Antalope Island Bighorn

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rutnbuck

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Ok I seen the Bighorn taken off the Island this past fall in the Mossback Booth at the expo. Man was the head gear on that thing beat up. Looks like that old boy had went the rounds with a Mack Truck. I don't know a thing about scoring but my question if anyone has seen it! Did it score worth a darn? It was kind of an ugly critter. Looked like it was old and beat. How dose this help the score? I guess why would he shoot that one?

Rutnbuck
 
I am sure there are others on this site more qualified to answer your question, but I will give you my take.
First of all, the Bighorns on Antelope Island as well as the Stansburys, and Newfys in Utah, are of the Californian Bighorn subspecies. They typically have smaller horns and smaller bodies than the Rocky Mountain Bighorns in other units, although Boone and Crockett does not recognize the difference. So while that ram is a very nice Cali ram, his score does not stack up high against bigger Rocky rams from other units. I do however suspect that he was one of the larger rams on the Island and a very respectable Ram trophy.
In much of the sheep world, there is a very strong unwritten rule to try to kill the oldest rams on the mountain, thus maintaining the integrity and stability of the herd. While old rams may not be the prettiest or even the highest scoring, they are the most valued trophy to many of us. It a code the rest of the hunting world would do well to adhere to.
So, while that ram was apparently not impressive to you, I thought he is a dandy trophy to be proud of. I can't speak for the lucky hunter about why or how he chose that one, only that I am sure he is very proud of it.
I will say his cape looked a little battered, and I am sure there is a story there as well.
 
Thanks So how dose your theory rate when it comes to score. Oh he was indeed impressive. Just the fact I don't know! The ol ram looks like he had many a battle scar. Very unique.

Rutnbuck
 
+ 1 Pleasedear... I never have been one much for Score. After looking at all the rams at the show. If I had to choose I think I would be happy with any of them. Maybe this year

Rutnbuck
 
"Thanks So how dose your theory rate when it comes to score."

I am with Pleasedear when it comes to sheep score. It is especially irrelevant with Utah sheep because we have the "dinks" of the sheep world...both Deserts and Rockies. Only a handful of Utah Sheep are in the record book, yet any mature (8 years old and older) Utah ram is a trophy to be proud of in my book.
Most sheep hunters (if they know how precious their tag is) put in a good amount of scouting prior to the season in order to determine the trophy quality and age dynamics in their unit.(or better yet, they hire a good sheep guide) Then hopefully they try to harvest the biggest/oldest ram they can find. In most Utah units the rams we take would be "laughable" score wise if they were taken out of good units in other states...but again score shouldn't really matter.
 
+1 to all.
The same applies to an old Cape buffalo. A true trophy hunter tries to take the oldest, hard-horned bull he can find regardless of "score".

There's nothing as spectacular as an old knarly, battered ram.
Brooming, chips and cracks are a display of a life well spend and worthy of a place of honor on the trophy room wall.

I even talk about score quite often but it's actually irrelevant to me.

Just my 2 cents,
Zeke
 
^Yep all, generally age over score any day...there CAN be situations where I'd make an exception, but only if the younger/bigger ram was over 8 years old anyway. I like em when they're gettin to be 10-11-12+ :)

I also agree with everyone that battle scars in both horn and face on rams are more valuable in a trophy sense than a few extra arbitrary inches might be. A chunk out here, a broken nose there...that's what makes them rams eh!

One of our colleague's hunters killed a ram in NM this past season that was aged by G&F at 15! He doesn't book, but he is just beautiful...perfectly shaped, tight full curl with heavily broomed ends, and a STACK of dark annuli. I believe he is also the oldest hunter-killed Rocky on record from my state. Tough to beat a trophy like that!

Score is really best used as a communication device and reference tool for different regions/populations...it is certainly not something to be 'achieved', or a value to measure one's manhood by, though the deeply afflicted modern trophy culture would lead one to believe otherwise

I still wouldn't shoot a dog though, even if he was a hundred! :)
 
I've had personal contact with several of the posters on your thread and there's not a better bunch of guys from whom to learn "sheep".

We all keep learning!

Zeke
 
I happened to be there on the island the day they shot and brought out the ram. So I got to see it first hand. I believe at the time Doyle said it green scored around 166". The ram had a green ear tag, which meant it was from the original transplant from B.C. in 2001. That would make the ram around 12-13 years old, I'm guessing. Also, the kid that shot the ram(don't know his name) seemed very excited about the whole thing and appeared to be a good kid. One of his shots hit the ram in the horn and blew off about 2 or 3" of the tip, which probably now looks like it's broomed off real heavy on that side. Also, it looked like the bullet exploded when it hit the horn and blew a big hole in the rams check. So if they used the same cape, I'm sure that's why it looks really beat up.
Congrats to them again on a great ram.
 
That explains it Ridgetops. His horns were missing a bunch of the caseing. I thought it was from old brooming a such. They are having that hunt or one of the big horn hunts from Antalope Island on KUTV tonight. I think it is at 11 pm.

Rutnbuck
 
Very interesting guys. With the common opinion being that an 8+ year old is the benchmark for a trophy, do you look down on a hunter that takes a 7 year old. Is that ram still a trophy?

The mountains, not the hills.
 
I had the date wrong on the Antelope Island first transplant. It was in 1997. Anyway, to answer Sanjuan. Are you refering to the ram the state hunter shot on the island this year?
it looked like it was around 7 but still was a good looking ram. The more I follow sheep hunting, the more I'm starting to understand why it is important to try and get the oldests rams on each unit. With very few tags given out, it would be a shame to see rams dying of old age because people keep shooting the younger ones.
The Stansbury state tag hunter drew with "0" points this year and shot a very young ram. Probabably a 4 or 5 year old. He seemed very happy with it but it did make me sad to see such a young ram shot because I know a lot of other people who have been putting in for years would have tried to shoot one of the older rams on the unit. I'm not going to look down on him because it was his tag and his right to take what ever ram he wanted.


There's always next year
 
I wasn't referring to any ram in particular but you basically answered my question by stating that it has more to do with taking one of the older rams in the unit than an exact age.

The mountains, not the hills.
 
Great insight guys. Ridgetops nailed it. The ram Mckenzie took was one of the 2 original rams left, aged at 14 1/2, and scored 165. It was the original cape also. The state hunter missed the other old ram, two days in a row, and then shot a different ram. These cali rams on the island, as well as the ones on the Newfoundland, broom off heavaly.

Yelum
 
Yelum, I saw some footage of that one ram out there that looks like it has 36"+ length on one side but only 30" at best on the other. Bummer he broke off so short on that one side.

There's always next year
 
Spot on YELUM, I might add that there were and are higher scoring rams on the island. However Mckenzie chose to take one of the oldest rams there. Which is the best thing for the island and its wild sheep.
 
Enjoying the feed back guys. So if one ram was broomed off and the other not. How dose it effect score? Rutnbuck
 
rutnbuck,

The way sheep are scored, sometimes being "broomed" back can actually help your score. With sheep your mass measurements are based on dividing the length of the longest horn by 4 and taking your mass measurements at those points on both sides. Obviously the higher up the horn the measurement is taken the bigger the mass measurements. Very often that more than compensates for any loss inch wise in length.

As far as sheep score goes, mass is king. A shorter heavier ram will almost always score better than a longer thin ram.
Hope that helps.
 

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