During this weekend’s meeting of the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners, big game tag ratios are expected to be determined.  Notably, the number of ewe tags for Nevada’s 2014 big game season will be set.

 

 

State wildlife biologists are expected to recommend issuing approximately 100 tags for the ewe hunt, with a projected 15 tags for California bighorns in the North, and 85 tags for Desert bighorns in the South.

 

 

The newly authorized Nevada hunt was adopted in part to the tremendous success of bighorn sheep restoration efforts in the latter part of the 1960’s.  Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) biologists have determined that since the introduction of the species, bighorn populations have quadrupled in size from approximately 3,000 to 11,000.

 

 

NDOW has attempted multiple translocation efforts (including to Nevada’s neighboring state of Utah), however translocation of the sheep have been complicated by the  discovery of bacterial disease in Southern bighorn populations.

 

 

 

In addition to the significant surge in numbers and disease, the Nevada bighorn population is being further stressed by drought conditions and fewer areas of sustainable habitat.

 

 

 

As a last resort, NDOW has taken action to sustain the herd by adopting the new ewe hunts for 2014.   Looks for the hunts in units 212, 213, 268, and 068.