Wildhorse roundup operations slowed due to weather

A winter storm is slowing down a roundup of wild horses in the Buckskin Range, located in far northeastern Douglas County.

Bureau of Land Management spokesman Mark Struble said that the contractor flying the helicopter was able to get in a few hours on Saturday before the second wave of the storm arrived.

"He managed to bring in approximately 22 horses from an area where we think there are 45 plus horses residing outside the Herd Management Area," Struble said. "Winds shut him down by 10:30 a.m."

Struble said that with the unstable weather on Sunday, there may be more difficulties getting the helicopter flying.

"I don't know if they will be able to bring in more animals (Sunday) since the teeth of

this storm seems to be coming tonight and tomorrow, but I've learned to

never say never," he said.

Once the Buckskin Range is clear, operations should move to the Dayton side of the Pine Nut Mountains.

Struble said they were hoping to get enough breaks in the weather to complete operations by

Thanksgiving Day, but Tuesday's operations in Douglas County were canceled due to weather.

"As far as Douglas County is concerned, we still don't know when we'll be done. It's all related to the weather," Struble said.

The agency will gather wild horses within the Pine Nut management area so that approximately 45 mares can be treated with Porcine Zona Pellucida, a two-year fertility control vaccine, to slow herd reproduction and reduce the number of excess wild horses that would need to be removed in the future.

Horses gathered from within the area, which is located in the northern Pine Nuts with only a small portion of northern Douglas County, will all be released back where they were gathered. There are also about 67 wild horses residing outside of the area's boundaries, including 12-20 horses in a mix of public and private lands in the Fish Springs area.

The rest of the 67 horses residing outside of the management area are primarily in the Buckskin Range in northeastern Douglas County overlooking Artesia Lake. These horses will be gathered and removed.