I was always told that a legal bighorn ram in Idaho was a "full curl" ram, but when I look in the regulations, I see no mention of this requirement. I would like to start applying for bighorn hunts and would like some clarification of this rule. Thank you.
Answer:
We used to require a ram be 3/4 curl or better but that rule changed several years ago. Biologists looked at harvest rates and their potential impacts on age structure and decided that if a hunter wished to harvest any legal ram rather than a mature ram, more older and larger rams would survive passing on their genes to offspring. Also, if a hunter wished to use his "once in a lifetime" opportunity on a smaller ram, then they shouldn't be penalized and be required to miss that opportunity if it had no negative impacts to the population of bighorns.
Answered on:
Monday, March 28, 2016 - 11:28 AM MDT