nakneker
Gold $$ Contributor
I have a good friend who guides big game in Arizona and New Mexico. 8-9 years ago he started guiding ranches during the spring months for Aoudad. He told me about it but I couldn't get excited about them, another exotic animal in Texas just wasn’t appealing to me at the time. Over the years he kept giving me updates of his Aoudad hunts, I started getting interested in it just because of how much he enjoyed the animal and the country they hunted. Me and the wife decided to give it a try. Last year we couldn’t find a time that would work for both of our schedules so we decided to try it for spring of 2024. We agreed on the dates and this last Sunday we headed to Texas. He has three ranches he hunts but he said he gets his bigger rams off one ranch where it’s extremely rough country. They see fewer Aoudad but it’s country where the bigger rams like to go, I’m 57 and my wife is 56 but we decided to go to that ranch, I’m dumb like that.
We made the 10 hour drive and got to the ranch as the sun was going down Sunday. It was a remote 1.15 hours off the pavement down by Big Bend Park. It’s a neat ranch house, rustic, off the grid, solar, great water out of the 1700 foot deep well. We had our own little two room ranch house 60 yards away from the main ranch house. Introductions were made and we hit the sack early, we were both tired from the drive and packing for the trip.
Monday morning we grabbed breakfast and loaded up in the side by side. We threw in the packs, rifle, optics, food & drink and headed out. We glassed a couple canyons, didn’t see any Aoudad, just mule deer. Stopped at another place about 11am, it’s a steep canyon area with lots cliffs, lots of levels to it, 50% of it is inaccessible. Troy was glassing one side, I was glassing the other, both of us had Swaro 15s, my wife was glassing the closer in and outs with her 10s. I caught some movement on a ridge 800 yards away, a big female Mtn lion with two yearlings with her. They hadn't seen us, we watched them for 10 minutes or so. They were working the area, looked like they were trying to make a kill. We debated what to do but decided to stick to the Aoudad, we were in one of my buddies favorite areas and we didn’t want to take the chance of scaring off Aoudad shooting at lions. I had a good shot at 824 on the big female who was standing on a rock looking down, no wind. That was fun, I’ve been lucky enough to hunt in country with lions and have watched a few over the years and taken three. We watched these three lions walk over the ridge into the next canyon and disappear. If it would have been a big Tom that might have happened differently. Had to switch back to Aoudad mode.
About 20 minutes later I glassed up an Aoudad bedded on the edge of a cliff, looking closer I could see one horn of a second ram sticking out behind a cactus about 30 yards above the first one I spotted. I don’t know Aoudad well but Troy took a look and said they were both shooters, we wanted something over 30 inches and these were right at it. 10 minutes later both rams got up and started feeding and working their way to our position, long story short we watched them for three hours hoping they would make their way into shooting distance but it didn’t happen. They got to within just over 900 yards, 24 degree angle and then just did an about face and walked off they way they had come. We watched them for another 20 minutes as they lined out, didn’t stop to feed and just walked along the top of those cliffs which were about half way down the canyon wall. We were hoping they would bed and we could make a plan but that didn’t happen. As we watched them go around the last bend and disappear we decided to relocate and try and get above them so we loaded up and drove a rough bumpy two track for 20 minutes to the end of the road which was about where we guessed they would be. Troy looked over the edge of the cliff and spotted them straight away, they were still walking the same series of cliff tops we guessed they would be on. We were above them, if they kept walking they would be directly below us in 10-15 minutes if they didn’t bed down. The shot would be over 800 yards at an angle greater than 30 degrees, that’s more than my wife is comfortable with, we decided to make a move and try and get to an out cropping that was a couple hundred yards below us and to the right a bit. We threw on the gear and off we went.
We went to our left along the edge of the canyon until we found a place we could get down, it was steep and all three of us rolled a few rocks but I didn’t think it was enough for them to hear us. It took us a good 20 minutes to get down to our out cropping we had decided to get to. We were able to stay out of the line of sight of the Aoudad and make our approach, I figured we may never see them again if they heard us but luck was on our side and when we arrived to our desired location. Troy peered over and started glassing. I didn’t bother with glassing, I pulled the bog pod out and started getting set up for my wife‘s shot knowing that if he spotted the two rams things would happen fast. I was half way through getting set up when Troy walked over and said he had them spotted directly below us, one was bedded and one was feeding. Troy got set up to watch them while I finished getting things ready for shot. I got the tripod in position so Shannon could take a standing shot, Troy ranged the feeding ram at 624 yards, 29 degree angle. I dialed the dope and got the rifle secure and level. Shannon got behind the rifle and the rest was up to her. She centered the crossair and took her time, the shot went off and the ram no longer had a working heart. He went down straight away. The rifle was surpressed and the other Ram started walking over to his buddy wondering what was going on. The tripod set up too short for me, instead of adjusting it I grabbed my pack and layed prone on the big flat rock we were standing on. Troy said the remaining ram was 619, same angle. I left the turret where it was and took my shot, same result. Both rams layed within feet of each other, both rams were done and down, both shoot through the heart.
