Auction, Drawing Bighorn Tags Released

Meeting in Stanley July 8-10, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission approved the release of one bighorn tag for auction and one for the annual drawing in 2006. The Commission began releasing the auction tag in 1988 and the drawing tag in 1992. The tags are marketed by the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (FNAWS). The auction tag is sold at the annual FNAWS convention, where it went for $180,000-the highest ever-in 2005. The other tag goes to the winner of a drawing for which FNAWS Idaho Chapter sells tickets. Funds from the auction go to expanding Idaho's bighorn herds while most of the money from the drawing pays for wild sheep health research at the Idaho wildlife health lab in Caldwell.