BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - An annual survey has concluded that North Dakota’s bighorn sheep population is stable.
The Game and Fish Department says the March survey revealed a minimum of 293 bighorns in western North Dakota, virtually unchanged from the previous count of 297 last summer.
Biologists counted 85 rams, 159 ewes and 49 lambs. Not included in the count are 24 sheep introduced from Alberta, Canada, in February, and about 30 bighorns in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Big game biologist Brett Wiedmann says the count in the northern badlands was the highest on record, but the southern badlands population declined 15 percent.
Game and Fish has allocated five bighorn sheep hunting licenses for 2014, one more than last year.
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