Mountain sheep compulsory inspection – submission of incisor tooth
Last updated on January 12, 2026The public is invited to comment on the proposed hunting regulation described below.
Status: Proposed
Region: Province-wide
Management unit (MU): Province-wide
Regulation type: Hunting
Species: Mountain Sheep
Closing date: February 13, 2026 at 4:30 pm PT
Current regulation:
The parts to be submitted for compulsory inspection of mountain sheep are the portion of the skull that includes, naturally attached to the skull, the nasal bones, eye socket, horns and the associated connective bone structure and, if the mountain sheep is a thinhorn mountain sheep (Dall or Stone), an incisory tooth.
Proposed regulation:
Remove the requirement to submit an incisor tooth when submitting parts of a mountain sheep for compulsory inspection.
Rationale:
Analysis of growth rings (similar to rings on a tree) within incisor teeth is a method for determining the age of an ungulate. In 2016 the province enacted a regulation requiring hunters to submit an incisor tooth when submitting a harvested thinhorn sheep for compulsory inspection. The rationale for the regulation change was to provide wildlife managers and enforcement officials supporting information to assist in determining the age of harvested sheep.
The initial intent of the regulation was to compare horn-derived and tooth-derived age estimates of hunter harvested rams and evaluate whether age could more reliably be estimated through cementum analysis of the incisor tooth. We are satisfied that we have collected enough data to make this evaluation and therefore there is little value to collecting further tooth data as it is an unnecessary hardship on sheep hunters and provides little benefit to the management of wild sheep.