Stone Hunt Pics

[Buster]

I've seen a ci round up a 5.5 year old ram to 8.5....... Not sure who trains these guys. But wow.

Either they're trying to make a thinhorn legal, or trying to give a buddy a better age for bragging? Either way, yikes.

 

[yama49]

This how is I would age him by Alaskan standards and I'm no expert, if anyone disagrees, please correct me, I'm here to learn too. Beautiful Ram and I'm only posting because the OP ask for age options.

Your 8.5 mark is his 9.. Awesome sheep by the way

 

[RedStag]

His age was of no consequence as he was clearly OTB but I like a lot of guys am just trying to learn how to age sheep more accurately, I appreciate the help guys.

Yeah Ive heard some horror stories of CI's and bad inspections. Any legal sheep is a trophy to me, it was my goal to not shoot a barely legal ram, or a ram that was full curl but not 8 years, we had some great luck that paid off with some hard work.

usually when i age a sheep I end up one year less than most people, which is why I asked because I had a few people comment on it.

Anyone else have some good side shots? Would be good for education

 

[Buster]

Glad you posted the pic, appreciate the aging info that aways comes from it.

 

[Buster]

No thinhorn pics, but here's a bighorn named Tic Tac that I photographed last February.

 

[Buster]

This may be obvious to most, but for the inexperienced guy, notice how much more defined the rings are when viewed from behind (inside) the horns.

 

[cwh]

This how is I would age him by Alaskan standards and I'm no expert, if anyone disagrees, please correct me, I'm here to learn too. Beautiful Ram and I'm only posting because the OP ask for age options.

Stid, what are you getting your #1 from? I'd never count it as anything, but that certainly doesn't mean anything.

 

[frans]

I would get 8.5 yrs, Stid's 2 would be my 1.5... etc.
I agree that in Stid's approach, his 8.5 would actually be 9, not sure why it would be 8.5 in your (Stid's) approach.

But I'm giving him 8.5, and I say that from my zero years of experience with thinhorn sheep

Frans

 

[yama49]

His 1 year is more likely at the D, lamb tips rubbed off.. this would make him 9 plus a this years growth.. 3rd year is usually the first real dark. prominent ring..

Heres a good read on aging stones. http://bchuntingblog.com/blog/2012/06/16/judging-stones-sheep-in-the-field/

 

[60x]

His 1 year is more likely at the D, lamb tips rubbed off.. this would make him 9 plus a this years growth.. 3rd year is usually the first real dark. prominent ring..

Heres a good read on aging stones. http://bchuntingblog.com/blog/2012/06/16/judging-stones-sheep-in-the-field/

That publication is probably one of the best I ever read. I see it come up often. And reread it each time..

For me I almost never had a hunter shoot a sheep based on age alone...period! The only exceptions are the open curl sheep that would be in Alaskas chugach 14c. Or sheep that are clearly 10 or better. I use age as a second to the full curl law in Alaska to be two way legal . Problem is you never know who is going to seal it. That said when I look at a sheep the first thing I do is look at the base to see if there are stacked rings that are clearly definable. I also try to look at the off side horn to get a peek at the inside of the horn. If not stacked then its likely gonna be right around that just legal stage( if we are talking close to full curl mature looking sheep)and of course those are the tough ones . Next I look at the length of the first three years and see where that first definable ring is and from there it should be pretty consistent. And get smaller with each segment. The ones with the bad growth years are the ones that can throw you off. Using segments can help eliminate reading false rings. Not sure if I explained this very well. But this is how I do it. Others do differently..
I do love these threads I always enjoy reading other methods..

 

[JP100]

His 1 year is more likely at the D, lamb tips rubbed off.. this would make him 9 plus a this years growth.. 3rd year is usually the first real dark. prominent ring..

Heres a good read on aging stones. http://bchuntingblog.com/blog/2012/06/16/judging-stones-sheep-in-the-field/

Awesome article. man they are beautiful creatures. could look at them all day haha

 

[Stid2677]

I don't want to side track a great hunt report, but since ask I will post up two more photos.

SO, since a sheep is born in the spring and killed in the fall, they can't really be a full year old when killed. They have to be 8.5, 9.5, 10.5 etc.. They would have to be killed in the spring to be a full year.

I can't speak to Stone sheep but Dall Sheep get a dark annuli when they get a testosterone increase when they hit puberty like humans when they start growing pubic hair. The hormone increase results in a dark annuli and happens most often at 4 years old, this reference can be used to age.

