Dall Sheep Hunting in Alaska

Guide to Judging Sheep Horns Under the Full-Curl Regulation

The purpose of this guide is to provide consistency across the state in staff methods/knowledge of aging Dall sheep using horn annuli and/or determining curl legality during the sealing process. The methods within the guide for determining age and curl size of Dall sheep have been standardized and approved by the Department of Fish and Game.

Although this document is designed for staff to use in the lab during the sealing process, the information within it describes, in detail, how the full-curl regulation is interpreted. It also contains very specific information about how to look at sheep horns to determine whether they meet the full curl regulation- including an in-depth description of aging Dall sheep by counting the annuli.

The Department is currently developing a hunting guide to judging Dall sheep in the field and a Dall sheep hunting website with an online quiz (similar to the mountain goat pages). This hunter guide and website will include a lot of information that is in the staff guide, but will also include more information about viewing sheep and judging full-curl horns in the field. The hunter guide will be available for the 2017 sheep season.