Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Here Are Some AK Sheep Scoring Docs ... Courtesy of Rob

Here we go. I'll let Rob narrate:
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<br>If I don't come out of this with serious sheep fever, it will be a miracle!
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<br>Rick

HEY RICK.. when We're hunting in Montana this year, LEts plan a sheep hunt.... YOU and me
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<br>WE could ask SWAMP (MArshal) from HUNTAMERICA and Joshy-poo from huntinfo MABEY Saeed from Accurate Reloding ? MAYBE Founder (Brian) from monstermulies HAVE a ram hunt of web boards HAHA
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<br>Anyways..... WAS on a kick tonight so Figured I'd say hi.
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Sheephead.

"eep" = " it " ?!?!?!

Genius.

I can see where this get complicated. With such tight curls, it would be hard to even count annual rings.
<br> Correct me if I'm wrong. I need to see a circle from the side, not an oval. And the horn must go all the way to a full curl to be legal. Do I also have to have 8 annual rings ? Or just one of the above ? One of the above, right ?
<br> I could be wrong, but I think the system used in Kalifornia for our Desert sheep is a simple annual ring count. I think a legal ram has to have seven of them to be legal.
<br> The whole idea is to harvest only the old class IV rams. Some 2% of the total population.
<br> Don't ever think that head judging in the field is anywhere near easy. I just thought I had a tough time letting the little 1-2 yr. old bucks go - even if they are legal. Try judging a head with his antlers stuck up in an Ironwood. While you are lying on some sharp rocks only 60-125 yds. away.
<br> I keep telling myself if I shoot, my hunting is over. If I don't shoot I can still hunt. So far, so good. I've come home many times with nothing but a story or two. And some great memories.
<br> You ain't never going to shoot a really big one, until you start letting the little ones go. E

thanks for posting this
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<br>perhaps the best thing that will come of all this is a lot of education on the subtlety and difficulty of judging legal AK Dalls

Look at my pic at Hunttalk in Biggame.....then see which of the above illustartions it closest looks like. If you do that, it is not hard to see my account of the sheep was accurate.
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<br>E....good point abou telling yourself your hunting may would be over....it can be a dicey thing judging a ram.
<br>That is why I had my brother, an experienced enforcement officer for the state of Alaska, by my side.
<br>We belly crawled into easy viewing range.watched the sheep for a while, and knew he was easily past full curl.
<br>I'm not sure how confident I would have been making that decision on my own..but that is why they require non-res not hunt alone.
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<br>DS

OK guys, the top one is the official word from ADF&G - think they should publish this in their reg booklet if they want people to understand what they mean by a full curl. The bottom two are an attempt by Tony Russ to apply the regs to the different type of sheep horns out there - not official but may help in your defense if Troopers decide to screw with you.
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<br>Thought I would relate a story told to me by a guide friend of mine who was called to testify in a trial concerning the taking of an illegal sheep. Seems they were prosecuting a guy who had taken a small very tightly curled ram of 7 years of age and about 31" in length. According to my guide friend it was a very close call as to whether it was full curl. In the trial the USF&W (a Lacy Act case) brought in a mounted sheep to show the jury what a full curl looked like. It was a 42" ram with huge bases and deep dropping horns that just made full curl (the kind most of the people looking at this would give a testicle for). Needless to say, the jury of whom there were probably no sheep hunters thought he had robbed the cradle and convicted him.
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<br>Notwithstanding this case, I think it would be hard for ADF&G to convict anyone for shooting a ram anywhere close to legal - the definition as published in the regulations is pretty vague.
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<br>I am going to stay out of this debate, as pictures can be deceiving. And I didn't get to see all those posted anyway.

Rob...my sheep was checked again yesterday by a biologists who is a 20 year veteran of Alaska Fish and Game........he said My ram clearly had 8 annual rings and he thought 9...but it was easily a full curl-plus ram, and heavily broomed on the left side about 4+ inches back.....so I know without doubt it is legal...the 4 people who have inspected it at various times all are very credible. But I would still love for you to go to Hunttalk.com...look at the ram in the big game section, and simply state your honest unbiased opinion as to whether you think the ram is a full curl, legal ram.
<br>You don't need to debate anything....just state what you see. If you decline, I understand........but I would be interested to know , especially seeing as how we seem to suddenly be short of sheep experts around here...
<br>DS

Slayer, I know a sheep guide here in Kalifornia. He has two beautiful Dall Sheep he took after some extremely hard work, as did you. On the second hunt, he almost lost his partner in a swollen stream. And from hypothermia.
<br> He is very proud of those sheep. He should be. He earned them.
<br> He and I have found, and handled, some really big desert sheep, up to 40 inches. His Dall's are no where near that class. Much like yours. All but identical
<br> All one has to do is look at the diagrams, and count the annual rings. Your's is a 5 yr. old as best I can tell. It is no where near 38 inches.
<br> This isn't that tough to call. We have lots of pictures, and explainations already posted here. Even from above, not straight on, yours has an oval, not round shape.
<br> Look at the ram posted by KKAlaska. Yours is no where near that. His is a 9 yr. old.
<br> It's too bad really. You have a fine animal. But a 10 yr. old, 38 inch ram it is odviously not. E
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You are entitled to your opinion E...there are some new photos of my ram at Moosie's......one which clearly shows a FULL CIRCLE.not an oval. I have no question of what my sheep is, it has been checked enough, but the photos are there none the less for you to ponder. For you to say a ram with the curl mine has is 5 years old tells me you know nothing about sheep, but I'm sure your a great guy all the same.
<br>Thanks for your input E.
<br>DS

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