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Sheep tag brings in $76,000 By MARK FREEMAN A 78-year-old Florida man bid $76,000 for the right to hunt a bighorn sheep anywhere in Oregon this year. Donald F. Cox was the top bidder for the Oregon bighorn sheep tag during a Feb. 5 auction. The auction took place in Reno as part of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep annual convention. Cox's tag will allow him to hunt either a California or Rocky Mountain bighorn ram in any Oregon hunting unit open to sheep hunting. His bid eclipsed the $87,500 top bid fetched by the Oregon tag last year. Each year, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife auctions off one sheep tag to raise money for bighorn sheep management and research projects. Money from last year's auction was used to fund some of the bighorn sheep trapping, transplanting and genetic research going on this month in remote stretches of the Western states as well as Canada. Last week, 13 California bighorn rams trapped in Nevada were released into the Steens Mountain area. Later this week, another 20 bighorns will be trapped in the Steens as part of the ODFW's genetic research on the sheep. Also, 30 California bighorns will be transplanted from the John Day River drainage in Eastern Oregon to remote sheep habitat in Idaho, and 40 more Rocky Mountain bighorns will be trapped in Alberta, Canada, and shipped to the Wallowa Mountains as part of the Hells Canyon Initiative efforts to bolster bighorn herds there. The trapping and transplanting efforts are part of an overall program that seeks to move bighorns from well-seeded habitat into remote areas either suitable for sheep herds and not yet used or in areas where the habitat can withstand more sheep. Oregon was one of many states and Canadian provinces to offer bighorn sheep tags to bidders at the FNAWS convention. Bid prices ranged from $30,000 for the right to hunt an Alaskan Dall sheep to $172,000 for the chance to shoot any bighorn species in British Columbia. The auction sold 19 sheep tags and raised $1.4 million. In addition to the sheep tag, Oregon also auctioned off the opportunity to venture into rugged Saddle Butte in southeast Oregon and build a water cistern, commonly called a guzzler, to provide a year-round water supply for bighorns and other species. Wayne Knapp, of Syracuse, N.Y., bid $5,000 and won the opportunity. Knapp bid $3,000 last year for a similar project here. Oregon will raffle off one bighorn sheep tag for 2000 during the May 20 state convention of the Oregon Hunters Association. (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470 or e-mail him at [email protected] ) Outdoor Journal Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Mail Tribune � 2000 -- Medford, Oregon USA