote for that BUT I've seen sheep that are so heavily broomed they would never reach full curl. Full curl OR broomed might be an option?

I don't think the answer has anything to do with outfitters. Do you? I would like to see the comparison of resident to non resident tags filled each year.

bdub, what are your thoughts on predator impact? Should they make you earn your tag for the next year by registering a wolf or cougar first?

Back to OP,
So far as sheep in the badlands. I don't think they would last long at all. Between the sustenance hunters and all the new sustenance hunters... Good luck.

So are you saying the quality of sheep in the parks and protected areas is better then open areas, do you mean in horn size or quantity as well.

[Grizzly Adams]

Why not focus on present struggling sheep populations first before taking long shots on creating a badlands heard

X2.

Grizz

[Pudelpointer]

Not saying you are wrong but do you have a reference for that claim?

The biggest issue (if it is a suitable area for sheep) will be contact with domestic sheep. I know at least a couple sheep herders out that way and there is plenty of Hutterite colonies I'm sure that have sheep. Could be more trouble than its worth.

I'd also say that the Milk River isn't even comparable to just branched coulees to the Missouri Breaks. That is big big country well suited to sheep. If we had no other management issues it might be a worthy project but I can't help believe that it is a very low priority.

Rottie has posted one. At one point, researching a project, I came across journal entries from two separate early explorers (around the Lewis and Clark era) that mentioned the Sweet Grass Hills in one, and the Milk River breaks in the other. I no longer have the documents saved anywhere.

[landowner]

Lots of people don’t realize how vast some of our southern coulees are.
I’d like to see it tried. Not sure what the locals would think. Sustenance hunters might be an issue, with the right rules maybe not.

Is it that much different than the Fraser River , populations of sheep live in those breaks .

[Esox]

Is it that much different than the Fraser River , populations of sheep live in those breaks .

and those populations are extremely struggling due to things such as M.Ovi

[SLH]

Rottie has posted one. At one point, researching a project, I came across journal entries from two separate early explorers (around the Lewis and Clark era) that mentioned the Sweet Grass Hills in one, and the Milk River breaks in the other. I no longer have the documents saved anywhere.

Thanks if you come across those journals pass them along, some of those journals are incredible. Rotties post is interesting too, I know where a copy of that once lived, I'll have to see if its still there.

[Grizzly Adams]

Thanks if you come across those journals pass them along, some of those journals are incredible. Rotties post is interesting too, I know where a copy of that once lived, I'll have to see if its still there.


Mentioned somewhere in here. I didn't have time to find it.

https://arc.lib.montana.edu/ivan-doig/objects/2602-B043-F05.pdf


Grizz

[Bushrat]

Is it that much different than the Fraser River , populations of sheep live in those breaks .

The canyon sheep in BC from Williams lake down to Lytton and Beyond and upriver along the Thompson river canyon to Kamloops lake and area do quite well feeding on the flats and are not bothered that much by poachers and seem to handle predators reasonably well as the have immense escape cover up into the mountains and extremely steep and deep canyons where predators cannot navigate unlike the red deer and milk river valleys. They wander around alfalfa fields, school yards and native reserves, poaching or sustenance hunting is a minor factor there. What they are suffering from is contact with domestic sheep and have had many large die offs because of it.

Thinking sheep on the Milk river and Red Deer river would do fine if adequate management were provided and domestic sheep removed from the area. Historically they were in the Milk river and would be surprised if they were not in the Red Deer river Valley also.

[SLH]

Mentioned somewhere in here. I didn't have time to find it.

https://arc.lib.montana.edu/ivan-doig/objects/2602-B043-F05.pdf


Grizz

Thank you very much, that will be great reading. Two sheep references already and I just skimmed the first couple pages.

I had the oppurtunity to sit and have coffee with Dr. Dormaar on more than a few occasions. He was a very nice person, eccentric as hell and loved SE Alberta. He has at least one other small publication on vision quest sites in SE Alberta that is very interesting and very much connected to the Sweetgrass Hills.

Thanks again.

[bdub]

This X10. Seeing the quality of sheep in the parks and protected areas is really an eyeopener. We could have that all over with the proper management.

What do you think the answer is?

Full curl restrictions? I'd vote for that BUT I've seen sheep that are so heavily broomed they would never reach full curl. Full curl OR broomed might be an option?

