Legal Ram

[dutchie]

There are many many sheep hunters here, and i see some people are taking thier sheep at 350 yds, 300 yds, I think that the longest range i have seen on this forum is approx 420 yds.

HOW ON GODS GREEN EARTH can you count the anular rings at these distances? Because if i am not mistaken, it can be a full curl and still not be legal. Is this true?

Also how do you count the rings on a ram or a billy?

I have no experiance hunting as of yet but sheep/goat hunting is somthing that interests me very much and i am trying to absorb as much knowlege from you as I can.

Thanks!
Dutchie

[islandstalker]

a good spotting scope i assume.

[jml11]

Full curl rams are for sure legal regardless of their age (some regulations variation by region and species of course i.e. LEH 3/4 curl draws, any ram draws, spences mature ram GOS, etc.) and is the only the only way any new sheep hunter should try to assess a ram. Don't try and count rings, look through a couple of the recent sheep threads and you will see why. Having said that, if you have a good spotting scope and the experience you can count annuli at 300 and 400 hundred yards. My only ram was taken @ over 400 yards and I was able to tell he was full curl and at least 8 from that distance using a spotting scope.

I don't think anyone tries to count rings on goats, they are very tight together and often blocked by hair. I shot an 11 year old billy a couple of years ago and the rings are about 1/8'' apart, even a good spotting scope probably couldn't see those. There is no horn size requirement on goats that make them legal/illegal anyways. Just do your best to harvest a billy though!

My recommendation is to look threw as many sheep threads as you can to get an idea of what a mature legal ram looks like and go from there. My opinion is you should be able to make a pretty quick call if a ram is worth a closer second look based on mass and length of the horn alone. If you have to spend hours trying to determine if the sheep is legal....do yourself a favor and look for another ram because you are probably playing with fire which is a risky game.

[BCRiverBoater]

Great optics mean everything. Then experience to count properly. New hunters should never count rings. Go for full curl only.

Most aging of rams are done and decent distances with great optics. Counting is usually down after a ram is deemed good enough for a closer look. Stalk and set up is complete and then aged and trigger pulled.

[Fisher-Dude]

Go to www.wildsheepsociety.org and check out their "horn curl education program". It's an eye opener!

[CoqTrophys]

you ARE mistaken

[bruin]

Swarovski!!!!!!!!

[Big Bucks]

Swarovski for sure !!!

[Jelvis]

--Thanks dutchie cuz it's a good question for newbie sheep hunter's in the East Koots.
Jel

[BCRiverBoater]

Remember...a full curl ram is always legal if a full curl.

Full curl by no means it is a mature or respectable ram.