My trophies are subjective and none of them need a pedigree to hang on my wall or be in my freezer. As long as I like them I shoot 'em and pay the money.

Surprised no mention here of the Stumberg sheep on The Patio Ranch.

Reloader..... I'm with you...if it looks good and a fair price....that's the bottom line.

Issue here is that there are some who have a mindset that it need to be something very specific or it's a "mutt" (if you haven't read the treat from the beginning you may want to).

And by the way, Stunmbergs at the Patio Ranch and Stumberg x Transcaspian Urial as also addressed. see attached thread

http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5376102/1

I have nothing againt "Mutts" or "crosses" as long as you keep them away from the real deal. When sellers and brokers pull a sly and decide to sell a 6/8ths TCU x T. Dall Cross and sell it off as a "pure" sheep to someone who just started out their pure TCU herd, I'd get royally P'oed.

But it just stinks that there seems to be a rise in crosses these days, both sheep and goat wise.... Whatever happened to conserving species for what they are?
I dread that there are probably not going to be any pure Ibex or the like in the next decade or two if this keeps up....
Also....most crosses it seems are pretty stupid and tame.

Kobus,
Ranchers are always going to have pure animals because they make money on them. So Pure females will likely always be breed to pure males. But if you have a male sheep (with big testicles) and you can cross it with an available ewe of another breed of sheep ...and sell the male offspring for additional profits...they do that too. Exotic sheep have been in Texas since the 1950's and there are no shortage of pure exotics....or crosses. If rancher's decided to take your philosophy of "Whatever happened to conserving species for what they are?" and just focus on "pure" breeds they would probably not be as profitable and there might be less ranching and maybe even less pure breed animals. The crosses help pay the bills and there is a demand for them on hunting ranches.

And you know why I posted the pictures of the ram from the zoo in Afghanistan dated 1971..it was to show you how similar that ram looked to the one on Wildlife Buyer that you negatively commented on. The Seller of that "Afghan Urial Ram" has 113 reviews..all positive with one exception.. a guy rated him negative because a ewe he purchased had a cut leg. Maybe the Seller really believes it is a pure Afghan Urial....and maybe it is! You could certainly draw that conclusion from the pictures. Look at the range of the Afghan Urials...maybe there are variations. Where did the Priour brothers get his original Afghan Urial sheep..the San Diego Zoo? Where did the zoo get them?

By the way, you mentioned Ibex. Go read up on what is happening to Ibex in the wild in parts of their home range...they hybridize with domestic goats...and the hybrids are then running with the native ibex. So I guess those Ibex are all contaminated.

Also your comment that "most crosses it seems are pretty stupid and tame" rather subjective. Turn any sheep lose that has Mouflon or Urial into a large pasture and leave him alone and I bet he becomes pretty wild in a relatively short time.

If you are interested, there is a wild herd of Ibex in New Mexico, transplanted there 15 years ago, that can be hunted with over-the-counter tags on public land.

Reloader,
I believe you are mistaken. The Ibex license in New Mexico are on a draw basis not over the counter .. and it is hard to draw a tag.

It is a draw and VERY difficult to get drawn.

Kobus have you ever raised sheep? I've owned 1/4 to 7/8 urial rams ("mutts") and they were far from stupid and VERY far from tame....and I had 6 in a small 1/2 acre pen. Incorrect sir.