Mandatory to bring skinned sheep skull for compulsory inspection

The 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 current wording on page 17 of the 2024-26 Hunting and Trapping Regulations Synopsis (PDF, 13MB), related to the compulsory inspection of mountain sheep skulls to be preferably skinned.

Parts required for compulsory inspection:

For mountain sheep (Dall’s, Stone’s, California or Rocky Mountain):

• The portion of the skull (preferably skinned) that includes, naturally attached to the skull, the nasal bones, the entire eye-socket, the horns, and the associated connective bone structure
• For thinhorn sheep (Dalls’ and Stone’s) an incisor tooth. Note: The horns will have a numbered aluminum plug inserted by an officer

Proposed regulation:

Changed the preferably skinned to must be skinned for bringing in a mountain sheep for the purposes of compulsory inspection.

The part of the regulation that would need updating with this is:

Hunting Regulation, Division 6, 16(4)(c):

16 (4) For subsections (1), (2.1), (2.2), and (3) the parts to be submitted are

(c)for a mountain sheep,

(i) the skinned portion of the skull that includes, naturally attached to the skull, the nasal bones, eye socket, horns and the associated connective bone structure, and

(ii) an incisor tooth, if the mountain sheep is a Dall's or Stone's mountain sheep

Rationale:

In 2022, the words ‘preferably skinned’ text was added to the compulsory inspection overview page in the Hunting and Trapping Synopsis. The words preferably were inserted, as this is not a requirement in the regulations but was accepted as the preferred means for an inspector to complete the assessment and compulsory inspection of a mountain sheep.

For a Thinhorn Ram Mountain Sheep ( Dall’s Sheep or Stone’s Sheep), to be considered a legally harvestable ram during a General Open Season (GOS) or Limited Entry Hunt (LEH) in B.C., the attributes of the ram’s horns must comply with the definition of B.C. Hunting Regulation 190/84, section 1(1), which states:  

• "Full Curl Thinhorn Ram Mountain Sheep" means any thinhorn ram mountain sheep that has attained the age of 8 years as evidenced by true horn annuli as determined by the regional manager or his designate, or whose horn tip, when viewed squarely from the side at right angles to the sagittal plane of the skull, extends dorsally beyond the nose bridge plane

If the ram is 8+ and obviously full curl, it would be a non-issue skinned or unskinned in terms of it being legal. However, measurements near the base of the skull may be out a few mm's or more, if the skin is on.

If the ram is <8 and close, then it would need to be skinned to do proper measurements. Requiring the sheep skull to be presented skinned for the purpose of compulsory inspection does give the benefit to the hunter.