legal thinhorn sheep in BC

[moose2]

Would you be in favour of making a double broomed thinhorn ram legal to hunt in BC even if it is not full curl. ( they do this in Alaska)
Mike

[budismyhorse]

no........there is already enough room for error in judgement already.......

if double broomers are of age they will show the rings........if not, they should walk.

IMHO that is..

[tomahawk]

IMHO We are there already if you know what your doing when counting annuli rings. The warning after the statement about 8 yrs is for those who don't know the difference between real and false. There are some big mature thin horns that curl out like a cork screw or are possibly broomed off and don't break the bridge of the nose but they are legal by age.

Mountain Sheep

- Full Curl Thinhorn Ram

- means any male thinhorn mountain sheep
whose horn tip extends upwards beyond the
forehead-nose bridge when viewed squarely
from the side or which has attained the age of
8 years as evidenced by yearly horn growth
annuli as determined by the Regional Manager
or designate. Do not use yearly horn growth
annuli to determine the age of a ram in the

field, because "false" annuli may be present.

[moose2]

I think it would be OK as long as there was a good definition of "broomed". I think it would allow a few older rams to be taken that are hard to count. This would allow resident hunters who have less experience or ones that are nervous of counting rings to feel comfortable on these older rams , an advantage that a guide /outfitter has over most of us. A broomed horn is really easy to identify so I think there would be less mistakes with this than the other methods of aging. I would't like to see a bunch of young rams being shot because of it though , but i am not sure how many rams would actually be double broomed at a young age. I would have to find some Alaska stats to find out I guess.
Mike

[bridger]

brooming doesn't always occur only in older rams. identifying a legal ram two age and horn curl is sufficient in my books. identifying a sheep by age is best earned the old fashioned way, boot leather and experience. that is what makes sheep hunting so much fun.

[6616]

I don't think it's necessary, the current regs cover it off nicely, and I think it would only complicate the matter further and open up the door for more mistakes.

Experienced sheep hunters can actually make a pretty good judgement on a rams general age by just looking at his body posture, if his back is swayed or belly hanging, by his walking stance, etc, but there's only a small number of hunters and guides with enough experience to do that and benefit from this idea.

[whitetailsheds]

I don't understand the question Mike.....in my mind, a double broomed ram IS legal.....IF it's of age. What's different in Alaska?

[Alpine85]

What if guys started shooting rams with just rounded lamb tips, that were younger then 8. I remember reading on an Alaska site one time where this was happening. Rams were being killed that weren't "broomed", more of a ruffed up lamb tip.

[luckynuts]

I don't understand the question Mike.....in my mind, a double broomed ram IS legal.....IF it's of age. What's different in Alaska?

I think he's implying that a newbie hunter can identify a double broomed ram a lot easier than count 8 years on a ram thus ensuring he is killing a legal ram. I think when you look at it no 2-3 people age a ram the same. I was in Corolanes and had a discussion with one of the owners a Dawson creek CO and another hunter and asked them to age the big heavy broomed ram hanging on the wall. All of us at 7-8' away looking at it came up with a different age.

So a new sheep hunter or even a fairly experienced one can make a mistake or think he's shooting a 8-9 year old and the CI says it's only 7?

Don't think I agree with double broomed either. In all honesty the only real solution to keep people from making a mistake would be to go to (blasphemy) LEH. But then you have issues with the first ram being seen or attainable shot, which would no doubt be an under age ram.

W.

[bigwhiteys]

There are some areas where broomed rams are a more common occurence because of the terrain they live in, other areas where you are much more likely to find rams with their tips in tact. In areas where rams are prone to brooming it can happen much earlier in their lives 5,6,7 not just brooming but broken horns too.

It would be nice to have some confidence in our CI process should a guy pull the trigger on an old double broomed warrior that he knows is 8+.

Carl