Age my Ram

[resident vs nonresident]

wondering if any sheep experts want to guess the age of my CO Ram from this year. I just got it back and took few clear pictures. If needed I can take more just tell me what you’d like to see
Teeth have been sent to the lab (what was left of them) and I should have results mid-Feb and will update everyone. Thought this would be fun.
CPW said 9yo at check in

 

[wildwilderness]

Wow that thing is just a super awesome ram! So old and broomed I don’t know if you could really tell by rings alone. Send in a tooth- those are ranges too. Always some debate on ram ages but your is old enough and big enough!

 

[BBob]

Wow that thing is just a super awesome ram! So old and broomed I don’t know if you could really tell by rings alone. Send in a tooth?

You don’t need the broomed tips to judge for age. The key is to identify the 4th year ring and go from there. In this case it’s still easy to identify the lamp tip, 3nd, 3rd and 4th rings on the longer side. Not too hard on the shorter side either.

 

[resident vs nonresident]

Wow that thing is just a super awesome ram! So old and broomed I don’t know if you could really tell by rings alone. Send in a tooth?

Yes teeth were pulled back in Sept. but waited till end of season as we had few other teeth to send in with my buddy. Got some elk/deern my ram on way to the lab now. ETA for results is mid-Feb

 

[resident vs nonresident]

You don’t need the broomed tips to judge for age. The key is to identify the 4th year ring and go from there. In this case it’s still easy to identify the lamp tip, 3nd, 3rd and 4th rings on the longer side. Not too hard on the shorter side either.

How do you figure out 4th year ring?
I only know what CPW showed me.
They said first ring (lamb tip) is 2 and then + 1 for every other from there

This ram had super tight curl, his ears didn’t even clear it so it seems like all the rings are stacked super tight.
All I know he was old and has great mass

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

Obviously counting backwards, because we don’t have the lamb tip to start from, there are 9 obvious annuli visible up till the point he broomed off.
Anyone that has any idea of aging sheep would not call that a 9 year old ram.
Let us know what the tooth analysis comes back as.

 

[resident vs nonresident]

Obviously counting backwards, because we don’t have the lamb tip to start from, there are 9 obvious annuli visible up till the point he broomed off.
Anyone that has any idea of aging sheep would not call that a 9 year old ram.
Let us know what the tooth analysis comes back as.
View attachment 982115

If not 9 do you mean it would be older right? 9 is just the minimum guess?

 

[wind gypsy]

This is like Barry Wood posting a pic and asking for guesses on how big his hog is.

 

[adventure907]

What Ben said. He's certainly older than 9.

 

[resident vs nonresident]

I also have my guess (maybe too optimistic ) and I’ll post it along with official results when lab is done.

 

[BBob]

How do you figure out 4th year ring?
I only know what CPW showed me.
They said first ring (lamb tip) is 2 and then + 1 for every other from there

This ram had super tight curl, his ears didn’t even clear it so it seems like all the rings are stacked super tight.
All I know he was old and has great mass

There’s lots of articles and YouTube on how to go about doing that. Not that hard with a few basics. Where it gets hard to age is in the later years where the rings (annuli) get more undefined and or very close together. Most game and fish checks seem very conservative and almost always state a ram is younger than it probably is.

How to accurately age bighorn sheep // GOHUNT. The Hunting Company

The importance of the four year ring

www.gohunt.com

 

[ReddingArcher]

I’m definitely nowhere near an expert, but the little bit I’ve learned, I’d put him at 12. How ever old he is he’s a great ram! Congratulations!

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

If not 9 do you mean it would be older right? 9 is just the minimum guess?

10+ for sure. Not a minimum guess, he’s showing 9 distinct annuli before being broken off. He’s an awesome ram.

 

[resident vs nonresident]

Obviously counting backwards, because we don’t have the lamb tip to start from, there are 9 obvious annuli visible up till the point he broomed off.
Anyone that has any idea of aging sheep would not call that a 9 year old ram.
Let us know what the tooth analysis comes back as.
View attachment 982115

Was i being too optimistic with my guesses?

 

[Steve O]

Was i being too optimistic with my guesses?
View attachment 982191

That’s what I got. CPW must be smoking some of their most profitable plant…no way there is not a “1” in the age of your ram. Congratulations on a bomber. It’s hard to do from pictures! What were the bases and B&C score? Would LOVE more details!

 

[S-3 ranch]

Great old ram , I say 13 ?
I wish Canada and Alaska would bump up the age limit from About 8 up to 10+ , stone sheep are seemingly suffering from the “ legal ram “ rules in BC

 

[resident vs nonresident]

That’s what I got. CPW must be smoking some of their most profitable plant…no way there is not a “1” in the age of your ram. Congratulations on a bomber. It’s hard to do from pictures! What were the bases and B&C score? Would LOVE more details!

I should remeasure now that I have it back and it’s all cleaned up. I originally scored him at 168 1/8”
L/R length
32 2/8” / 34 4/8”
Bases
14” & 14 2/8”
He carried mass well. His D3’s were 13” (+/- 1/8”)

 

[chasewild]

That sheep is 9 just like Colorado needs more wolves.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I'm going with 12 or 13.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

“

Was i being too optimistic with my guesses?
View attachment 982191

“3” and “6” are most likely false annuli. You can tell by how close they are to the true annuli, as well as the lack of angle change on the underside of the horn.