Sheep Caping

[Wild Images]

Many people ask how much cape to bring off the mountain? Answer- you can never bring to much, But you can easily bring to little!!
Here are a couple photos of a ram caped out perfectly for any shoulder or pedistal mount. Trust me no taxidermist will give you sh t for bringing in this much cape


http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/90145.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=10301&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=2692)

[Wild Images]

Side view
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/5075.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=10300&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=2692)

[Wild Images]

Mounted Ram, Done today
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/32609.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=10302&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=2692)

[Avalanche123]

Thanks for these. Any chance you have a closer picture of the head area in that first picture? I'd like to see what you did.

Nice ram btw!

[Big7]

You're right...a little extra is always better than not enough. Nice sheep mount by the way!! Nice dark face!

[6 K]

Those look like very deep curls, Got a pic from the side.
Good job by the way

[mainland hunter]

you should bring the whole hide out and lifesize it

[Wild Images]

Sorry, I only took 2 pics of the cape. I would suggest that you contact yuor local taxidermist and watch him skin and turn a head. He can also show you where to make the cuts.
Take your time when skining so that you don't cut the hide and don't leave any meat on the cape as this stops the salt from doing its job.
Learning to turn the ears and lips is a must for a sheep hunter the guys that did out this ram didn't turn the ears but they did pour the salt to them and turned them into jerky. It took me a long time to get them turned out and was not a happy camper.
I would have lifesized this ram if he were mine, he is very dark black with striking white legs but not everyone has the room, this is a young fellows first ram.
The curls are very deep and one side is broomed off, the other side just makes bridge and he is 9 1/2 years old and was shot at under 30 yds.

[Avalanche123]

Well I am not sure I'll get a chance to practise before I go....so I'll just be very careful with what I do.

My neighbour is a surgeon, maybe I'll buy him a box of beer and get him to do the "fine tuning" LOL.

[BCrams]

Nice looking mount! Can we get a side view of the long side of that ram!!

[Wild Images]

Hey Randy
Kinda looks like the brother to yours don't he ?

I haven't taken any pics from the long side but I'll get them up for you Rams

[Wild Images]

Here you go Rams
If you put a 3' level on the tip at level it clears the nose by about 1/2 an inch.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/27520.jpg

[David Heitsman]

I'm with Mainland Hunter here... Stone's deserve life sizing.

[BCrams]

There is no disputing the full curl legality of this ram!! And what a nice ram he is!

But I'll have to disagree with the CI inspectors' call of 9.5 years old.

I believe there are a lot of CI's out there who just don't know how to age sheep properly.

[willy442]

There is no disputing the full curl legality of this ram!! And what a nice ram he is!

But I'll have to disagree with the CI inspectors' call of 9.5 years old.

I believe there are a lot of CI's out there who just don't know how to age sheep properly.

I second that!

[Wild Images]

I count 8 1/2 years, and this is hands on!

[BCrams]

Be great if you can highlight those marks for 8 1/2 !! (I'll do it as well after you show me your ring marks)

By using both frontal and side photo - I have 7.5 as I am sure Willy does as well.

(no fear though :) he's a clearly legal full curl ram)

[Kody94]

I can only see 7.5 too.

Would be interesting to do another marked up photo on this one for educational value.

Nice ram and nice mount though!!

Cheers
4ster

[BCrams]

Here you go: For the life of me, I don't know how the CI came up with 9.5

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/BCrams/27520.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/BCrams/32609.jpg

[Kody94]

That's how I counted it too.

Wild_Images: if there's another annuli in there we can't see just from the photographs, can you point it out?

I will try to post pics of another ram later today or tomorrow that we can do the same thing too.

Cheers
4ster

[Wild Images]

There is first year ring about 3" from the tip that dosn't show well from the outside. I'll try to get a pic of it.

[Avalanche123]

I am impressed you can guys can do this with the quality of the pic. Not to detract from the image but I would not be comfortable judging the legality of a sheep based on annuli.

It does make me wonder about the CI's though.

Has anyone ever had it go the other way where the CI said the sheep was below legal age and it clearly wasn't? I guess this would be a rare situation...I would hope.

[BCrams]

There is first year ring about 3" from the tip that dosn't show well from the outside. I'll try to get a pic of it.

I know the exact spot you are talking about but it is not a growth ring.

Not even close.

Having an understanding of sheep biology and how horns grow and how much they grow etc all factors into aging sheep.

The spot you are talking about is a false annuli and not a true growth ring.

[willy442]

I am impressed you can guys can do this with the quality of the pic. Not to detract from the image but I would not be comfortable judging the legality of a sheep based on annuli.

It does make me wonder about the CI's though.

Has anyone ever had it go the other way where the CI said the sheep was below legal age and it clearly wasn't? I guess this would be a rare situation...I would hope.

Yes more than once and was told if I didn't like it, I could go through a lengthy proccess to question it. Hence my concern about having the CI's get it right.

[Avalanche123]

Yes more than once and was told if I didn't like it, I could go through a lengthy proccess to question it. Hence my concern about having the CI's get it right.

Your concerns are substantiated!

So did the CI say your sheep wasn't legal and you were left in a positon to prove otherwise?

I would think you would be on a first name basis with these guys since you work in the business. Your reputation must count for something when a dispute comes up.

[Wild Images]

Your right rams it is a false one, we just went over him and cocluded the same thing.
Rand sent me a pm and asked me to put some pics of his ram on for you guys to age. CI sheet says 11.5 years and the ram had harly any teeth left. It was aged by 2 Co's .I'll get some pics up soon and you can see
what you think.
This is the ram .
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/07_055.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/07_055.jpg)

[BCRiverBoater]

I am impressed you can guys can do this with the quality of the pic. Not to detract from the image but I would not be comfortable judging the legality of a sheep based on annuli.

It does make me wonder about the CI's though.

Has anyone ever had it go the other way where the CI said the sheep was below legal age and it clearly wasn't? I guess this would be a rare situation...I would hope.

I wrote in another post that a guy I know shot a ram they figured was at his nose plus 8.5 - 9.5 years old. When the pulled the trigger and caped him out they knew the horns would be very tight with being full curl. They thought it could go either way. He was not concerned what so ever once he caped the skull they saw the last ring under the hair line. This made it 9.5 for sure in their books. It was his first ram but that group had shot a few rams and spent years chasing them. It was also the heaviest nicest ram they shot.

I do not know all the details of the inspection but I do know he lost his ram. First of all the inspection deemed the ram a fraction of an inch from a full curl. There was a bit of debate as the hide was off the skull etc. But then the inspector said he was 7.5 years old and confiscated the ram. The hunter was upset and had a debate. He said he could maybe agree the ram was actually 8.5 and not 9.5 but there was know way the ram was 7.5. I know he started to contest the aging but again he felt it was a no win situation. He eventually gave up. No fines were given he was just asked to cancel his tag and follow the regs for future hunts. He had to wait 3 years at that point for another hunt. He went out and shot a smaller ram that was a few inches above his nose. He quit hunting sheep after the next ram was taken. To this day it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth and his faith in sheep hunting.

The inspector was supposedly a young biologist student doing some sort of practicum for the ministry. I am not sure if others got involved but the original inspector was very young and in his/her first year of aging sheep. I am sure there could be more to the story but this all I have details of as it was a while ago and he does not like to talk about it.

What