Dall Sheep Hunting

Dall Sheep

(Ovis dalli dalli)

Current SCI all time record: Score 196 5/8

Description: Dall sheep are typically pure white. Both ewes and rams have curved horns. Ewes' horns are gently backswept and quite short. Mature rams' horns curve first back and down, then forward and up in a flaring spiral. The length along the curve of a ram's horn can be more than one meter. Rams have much thinner horns than those of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, hence the name "thinhorns".

Other Common Names: Thinhorn Sheep

Size: Thinhorn rams weigh up to 115 kilograms, about two thirds the weight of bighorn rams. Stone rams are usually somewhat heavier than Dall rams and also have slightly longer horns. Ewes are a fifth smaller than rams and weigh only half as much.

Range: Alaska, British Columbia, and small areas of the North west Territory and Yukon; primarily August-September.

Natural History: Thinhorn sheep are a New World species found only in Canada's northwest and in Alaska. They are close cousins to Siberian snow sheep and were once thought to be the same species.

Two subspecies of thinhorns inhabit the backbone of the northwest today. Pure white Dall sheep occur in Alaska and parts of Yukon, Northwest Territories and British Columbia. The darker Stone sheep occupy a smaller range in Yukon, but occur throughout much of northern British Columbia.

Thinhorn sheep spend the short northern summer grazing in high alpine meadows. During July and August they crop the choicest bits of grasses, sedges and juicy, broad-leaved forbs. They are building up fat stores to help them through the winter, when high quality forage doesn't last as long as the snow and cold.

Come late August and September, thinhorns begin a leisurely move toward winter range that can be few or many kilometers away. They use the same migration routes generation after generation, drifting slowly through the high country, but hurrying across valleys that must be crossed. Once sheep leave the safety of rugged mountain terrain, they are open to attack by wolves, coyotes or grizzlies.

Wind-swept, south-facing slopes at fairly low elevations are typical thinhorn winter range, and sheep spend up to nine months there. Dall sheep usually stick to open grasslands above treeline while Stone sheep also make use of treed and shrubby areas. For both kinds of thinhorn, winter range must have scree slopes and broken cliffs nearby for escape routes and for spring lambing grounds.

Since sheep are grazers, they need to get at grasses and other favorite plants buried by winter snowfalls. They will dig in snow up to 30 centimeters deep, but rely on strong winds to sweep the slopes clear of deeper snow. Freeze-thaw weather and heavy, wet snowfalls can lock sheep food beneath a crusty barrier, which can have serious consequences. If ewes don't get enough food energy during the winter, they don't produce lambs and the population declines.

In spring and early summer, sheep often visit mineral licks to restock their supply of micronutrients lost during the long winter. They spend days or weeks near the licks before following the line of snowmelt and newly sprouted green shoots back up to alpine summer ranges.

Spring also brings lively new life to the mountain slopes. Pregnant ewes head for the lambing grounds' steep cliffs in May and early June. There they stay for three to four weeks until all lambs are born. Then, together with their young, they climb to summer range once more.

Hunting Characteristics: