New World Record Bighorn Sheep

406LIFE

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 18, 2016
Messages
3,111
Came in at 216-3/8. Two inches bigger than previously thought. Pictures speak for themselves.
27654376_10157170517924778_7553269824628370389_n.jpg
27750656_10157170520484778_2603624085688520652_n.jpg
 
Wow. Amazing sheep.

Think they could have chosen a more awkward pose to display the new world record in?
 
Great to know that a specimen like that could live it's whole life in our seemingly crowded world. Died of old age, right?
 
I just spoke to Dave and Jim, the guys in the photo. I'll have something in Outdoor Life later this week. The ram was 9 years old. Beats the current record by six full inches. The island where it came from has provided 400+ bighorns for restocking herds around the northwest. The island was purchased with funding form Land & Water Conservation Fund. Remember that: LWCF success story.
 
Wow! That’s damned impressive for a nine year old ram.
 
Are you sure that's real?!? Its a dream of mine to hunt bighorn one day.
 
Beautiful ram!

Any word on the cause of death?

Alberta is going to open a new sheep sanctuary and grow a bigger one. ;)
 
Not sure he's the biggest on the island either! Ive seen a couple in his class, running together. Ill have to get photos this summer, now that I have a decent spotter and phone skope. Wildhorse is an incredible place, very fortunate to have visited often. Actually worked for the "caretaker" of Wildhorse one year. A guy named Barry I remember right. We tore down an old cabin, tagged it, and barged it up to Summers for reassembly somewhere else. Was an unforgettable summer job. Wildhorse also has some Mule Deer that'll make yer heart skip a beat...
 
Every fall I spend many days motoring around Wild Horse Island catching lake trout and looking for these sheep while drinking a beer or two.
Sometimes it really does suck living in MT.
 
I just spoke to Dave and Jim, the guys in the photo. I'll have something in Outdoor Life later this week. The ram was 9 years old. Beats the current record by six full inches. The island where it came from has provided 400+ bighorns for restocking herds around the northwest. The island was purchased with funding form Land & Water Conservation Fund. Remember that: LWCF success story.

A few other success stories to share. WSF (FNAWS at the time) affiliates help fund a controlled burn on the island in 2009. If my math is accurate this guy would have been 1 at the time. Region 1 biologist Bruce Sterling who was responsible for much of the trap and transplant from the island, also served for many years on the MT WSF board in his spare time. The island had a huge die-off in 1979 due to extreme over crowding and keeping the herd at sustainable levels has undeniably benefited the sheep herd. Lastly the trap and transplant off the island has been paid for with Montana auction tag funds.

Job well done Montana and everyone in the bighorn conservation arena!
 
Yes, on an island where he can't be hunted. Still pretty cool.

I am not familiar with the island. Is it a complicated story about why no hunting is allowed on the island? Let someone pay $100k to shoot some of these world records. Use that money for more sheep habitat...win, win, win.
 
Last edited:
I am not familiar with the island. Is it a complicated story about why no hunting is allowed on the island? Let someone pay $100k to shoot some of these world records. Use that money for more sheep habitat...win, win, win.
An auction tag for that island would go for multiples of $100K. Just as it does in UT for Antelope Island.
 
Back
Top