Ageing Rams In The Field

[dallen]

Pass on the right. The left ram looks like a maybe 8 but his curl is gonna be close. The one further down with the stone looks to be 7-8 ish.

How about this one (left).

 

[medvedyt]

Here is one for you with a little story.

I passed on this guy a few years back, I wasnt able to make him full curl with absolute certainty. He was shot the next day by another hunter up the drainage. Two years later I found out. Biologist aged him at 6 and after a very long deliberation with levels, guages, vices, etc... decided he was full curl. He didnt give me much opportunity to study him before he went out of sight after I made my decision. Maybe I would have changed my mind if he did, but thats how it happened. What do you think you would have done in the heat of the moment without being able to see annuli for age?View attachment 1048301

if not sure you do not shoot and your decision was the right one. it is only a 5 min for the biologist to make a decision and plug so the longer to find the full curl the longer it is to be questionned so in doubt do not shoot.

 

[ColeyG]

I'll play.


Ram #1, 2024.





Ram #2, 2025









Couple of crap photos of ram #2. Was 20 miles in solo and didn't want to lug the big spotter...

 

[rwtdog]

interesting thread. Thanks for the insight from all.

 

[Tanner]

 

[ReddingArcher]

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Both of those look like they deserve a closer look at least.

 

[ColeyG]

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Same rams or different?

Bottom looks to be a shooter, top one would need a closer look. From that angle he looks short to me. Likely there based on age.

 

[Tanner]

Top one is a 40” 10 year old that just barely made full curl.

Bottom was a 12 year old 41 that was 3-4” past full curl.

 

[ArcherBob]

Top one is a 40” 10 year old that just barely made full curl.

Bottom was a 12 year old 41 that was 3-4” past full curl.

That bottom one is nice. You can tell he’s old.

 

[Tanner]

That bottom one is nice. You can tell he’s old.

Top ram was damn near at the end of his life, we watched him the day before the opener actually fall down while feeding on some low brush. Never seen that before. He was probably 30% underweight and just sickly looking. Great ram to kill and he was a dandy to boot.

 

[ArcherBob]

Top ram was damn near at the end of his life, we watched him the day before the opener actually fall down while feeding on some low brush. Never seen that before. He was probably 30% underweight and just sickly looking. Great ram to kill and he was a dandy to boot.

Yeah that’s a great ram to take!

 

[ColeyG]

Top one is a 40” 10 year old that just barely made full curl.

Bottom was a 12 year old 41 that was 3-4” past full curl.

Awesome!

 

[Tanner]

Good one here. Pretty distinct annuli at under 100 yards… getting too close during scouting came back to bite me unfortunately.

 

[45-70govt]

Good one here. Pretty distinct annuli at under 100 yards… getting too close during scouting came back to bite me unfortunately.

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Nice Ram! What happened during season??

 

[Tanner]

Nice Ram! What happened during season??

Ah man… I could write a book about that ram. Short story, I got too close during those pics in their summer range, and he and another B&C ram took off into a place I could never find in 10 days of 10+ miles every day of scouring. My wife was closing in on 9 months pregnant and by day 10 of my hunt she was starting to feel it…. I made a concession and shot a really nice 9 year old ram and got home with plenty of days before she delivered our son, but it stung a little bit not being able to keep hunting with 20+ days left in the season (I realize how selfish that sounds). We killed the ram in the pic on a Governors tag ram later that year close to the winter range, and he ended up going 185” and was 12.5 years old…

Tanner