Keeping dead horns in wilderness area?

[AtenJones]

Found this on a recent elk hunt in a wilderness area of Colorado. I left it because I wasn’t sure of the law, and because I felt like that horn needed to be on the mountain. I found it in a ridiculous hell-hole, and if anyonelse ever makes it up there they deserve to find it too. But, I was just curious on the laws for taking horns on public land. Is it legal, or should they be left alone? Is there a difference between keeping shed antlers and bighorn horns??

 

[madtom]

I believe it depends on the state, and I don't know Colorado's rule. Another question would be whether the horn would need to be plugged.

 

[npaden]

See link to previous discussion - https://onyourownadventures.com/hunttalk/showthread.php?270596-Picking-up-skulls-sheds-horns-in-CO

 

[AtenJones]

See link to previous discussion - https://onyourownadventures.com/hunttalk/showthread.php?270596-Picking-up-skulls-sheds-horns-in-CO

Sounds like it would have been legal to pick it up. Now I’m second guessing myself on whether I should have or not. Lol

 

[COEngineer]

Aten, I did the same thing last year (smaller ram and it was practically on the trail). I left it for others to see and enjoy, but then on the hike out, I thought, "If I don't take it, someone else will." When we got back to that spot it was already gone. lol

 

[AtenJones]

Aten, I did the same thing last year (smaller ram and it was practically on the trail). I left it for others to see and enjoy, but then on the hike out, I thought, "If I don't take it, someone else will." When we got back to that spot it was already gone. lol

Haha that’s the only thing that makes it a little better for me - if someone else finds it, they deserve it. That thing was WAY off trail and really high up. Heck, I could give someone the waypoint and they’d still have to work their tail off for it. Lol

 

[BrentD]

It was a nice ram! And an old one it seems.

 

[Sandbrew]

Looks kinda like this one?

Is that a right side?

 

[AtenJones]

View attachment 86443

Looks kinda like this one?

Is that a right side?

Wow - that does look really similar. And yeah, the one I found was a right side.

 

[EYJONAS!]

Holy shit that is about identical..... don't need to share details but if you guys confirm the same area that's almost unreal. I don't know about the laws on keeping horns not attached to the skull......i can guarantee you that if i came across one it wouldn't be living in the weather anymore.

 

[glass eye]

You two were meant to find each other, but who gets to keep the child ? or is it as Solomon decreed....divide the child in two.

 

[AtenJones]

Holy shit that is about identical..... don't need to share deglazing but if you guys confirm the same area that's almost unreal. I don't know about the laws on keeping horns not attached to the skull......i can guarantee you that if i came across one it wouldn't be living in the weather anymore.

haha My wife is fairly annoyed because it would have looked so cool in our son's room lol

Mine was in the Mt. Zirkle Wilderness, FYI.

 

[Sandbrew]

haha My wife is fairly annoyed because it would have looked so cool in our son's room lol

Mine was in the Mt. Zirkle Wilderness, FYI.

Weird..... same area for sure! Eastern side? Yours looks more weathered. I happen to have a buddy with a sheep tag there. We’ve been scouting but haven’t seen any live rams. You didn’t happen to see any live sheep around there? We are headed back up there this weekend. The season starts Tuesday. Text me where and if I’m close enough to find it. I’ll pick it up and mail it to you. I hope that brings us some good sheep karma. Sandbrew 3038850329

 

[AtenJones]

Weird..... same area for sure! Eastern side? Yours looks more weathered. I happen to have a buddy with a sheep tag there. We’ve been scouting but haven’t seen any live rams. You didn’t happen to see any live sheep around there? We are headed back up there this weekend. The season starts Tuesday. Text me where and if I’m close enough to find it. I’ll pick it up and mail it to you. I hope that brings us some good sheep karma. Sandbrew 3038850329

Definitely on the east side! I’ll shoot you a text this afternoon with the coordinates and details. No worries if you aren’t close enough to pick it up, but I really appreciate the offer! We didn’t see any live sheep, but we may not have been up high enough, and didn’t spend much time behind glass.

Most of our time was spent picking our way through beetle kill, and trying not to rip ourselves open on blowdown. I’m working on a full recap for the elk forum, but let’s just say we were in juuuust a bit over our heads. We definitely weren’t in Ohio any more!

 

[Sandbrew]

We never made it back close to the lone horn. We did find this one. Sandbrew

 

[MT_elk]

Wow! Congrats on a beautiful ram!

 

[Bambistew]

thats a nice ram!

Doesn't look like a match to me. The top one died early summer, the bottom one late winter, and the top one is a year older.

 

[fishing4sanity]

Beautiful ram! Feel free to add more photos and story on that guy or its own thread. Congrats to you guys!

 

[redwoood]

Very cool .

 

[EYJONAS!]

What a great ram congrats.... now go get the horn to see if they match! That would be unreal if you matched it in this circumstance. Again congrats on a great sheep