In Texas, about 50% of the bighorn sheep population was decimated in the last five years due to disease, biologists say.

Volunteers with the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep install a rain collection system and artificial water source for bighorn sheep in California’s Cady Mountains in October 2024.

Bighorn sheep were introduced into North Dakota’s Badlands in 1956, and after a few ups and downs over the years, the population is doing well.

Last fall, biologists captured dozens of bighorn sheep from the only disease-free herd left in Texas. Did it work? Jason ...

“The bighorn sheep are such an iconic species for the California desert.” Thompson said the chance to see “a really amazing animal” is part of what draws visitors to the area.

The Bighorn Sheep totals were up 4% from last year's totals, which was also a record-setting year. (iStock) Some areas of the state did see a decline in the bighorn sheep population, however.

Desert bighorn sheep, Nevada’s state animal, once populated the state in the tens of thousands. But with Western settlement, their populations shrunk with excessive hunting and human encroachment.

Today, the chance to hunt a bighorn sheep is Utah’s most coveted tag, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity awarded to only 1 in about 283 applicants in 2012. Last year, hunters harvested 82 bighorn ...

About 50% of the state's bighorn sheep population was decimated in the last five years due to disease, said Froylán Hernández ...