Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
45
H o w t r a c k i n g c o l l a r s
h e l p d e c i s i o n m a k i n g
Since the 1990s, Nebraska Game and Parks has placed
tracking collars on a variety of species — including big
horn sheep, mountain lions, elk and mule deer — to help
us better understand and manage them.
GPS tracking collars collect valuable information about
an animal's location, habitat use, movements, and its
death. It allows us to see what other populations they
share resources with and how populations in one area
may influence another.In the past year, we have seen
elk and antelope move 70-100 miles in a short span of
time and observed a mountain lion travel 600 miles from
northern Nebraska to central Illinois. These collars give
us a snapshot into the lives of species that otherwise
would remain unknown.
In 2023, we plan to expand the use of this important
technology to our wild turkey population in northwest
and southwest Nebraska.
N e w c o l l a r s b o o s t b i g h o r n
s h e e p m o n i t o r i n g e f f o r t s
Nebraska Game and Parks is better able to monitor the health,
movements and distribution of bighorn sheep in the Wildcat Hills
thanks to a research project completed in September. With the
help of a helicopter capture crew, Game and Parks — assisted
by partners and volunteers — placed tracking collars and
identification tags on 27 sheep and also collected tissue samples.
The bighorn sheep of Nebraska, which were reintroduced to
the Pine Ridge in the 1980s and later the Wildcat Hills, have long
suffered disease losses stemming from mycoplasma bacteria, just
as they have in other states. The bacteria causes severe illnesses
and die-offs among herds. Collaring efforts allow monitoring of the
animals that provide vital data that can be used to find solutions to
the issue.
Conservation partners, including the Wild Sheep Foundation,
Iowa Foundation of North American Wild Sheep, Nebraska Big
Game Society and Platte River Basin Environments fund, the
majority of this project research.
A collection of
GPS points in
close proximity
received from a
mountain lion
tracking collar
Bighorn sheep capture
at Cedar Canyon WMA
