178.25 ram 5.5 years old.

[SHEDYGAGA]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-12-15 AT 04:22PM (MST)[p]Anybody got any pictures of that ram that was killed on the nine mile range creek unit.

Supposedly scored 178.25 at age 5.5!

Well, that is according to the DWR harvest info.

Killed in long canyon.

I am hoping this is a typo.

Measurements

Left side.

33.25 length
15.25 base

Right side.
33.875 length
15 base.

So, I am assuming that the age was a typo.
Unless there actually was a 5.5 year old ram that went nearly 180!

I would need to be seeing those photos if thats true! Cant imagine what he would be at 10 years old.

So, anybody seen this ram?
anyone with any corrective info?

Also, look at the 3rd qtr left. 16.625 What did this sheep have on that side?
Some kind of weird massive club?

Or do you have to take away 10 inches and assume the typo is there. That number should be 6.625.

Making this ram a 168.25 ram at age 5.5

Even then, a 170 ram at age 5.5 still would like to see the photos!

 

[hunterinthefield]

There was one on the rattle snake side killed bigger at 180. 39 in horns 17 in bases , that was 5.5 years old.

 

[Trammer]

certainly a typo. Utah still gets a D- for how they do the Sheep Harvest report full of errors and omissions. What grinds my gears is as expected the average ram taken was 7 years old and not a single old ram was taken. 19 rams...so basically Utah DWR last year harvested the rams that should have been harvested in 2018. When you hunt Range Creek what you find is 60 fewer old rams than you should. This unit should be bursting with brutes and the average score should be about 175 and the average age should be 10 or 11. Range Creek Sheep Hunters are delivered a lousy hunt as they search the unit looking at hundreds of sheep, dozens of rams but no big ones, no old ones. Even the summer range ramming ground numbers are down. Why does Utah manage range creek for 7 year old rams?

 

[SHEDYGAGA]

Trammer, I don't know the answer to your question.
I do find it interesting that 3 people harvested 3 year old rams.
I wonder if they just did not want to hunt, if they were unable to hunt due to physical restriction, or if that is the only ram they could find.

I cant imagine a healthy guy in his 40's or 50's shooting a 3 year old ram unless thats the only thing he could find, and he refused to eat a once in a lifetime tag.

If its the only sheep they could find, there is a serious problem with the unit.
One on the henrys, one on escalante and one on san rafael north.

Both rams on escalante were small 3 and 5 year olds. Wonder why?

Strange.

Unless we have more inaccurate reporting going on.

Also Trammer, you gave Utah a "D-". Thats up from last years "F"! Ha!
Just screwing with you.

 

[Trammer]

the answer to your question as to why the escalante hunters shot young rams is because government melding in their hunt.You see Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (the hunt area for the Escalante) has a moratorium on land use permits. Apparently the Pubas at GCNA business office thinks that 2 commercial Guides/Outfitter are enough for all of Glen Canyon. That means that 99.99% of the guides or would be guides are forbidden from working in the unit. So all hunters are forced to choose between 2 overpriced outfitters and guides. When there are many more qualified Guides willing to take the hunters for a fraction of the price. I know both of the Escalante hunters and both were willing to hire a guide, but not for $1,000.00 a day. And actually because they both killed rams they likely did better on their own than they would have if they hired the Oligopoly Outfitters. The only thing the government buffoons could do worse is cut back to a single outfitter because then the price of Guide service would be $5,000.00 a day like it is for Stone Sheep.

Sheddy, every single problem that stares back at you on the Utah Bighorn Sheep Harvest Report was caused by State gerrymandering and the sheep and sheep hunters suffer.

 

[YELUM]

My neighbor shot a very young ram on the San Rafael north, can't remember the age, but it was 5 or younger. He's a 24 year old, healthy hunter, but not educated in sheep conservation or the need to kill older rams. Limited time off, and late in the season. They saw several good old rams scouting, but only one class 4 while hunting and he missed it badly, due to scope issues.

Yelum

YBU

 

[Trammer]

its is true. Any ram is legal and it should stay that way but I think old ram killing should be rewarded and young ram killing punished.

 

[DW]

I was fortunate to be able to attend the sheep and goat orientation for tag holders here in colorado recently as a guest (thanx again Bob!) And coming off our discussion in the "Stansbury rams dying of old age" thread I was fully expecting a portion of the 8hr program to be devoted to this topic. I was surprised it was never brought up.

 

[treedagain]

My neighbor shot a very young ram on the San Rafael north, can't remember the age, but it was 5 or younger. He's a 24 year old, healthy hunter, but not educated in sheep conservation or the need to kill older rams. Limited time off, and late in the season. They saw several good old rams scouting, but only one class 4 while hunting and he missed it badly, due to scope issues.

Yelum

YBU

Yelum
your neighbor is exactly why small rams get shot. I personally had him at my house and shared with him info after he assured me him and his son would target a mature ram class 4....well he thought he was a lot smarter than me and instead of keeping his distance and patterning the rams he had to get within a HUNDRED YARDS instead of the mile he should have and bumped them for good. then proceeded to hunt them like a deer and move every sheep into the next county...I should never had helped him and I feel he most likely would not have even saw a ewe let alone kill a 4 yr old ram that never should have shot. same year a MM member oontacted me mid season and I gave him info and hunted like he should have and shot a GREAT RAM that any sheep hunter would have been proud of.

the only reason the 1st guy shot the ram (DINK)he did was because the second guy told him exactly where to go and he almost screwed that one up also....I don't think he could find his A$$ with both hands.

note: the 1st guy never thanked me or let me know how it went... the second contacted me during his hunt for updates, sent me pics of his ram for me to share in their achievement.

I wil be more careful next time

 

[cbeard]

Many of the state biologists are not experienced at all in aging rams. (Some may even have agendas in painting an untrue picture of the harvest in the units they oversee.)

I have heard many anectdotal stories in this regard-enough to know that some funky numbers are sometimes published that don't paint a true picture. Not saying that it's widespread, but it happens.

The ram I took in AZ had been butting open cacti to feed and the bases of his horns were almost totally obscured/discolored by staining from the cactus juice. This made him exceedingly difficult to age accurately. My guide (a sheep hunter and guide for over 40 years) estimated him at either 8 or 9 years old. Possibly even 10.

The biologist was going to call him 6 but after I counted 7 clear rings he agreed he was "at least" 7. He went in the harvest report as a 7 year old with 15+" bases. (Nothing against the biologist as he was a super nice guy with no agendas.)

I honestly don't know how old he was-somewhere between 7 and 10 I guess. I am not going to clean his horns to find out.