Here’s a sleeper of a hunt. It’s for California bighorn sheep with the Kamloops Indian Band of British Columbia. We first told you about this hunt in an E-mail Extra Bulletin in 2006, when the Kamloops Indians announced they were auctioning a sheep tag in their area for the very first time. The Kamploops have continued offering this tag each year since then and have consistently produced sheep in the 170-class.
The Kamloops herd is the source of many California bighorns transplanted to the United States and the BC interior, and it has proven its genetics. Animals from this heard continue to supplement other areas today, with 28 sheep transplanted just last year. Before the Indian band began offering a permit three years ago, the sheep in their area had gone virtually unhunted, as they do not even allow subsistence hunting of these sheep by band members. Since the first permit, they have offered one permit for auction each year, along with a permit offered to BC residents through a drawing. The rams taken by nonresidents on these hunts include a 171 ram taken in 2006, a 179 ram taken in 2007, and a 175 field-scored ram taken in 2008. Sheep in the lower 180s have reportedly been spotted as well. California bighorn sheep tend to be smaller than Rocky Mountain bighorns, weighing as much as 50 pounds less and carrying shorter and less massive horns. Although they are not recognized as a subspecies of bighorn in the Boone & Crockett record book, California bighorns are listed in the SCI record book with a minimum score of 142. All of the rams taken with the Kamloops Indians would rank among the top 15 trophies of the SCI book.....
