From the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission website (http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/hunting/guides/biggame/BGbighornregs.asp), you can download an application from that page:

Bighorn Sheep Regulations
2004 BIGHORN SHEEP LOTTERY PERMIT
Only Nebraska Residents can apply for a Bighorn Sheep Permit.

Lottery permit applications will be accepted from Nebraska residents only February 1 through Aug. 13. Applications must be received in Commission's Lincoln office by 5 p.m. Aug. 13. All applications must be accompanied by a nonrefundable lottery fee of $20.

The drawing for this year's lottery permit will be held at the August 2004 meeting of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in Lincoln.

It is unlawful to submit more than one application per calendar year for a lottery sheep permit. If more than one application is submitted by or for any person, all of his or her applications will be excluded from the drawing and the accompanying lottery fees will be forfeited. Permits are non-transferable. The $20 lottery fee covers the cost of the sheep hunting permit. A current Nebraska Habitat Stamp is required for all resident hunters 16 years of age and older. Only one stamp is necessary. If you have a stamp for other hunting, you do not need another to hunt bighorn sheep.

Notification: The successful lottery applicant will be notified by certified mail. Unsuccessful applicants will not be notified.

When big game permit instructions require submission of a written application hunters must use a standard Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Big Game Application form. The form can be downloaded from this web site as an Adobe™ .PDF file. Download the application, print it, complete the form per the instruction on the application and then mail or deliver with appropriate permit fee.

SUBMIT BIG GAME APPLICATION AND FEES TO:
NEBRASKA BIG GAME PERMITS
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
P.O. Box 30370
Lincoln, NE 68503-0370

THE HUNTING AREA
Those parts of Dawes and Sioux counties north of the Niobrara River and west of Nebraska Highway 2. This easily-defined boundary includes the area where more than 90 percent of the bighorn observations have been made (see map).

SEASONS
Unit Dates No. Of Permits
See Map Nov. 27 - Dec. 19 1 Lottery

ORIENTATION SESSION
Persons with sheep permits must attend an orientation session before hunting. The session will be scheduled by prior arrangement at a time convenient to the hunter.

GUIDING REQUIREMENT
Each permittee must be accompanied by a representative of the Commission while hunting unless written exemption is provided by a designee of the Director of the Game and Parks Commission. It is expected that exemption can be provided after one or two days of guiding.

ACCOMMODATIONS
The winner of the lottery permit will receive free guide service, the use of horses during the hunt, and up to four days and nights of meals and lodging at Fort Robinson State Park.

8/27/2004
BRIAN NEWTON OF SPRINGFIELD WINS LOTTERY PERMIT - Tom Keith

Lincoln, Neb. – Brian Newton of Springfield became the lucky winner of the 2004 Nebraska bighorn sheep lottery hunting permit when his entry was pulled from a metal barrel containing 1,585 applications during the Game and Parks Commission meeting at the One Box Hunt Club near Broken Bow August 27.

Newton will receive free guide service, use of horses, up to four nights lodging and meals for up to four days at Fort Robinson State Park. The hunting area is limited to parts of Dawes and Sioux counties north of the Niobrara River and west of Nebraska Highway 2. He will be able to choose using a modern rifle, muzzleloader, or archery equipment for the hunt.

Steve Furley of Norfolk won the 2003 bighorn lottery permit.

As Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story...:

From the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission website:

12/2/2004 ARCHER TAKES TROPHY BIGHORN RAM AT FORT ROBINSON STATE PARK

Crawford, Neb. – Brian Newton of Springfield harvested a trophy bighorn ram on Fort Robinson State Park near Crawford on November 28. It was the first Nebraska bighorn sheep taken with archery equipment since the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission opened modern bighorn hunting in 1998, according to Gary Schlichtemeier, district wildlife manager at the Commissions office in Alliance.

“Brian was the lucky applicant drawn for the 2004 Nebraska bighorn sheep lottery permit,” Schlichtemeier said. “He enjoyed a great hunt at Fort Robinson. The snowfall made spotting bighorns in the buttes somewhat difficult, but tracking and stalking conditions were ideal.”

While Game and Parks Commission guides Lon Lemmon and Dean Studnicka of Crawford watched from below, Newton stalked within 30 yards of the full-curl bighorn sheep in the buttes north of the old Smiley Canyon road.

Nebraskas bighorn sheep permits allow the use of all legal big game hunting equipment, including archery, rifle and muzzle loading rifles. From 1998 through 2004, ten full - curl bighorn rams have been harvested from the Fort Robinson herd with a 100 percent success rate.

“I'd brought a rifle out to the fort, but I hoped to take a ram using bow and arrow,” Newton told his guides, “and personally felt that any legal ram would be a trophy for an archer. I had a shot at a nice ram on Saturday, but he jumped just as I released the arrow for a clean miss. During the snow on Sunday we found one of the forts largest rams in the buttes. I was able to stalk within 30 yards. The accommodations and people at the fort and the guides were great – I'll remember the hunt for the rest of my life.”

For 2005, the Game and Parks Commission authorized two bighorn permits, a lottery permit available to Nebraska residents, and an auction permit to be sold at the Grand Slam Club/Ovis convention in Biloxi, Mississippi in February, 2005. Funds raised by the sale of auction and lottery permits are used for Nebraskas bighorn sheep management programs.

For additional information on Nebraskas bighorn sheep, contact the Game and Parks Commissions district office in Alliance, Box 725, 299 Husker Rd. Alliance, NE 69301 (308) 763-2940 or log on the Game and Parks Commissions award-winning web site at www.outdoornebraska.org.