There was no approach to the rams from where we were. It was decided we didn’t have enough time to retrieve the rams that day, it was now after 4 in the afternoon. To get to the rams we had to go back to the ranch house and take another road that was on the flats and worked its way around the mountains to where we could approach our rams from underneath starting on the canyon floor. It would take over an hour to drive to where we needed to be, it’s big country. We didn’t want to be up there in the dark, it would be dangerous enough during the day and there’s quite a few snakes in the area, they like the cool temps after the sun goes down. We didn’t want to deal with that either. We could wait.
So the next day we had a hearty breakfast and headed out. It took most the day to get it done. Looking down from where we took the shot it looked like the hike would be steep but not too bad. Once we got there and were looking up, it was much steeper than it looked and much higher up than we had guessed. We had fun though, we just took it slow and everyone did good including Shannon who is always game for an adventure. We jumped a big bear out of his bed hiking up to the rams, he was bedded about 800 yards below where the Aoudad lay. I figured there was a good chance he had eaten on the Aoudad but he hadn't. I guess they don’t hunt bears in Texas, it was so odd for me to see bears in that country, the dude was rolly polly fat and beatiful, I guessed him in excess of 400 pounds. When we got back to the ranch it felt good to shower, enjoy some steak and chill for the rest of the day, no cell service, no emails, good friends, comfortable accommodations made for an enjoyable break with my wife and Troy.
We took the third day and went back to where we had seen the lions. We made 4 stands in the area trying to call one in with a hand held fawn bleat call and a long range Circe jack rabbit call. I’ve had good luck with that call and cats. No lions but I did miss a bobcat at at 198 yards, all I could see was his nose, eyes and ears and the shot went high, it was fun though.
If your curious we took two rifles on the hunt, a 6.5 PRC and a 6.5 creedmoor. My wife likes that creedmoor and shoots it well. When me and her hunt together we only take one rifle between us. It just makes it easier to carry all the gear, optics, rifles, bog pod, food etc etc. The load was 142 grain long range accubonds, H4350, 210m, Lapua brass.
One last note. This isn’t an easy hunt. There were four friends of the rancher who were hunting the same days we were, they didn’t see an aoudad and they all had a lot of blisters and some serious sunburns. Troy knows the ranch well and I’m confident we would have found more rams if needed but it would take a lot of walking, climbing and staying out all day to get to where some of these things live and hide. It’s some of the nastiest roughest country I’ve hunted, definitely a real hunt and it’s a hunt you can do in the off season when there’s not much going on as far as big game this time of year.
We made the 10 hour drive and got to the ranch as the sun was going down Sunday. It was a remote 1.15 hours off the pavement down by Big Bend Park. It’s a neat ranch house, rustic, off the grid, solar, great water out of the 1700 foot deep well. We had our own little two room ranch house 60 yards away from the main ranch house. Introductions were made and we hit the sack early, we were both tired from the drive and packing for the trip.
Monday morning we grabbed breakfast and loaded up in the side by side. We threw in the packs, rifle, optics, food & drink and headed out. We glassed a couple canyons, didn’t see any Aoudad, just mule deer. Stopped at another place about 11am, it’s a steep canyon area with lots cliffs, lots of levels to it, 50% of it is inaccessible. Troy was glassing one side, I was glassing the other, both of us had Swaro 15s, my wife was glassing the closer in and outs with her 10s. I caught some movement on a ridge 800 yards away, a big female Mtn lion with two yearlings with her. They hadn't seen us, we watched them for 10 minutes or so. They were working the area, looked like they were trying to make a kill. We debated what to do but decided to stick to the Aoudad, we were in one of my buddies favorite areas and we didn’t want to take the chance of scaring off Aoudad shooting at lions. I had a good shot at 824 on the big female who was standing on a rock looking down, no wind. That was fun, I’ve been lucky enough to hunt in country with lions and have watched a few over the years and taken three. We watched these three lions walk over the ridge into the next canyon and disappear. If it would have been a big Tom that might have happened differently. Had to switch back to Aoudad mode.
