Remembering the first modern bighorn hunt in North Dakota 50 years later

Editor’s note: As we close out 2025, it’s 50 years since North Dakota’s first modern bighorn sheep hunt. Tim Felchle, born and raised in central North Dakota, was one of 12 lucky hunters to receive one of the once-in-a-lifetime licenses. This is his story. Felchle now lives in Billings, Mont.

State lawmakers passed Senate Bill 2210 a half-century ago, which opened the door for the first modern-day bighorn sheep hunting season in North Dakota.

The 12 once-in-a-lifetime licenses were issued by lottery and those fortunate to draw were required to be accompanied by a game warden or other Game and Fish Department personnel to make certain each hunter harvested a legal-sized ram.

During the summer of 1975, I remember sitting in our apartment filling out my application to beat the June 30 deadline. Game and Fish Department officials indicated the drawing would be held in early November and all successful applicants would be notified by Nov. 14.

As the odds would be high, I told my wife getting drawn would be like finding a needle in a haystack. More than 2,800 hunters applied.

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Because the Game and Fish Department didn’t have a computer capable of holding such a large, random drawing, the drawing was conducted by Central Data Processing located in the State Highway Department building.

I was working as an inspector on a construction site in early November when the drawing was held. I was unaware that the Game and Fish Department had moved up the drawing about a week earlier.

My field supervisor drove up and congratulated me for being able to go sheep hunting in North Dakota. I told him I would soon know as the drawing was originally scheduled for Nov. 14. But he said he had just heard my name announced on the radio along with 11 other successful applicants. On the way home, I listened to the radio and, yes, my name was announced.

When I got home, my wife was wondering why I was so happy, thinking I must have had a good day at work. I asked her if she had heard the good news on the radio and she hadn’t.

About that time the phone started ringing off the hook from people calling and congratulating me. North Dakota’s congressional members, various news media, numerous friends and relatives and even taxidermists contacted me. It was a very exciting and special time.

I later received a letter from the Game and Fish indicating there would be an orientation and informational meeting to inform all 12 hunters about the history and habits of bighorn sheep in the badlands. The letter also requested $7 for my license fee.

The area we could hunt was subdivided into four separate hunting units. Every hunter was required to hunt in their respective unit during the first weekend, and after that all hunters were allowed to hunt anywhere. I was required to hunt in unit B2. At first, I was a little disappointed because that unit appeared to be the smallest, however, it held the most bighorn sheep.

At that meeting, each hunter was introduced to the Game and Fish representative who would accompany them. Wilmer Pich, boat safety specialist, was assigned to me. Game and Fish personnel also discussed procedures on how to collect, save and return biological data and tissue samples from the harvested sheep.

I traveled to Belfield on Nov. 27. The hunting season started the next day and would run through Dec. 7. That evening we discussed meeting early the next morning before heading out for the noon opener. Another hunter had spotted several sheep in my unit the day before. They circled the area on our map, and that was soon to be the area we would go first.

After securing permission from three landowners, Wilmer was taking notes on everything, including the type of gun and ammunition and where we were hunting.

We took an access road near Sully Creek. While glassing, we spotted several grazing, including several legal-sized rams. Another hunter viewing the same herd said there was only one legal-sized ram. Wilmer and I thought he was deceiving us.

We hiked along the creek until just below the animals. Once on the slope, I picked out one of the rams and pulled the trigger. I missed. I fired a second shot and hit him. The ram ran into a small ravine where I then fired again, and he dropped instantly.

Wilmer looked at me and said I may very well be the first hunter to shoot a bighorn ram in North Dakota’s first legal bighorn sheep hunting season. He was correct. It was 11:22 a.m. (MST).

Back at the hotel, another hunter asked what time I shot my sheep. I told him 22 minutes after the season opened. He had harvested his ram 45 minutes after. I felt sorry for him, but we were both happy to have harvested a ram.

Before reaching home, I was required to stop at Game and Fish headquarters in Dickinson for a final checkout, proper tagging, and dropping off all the entrails for testing.

Fifty years later, I still think about my once-in-a-lifetime experience.