This is what one of the concessions in Austria has to say about trophy and age...appears that the trophies are over 5 years old which I would think is young (given the are suppose to live over 10 yrs in the wild and almost double that in captivity)

Mouflon

Ovis musimon


Stock: The inventory goes back to the Empress Maria Theresa, and has performed very well in our mountain regions. Over the centuries, was repeatedly replenished with fresh Corsican and Sardinian mouflon to ensure healthy survival. (e.g: Fürst Metternich / Baron Rothschild / Hermann Göring etc.)(z.B. durch: Fürst Metternich / Baron Rothschild / Hermann Göring etc.)


Hunting season: 1st of June till the 31st of January


Rut: October/November


Hunt: The mouflon is active during the day. We hunt them both by stalking and by observing from the raised seat. The pack is divided into herds of sheep with lambs and young rams. The rams we are allowed to hunt, mostly live alone or in pairs.


Caliber: The mouflon-ram is a very robust game, so we recommend to use: 7x64, 8g-11,5g / 300 Win Mag 9,7g-14g / 30-06, 8g-14g


Trophy: the authority allows the shooting from mouflon-ram in three classes:
Class 3: ram with 1 year
Class 2: ram from 2-5 years
Class 1: ram with more than 5 years


Invoicing: HuntAustria charge the trophy by centimeters horn length.

Prices:
70cm = 185 CIC bronce € 2.225
75cm = 195 CIC silver € 2.615
80cm = 205 CIC gold € 2.995

Dang it Don you got me as well. I thought we were going to have to start referring to you as the "Oracle"

CIC score sheet for Mouflon

Very Interesting... CIC points not just horn score

Found the entry document also interesting

CIC Regulations

From what I understand the "CIC" Score is a lot like "which Girl is the Prettiest" depends on Who's looking! The Ram in first pic that Sheephunter posted is in My Book and excellent Specimen except for the lack of Color (Saddle Patch to small, no white running up his legs etc.) the second pic where the Ram has been "Harvested" is Flaring way to fast, at 37-38" they are going to have to Grow somewhere either into their Head or BEGIN to Flare out (The way I judge them is like a Coil Spring, the Radius stays the same no matter how much You stretch it, each coil maintains the same radius as the next coil) the Ram in the second pic and what a lot of the Hybrids in this Country do is at the bottom of the Curl, they tighten the Radius, I know of a Strain of Mouflon here in the States that was imported directly from the Frankfurt Germany Zoo that are bad to Flare out, but their tails are as short as any You have seen, Problem Here is (at least for Myself) I can't justify keeping a Ram over 3-3.5 Yrs old unless He is a Breeder, most Rams Hunted here in the States are not even 5 yrs old, the Rams You see in Europe are pushing 10-12 Yrs old, also SCI states that "the Horn Tips cannot be the widest width of the Horn, EXCEPT under special circumstances"....to Me they are leaving Room for a 40" plus Ram, I had a Breeder Ram at 5 Years old was over 40", a lot of Folks thought He flared out past His main Beam, but when He looked at You dead on, the Tips were flush with the Main Beam......

What I didn't say is, the Ram in the first Pic, If He was looking at You dead on, I'm willing to Bet His tips are not wider than His Main Beam, the angle He is looking makes them appear to be.....

most people forget that mouflon are very tiny animals....a mature ram is only gonna be 80-90 lbs on the hoof.

tough as nails though mine took a 130 grain softpoint thru the front right shoulder and it exited his back left hip and he still got up and made it off a cliff before expiring

Every time I walk up to one I am always amazed how small they are.

So if what we are hunting here in the states are 3-5 years old and a sheep won't hit maturity till 10-12 then why are we shooting them that young?

Seems counter productive

If most mouflon will be 30" + at 5 yrs why not let them get to 8-10 and truly massive lengths before shooting them?

I know that the mentality of some whitetail breeders (who sell shooters) is that they can sell a deer at 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 and make good money....and to wait until a deer reaches 4 1/2- 6 1/2 is a risk they do not want to take. So they get the money they can...when they can.

I suspect it's the same for ranchers who have Mouflons.... when they hit about 30 inches there is probably a demand/market.....so they sell or hunt them rather than hold and raise them longer and maybe lose them to disease, a fight, whatever. That's just my suspicion.

I tried this many years ago. I bought 10 Mouflon yearling rams from the Flying A ranch in Bandera. Keeping Rams together after they get some age on them is not good. First problem I had was coyotes got a few. After a couple of years they were too big for the coyotes. Then I started having problems with broken horns from fighting. Then I had problems with them killing each other. How you may ask is this possible? What happens is you have two fighting. a third or forth wants to get in the fight. You have two facing each other and then one of the onlookers comes full tilt and hits one of them in the side and busts ribs or legs of the original fighting sheep. Out of the 10 Mouflon I sold 2 in the end. Not a good investment. I had them on about 80 acres. Maybe if it was larger the results would have been different. There is an old saying about sheep. "They are just looking for a place to die". And no Tony this is not some made up story.