About 20 minutes later I glassed up an Aoudad bedded on the edge of a cliff, looking closer I could see one horn of a second ram sticking out behind a cactus about 30 yards above the first one I spotted. I don’t know Aoudad well but Troy took a look and said they were both shooters, we wanted something over 30 inches and these were right at it. 10 minutes later both rams got up and started feeding and working their way to our position, long story short we watched them for three hours hoping they would make their way into shooting distance but it didn’t happen. They got to within just over 900 yards, 24 degree angle and then just did an about face and walked off they way they had come. We watched them for another 20 minutes as they lined out, didn’t stop to feed and just walked along the top of those cliffs which were about half way down the canyon wall. We were hoping they would bed and we could make a plan but that didn’t happen. As we watched them go around the last bend and disappear we decided to relocate and try and get above them so we loaded up and drove a rough bumpy two track for 20 minutes to the end of the road which was about where we guessed they would be. Troy looked over the edge of the cliff and spotted them straight away, they were still walking the same series of cliff tops we guessed they would be on. We were above them, if they kept walking they would be directly below us in 10-15 minutes if they didn’t bed down. The shot would be over 800 yards at an angle greater than 30 degrees, that’s more than my wife is comfortable with, we decided to make a move and try and get to an out cropping that was a couple hundred yards below us and to the right a bit. We threw on the gear and off we went.
We went to our left along the edge of the canyon until we found a place we could get down, it was steep and all three of us rolled a few rocks but I didn’t think it was enough for them to hear us. It took us a good 20 minutes to get down to our out cropping we had decided to get to. We were able to stay out of the line of sight of the Aoudad and make our approach, I figured we may never see them again if they heard us but luck was on our side and when we arrived to our desired location. Troy peered over and started glassing. I didn’t bother with glassing, I pulled the bog pod out and started getting set up for my wife‘s shot knowing that if he spotted the two rams things would happen fast. I was half way through getting set up when Troy walked over and said he had them spotted directly below us, one was bedded and one was feeding. Troy got set up to watch them while I finished getting things ready for shot. I got the tripod in position so Shannon could take a standing shot, Troy ranged the feeding ram at 624 yards, 29 degree angle. I dialed the dope and got the rifle secure and level. Shannon got behind the rifle and the rest was up to her. She centered the crossair and took her time, the shot went off and the ram no longer had a working heart. He went down straight away. The rifle was surpressed and the other Ram started walking over to his buddy wondering what was going on. The tripod set up too short for me, instead of adjusting it I grabbed my pack and layed prone on the big flat rock we were standing on. Troy said the remaining ram was 619, same angle. I left the turret where it was and took my shot, same result. Both rams layed within feet of each other, both rams were done and down, both shoot through the heart.
There was no approach to the rams from where we were. It was decided we didn’t have enough time to retrieve the rams that day, it was now after 4 in the afternoon. To get to the rams we had to go back to the ranch house and take another road that was on the flats and worked its way around the mountains to where we could approach our rams from underneath starting on the canyon floor. It would take over an hour to drive to where we needed to be, it’s big country. We didn’t want to be up there in the dark, it would be dangerous enough during the day and there’s quite a few snakes in the area, they like the cool temps after the sun goes down. We didn’t want to deal with that either. We could wait.
So the next day we had a hearty breakfast and headed out. It took most the day to get it done. Looking down from where we took the shot it looked like the hike would be steep but not too bad. Once we got there and were looking up, it was much steeper than it looked and much higher up than we had guessed. We had fun though, we just took it slow and everyone did good including Shannon who is always game for an adventure. We jumped a big bear out of his bed hiking up to the rams, he was bedded about 800 yards below where the Aoudad lay. I figured there was a good chance he had eaten on the Aoudad but he hadn't. I guess they don’t hunt bears in Texas, it was so odd for me to see bears in that country, the dude was rolly polly fat and beatiful, I guessed him in excess of 400 pounds. When we got back to the ranch it felt good to shower, enjoy some steak and chill for the rest of the day, no cell service, no emails, good friends, comfortable accommodations made for an enjoyable break with my wife and Troy.
We took the third day and went back to where we had seen the lions. We made 4 stands in the area trying to call one in with a hand held fawn bleat call and a long range Circe jack rabbit call. I’ve had good luck with that call and cats. No lions but I did miss a bobcat at at 198 yards, all I could see was his nose, eyes and ears and the shot went high, it was fun though.
If your curious we took two rifles on the hunt, a 6.5 PRC and a 6.5 creedmoor. My wife likes that creedmoor and shoots it well. When me and her hunt together we only take one rifle between us. It just makes it easier to carry all the gear, optics, rifles, bog pod, food etc etc. The load was 142 grain long range accubonds, H4350, 210m, Lapua brass.
One last note. This isn’t an easy hunt. There were four friends of the rancher who were hunting the same days we were, they didn’t see an aoudad and they all had a lot of blisters and some serious sunburns. Troy knows the ranch well and I’m confident we would have found more rams if needed but it would take a lot of walking, climbing and staying out all day to get to where some of these things live and hide. It’s some of the nastiest roughest country I’ve hunted, definitely a real hunt and it’s a hunt you can do in the off season when there’s not much going on as far as big game this time of year.
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