i found a sheep skull!

[oldoregon]

i found a nice little 5 year old ewe skull up hear in the eagle cap. i will try and post a pic. we were walking down a small drainage about 1x1 miles. i saw it in the creek bottom, it took about 20 minuites to find both horns. it had died from a fall, all the bones were broken, but not chewed on.

will get picture soon

 

[HunterHarry]

LAST EDITED ON Aug-29-03 AT 10:53AM (MST)[p] You might not be old enough to remember, but back in the eighties the Monster Ram known as Scarface died of natural causes in Oregon. At the time it was the largest recorded in the US. at 202+B&C I believe. It caused quite a stir when the ram dissapeared.A huge search and investigation was launched. It turns out a backpacker found his skull and was nearly imprisoned for possesing this Ram skull, Unless the laws have changed, I would contact the local authorities immediatley to see if it is legal to posses the skull,you could be at risk of arrest for possesion of it!

 

[NMhuntnutt]

I know here in NM you gotta have a federal stamp put in the back of the horn , the game and fish put a stamp/plug in the horn and you gotta have this done with possesion of wild bighorn skulls. I'd check into it , just to cover your butt...NMhuntnutt

 

[ramslam]

It is not legal to possess bighorn horns (ram or ewe) in the state of Oregon. It should be turned into ODFW.

 

[treekiller]

Spot/Scarface had a running mate named Flare, he disappeared during the same disease outbreak. Flare was nearly as large as Spot, but his skull was never found. Or at least nobody ever fessed up to it!

Better turn the skull in, it's not worth the hassle!

 

[FullCryHounds]

Here in CO., I believe it is legal to posses a skull picked up. They used to put in the plug on these horns also but stopped because with the plug, they could be sold. Without the plug, and unable to sell them, it takes away the option of profiting from your find.

 

[oldoregon]

guess what yall it was on a little patch of private property near marble poin, so i will not get thrown in the slammmer. i have held spots skull before it was a monster, i dont think anybody found flare, but somebody shot spots grandson 44 last year. and guess what, there is another spot. he is a little 1/2 curl ram right now, but he will get bigger. his spot is identical to the origional, he is a great grandson, 44's son i think.

 

[steelie]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-05-03 AT 11:03PM (MST)[p]oldoregon, you'd probably better contact the CO anyways, shouldn't really matter if it was found on private land or not, if that is the case then what is to stop me from poaching one, possessing the skull and claiming I found it on private land. I am NOT suggestion you did this, but that is the reasons the laws are in place. As a CYA precaution, I'd give them a call.

 

[oldoregon]

i am calling them tommorrow nite

 

[ruttinbull]

OldOregon,

Possession of an unpinned sheep skull is unlawful, no matter if it was private property or not. Only legally harvested sheep may be possessed without a permit. They still must be pinned by the local regulating agency. This requirement is Federal.

Call if you have further questions.

Randall Hand
Oregon State Police, Fish and Wildlife Division
The Dalles, OR
(541) 296-9646

 

[NVBighorn]

Ruttin,
Are you sure it's a federal requirement? I'm getting mixed information on this. I know several states specificaly say in their proclamations that it is illegal to possess a pickup sheep skull including Oregon and Montana. Nevada has nothing in their regs about it. At one time if you found one anywhere except on the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, NDOW would plug them and you could keep them. Then they told us they would not plug them anymore but did not tell us we couldn't keep them. I know people who pick them up every year. If it's a federal thing I'd like to know about it.

 

[ruttinbull]

NVBighorn
My previous post was meant to only reflect Oregons possession laws. I cannot speak to other states possession requirements....however I do believe that the pinning requirement falls under the CITES treaty (Federal). That is,in order to possess a sheep horns they would have to be "pinned" or "plugged."

I have info that Idaho was allowing possession of found skulls, but they needed pinning to make it lawful. What the other western states are doing, I really dont know.

Of interesting note, there was an investigation of one person who seemed rather lucky at finding sheep skulls. The high end probability was that he was shooting and let lay...then collecting the skull much later. He then would have them pinned in Idaho and then ...sell. Not my case so I do not know how this was resolved...or if it ever was.

I too found a sheep skull today, also a ewe. Looks like a nasty fall. There was not much left of anything. I also saw 7 rams (alive). Two of which were in the 155ish class.
Ruttinbull

 

[NVBighorn]

Thanks for the clarification. I liked it better when they would plug them here. That way you knew it was OK.

Here's a photo of several pickups (and the one on the right obviously not a pickup) that we found hunting desert sheep last year. All I found was a set of ewe horns. Everybody else had a ram but me. :-(

 

[Wes]

We found two skulls in Nevada this year while guideing for sheep, one while scouting and the other on the second day of the season. We took both into the NDOW office in Elko. They said that while they no longer plug pick up skulls it is OK to possess them. They even scored them for us. My buddies scored 167 net and made the Nevada record book. Mine scored 162, four inches short of the book. Unfortunately we were unable to find the two big live rams we were after.
Wes

 

[NVBighorn]

Wes, were you guiding? In the Rubies? Just wondering how the sheep hunts have been going up there. I saw pictures of the one big ram killed in the East Humbolts. I have a friend who has a tag in the Rubies but I haven't heard how she did on her hunt.

 

[Blank]

My ram from Idaho was pinned with a numbered silver plug. At one time, they were plugging pickup horns with a red plug, so that it was identified properly. Don't know if this is still the practice or not. It is legal to sell parts of legally harvested animals in Idaho (ie, your own), but not the pickup horns, so this was thought to prevent the shoot and find later guys.

 

[Wes]

NV
We were guideing one of the two tag holders for the Rubies. Unfortunately we weren't able to find the two rams we are after so we'll keep looking till we do then call our hunter back. I did find one huge ram that unfortunately had busted both horns off. He had great bases but his horns were only 8" on one side and 12" on the other. I heard the other tag holder shot a 170 ram on 8-30. One of the Marques's shot a ram in the East Humbolts that reportedly scores around 183. The rams we're looking for will be in that range also. Our hunter is a great guy and this will complete his grand slam so I'm really hopefull we can find one of the big sheep for him. We always see them during deer season but they weren't in the same area this time.
Wes

 

[NVBighorn]

Wes, Glad to here the other tagholder shot a ram. Very nice people. She shot a 169ish desert a few years ago.

That's interesting about the huge ram with the busted horns. Too bad about him. Probably die of old age since most hunters aren't going to take him on a tag like that.

I saw the pictures of the Marques ram. Awesome ram. The information I had said 183+ also.

I hope you find the big rams for your hunter. You have plenty of time. What a great personal thing that would be to finish his slam on a Rocky in Nevada. Who would have even guessed it could happen a few years ago. Sounds like the Ruby sheep are coming back. I'm glad to hear that. Please post some pix when he gets his ram.

 

[oldoregon]

Was it in the wallowas, if it was, i live in lostine, only 2-10 miles from the lostine herd, i can go up there anytime and look for horns, take pics, ect... we should hook up, i will call u tonigh hopefully, atleast by next week.