I think I finally understand your confusion, Eric. I wrote in the article that the researchers had found captured ewes were very skinny and the birth rate was low. You argued that that might be due to hunters shooting the rams with the largest horns because you think those rams are the reason why sheep are fat and healthy. When I pointed out that the only physiological measure of the effect of hunting we have is the length of harvested rams' horns and their ages, I think you then argued that if the horn sizes were declining then that must mean the sheep weren't skinny. But the ewes (and presumably the rams) are skinny. And the number of ewes and rams have declined proportionally, which suggests that hunting is not the cause of the decline. And horn sizes and ages of harvested rams haven't declined. All of which points to nutrition, specifically (perhaps) the lack of protein, particularly in summer, when ewes should be fattening up for pregnancy, winter, and lambing early in spring.