The Division of Wildlife Resources hosted a desert big horn sheep watch last Saturday. Brent Stettler from the DWR said, “We had about a 100 sheep watchers attend the Bighorn Sheep Watch. It appeared to me that the majority came from the Wasatch Front. Although we had SUVs, so that participants could ride with us, most wanted to drive their own vehicles. As it turned out, we ended up with a caravan of 20 or more vehicles.
“Sheep presence and behavior were different than we had expected. They may have finished rutting activity early, or may have responded to the unusually mild weather. whatever the reason, they had returned to high country.
“We expected to see as many as 100 along the river. In fact, our spotter counted that many five days before the event. However, by the day prior to the event, very few were counted.
“On Saturday, we saw about a dozen. All of them were high on the rocky slopes and were at a considerable distance from our participants. Spotting them was a real challenge. Most of us needed spotting scopes for a good look at them,” said Stettler.
The Big Horn Sheep Watch is an annual event in southeastern Utah. The bighorn sheep is native to the northern San Rafael Swell. About 40 animals were reintroduced in the 1970s. This planting was part of the statewide management plan by the DWR.
The sheep that came here were from the San Juan unit.
Sheep are very difficult to manage, they are a very sensitive species and prone to disease. Sheep cover a lot of ground and have a large home range.
The habitat in Emery County is great for desert bighorn sheep and the population right now is well below what the range could sustain (the carrying capacity).
When the herd was larger in the early 2000s there wasn’t a problem with habitat. The sheep were well dispersed throughout the area from the Reef to Eagle Canyon.
DWR hosts big horn sheep watching event
"The big horn sheep herd is on the rebound after a period of die off from disease."