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| MOUFLON (Ovis orientalis musimon Pal.) | |
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Muflon (Ovis orientalis musimon Pal.) - Hunting season: All the year (ewe: 01.08.-31.12.)
Hunting: Mountain stalking usualy Rifle: Bolt action, lever action and semi-automatic rifle with rifle scope. Caliber is optional, bullet weight 74+ grains, energy over 2.000 joules. 
European Mouflon (Ovis orientalis musimon Pal.),
is a subspecies group of the wild sheep Ovis aries. Populations can be partitioned
into the mouflons (orientalis group) and urials or arkars (vignei group).
The mouflon is thought to be one of the two ancestors for all modern domestic sheep breeds.
Today mouflon inhabit the Caucasus, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran. Originally the range stretched further to Anatolia, the Crimean peninsula and the Balkans, where they had already disappeared 3,000 years ago. Mouflon were introduced to the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, Rhodes and Cyprus during the neolithic period, perhaps as feral domesticated animals, where they have naturalized in the mountainous interiors of these islands over the past few thousand years, giving rise to the subspecies known as European mouflon. They were later successfully introduced into continental Europe, including Spain, France, Germany, central Italy, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, the Canary Islands ... Mouflon originally came from Corsica and during the 19th century were introduced into lowland woods of Eastern Croatia and Northern Serbia. These old woods offer high class trophies in the case of mouflon ram. The scenery and the wariness of these animals are the reasons why mouflon hunting is so exciting and successful in both Mediterranean and Continental estates.  Most interesting population is on coastal Adriatic mountains Velebit and Biokovo and peninsula Pelješac, and on Adriatic islands (Hvar, Dugi Otok, Lastovo …). Very favorable climate and Mediterranean vegetation makes this region perfect habitat resulting in fact that most rams older than 3 years are with trophy in medal. In Southern Croatia and Croatian Islands there is a variety of excellent accommodation on the coast of the Adriatic Sea close to 4 international airports of Dubrovnik, Zadar, Rijeka and Pula (Istria). Shooting grounds are 30 min - 1 hour from the sea and one can successfully mix and match mouflon and chamois stalking with a family holiday by the Adriatic Sea. The European Mouflon is red-brown with a dark back-stripe, a light colored saddle patch and light underparts. The ears are short and pointed, with a tuft of hair at the tip. The neck is short and strong, the trunk thickset, with a straight ridge line sloping down at the back. The legs are slender but sturdy and have a pear-shaped outline, with the small side toes lying flat from the two-toed narrow hooves. | |
The males and females live in separate groups and only come together during mating season. The ewes will usually have the better foraging grounds because their health is more important for reproduction. Mouflon mate, or go through a rut, in late autumn to early winter. The rams' dominance is determined by his age and the size of his horns. They will crash their horns together to re-enforce dominance. The mouflon's diet is tough. Being a herbivore, it grazes on short grasses, heather, and shrubs. It has a multi-chambered stomach with special microbes that break down the cellulose of the plant cell walls. After it has eaten its fill, the mouflon will lie down somewhere, and regurgitate its food, chewing it a second time to soften it some more. USEFULL LINKS: |
Medals in CIC points:
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