Great Rams

hoofsandhorns · Feb 4, 2009

Check out this site. My good friend Joey Olivieri is one of North Americas top wildlife photographers and is known across the country for his awesome sheep images. Check out his latest books, Great Rams,Great Rams II & Wind, Dust & Snow.

http://bighornphotography.net/

Zigga · Feb 4, 2009

So is that a world record or am I seeing things? Nice pics.

HunterHarry · Feb 4, 2009

I remember a giant ram on the cover of "Wild Sheep" many years ago and I never forgot the photographers name.
Thanks Rod.
HH

PopeShawnPaul · Feb 5, 2009

>So is that a world record
>or am I seeing things?
> Nice pics.

No. It's just a tight curl making it look long and full of mass. Lots of Alberta rams have that configuration...

Randy11 · Feb 5, 2009

I love rams like that, if I ever draw I'm definitely going to be looking for one with a tighter curl.

BUCKSPY · Feb 8, 2009

>So is that a world record
>or am I seeing things?
> Nice pics.

No. It's just a tight curl making it look long and full of mass. Lots of Alberta rams have that configuration...

No its actually that freakin big because it died, was picked up and measured and is well over 200. There is zero optical illusion there. The Alberta government has is and the ram will be officially scored and recognized soon.

hoofsandhorns · Feb 8, 2009

>>So is that a world record
>>or am I seeing things?
>> Nice pics.
>
>No. It's just a tight
>curl making it look long
>and full of mass.
>Lots of Alberta rams have
>that configuration...

Thsi must be another one of those little Aberta rams with a tight curl making it look long and full of mass?

PopeShawnPaul · Feb 8, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Feb-08-09 AT 04:30PM (MST)[p]Nobody said it wasn't big. He just said it was the worlds record. It is a tight curl but does have length and mass. Alberta rams are known for a little tighter curl. Compare this ram to the 205" Montana breaks rams that drop well below the jaw. He's big but he isn't the world record, is he?

DesertSheep · Feb 8, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Feb-08-09 AT 05:34PM (MST)[p]I would really doubt it is a new record.

Look at the gap between the horns at the top of the skull. Small bases and the tight curl wouldn't get him to the top spot.

Would I pass him up? Not a chance!!!!

This ram is rumored to be over 210. Is it the same ram?

The big rumor or not a rumor, is that the new WR sheep was a pickup in Alberta, which is what I think Buckspy is referring to. I'm not convinced the ram I posted is the same as the one on the linked to web site.

Either way, huge freaking rams!

Zigga · Feb 8, 2009

No offense but I have learned that most don't know about judging sheep. I just looked at a 200+" desert sheep and it had a huge gap between it's horns. If these bighorns go well over 200 then who cares if they are world record or not? The current record is a measily 208". Tfinal has pics of a ram or two that also look like world records. The ram at the top goes well below the jaw so I'm not seeing a tight curl. They are all incredible rams.

DesertSheep · Feb 8, 2009

No offense either, but I don't know what sheep you are looking at the top that goes "well below the jaw". Ram 4 is not below the jaw and is super tight.

No, I'm not an expert, but I've seen more than my share of sheep.

ColoradoOak · Feb 8, 2009

DesertSheep, the ram you posted is the same ram at the link in the original post (and on my desktop). If it nets 210, it's a world record.

Zigga, only two desert sheep in B&C score over 200. Which one did you see?

We can all dream about hunting Alberta or BC rams some day....

Zigga · Feb 9, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Feb-09-09 AT 07:45AM (MST)[p]I was browsing through the Arizona records book from 1990 and saw the desert sheep ram. My cousin recently shot a desert sheep so we were looking at the records. His has less space between the bases and is much smaller obviously.

At least we can agree on the rocky being over 200 inches I assume. What's a few inches when they are that big? None of us would pass I'm sure.

PopeShawnPaul · Feb 9, 2009

A few inches is huge. There is a big difference between a 195-200 ram and a world record 210 ram. I'm still not convinced the one in the link above is 200".

Some of the sheep Tfinal has posted drop below the jaw by a few inches. None of the Alberta style tight curl rams posted drop below the jaw. They drop to the jaw line. It just throws off your mass and length measurement. If you look in Duncan G.'s books he has some big Alberta rams with tight curls and the respective scores. They can be very deceiving is all I'm saying.

I think we can all agree the Alberta look is great looking. I mean no disrespect to the Canadians...

Zigga · Feb 10, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Feb-10-09 AT 02:07PM (MST)[p]If you don't think it's a 200" ram then we are obviously looking at different rams. Dropping below the jaw line is just one of the things to look for. It does not make a 200" ram on its own and no one is comparing 195 inches to 210 inches. There are rams in boone and crockett that don't look well and score high and vice versa. The irony of your arguement is that Alberta, (the land with tight curls) has the current record.

I couldn't find in the measurements why the left one scores so much better than the right but I'd shoot the right one first if they were both looking at me. Maybe it's a typo.

Keep the sheep pics coming. I like all the perspectives on judging. Maybe in 38 more years I'll draw a tag.

hoofsandhorns · Feb 10, 2009

180 inches or 200 inches, Alberta or Montana, it doesn't matter to me as long as I continue to have the opportunity to photograph them to share with others.

TFinalshot · Feb 10, 2009

Yea, and who will ever forget this bad boy?

www.tonybynum.com

"Roadless areas, in general, represent some of the best fish and wildlife habitat on public lands. The bad news is that there is nothing positive about a road where fish and wildlife habitat are concerned -- absolutely nothing." (B&C Professor, Jack Ward Thomas, Fair Chase, Fall 2005, p.10).

PopeShawnPaul · Feb 11, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Feb-11-09 AT 12:05PM (MST)[p]The ram you have posted above drops below the jaw and has a lot of length. I personally look for length but try and focus on mass. The tight curl rams indicative of some rams in Alberta tend to throw me off because they look like they have a lot more mass than they really do because it's so compact. Duncan Gilcrist has a whole section on this in his ram scoring book.

I just love rams period...

maddglasser · Feb 11, 2009

Those are some outstanding pics. Judging sheep is a difficult task on both deserts(mexicana) and rocky's alike there are so many variations involved. 2007 I had a hunter choose to kill a ram that appeared longer and a little thinner than a heavier ram that appeared shorter. The thinner ram scored 173 with 36" horns. This year we killed the ram we turned down last year and he scored scored 182 and was 36" long. The mass was very deceiving. I always go for mass because there are 8 mass measurements as opposed to two length measurements. I also pay alot of attention to the last qtr measurment as well.

www.southwesthuntingadventures.com

maddglasser · Feb 11, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Feb-11-09 AT 01:52PM (MST)[p]Here's a very deceiving ram. If someone saw this ram all by him self it would be easy to think mid to high 180's.

http://www.cafnaws.org/pdf/Winter2006.pdf

He scores 174. It's still an awesome ram though.