Re: to be fair...
| July 08, 2026 08:30AM |
Look at the video a well-respected board member here signs off with in which two mature bighorn male sheep slam each other with their horns.
Look at the get-off from the line of scrimmage in a football game - especially NFL level.
There's a certain similarity.
When one team at the LOS has the depiction of a male bighorn sheep's set of horns on their helmets, it must have a certain effect. This is not a pansy game.
As to the horn design: In nature I sometimes see full-curl rams, more often see 5/8, 3/4 or other degrees of curl in the horns. All horns, in mature rams, have a base several inches thick and are only a couple of inches, at most, separated at the base. Those horns are all massive, huge. They're designed for impact. It's the mass of the horns, not the degree of curl, that you notice.
In the wild, bighorn sheep can hold their own fairly well against wolves and mountain lions. They win some and lose some and over the centuries manage to survive - thrive, because no prey animal after them wants to get knocked off a rocky talus slide or jagged peak by those horns, driven by the full force of a ram charging at even a short distance. When you see it in the wild, you're awed and amazed at the sheer power of those animals. Photo below is a young ram with 3/4 curl, massive horns that nearly touch at the base, who took a look our way before continuing down the rockslide to the grass below. I can post more photos of bighorns in the wild if anybody would like to see them. Let me know in comments below or PM me.
As to the trophy animal aspect of male bighorn sheep, I can respect the position of those who choose not to participate or object to hunting. I won't get into those discussions here although I am a hunter. I am also a fan of a game played by dominant males of my own specie that acts out a certain urge for territorial acquisition by violence that is rooted deep in my nature, but is brought under control of other parts of our nature.
Look at the get-off from the line of scrimmage in a football game - especially NFL level.
There's a certain similarity.
When one team at the LOS has the depiction of a male bighorn sheep's set of horns on their helmets, it must have a certain effect. This is not a pansy game.
As to the horn design: In nature I sometimes see full-curl rams, more often see 5/8, 3/4 or other degrees of curl in the horns. All horns, in mature rams, have a base several inches thick and are only a couple of inches, at most, separated at the base. Those horns are all massive, huge. They're designed for impact. It's the mass of the horns, not the degree of curl, that you notice.
In the wild, bighorn sheep can hold their own fairly well against wolves and mountain lions. They win some and lose some and over the centuries manage to survive - thrive, because no prey animal after them wants to get knocked off a rocky talus slide or jagged peak by those horns, driven by the full force of a ram charging at even a short distance. When you see it in the wild, you're awed and amazed at the sheer power of those animals. Photo below is a young ram with 3/4 curl, massive horns that nearly touch at the base, who took a look our way before continuing down the rockslide to the grass below. I can post more photos of bighorns in the wild if anybody would like to see them. Let me know in comments below or PM me.
As to the trophy animal aspect of male bighorn sheep, I can respect the position of those who choose not to participate or object to hunting. I won't get into those discussions here although I am a hunter. I am also a fan of a game played by dominant males of my own specie that acts out a certain urge for territorial acquisition by violence that is rooted deep in my nature, but is brought under control of other parts of our nature.
