Age these sheep horns
Wild Sheep
First, these are bighorn, right? And how old? Thanks for helping out an ignorant elk hunter.
Appear to be 8 or 9. Hard to tell for certain due to the angles and blurring.
Also appear to be from thinhorn. Most likely a Dall sheep. Triangler ridge on outer edge is the key. Most bighorns are more oval. Not all. And all thinhorns do not have the ridge. I have seen them both ways. Some of the black Stone's rams near Williston lake look exactly like bighorns in all but color. Huge bodies and oval horns. I called them black bighorns. They were the southern most Stone's.
Nice set of horns.
Did you find them...if so what state/province?
The only thing I know is that, no matter the species or the age, I would shoot that ram without question
DDave
Thinhorns 9 like R. Hale said hard to tell from angles of the basees.
I'd say 8-9 also. And I'd say either Stone's or Dall since their not broomed at all, triangular, and lighter in color.
I'd say nine year old Stone. Possibly ten. Hard to say with the bases obscured Very tight curl and likely not as long as the pic appears. What is the length and base measurement Carries his mass well.
Thanks all for your answers. I did not find them, I could not find out the provenance, and I was not allowed to measure them. I was just shocked to find them hanging in a tavern in Florida and had to take some pictures.
Did they have a metal plug?
I don't think there from a wild sheep. Maybe this ones boy friend. if they were in Western US or Canada. But Fla.
After Bigdan's post, I'm almost afraid to ask. What kind of metal plug?
Eight possibly, more likely nine.
But as others have said, you really can't tell much from the photo other than that he's a shooter without even thinking about it!
"What kind of metal plug?"
Not exactly sure but likely for the past forty years, every NA ram had to have a small metal plug, with a serial number, inserted into one of the horns. It's smaller than a dime, on the surface, and is cylinder shaped. A hole is drilled and the plug inserted to register the ram
It is possible that there are a few around without it, from long ago or pick ups that were kept and never recorded.
With the way the mass carries through on that ram, I'd be willing to bet there are a few rings stacked close at the base.
I think Carnivore was angling down another line of questioning.... heheheheh...
Not really a NA sheep guy, but I'd like to see some measurements or reference. That curl is really tight, on the sheep your looking at like a 1 1/2 curl? It's about a 1 1/4 just sitting on the table. Little to no brooming?
Well after very little research I found I'm out to lunch on when mandatory plugging started. Thirty five years ago for Alberta bighorns and as recently as 2004 for Alaska's rams. Haven't found anything yet for BC sheep. Too tedious on a cell phone.
Thanks Ambush. They're kinda like a seal for a bear hide or a tail tag for a gator, but permanent. If I can get measurements or a tag number, I'll share it.
