I have a few of both BB and Mouflon. The Mouflon longer by a few years than the BB. The Mouflon are by far the wildest of the two even after all this time.

I haven't had experiences with mouflon but I have hunted an Afghan Urial at the Priour.
They are very cagey and wary animals and take off the moment they see you.

I've seen some of the mountain hunts on tv. They don't look easy. Even some of the aoudad hunts I've seen out in west Texas looked pretty wild. But none of the ones on the exotic ranches seemed challenging to me. Although they've had some with nice horns and coats. But let's admit it, that is where the vast majority of the animals taken by us "exotic" hunters here in Texas are. Munching corn at the feeder. I believe you are probably correct about the animals in natural habitats. I don't believe there is any comparison to a Texas Dall and a true Dall in it's natural habitat. Something the vast majority of us will never be able to afford to hunt anyhow. And I realize that hunts are in the eye of the beholder. I just see the discussions about hybridization and keeping breeds pure, etc and I wonder how you could do that when they are all together in these pastures and at the feeder.

And the blackbuck hunt I did was not easy. Even the doe were spooky and ran at the slightest hint of us or a vehicle. One doe shot at 125 yards, the other 205. The buck was close to 100 yards and headed out when I popped him. But still, I would value a smaller one shot with my bow much more.

Pretty sure yours was more than 5. That said, the amount of length gained past 5 for the odds of broom ing or breaking is pretty low. Past 5 they probably only grow 2-3 inches per year declining about 50% each year. You can certainly get them older where they are native breeding operations, but on the put n take stuff most sheep are taken within that age range.

Ive been hunting a very large ranch for several years now that has a large population of Blackbuck. Most of them are not that wary but there is one buck that I've see 3 times in 3 years and I still can't get on him. I imagine animals are similar to humans in that some are very jumpy/wary while others are not as much. OBTW if I see that blackbuck this May I believe I'll have a world class trophy for my office!!! Baker

By the way those are some good looking animals.

One way that ranches keep their sheep pure is to have a breeding facility and seperate ewe/ram pastures. It varies as to how they breed sometimes the breeding flock is kept strictly in the breeding facility and sometimes the allowed to run in the pasture then the ones that show promise are darted and transferred to the breeding pen. I guarantee you that a mouflon or urial that's been running in a semi open pasture with broken terrain and cover wont be a slam dunk.

I have sold Mouflon to Game Ranches, I guarantee You that once You catch them (By whatever Means) load them up, haul them to an open Pasture and open the Trailer Gate You better look quick! Have had several of them complain that they can't find them again! a lot of this goes back to Purity and Put and Take, 1.) There are still a lot of Ranches selling Hybrids as Pure Mouflon, most Hunters don't know the Difference and said Ranches capitalize on Uneducated Hunters, all it takes is adding a little Domestic (Corsican) Blood and You have a different Animal, 2.) A lot of the "Put and Take" Ranches only want an Animal after a Hunt is Booked, they then get that Animal Delivered on Friday, Hunter comes on Saturday and Animal is still Disoriented to the Point that He is looking for Like Animals and/or Boundaries, Feed, Water etc. By Natural Design, I have weeded out the Ranches that Buy Animals and Hunt them within a few Days, simply because those Ranches for the most part will not Pay for a Quality Pure Mouflon, The Ranches that maintain a certain amount of Integrity either Buy them ahead of time or Raise their own, In one of My Favorite Books "The Great Arc of the Wild Sheep" the Author (who worked for the Museum of Natural History in New York) was employed to Trek the World over to Hunt Big Game and bring back to Taxidermy for Display in the Museum(in the early 1900's) Of all the World's Big Game, The Wild Sheep gained His Admiration the Most as being the Most Cunning, sure footed, wittiest, Wildest and Cagiest!

What I didn't say is, upon Delivery of Mouflon Rams, I have driven thru Corsican Sheep like One would drive thru checking Cattle just to get the the Area to release the Mouflon, a couple of times had to honk My Horn to get them out of the Way!.....If You start to get the Feeling that I have had to Defend comparisons to Mouflon and Corsicans, You would be right! LOL!

Yes, your memory serves you well. It was honestly one of the best hunts of my life. We loved it and I highly recommend Klemens as the outfitter.

I don't know how old he was but he had alot of grey around his muzzle and face

He was also broomed off pretty good

Just count the rings on the mount. May be hard to tell what a sheep is sometime, but at least they are easy to age.

So each ring is a year?

I'm seeing a lot of rings....its hard to tell.

now you have my curiosity peaked


upon recount with some help from a the internet...I'm counting 8 or 9 rings.

was it possible he was that old? I shot him feb 06'

The first ring from the Horn Tips toward the Base is usually the "Baby Tips", usually occurs at the time the Ewe Weans them, the next ring toward the Base will usually be the end of their first Year and so on....the Older they get obviously the closer the Rings get, sometimes it gets hard to tell....The Horn Annuli is seldom accurate in Sheep raised in Captivity.

Sheephunter,

The flared horns are not super common, but they happen. Not every Austrian outfitter has them on his place. A lot of Austrian properties are high fenced, so this needs to be understood up front.

They are pure mouflon, have been designated as so in SCI since the 1980s.

SCI has a a seperate listing for the flared horned rams.

Age wise, they are 8-14 years old. 80 CM is a good trophy, 90 is a really good one and a 100 CM is a super trophy.

Take a look at the SCI record books for the rest of the world and you'll see what I mean.

What do you guys think of these mouflon? We have this herd on our lease but we can't shoot them without paying extra. As far as I know, the whole time we've hunted here, nobody has ever shot one.

nice looking rams..thanks for sharing the pics.

Shoot the two ewes in the middle of the first pic and the left of the second quick.

TxTrophy85 - your ram could easily be 9 or 10. We have shot several at that age. Can guarantee you he never set foot in a pen. They do wear the front edge as they get that old making the rings harder to count. I count from the back, usually a little cleaner on the back.

I agree, I'd contact the lease owner and hopefully with his permission...blast those dang hybrids to oblivion.

It's good to see pure stuff still out there, especially free range.

Typical of the comments you make..... never say anything positive..just slam anything that is a hybrid.

Maybe because I don't want to see everything turned into a tame Corsican?

Maybe because you are so immature you can't help but make nasty remarks ...

Have you ever hunt any of the hybridized exotic sheep (Corsican, texas dall, black hawaian, ect)? Because as much as you bash any hybrid species I would guess that you would have never hunted them, right?

I agree with kobus.

kill the hybrids on site