I think we need to stop killing young rams. I would prefer to see it done via a change to the horn size requirements because it is a better solution opportunity wise than draw.


I don't think the answer has anything to do with outfitters. Do you? I would like to see the comparison of resident to non resident tags filled each year.

That data is easily found. Don't quote me, but If I recall they take about 40 year and have around 80+ allocations. Lots of past threads on here with links to a ton of info. The outfitters are not in favor of a change in curl restrictions as they would have a hard time selling hunts for a while. It's not very economically appealing to them. Residents would also suffer lower success.

bdub, what are your thoughts on predator impact? Should they make you earn your tag for the next year by registering a wolf or cougar first?

Would love to see wolves/cats get thinned right out. I'm definitely not opposed to poisoning or helicopter culling, incentives for harvesting predators.

The third leg of the stool. Habitat improvement via fire should would make a big difference.




Back to OP,
So far as sheep in the badlands. I don't think they would last long at all. Between the sustenance hunters and all the new sustenance hunters... Good luck.

...

[marky_mark]

The canyon sheep in BC from Williams lake down to Lytton and Beyond and upriver along the Thompson river canyon to Kamloops lake and area do quite well feeding on the flats and are not bothered that much by poachers and seem to handle predators reasonably well as the have immense escape cover up into the mountains and extremely steep and deep canyons where predators cannot navigate unlike the red deer and milk river valleys. They wander around alfalfa fields, school yards and native reserves, poaching or sustenance hunting is a minor factor there. What they are suffering from is contact with domestic sheep and have had many large die offs because of it.

Thinking sheep on the Milk river and Red Deer river would do fine if adequate management were provided and domestic sheep removed from the area. Historically they were in the Milk river and would be surprised if they were not in the Red Deer river Valley also.

Was in Kamloops today
The terrain is nowhere near the same as anything on the alberta praires

[Bushrat]

Was in Kamloops today
The terrain is nowhere near the same as anything on the alberta praires

In my first paragraph I note the differences in terrain in my reply to Landowners quote.

[marky_mark]

In my first paragraph I note the differences in terrain in my reply to Landowners quote.

👍 I skimmed it a little too fast.. oops

Seen some rams
I’ll post a couple pics

[marky_mark]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210203/5dc1638e8813dc9c1b902a6d5b5afe37.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210203/0ba8e05013ce94d75740bdf5dc2712dc.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210203/d2cb590bdec902b295adc0550a329763.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210203/a70e1f2731340c6333dd5236a4a04c7f.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210203/dce359dc09c56e4a8e766bc691c07b7d.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Larry.S]

I’m all for this idea but can’t help but wonder why there seems to be very few sheep in the front ranges...if they can’t cut it in the Liv, etc then I don’t suspect there’s mud hole of them surviving further East/in the prairie.

[H380]

Can forget the idea of putting sheep back in the prairies, take a look at the antelope and the difficulty they are having and they have much more suitable terrain and habitat than a mere river valley or 2 that sheep would like .

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

[oldgutpile]

This may be a bit off topic, but I honestly think these are things to consider if we want to see a healthy herd recover. Myself, I would love to see sheep in the badlands and with fewer predators, I think they would do well there. Domestic sheep are something I never see in these spots and I wasnt aware that beef animals would create an issue other than competition for grazing. As much as I would like to see it happen, I am with the crowd that is in favor of managing the existing herds before we spread them thinner into a new area.
Maybe it's time to put the resource on draw. I realize that everyone likes the idea of an over the counter tag for Albertans, but at some point reality needs to set in.
There are certain areas where there seems to be as many sheep hunters as sheep, and the first time a ram breaks the barrier for legal, he's dead!
Other options like increasing the time between successful harvest should be considered. Some people have their honey holes and kill multiple sheep over their lifetime.

[Pioneer2]

So are Canadians just such a bunch of poachers that we arent even interested in trying? Thats sad. Maybe we’d be surprised? Or maybe ranchers would cry foul and we’d have to kill them all?

When they introduced Wt deer to PEI........the locals shot them all out.

[cowmanbob]

This may be a bit off topic, but I honestly think these are things to consider if we want to see a healthy herd recover. Myself, I would love to see sheep in the badlands and with fewer predators, I think they would do well there. Domestic sheep are something I never see in these spots and I wasnt aware that beef animals would create an issue other than competition for grazing. As much as I would like to see it happen, I am with the crowd that is in favor of managing the existing herds before we spread them thinner into a new area.
Maybe it's time to put the resource on draw. I realize that everyone likes the idea of an over the counter tag for Albertans, but at some point reality needs to set in.
There are certain areas where there seems to be as many sheep hunters as sheep, and the first time a ram breaks the barrier for legal, he's dead!
Other options like increasing the time between successful harvest should be considered. Some people have their honey holes and kill multiple sheep over their lifetime.

Great ideas here. The barely legal ram can not be called a trophy by any stretch of the imagination. Hunters should pass on these and keep on looking.

[Grizzly Adams]

Great ideas here. The barely legal ram can not be called a trophy by any stretch of the imagination. Hunters should pass on these and keep on looking

Sheep Hunting is such a competitive business, this ain't gonna happen. Any legal ram is a trophy.

Grizz

[bdub]

Great ideas here. The barely legal ram can not be called a trophy by any stretch of the imagination. Hunters should pass on these and keep on looking.


Sheep hunters are not selective in the rams they harvest. 50% of all sheep registered come from first-time hunters. Small, squeaker rams are being harvested as the first sheep. Sheep hunters may say they harvest a small legal ram as a first sheep, and then set their goal for a more mature sheep. The reality is that <25% of sheep hunters harvest a second or third ram.
info wsfa

[buckbrush]

Bdub, thanks for your input and answers to my questions. It's obvious you've put a lot of thought and research into the subject.

[bdub]

Bdub, thanks for your input and answers to my questions. It's obvious you've put a lot of thought and research into the subject.

No problem bb. When they proposed changes back in 2015 or so it caused a huge debate between the guys who wanted to maintain the status quo and those hoping for something better.

[marky_mark]

Sheep hunters are not selective in the rams they harvest. 50% of all sheep registered come from first-time hunters. Small, squeaker rams are being harvested as the first sheep. Sheep hunters may say they harvest a small legal ram as a first sheep, and then set their goal for a more mature sheep. The reality is that <25% of sheep hunters harvest a second or third ram.
info wsfa

So what makes you think that seasoned sheep hunters aren’t being selective?
You pretty much proved that they are
If 50% of all the rams shot are all squeakers from first time hunters
That’s a huge indication that the seasoned hunters aren’t shooting these rams
A veteran sheep hunter doesn’t have to shoot one every second year

Let em go
Let em grow

I’ve never shot a bighorn but I had a chance this year to shoot a squeaker but passed it and spent the rest of the trip looking for an old tank that we caught a glimpse of from 1000 yards away

[marky_mark]

Bob’s killed a lot of rams and what he says is true

A squeaker ram isn’t a trophy

Shooting a barely legal anything isnt a trophy
No matter how good you are at taking pictures

[sage 13]

Great ideas here. The barely legal ram can not be called a trophy by any stretch of the imagination. Hunters should pass on these and keep on looking.

Some interesting views on this thread so if you are hunting a full curl area for dall sheep and there is a deep curled ram that just makes full curl by 1/8th inch so barely legal but because of the deep curl is 42inches long and has good weight he is only 7 years old and scores 173 5/8ths should it have been passed on for it was barely legal.

[cowmanbob]

Actually I was referring to the 6 year old bighorns that maybe measure 30 inches. A deep curled broomed off ram would be a great trophy Even if he was just legal

[calgarychef]

Actually I was referring to the 6 year old bighorns that maybe measure 30 inches. A deep curled broomed off ram would be a great trophy Even if he was just legal


Yup

[bdub]

So what makes you think that seasoned sheep hunters aren’t being selective?
You pretty much proved that they are
If 50% of all the rams shot are all squeakers from first time hunters
That’s a huge indication that the seasoned hunters aren’t shooting these rams
A veteran sheep hunter doesn’t have to shoot one every second year

Let em go
Let em grow

I’ve never shot a bighorn but I had a chance this year to shoot a squeaker but passed it and spent the rest of the trip looking for an old tank that we caught a glimpse of from 1000 yards away

Out of the rams registered in a year, 50% would be from first timers, residents. 40 rams is the average from outfitters which pretty much are all squeakers, and the remainder are from guys going for their second or third or? So yeah, overall sheep hunters are not selective. Overall sheep hunters still kill young squeakers. Thats how it is.

