Couple of Big horns

[#1fishslayer]

These pics are from December . Highway sheep.

[6616]

These pics are from December . Highway sheep.

Kicking Horse eh....????

[#1fishslayer]

Right at the top of the hill at the pull out.

[6616]

Right at the top of the hill at the pull out.

I recognized the spot from the lock block in the background. Been there hundreds of times.

There's been some super rams in that herd over the years. Look in my gallery to see one of the biggest.

[kennyj]

Nice photos.Some nice rams there!
kenny

[crazysheephunter]

I agree, definitley some nice heads there.

[mark]

Those rams are darn near petable, last year we got within 10' of them, was pretty cool!

[Rock Doctor]

They look very relaxed, nice pics.

[sawmill]

Watch out for "cerimonial purpose" hunters.

[6616]

Watch out for "cerimonial purpose" hunters.

There have been a couple, maybe more, rams poached out of this herd over the years. One incident just occurred last Oct, they caught the perpetrator. It has not been ceremonial purpose hunters yet, that I know of anyway. These critters just too visible and too tempting and so many people see them on the Trans Canada Highway.

There is no sheep hunting season in the Kicking Horse. This herd numbers from 30 to 50 animals and is not considered large enough to sustain a hunting season. This herd occupies a very small and inadequate winter range and is supplimentally fed by the Golden R/G Club, thus some of these rams live to the ripe old age of 10 to 14 years. They are highly habituated as well and hunting them would just not be realistically a fair chase hunt.

The herd is valuable from a conservation standpoint as a source transplant herd. MOE did two transplants in 2007 and a third one is planned soon to suppliment herds further south in the Trench. MOE also traps sheep at Radium for translocation further south. There are some photos in my gallery of some of the bigger rams we've had over the years, including the one that got poached last Oct.