The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish will meet Dec. 14 with landowners and others in the Dry Cimarron area of northeastern New Mexico to discuss a proposal to transplant Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep to Dry Cimarron Canyon during the summer of 2007.

A herd of about 50 bighorn sheep currently reside across the state line in Colorado, and some of those animals spend time in both New Mexico and Oklahoma. The Department is considering augmenting the existing small herd, with the goal of establishing a viable, self-sustaining population in New Mexico.

The meeting will be at 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, in the Union County Extension Office, 100 Court St., in Clayton. Anyone with questions or concerns about the proposed transplants is encouraged to attend. For more information about the proposal, please contact Department bighorn sheep biologists Eric Rominger, (505) 476-8045; or Elise Goldstein, (505) 476-08041.

If you are an individual with a disability who is in need of a reader, amplifier, qualified sign language interpreter, or any other form of auxiliary aid or service to attend or participate in the meeting, please contact Shirley Baker, (505) 476-8030. Public documents, including the agenda and minutes, can be provided in various accessible forms.

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No Black Hills mountain lion hunt was more bizarre than the mountain lion that caught fire. David Gray's first lion hunt ended not only with a lion, but also with an unusual story. Gray, a retired South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Conservation Office is an avid hunter and has hunted most areas of the Black Hills. He is probably one of the most knowledgeable persons of game animals in the Black Hills. In preparing for his mountain lion hunt, Gray set up a blind in a brushy thicket a few miles north of Custer State Park.