A special Boone and Crockett Club judges panel today declared a ram from Montana as the new World’s Record bighorn sheep. The four-member panel of senior Boone and Crockett Official Measures re-scored the ram’s horns and determined the final score to be 216-3/8 points B&C, surpassing the current World’s Record – a ram that scores 209-4/8.
Special judges panels are convened to declare new World’s Records by confirming an official entry score. This ram’s entry score accepted on February 8 was 216-3/8.
“This ram is significant for many reasons,” said Justin Spring, the Club’s director of Big Game Records. “One of many things worth noting is that since the Club’s current scoring system was adopted in 1950, this is only the fifth World’s Record bighorn, and three of these have been declared since just 2001. If anything, we’re now seeing what nature and sound wildlife management are capable of producing in the wild.”
The panel scoring took place at the world headquarters of the Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), located in Bozeman, Montana. On hand were B&C officials, Montana State Governor Steve Bullock, and Wild Sheep Foundation President and CEO Gray Thornton.
“Here in Montana, we have a rich history of bringing diverse groups together to preserve and protect wildlife habitat and public lands,” said Governor Steve Bullock. “This is truly a Montana conservation success story.”
“Wild Sheep Foundation is honored to host the panel certification of this World’s Record bighorn and this momentous announcement from our governor that Montana, the ‘Land of the Giants’ is home to the largest bighorn sheep known,” stated Gray N. Thornton, WSF’s president and CEO. “The first bighorns were translocated to Wild Horse Island in 1939 from the Mission Mountains with two additional actions in 1947 and 1987. Incredibly starting in 1954, 488 bighorn sheep were translocated off the Island in 26 different operations to 16 locations in Montana for the benefit of all Montanans and an additional 73 bighorns were exported to Washington and Oregon. The island is not only an incredible watchable wildlife asset but is an exceptional source with obviously incredible genetics to repatriate bighorn sheep throughout Montana.”The nine-year-old ram lived his entire life on Wild Horse Island – a state park located in Northwest Montana’s Flathead Lake. The ram was found by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks officials who determined it had died of natures causes. Because a hunter did not take the ram, the department entered the ram into B&C records on behalf on the citizens of Montana.
Key measurements from the ram’s horns that contribute to its final score are horn lengths of 48-3/8 and 49-6/8, circumferences at the bases of 16-3/8 and 16-4/8, and fourth quarter circumferences of 11-2/8 and 11-4/8 inches.
Spring said, “This ram doesn’t have the longest horns on record, or the largest bases, but the mass of his horns carried over the entire length of nearly 50-inch horns is what makes this ram the largest we’ve seen by a significant margin. The last three World’s Record rams have been 208-1/8, 208-3/8, 209-4/8 and now 216-3/8. That’s a jump we just never expected to see.”