The information posted has nothing to do about me saying seasoned sheep hunters are not being selective. It was presented by wsfa, direct quote.

[Grizzly Adams]

Actually I was referring to the 6 year old bighorns that maybe measure 30 inches. A deep curled broomed off ram would be a great trophy Even if he was just legal


You know what Really Hurts ? Having to pass on a ram like that because he's broomed off to not being legal , Both sides. :lol:

Grizz

[marky_mark]

Out of the rams registered in a year, 50% would be from first timers, residents. 40 rams is the average from outfitters which pretty much are all squeakers, and the remainder are from guys going for their second or third or? So yeah, overall sheep hunters are not selective. Overall sheep hunters still kill young squeakers. Thats how it is.

The information posted has nothing to do about me saying seasoned sheep hunters are not being selective. It was presented by wsfa, direct quote.

It’s all the way you interpret it

The experience sheep hunters are still hunting
They just aren’t killing
They are waiting and hoping for the rams to survive the slaughter when they are barely legal for harvest

There needs to be a change that protects the younger rams and allows for the old broomed off warriors to be taken

[bdub]

It’s all the way you interpret it

The experience sheep hunters are still hunting
They just aren’t killing
They are waiting and hoping for the rams to survive the slaughter when they are barely legal for harvest

There needs to be a change that protects the younger rams and allows for the old broomed off warriors to be taken

Ok. Interpret however you like.

Yes, we’re still hunting. Still looking and enjoying the experience.

Yes. We need change. Been arguing for that for years.

[walking buffalo]

On topic,

According to some old documents that are not available online, and not overly scientific, Bighorns did historically exist in the Sweetgrass and Cypress Hills and the Milk River.
The same population of sheep may have ranged between these areas.

An effort to re-establish Bighorns to this range was pushed by the WSFAb a few years ago, but after quite a bit of work, was abandoned due to disease issue conflicts with agriculture.

We got pretty close to making this happen.
Maybe another effort would get us closer....

[H380]

On topic,



According to some old documents that are not available online, and not overly scientific, Bighorns did historically exist in the Sweetgrass and Cypress Hills and the Milk River.

The same population of sheep may have ranged between these areas.



An effort to re-establish Bighorns to this range was pushed by the WSFAb a few years ago, but after quite a bit of work, was abandoned due to disease issue conflicts with agriculture.



We got pretty close to making this happen.

Maybe another effort would get us closer....On the other hand bud,the govt couldnt afford to put the windmill aerators in a local trophy trout lake for this winter, how much more would it cost to restock sheep ?

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[Grizzly Adams]

On the other hand bud,the govt couldnt afford to put the windmill aerators in a local trophy trout lake for this winter, how much more would it cost to restock sheep ?

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk


REMF was responsible for distributing elk as far as Ontario. No government funding involved.

Grizz

[walking buffalo]

On the other hand bud,the govt couldnt afford to put the windmill aerators in a local trophy trout lake for this winter, how much more would it cost to restock sheep ?

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

I understand your frustration with the aerators, but I fail to see the correlation.

I'm sure that if the province allowed Fishing advocates to pay for and run the aerators, the private funding could be achieved.
Same goes for the sheep.

[cacty]

On topic,

According to some old documents that are not available online, and not overly scientific, Bighorns did historically exist in the Sweetgrass and Cypress Hills and the Milk River.
The same population of sheep may have ranged between these areas.

An effort to re-establish Bighorns to this range was pushed by the WSFAb a few years ago, but after quite a bit of work, was abandoned due to disease issue conflicts with agriculture.

We got pretty close to making this happen.
Maybe another effort would get us closer....

I've spent a considerable amount of time researching the Cypress Hills as it is my backyard and I've never run across anything regarding bighorn sheep in the hills. I'm not saying you are wrong so please do not attack me. Thank you.

[marky_mark]

I've spent a considerable amount of time researching the Cypress Hills as it is my backyard and I've never run across anything regarding bighorn sheep in the hills. I'm not saying you are wrong so please do not attack me. Thank you.

Pretty sure no one is attacking you

[urban rednek]

On topic,

According to some old documents that are not available online, and not overly scientific, Bighorns did historically exist in the Sweetgrass and Cypress Hills and the Milk River.
The same population of sheep may have ranged between these areas.

