I think the full curl rule is a good plan. Harvesting the oldest sheep is good management. I'm not saying that the oldest rams are always the longest horned but the majority will be. The oldest rams are not usually the breeding rams as they cant keep up to the rams in there prime. If we focus on killing the oldest (longest) rams we most certainly will grow the population of mature full curl rams. If we want beautiful, heavy, full curl rams, we need to grow them. We need to look long term. It will take a few years to see this benefit but it will come.
If we look at what they did in SE B.C. with elk we can see the benefit of harvesting the mature/old animals of a species. There was all kinds of pressure not to implement a 6 point season but they did! Prior to the 6 point rule it was hard to find a legal 3 point never mind a nice mature bull and to find one in the 300's was almost impossible. Now the elk hunting is excellent, regular bugling sessions and many bulls over 300 are shot every year.
I disagree with a shorter season. This to me serves no purpose except a political one! Hunter opportunity and sound management toward strong populations is key. Political pressure from the parks to limit hunter opportunity outside the parks is wrong on every front!! This is the fight not the full curl rule!!
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