Bystanders waited expectantly for an explosion of horns and hooves as the trailer gate swung open, revealing a new world to the animals within.

And then… nothing.

Slowly, a nose poked out as its owner blinked out at foreign foothills near Wolf Creek in the Madison Valley.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologist Julie Cunningham banged on the trailer’s side, and 16 bighorn sheep groggily left its safety, jumping and sometimes stumbling toward higher ground.

They were the first of three trailer loads of bighorn sheep transplanted Tuesday from their home 15 miles to the south near Quake Lake as part of FWP’s strategic plan to establish five new bighorn sheep herds by 2022.

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