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Wildlife Species Guide
Bighorn Sheep
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Prior to the 1900s, the Audubon bighorn sheep inhabited parts of western Nebraska
including the Wildcat Hills, the Pine Ridge, along the North Platte River to eastern
Lincoln County, and along the Niobrara River. It is thought that the Audubon bighorn
probably became extinct in the early 1900s with its last stronghold being the South Dakota
badlands.
In 1981, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, with the help of the North American
Wild Sheep Foundation and the Nebraska Chapter of Safari Club International, began a
bighorn sheep introduction project in the Pine Ridge. A dozen bighorns were released into
a 500 acre enclosure at Fort Robinson State Park near Crawford where they could be viewed
by visitors.
In December, 1988, 21 sheep were released from the pen and in January, 1993, the
remaining 23 sheep were released. Nebraska's bighorn sheep population is now estimated to
be between 70 and 80 animals. A few sheep, mostly rams, have ranged from the Fort Robinson
complex as far east as the Bordeaux Creek drainage southeast of Chadron, south near
Belmont, west near the Gilbert-Baker Wildlife Management Area and north in the Oglala
grasslands.
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