The lamb tip often gets worn down and the first year can be very hard to determine, it is much easier with horns in hand as a (bump) can often be felt when you run your fingers along the horn.

The annuli are much easier to determined when viewed from behind. Another method is to draw your fingernail along the back side of the horn true annuli will have a sight groove that you can feel with the edge of your fingernail.

Here is two photos from the BC aging guide, the first is 3.5 (age listed on site) and the second is 4.5, notice the references I have mentioned.


I don't profess to be any kind of aging expert, this is my explanation of how I have been taught to age. I respect any with more experience than I and am open to always learn.

 

[Buster]

For all you thinhorn hunters, do you find many rams that do not have distinctive enough rings to age? Darker horns tend to be tougher to count, any issues with certain areas producing dark horned rams?

 

[RedStag]

I actually find it hard to age bighorns.
I agree with what Stid was saying about 1/2 years. I've sort of decided a rule to not shoot a sheep only on age unless I can clearly count 9 rings, not including the base. That way there is a buffer for improper inspection,or a one year mistake on my behalf based on false annuli.

My hunting partner and I poured over 50+ pics of stone rams last night, a few of them,we had clear view of annuli, we aged the sheep at 6-7 years old, not full curl. However a lot of these pics were hunters posting their harvest,makes me a little worried about who is inspecting the sheep. I am by no means an expert, but i would rather have the inspector be more harsh and see less sublegal rams shot because they "squeak by"

 

[yama49]

I actually find it hard to age bighorns.
I agree with what Stid was saying about 1/2 years. I've sort of decided a rule to not shoot a sheep only on age unless I can clearly count 9 rings, not including the base. That way there is a buffer for improper inspection,or a one year mistake on my behalf based on false annuli.

My hunting partner and I poured over 50+ pics of stone rams last night, a few of them,we had clear view of annuli, we aged the sheep at 6-7 years old, not full curl. However a lot of these pics were hunters posting their harvest,makes me a little worried about who is inspecting the sheep. I am by no means an expert, but i would rather have the inspector be more harsh and see less sublegal rams shot because they "squeak by"

If you aged yours at 9, before the inspector did, then you did it right..

 

[frans]

I would get 8.5 yrs, Stid's 2 would be my 1.5... etc.
I agree that in Stid's approach, his 8.5 would actually be 9, not sure why it would be 8.5 in your (Stid's) approach.

But I'm giving him 8.5, and I say that from my zero years of experience with thinhorn sheep

Frans

And after some reading on the topic (especially Geist) I would eat crow and agree with 9.5 years old. The first, barely visible, "ring" shows after 1.5 years of age, the first five-six months of growth as a newborn lamb is apparently so insignificant that it doesn't show. 3-5" of horn after 1.5 years and the first really well defined ring at 2.5 years of age, when the sex hormones kick in, in the fall.

 

[Buster]

And after some reading on the topic (especially Geist) I would eat crow and agree with 9.5 years old. The first, barely visible, "ring" shows after 1.5 years of age, the first five-six months of growth as a newborn lamb is apparently so insignificant that it doesn't show. 3-5" of horn after 1.5 years and the first really well defined ring at 2.5 years of age, when the sex hormones kick in, in the fall.

The internet is no place to be admitting you're wrong, lol.

Seriously though, we're all on this site to learn. Good on ya.

 

[sheepguide]

Looks like a great stone hunt and Id call that ram 9.5.

 

[sheepguide]

You dont see many stone rams at least in any areas I have hunted that will produce the type of length you show here in their first year from the early summer when they are born until the first winter when they get the first ring. Most will have not much more than a 2 -3inches tops.

 

[bigfish b.c]

For all you thinhorn hunters, do you find many rams that do not have distinctive enough rings to age? Darker horns tend to be tougher to count, any issues with certain areas producing dark horned rams?

yes the stones can be very tough at times,if you have direct sunlight on the horns it helps,stone horns can run from a tan easyer to a gray hard to see rings to chocolate or darker horn that arnt to bad to count.with stones one trick i have found that helps get a idea of age at a distance,is the thickness of the horn where the curl starts to turn up towards the nose.younger 5-6 year old rams may come above the nose but will be thin in this area,where as a 8 -9 year old ram may only come to the bridge of his nose but will always be thicker in this part of his curl.in the first pic you can see from left to right a 7,6,5 year old rams 2 pic 8 year old last pic that big black ram is only 7 he is a beast,he is 9 this year & hope to get a pic of me holding him.