Sheep are the dumbest animals on earth. I'm afraid to shoot or eat one because the stupid could rub off on me or infect me. I wear synthetic insulated clothing because even their wool could transfer some of the dumbness they are infected with. I've never dealt with any of the wild sheep in the mountains. They may have retained a little wild sense. But the ones I've seen on ranches were dumber than a rock.

That said some of them have impressive head gear.

^^^^ did you shoot the blackbuck over his poop pile^^^^

Haha, Passthru, You must have only been around Domestic Sheep(Corsicans included), Mouflon are some of the Smartest, Cagiest and most Cunning Animals on the Planet! and txtrophy85, what Don K and Tony said, with the right Genetics and Nutrition a Mouflon Ram can reach 31-36" at 3 to 3.5 Years of Age, selling them Live, the Price per Inch increases greatly at 30" and up, It does not Pay (as much as I would like to) to keep them any longer, the Risk outweighs the Gain! attached is a Pic (hopefully it worked) of My current Breeder Rams, one is 3 yrs old, the other is 4, at these ages their growth has slowed weigh down, for the next couple of Years, their Feed will cost more than the Extra Dollars they would bring

The Ram on the Left is 4 and measures 37", the other Ram is 3 and measures 32"

You are intitled to your opinion, but I take exception to your statement. That may be true for some of the Texas Dalls, Black Hawaiians and Corsicans that are pen raised and let loose, but I don't think that applies to the Mouflons and Urials .

Those two rams are really handsome with great horns and great markings. I am actually more impressed by the 3 year old as his horns appear to have an exceptionally deep curl. He's going to look unreal once his horns start to curl up as he gets older.

Thanks Tony, I'm with You on the 3 yr old, I Bred and raised Him (crossed two different Genetics) the 4 Year old is out of proven Genetics (HIs Sire was over 40") I purchased Him as a two year old....

Hilonesome Beautiful rams. Keep up the pure work.

As you say the growth rings do get closer the older they get.

Those are some very good looking Mouflon Hilonesome. Oh and passthru, Mouflon have hair not wool.

Thanks Guys! You Guys may notice, I almost only post on Sheep Threads, I just Love Wild Sheep! Some Day I hope to have a collection like SheepHunter!

You've must have only dealt with Corsican or Corsican-type sheep.
Urials, and Mouflons are truly wild critters.

When you start crossing them with Corsicans though it seems they become quite watered down though.

Not to stir the pot at all, as in most part I would agree with "domestic" hunting sheep being dumber than a box of rocks, however I have hunted a couple of Rams on different ranches that I would undoubtedly say were every bit as leery as a whitetail. With that being said these Rams had probably been born on the ranches which were good sized pieces of property. On the other hand I have so seen sheep that you couldn't get to run even if you through a stick at them. I shot a very nice Corsican with my bow on day 4 of a 5 day hunt and I truly feel as if I shot a P&Y whitetail buck.

Regardless, involving mouflon or any other of the "high end" sheep they have never been less than spooky and aware of their surroundings at any ranch I have been to with them on there.

I've never been on a true mountain sheep or goat hunt. The ones raised for the wool are not bright. As for others I only know what I've seen here in Texas on ranches. Most of them were corn vacuums on hunts I have been on for other animals. Some wouldn't let you pet them but they still were easy targets at the feeder. Even if you got out and threw rocks at them.
As for the BB no, I didn't shoot him off of a "poop pile". I shot him chasing does after two days of hunting. Spot and stalk and safari style with a rifle. Not the way I had hoped but he will look good on the wall should my taxidermist ever finish with him.

I hope you are not trying to compare a sheep hunt in their natural habitat to what is offered in Texas and are being critical of those hunts and the animals taken. I don't think that's what you are implying, but obviously you cannot compare the two.

Like most animals, sheep are creatures of their environment. Pen raise them and feed them from a bucket for a few years and they will be pretty tame like the ones you describe......but throw them out in a big pasture for a couple of years where there are coyotes, bobcats and hunters....they get pretty wild pretty quickly. Just like feral hogs.

From what I know the Mouflons and Urials are pretty nervous and high strung, and they get wild pretty quickly. I've even had people tell me that in a big enough pasture the Dalls and Hawaiians (and even the Corsican crosses) can be pretty hard to stalk and kill if they have been in there for a while. So I think a lot depends on how the sheep are treated and how long they have been "on the loose.".

I think everyone should make their own decision on what to hunt..... how to hunt....and what's a challenge or what isn't. It's a personal thing.