Quote:
Originally Posted by bdub
The way I see it is we are killing most of the rams at 5-7 years old, as soon as they become legal. Natural ram mortality is actually quite low up to the age of 8 years old. After that it increases quite a bit as they become more active in the rut. We are killing most of the rams prior to them becoming heavy participants in passing on their genetics. Heaviest natural mortality is in rams 10 plus years old. Something you don't much see in Alberta outside of the parks, mines etc. How is the status quo natural, good for the population if we are eliminating those Rams prior to them reaching breeding age in most of the range. We are never going to see good healthy numbers of all age classes of Rams if we keep killing them off at 5-7 years old. Won't happen.
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I'm not sure I totally get what your saying. I'm no scientist however I see a lot of lambs and ewes all over the place. These may be getting bread by young Rams or maybe by old Rams either way I don't see how their age make a difference how big the offspring will be. I don't believe the 8-12 year old Rams have super sperm over the 5-7 year old rams. Yes it would be nice to see more old Rams every trip, but at what point is ESRD going to stop taking and start giving.