An effort to re-establish Bighorns to this range was pushed by the WSFAb a few years ago, but after quite a bit of work, was abandoned due to disease issue conflicts with agriculture.

We got pretty close to making this happen.
Maybe another effort would get us closer....

I've spent a considerable amount of time researching the Cypress Hills as it is my backyard and I've never run across anything regarding bighorn sheep in the hills. I'm not saying you are wrong so please do not attack me. Thank you.
The following 2 quotes are from the "Prairie Bighorn Sheep" thread, from February 2011.
Link to thread: http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=83445
Yah, I know a bit about the area's settlement years. I am fortunate to know a few ranching families that survived the winter of 1906.

I have a book ( or had, may have lent it out) that has accounts of the last Audubon Bighorns in the Cypress Hills, from the very early 1800's.
Thats cool, I had no idea and my wife works down there with the Gov and she had never heard such a thing either. It is crazy to think of all the different species that were around before "we" came into this country.
No resolution/confirmation in the intervening 10 years between these threads? Even a partial recollection of the name of the book or the author would help.

Link to a similar thread on this subject: http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=65549

Found these references to sheep in the Sweetgrass Hills in the link provided in Post #35 in this thread:
Page 5- Fidler's Chester.field House, closed in 1802, reopened in 1822. In November of that year a trader named John E. Haniott ( 1860;
MacGregor 1978) visited the Sweetgrass Hills, climbed one of them and shot a Rocky Mountain sheep.

Page 10-The Sweetgrass Hills were well-known for the presence of a wide variety of game, such as mountain sheep, bison (Bison bison
bison L.) and pronghorn (Anti/ocapra americana Ort.) (finkman 1855; Harriott 1860; Ewers 1950; Dempsey 1971; Bonnichsen .
and Baldwin 1978).
A journal entry by Lieutenant Francis Vinton Greene (187 4) commented on the presence of mountain sheep in the Sweetgrass
Hills - "The Sweetgrass Hills were quite full of the Rocky Mountain sheep. They are about as large as a large deer, of a light dun color and have immense horns shaped like those of a goat A pair that Lieut. Townsend got were four inches in diameter at the base and 28 inches long. Their hair is in texture almost exactly like that of an antelope and altogether they seem to be a mixture of goat, sheep, deer and antelope. They have a great fondness
for running up rocky hills, but are not difficult to kill; by climbing the ridges and then approaching through brush, one can get very close to them, and when disturbed they always ran up hill. The meat is very good though the mutton taste is not very distinct."
It should be clarified, however, that the sheep present in the Sweetgrass Hills before the arrival of the settlers were the now extinct subspecies of mountain sheep (Ovis canadensis auduboni Merriam) or Audubon's bighorn sheep. It is not known when the last Audubon's bighorn passed from the scene, but small herds may still have been in the Sweetgrass Hills as late as the 1920s (Thompson 1986).
Not too hard to believe that Audubon Sheep could have inhabited similar terrain around the Sweetgrass Hills.

Interesting write up on the Cypress Hills from a 1954 article in MacLean's: https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1954/3/1/in-the-lost-world-of-cypress-hills

[Talking moose]

That Maclean’s article ^ is very interesting!

[Grizzly Adams]

That Maclean’s article ^ is very interesting!

And according to Lewis and Clarke, the Grizzlies were thick around present day Great Falls.

Grizz

[TrapperMike]

That’s why the elk are doing so good, they were native to the prairie.

[JReed]

On topic,

According to some old documents that are not available online, and not overly scientific, Bighorns did historically exist in the Sweetgrass and Cypress Hills and the Milk River.
The same population of sheep may have ranged between these areas.

An effort to re-establish Bighorns to this range was pushed by the WSFAb a few years ago, but after quite a bit of work, was abandoned due to disease issue conflicts with agriculture.

We got pretty close to making this happen.
Maybe another effort would get us closer....

This info is from the book “Home of the Bighorn” by Ken Nowicki, I just finished reading it. I wonder where Ken got that information from. So bizarre how this thread popped up as I was wondering about the viability of Badlands Bighorns too.

Thanks for posting the McLeans article, being from that area, the history of the Cypress hills blows my mind

[MountainTi]

That’s why the elk are doing so good, they were native to the prairie.

Add to that no wolves, bears, or cats. Also private land so no year round hunting