Years of planning paid off when CPW dropped a net on bighorn sheep and relocated them to a remote canyon in a major wildlife conservation project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Bill Vogrin
Southeast Region Public Information Officer
719-466-3927 / [email protected]

Feb. 9, 2022

Two years of preparation pays off in historic bighorn sheep herd restoration

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – When Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff dropped a 70-by-70 foot net over two dozen bighorn sheep on Tuesday, it climaxed two years of planning to restore a historic herd decimated by disease.

And as 60 or so CPW wildlife officers, biologists, staff and volunteers pounced on the sheep to subdue them, free them from the net and prepare them for transport, they were following in the footsteps of their predecessors who, in 1944, became the first wildlife agency in the U.S. to successfully capture bighorn sheep for relocation in a major advance for wildlife conservation.

The bighorn sheep under the net were members of the Rampart herd that lives in an old quarry on the west edge of Colorado Springs near its famous Garden of the Gods park.

The 21 bighorns ultimately selected for relocation were placed in trailers, trucked about 90 minutes south and then flown by helicopter to remote Beaver Creek Canyon near Victor in Teller County in an effort to reestablish a robust herd in an area that historically held a high number of bighorn sheep. 

The CPW team had dropped the net as the bighorns munched on apple pulp used to lure them into the trap set amid stunning red rock outcropping.

Over the next 90 minutes, the CPW team worked to blindfold and restrict the legs of the bighorns as they carefully untangled them from the net, all the while being careful to avoid pointed horns and sharp hooves. 

The bighorns were then sedated and assessed for overall health and signs of disease by CPW veterinarians. Each received an ear tag and some were fitted for radio transmitting collars before being loaded in a trailer for shipment to Beaver Creek State Wildlife Area near Penrose in Fremont County.

That’s where they were loaded into bright orange pouches and attached to a helicopter sling line for a 10-minute ride into the rugged Beaver Creek Canyon.

It was all part of CPW’s ongoing mission to re-establish native species in their historic habitat.

Bighorn sheep get special attention as large, charismatic mammals that were on the brink of extinction in the 1880s due to disease and market hunting. A ban on market hunting for sheep 1885 helped protect the few hundred remaining bighorns but the species needed extra help to rebound.

It took four years before biologists succeeded in 1944 in capturing 27 bighorn sheep, luring them with alfalfa, salt blocks and apple pulp into a 1½ -acre corral built with 16-foot-high fences in a narrow canyon at Tarryall Reservoir in South Park.

Eventually, Tarryall bighorn sheep were used to re-establish herds across Colorado including above Georgetown, in Glenwood Canyon and, by accident, near the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

The Rampart bighorn sheep originally were destined for release on Pikes Peak. But the truck carrying them from Tarryall in 1946 broke down in Green Mountain Falls. So the drivers simply released the 14 sheep on board, hoping they would head up the mountain. Instead, they found their way north and east to the Rampart Range.

The capture and relocation conservation project worked so well that the statewide population rebounded to an estimated 3,500 sheep in 1953, making it the largest herd in the U.S. Hunting resumed a year later. Today, CPW estimates there are about 7,000 sheep in Colorado in 80 or so herds. Of them, 18 are historic herds that have not been supplemented by relocated sheep.

“Bighorn sheep transplants from Tarryall in the 1940s were the foundation of us recovering the species,” said Ty Woodward, CPW terrestrial biologist for the Pikes Peak region. “We wouldn’t have the herds we have today across Colorado without the work of those conservation pioneers re-establishing those sheep in their historic ranges. We are proud to be carrying on that tradition for today’s Colorado residents and for future generations.”

Of course, there are no guarantees the relocation will work. Bighorn sheep are susceptible to pneumonia and other diseases. 

But with any luck, they will be as resilient as the original Rampart herd. Not only did that first 14 sheep survive being stranded in a broken-down transport truck, they escaped near disaster that night when they congregated on the tracks of the Colorado Midland Railroad as an ore train approached.

In fact, a ram was killed in the collision, but the 13 survivors went on to settle in above Colorado Springs where today’s herd numbers 130  and ranks as one of the most prolific in the state. At least the Beaver Creek Canyon herd won't have to dodge any ore trains.

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Here’s a link to video of the bighorn sheep being airlifted by helicopter into Beaver Creek Canyon: https://twitter.com/CPW_SE/status/1491550347520724992

Here’s a link to video of CPW terrestrial biologist Ty Woodward talking about the bighorn sheep capture and relocation: https://twitter.com/CPW_SE/status/1491550256680423426

Here’s a link to video of bighorn sheep being released after their capture under the net: https://twitter.com/CPW_SE/status/1491550212204089348

Here’s a link to video of the CPW army and the capture of bighorn sheep: https://twitter.com/CPW_SE/status/1491550063482454019

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All photos and videos are courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife / Bill Vogrin