Judging Legal Dall Sheep

[Cascade340]

Thanks Doc! It was a blast!

 

[Larry Bartlett]

A product idea a friend and I have discussed is designing an app that allows you to help users identify a full elliptical circle and full curl rotation. If any of you fellow geeks want a dead winner app...that is one IMO.

 

[AKjon]

Looks like he took care of business

Congrats on a cranker Cascade
View attachment 375856

Congrats indeed!

 

[VernAK]

So you are going with an First degree kin Family member that is an Alaskan resident? Have they hunted sheep before? Been successful?

I sure wish it was "1st degree of Kin" rather than "second degree of kindred."

 

[AK_Skeeter]

Look at every sheep mount you can find, and every picture/video you can scour of live sheep. When they look at you head on, look at the tips, they should come up past the eye, or at least past the bridge of the nose. If the tips are really thin and hard to see. Good chance its a dink. There are threads on there and other places with "is it legal."
IMO, if you have to spend much time deciding if they are legal, you will be disappointed in the outcome unless the outcome is to just fill a tag. Everyone has their own bar for measuring success.

Mature rams have a swagger, and pot belly/swayed back. The horns will look massive at first glance compared to a younger ram, more mass down lower. Bases on younger rams are usually pretty smooth, not many ridges.

My only advice for a draw a tag (which have far better age class than OTC areas), is if you have to spend more than 30 seconds trying to figure out if they're legal... look for another ram. Squeekers don't look big, and your brain will try to make them legal. Don't fall for it...

Good luck on your hunt!

Great advice!
One of my former students seals sheep horns for AK Fish and Game and sees hundreds of rams to be sealed.
He said that the hunters that bring in sublegal rams usually have the same story that they studied that ram for 20 minutes before "deciding" it was legal.

 

[wantj43]

Look at every sheep mount you can find, and every picture/video you can scour of live sheep. When they look at you head on, look at the tips, they should come up past the eye, or at least past the bridge of the nose. If the tips are really thin and hard to see. Good chance its a dink. There are threads on there and other places with "is it legal."
IMO, if you have to spend much time deciding if they are legal, you will be disappointed in the outcome unless the outcome is to just fill a tag. Everyone has their own bar for measuring success.

Mature rams have a swagger, and pot belly/swayed back. The horns will look massive at first glance compared to a younger ram, more mass down lower. Bases on younger rams are usually pretty smooth, not many ridges.

My only advice for a draw a tag (which have far better age class than OTC areas), is if you have to spend more than 30 seconds trying to figure out if they're legal... look for another ram. Squeekers don't look big, and your brain will try to make them legal. Don't fall for it...

Good luck on your hunt!

Can’t be over emphasized how important having a buffer is when judging judging the amount of curl and the risks associated with trying to age them through a spotting scope.

 

[DRNalaska]

Some very helpful resources posted on here. Congrats on a dandy ram

 

[BBob]

He has another video where he has 4-5 heads of various ages and legalities in the back of a pickup that’s pretty good too. Can’t seem to find it at the moment.

Found it. It can be found here along with others.

Aging Sheep - How to Age Wild Sheep

Free resources on how to age wild sheep. Included are guides, videos, and tutorials on how to age Stone, Dall, Bighorn, and Desert sheep.

agingsheep.com

 

[chucko]

It should take less than 10 seconds to determine if it is a legal and mature ram no reason to take a 6-7 year old ram just because he barely makes full curl