sheep dash

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A helicopter crew from New Zealand spent Tuesday and Wednesday capturing bighorn sheep on a Flathead Lake island and transporting the blindfolded animals to shore, where state wildlife officials prepared them to be trucked to a wildlife management area near Libby.

The crew captured 21 sheep Tuesday, including 12 ewes, six rams and three lambs.

"Our goal is to have about 40, so we're a little over halfway," said John Fraley, spokesman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks regional office in Kalispell.

Pilot Steve Collins of Rotorua, New Zealand, maneuvered the helicopter over Wild Horse Island so net gunner Jonathan Rowe could fire a net and capture the sheep.
Collins used cracker shells and a siren to get the sheep to dash out into the open. Once a sheep is netted, "muggers" jump from the helicopter, hogtie the animal, blindfold it, pull off the net and tie a two-piece bag around its body so it can be transported.

The blindfolded, bagged sheep hang from the helicopter, which flies them across the lake to Big Arm State Park, where volunteers check their health, give them shots and fit them with ear tags before putting them in a trailer for transport to the Kootenai Falls Wildlife Management Area west of Libby.

The Wild Horse Island bighorn sheep herd numbered about 150, but a herd size of 100 is better for the 2,156-acre island.

Pathfinder Helicopter Wildlife Management, based in Salt Lake City, is paid $650 per sheep moved.


Steve Collins prepares to lower two bighorn sheep to the ground at Big Arm State Park on Flathead Lake after transporting the animals from Wildhorse Island on Tuesday. Because the herd on the island exceeds what Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks estimates can be sustained, some sheep are being captured and transplanted to the Libby area.