Another TX Aoudad Hunt

[rcdinaz]

Finally getting a chance to post some pics from our hunt in S Texas a couple of weeks ago. The hunt was great, pretty warm for a Feb hunt but the animals seemed to like it.

 

We found sheep the very first evening we arrived right out of camp on two different ridges. As with most hunts it started off talking about shooting a giant and as the days went by our expectations became a bit more realistic. I will say the hunt is a lot more difficult than I had thought. The terrain is just like AZ and climbing is slow and often pretty treacherous. Oh and the dang sheep are very, very good at staying about 700-800 yds away or going over the ridge line just as you starts setting up a shot. I will tell you the second day my dad missed a good ram at just under 600yds. I then took a second shot and also cleanly missed. I beat myself up over what went wrong that night and spent an hour going back through the shooter app and the conditions. Turns out the incline was much more than the inclinometer on my rifle showed. When shooting at a VERY steep angle a few degrees makes a big difference in shooting over the target as most of you know. I had entered 20deg and after checking the next day back in the same spot the incline was 26%. Valuable lesson learned and that inclinometer is getting replaced. FYI the one in your phone is very accurate, place the phone on top of the scope cap.

 

So me and a buddy ended up with 2 smaller sheep in the pic. They were a ton of work, our first Aoudad and a memorable trophy. The were both shot at just under 450 yds in the cliffs in the picture and the real accomplishment was making it up and down that crazy mountain! One pic is looking down from the cliffs the other up from the bottom.

 

My dad shot a nice, not giant ram on the last day, actually after we packed up and were starting to head out. He took it at 565yds, one shot near perfect. We found the Nosler ABLR just under the hide on the off shoulder. The ram went about 20 yards and piled up right on its face. If you are jealous of his fine hunting attire it can be found in the stores of 2 of the finest hunting stores known to man Costco and Goodwill. We gave him crap the rest of the day after finding out he was wearing a Goodwill Dback shirt. He pointed out Audad hunting is best done in long white socks which can be had by the dozen at Costco along with cargo shorts. He also pointed out his sheep could take both ours at the same time. (that wasn't really that funny... to me )

 

So I guess now we are addicted to this hunt, we are already making plans for next year!

[Big Browns]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing...

[GreyGhost85]

Congrats. Looks like a blast. If you don't mind sharing some details about the hunt, ranch, outfitter? I tried to PM you but your box is full

[DesertBull]

Dang it, I hope I get drawn this year.

 

Congrats!!

[rcdinaz]

Ghost, thanks for the heads up I deleted some old PM's. This was a hunt my dad set up with a friend north of Presidio so pretty close to the border. I offered to to pass his info along on the site but he said he couldn't take more hunters. It is a small family run outing that they only do very part time. We got very lucky to go fairly last minute.

 

Hunting in Texas seems to be frustrating. A ton of private land and not many people taking hunters unless they charge a ton of money. We heard story after story of great hunting and when we asked they said well we don't really take hunters just friends and family. If he changes his mind I will shoot you a PM.

[cramerhunts]

Congratulations on a nice trip, they are a lot of fun to hunt and can be very difficult at the same time. Good luck on the next one! Nice job on all three!

[hoghntr]

On my bucket list for sure