16 inch bases = large lamb tips. I’m going to have to agree with the bio on this one. My question is why not let the kid shoot the legal one?
16 inch bases = large lamb tips. I’m going to have to agree with the bio on this one. My question is why not let the kid shoot the legal one?
being from a forestry background, it makes me think of someone counting 20 tree rings on a stump 10 feet in the air and stating the tree is 20 years old....
Over the years, I have talked to a number of CO's regarding aging Sheep. The consistent response from everyone of them was , don't shoot a ram based on age unless you have a lot of experience, and even then be cautious. They also said you should always use horn length as the final determining factor. Things like false annuli, can bite you, and usually the CO has the final say. Yes Sheep hunting is a tough game, but if you have to spend a lot of time trying to assess horn length, then you are probably better to pass than shoot
Thank you for the courage to post this exellent post.
When at the WSSBC in kamloops they were telling us the Province has a stone sheep expert She lives up north and from horn length, bases..etc she can determine its age exactly...pretty tough when VG isnt given credibility enough. .
The concept of annuli, and length is used to determain ?.....mature ram..but those are the rules damn it..
In 2009 looking over 11 rams..sorted it out to 3..one was wide and definatly over the nose bridge..but ugly..imo
The one I harvested was 15 plus bases x 39..however dropped so low he just barely broke the bridge of the nose..I believe from memory he was 8 but I shit razor blades walking up to my ram...ihad watched for 2 hours to correctly judge length age was inpossible withe even Swarovski at 60x..
The CO too put the ram in the jig..he made it both ways age and length however it IS INDEED a situation for an abundance of caution..Scott repeatadly reminded me if in doubt walk...
Shit happens unfortunatley.
Srupp
Change the regs.
Right now every 8 year old ram is NOT a legal ram. So when the regs say legal rams are 8 years old it is kind of contradictory. Regs should say: a legal ram is full curl or has 8 growth rings on the horns.
Leave age and years out of it and just go by growth rings or curl.
Technically the law right now has nothing to do with age but only what is VISIBLE by the rings. Just make that even more clear in the regs. Maybe even mention that broomed off rams with out 8 rings are not legal.
I wouldn’t shoot that ram.
Would there be any reason to consider adding any double broomed ram to the regs as legal? Again I'm not savy on sheep but would that be acceptable or would we see to many 7 yr old minus broomed rams being taken?