He also heard that one of those rams was shot by a hunter last year. It turns out that ram, which was pictured with Lucht\u2019s story as a taxidermy mount, is the ram that Siddle shot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mutant-ram-MixCollage-12-Oct-2025-06-11-AM-8-10.12.25.jpg\")
Nick Siddle Of Sheridan and his son, Troy, celebrate a successful hunt for a ram with a rare horn mutation that is a trademark of the bighorn sheep herd near Lovell. (Courtesy Nick Siddle)Herd Has Prime Genetics<\/p>\n
Anna Miller, the interim executive director for the National Bighorn Sheep Center in Dubois, previously told Cowboy State Daily that odd horn\u00a0growth in bighorn sheep can result from genetic mutations, or sometimes old injuries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The trademark, off-kilter horns of the\u00a0Moss Ranch rams might be rooted in genetics, Siddle said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To his knowledge, the herd came from transplanted sheep. Some of them came from a lower-altitude bighorn herd in Oregon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And a ram with the same horn mutation was recently shot from that herd, he said.<\/p>\n
The Moss Ranch sheep also carry the genes of transplants from Montana\u2019s legendary Missouri Breaks bighorn herd, known for producing gargantuan rams.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bighorn sheep are usually associated with rock, alpine country, high above\u00a0timberline,\u00a0near the peaks of mountains.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Moss Ranch herd lives at lower altitudes, amid forested foothills and barren plateaus, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The area\u2019s most rugged feature is Devils Canyon, which is deep and has huge cliffs along its sides, Siddle said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sheep previously transplanted to the Moss Ranch area from higher-altitude herds didn\u2019t do so well, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the bighorns with genetics from the low-altitude Oregon and the Missouri Breaks herds have thrived.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the first day of his hunt, on Aug. 31, 2024, Siddle and his companions saw plenty of huge rams, although they all had typically symmetrical horns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had shot opportunity on a ram in the canyon but decided to pass.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought if he fell down over a cliff and into the bottom of the canyon, we\u2019d never recover him,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Devil\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mutant-ram-Canyon-10.12.25.jpeg\")
Devil\u2019s Canyon in the Bighorn Mountains near Lovell is home to a bighorn sheep herd, which includes rams with strange horn mutations. (Courtesy Nick Siddle)A Ram He Couldn\u2019t Pass<\/p>\n
The next morning, they again spotted numerous rams, and observed a great one from about 800 yards, through spotting scopes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Siddle thought that might be the ram he was looking for but then decided to move to find some of his friends, who had\u00a0split\u00a0off to explore a different area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They were hiking through the bottom of a small box canyon when a group of rams that was on the move appeared on the rim of the canyon.<\/p>\n
One of them had the trademark\u00a0mutated horn. He might not have been the hugest ram they\u2019d seen, but Siddle decided such a unique bighorn was too good to pass up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When they first spotted the rams, they were about 500 yards away but moving toward Siddle and his companions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His shot opportunity came when the ram was about 120 yards away.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo prepare for my bighorn sheep hunt, I\u2019d been practicing long-range shooting. And then I ended up shooting a ram at just 120 yards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mutant-ram-friends-10.12.25.jpeg\")
Nick Siddle of Sheridan, along with his son, Troy, and friends Greg Townsend, Frank Maestri and John Reilly celebrate a successful hunt for a ram with a rare horn mutation that is a trademark of the bighorn sheep herd near Lovell. (Courtesy Nick Siddle)Not The Trophy He Expected<\/p>\n
B&C ram scores are determined by taking overall horn length\u00a0measurements plus\u00a0girth measurements at a few different points on each of the horns.<\/p>\n
The score must add up to 175 inches for the B&C yearly record book, or 180 inches to make the all-time records book.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Siddle\u2019s ram scored 172 inches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even so, he doesn\u2019t regret taking the weird-horned ram, instead holding out for a record-book-sized ram with typical horns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just an awesome trophy. And the fact t<\/p>\n