The state Game and Fish Department says it has received $95,000 for bighorn sheep management from the auction of a bighorn license and checks from a conservation group.

The auction bid was a record $50,000, the department said Monday in a statement.

In addition, the Minnesota-Wisconsin Chapter of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep gave the department a $25,000 grant and $20,000 for last January's transplant of 20 bighorns from Montana's Missouri River Breaks.

The Minnesota-Wisconsin group is a supporter of bighorn sheep management efforts in North Dakota, biologist Brett Wiedmann said. "They see all the gains we have made, and their enthusiasm is reflected on a national level by the interest shown in our auction tag," Wiedmann said in the statement.

The grant and license auction are part of a 10-year agreement, signed in 1999, between the Game and Fish Department and the Minnesota-Wisconsin conservation group, the department said.

Six bighorn licenses were issued this year - one auctioned off and five chosen by lottery, it said.

- Associated Press