I’ve killed a few, have some on our lease. I hate them more than pigs

Got this turd with my compound bow, was lucky to get bow pulled back without scaring him off. They are more wary than a deer, maybe a better nose too.

Cool pics hanco. Never have been afforded the opportunity to hunt them but they are in my bucket list. Hopefully one of these next 2-3 years.

Cool stuff Hanco. If you were going on a hunt for a trophy Auodad, what rifle and bullet combo would you use. I hear they’re tough animals, but I have no experience with them.

Ron

They are cool looking animals though!

Aoudad are one cool critter. Probably not standing under a feeder, but in rough desert country they are impressive.

I know people like to hate them, but I've got nothing but respect for aoudad. Hell of a lot tougher than desert bighorns...

I've only shot a few but all were free range spot & stalk. No box blinds and feeders.

They aren’t hard to kill, but West Texas is long range hunting. I think I’d use a 7 mag out there

I have heard they don’t taste very good. Any truth to that?

Nope.

Here's a few...

Pretty cool pictures gentlemen!

Hanco, just curious you mentioned that you hate them more than pigs, why is that?

I always assumed that pigs were the most despised.

Ingwe, any with a 7x57 or .223?

Ron

I'd have to agree.......

Awesome. Headed to Texas in a week for my first Auodad hunt, can’t wait

They are at the top of my bucket list. I am trying to figure a way to hunt them sooner than later. Trying to get it done before I get too old and I’m getting closer to that every day.
I would just like a simple do it yourself “as in cheap” opportunity.
Any suggestions?

Good luck! Take some pics to share with us. Wherabouts are you hunting?

More power to ya!


I hunt blinds and feeders year round...........

After 25 years of Texas Hill Country hunting, and 15 years of year round game cam photos in such locales as Brackettville, Rock Springs, Vanderpool and Reagan Wells, on ranches of 3,000 to 60,000 acres, it has been my experience that, Aoudad are targets of opportunity. Whether one has feeders or box blinds, one does not "pattern" Aoudad. They may show up every day for a week and not be back, ever. One can find areas they frequent, but it may be a couple years between game cam photos at a particular location.




Here is an example. I've had between 2 and 4 game cams set out at this location since at least 2006. This is the only time that I caught a sequence of this Ram. I did not see him again for 3 years at a location a mile or so away coming over a ridge.




Yearling ram for sausage, TOA



Ewe for sausage, TOA




Ewe, TOA



Ewe, TOA




decent Ram, TOA.




My first Aoudad




It took me 15 months or so from the time I first laid eyes on him walking a power line ROW to close the deal. He showed up about a mile away from where I'd first saw him.



of course YMMV.

ya!

GWB

my one and only

Are any of them fit to eat?

I've heard that even coyotes won't eat them.

I have no experience hunting them.

Sounds like weather they are good to eat or not just depends on how hungry you really are!

[quote=Ohio7x57]Ingwe, any with a 7x57 or .223?

Ron[/quoteYeah two of the four were taken with the 7x57

My experience as well, hunting blinds and feeders on one ranch I got a nice ram, it was three years before I got another on the place.

I will! Hunting with Heart of Texas Outfitters, actually they have been sort of secretive about exactly where… meeting the guide in Alpine the morning of the first day and will follow him to the ranch. I believe it butts up against one of the Big Bend parks

I see them randomly, sometimes every weekend, then a whole year between

Yep. Taste like meat. Never had an issue.

I’ve read they are good but tough and grinding is recommended. Worth keeping back straps as steaks? I probably will and can always make jerky if they’re super tough. I plan to make a lot of breakfast sausage

Aoudad, If your planning on eating what you shoot, kill a young female, the big rams aren't very tasty,

my dogs won't eat Aoudad. Rio7

Mine smelled worse than a dead cow that's been laying in the sun for a week. No way I could have ate that thing

Are they in West Texas only? Or are they more widely distributed?

Ron

I don’t know. Damn good question

They are also in New Mexico, long draw odds

Keep up the good work fellas. Aoudad when and where you can.....that's my motto as well.

We've killed them in the Trans Pecos (West TX), the South Plains area near Post/Justiceburg, and the TX Panhandle near Clarendon. They are quite prolific so I'm sure they're expanding their range faster than anyone can shoot them. Badasss animal is an understatement.

Badass country. You'll have a blast.

That’s why we kill all we can

This was a couple of seconds before they caught wind of me, gone like they had rockets in their asses

Amen brother!

You can pattern them if you are using the right snack. And, the snack has to be in pretty heavy cover. I saw the biggest one I’ve ever seen last week, he’d go 500-600lbs and I’m glad I weren’t the only one that saw him.

I don’t shoot them and I think they know this. I have a few herds and a bunch of youngins.

I’d like to hunt one. Anyone know outfitters in Texas. I travel for a living and can be there. Please PM
S.

I shot one out near Sanderson with Dan Moody (Four Seasons Hunting Outfitters) This was back in 2007.

Will post a review of Heart of Texas outfitters next week or so. Hopefully it’s a good hunt

I'd like to see that myself! The biggest one I killed barely made it over the #300 mark

We were sitting eating sandwiches on the Frio, our phones over at the truck so no pictures. The first thing I thought was a cow, second thing that crossed my mind was no wonder I carry a Big Bore.

I have only taken one and that was because I was doing a guy a favor. A navy buddy of mine had a grandfather that owned a place near Pearsall TX and some aoudads got off a high fenced place and were on his place. He didnt want them there so he told us to come shoot them to chase them away.

Mission accomplished

Damn nice

Give Mulie Mike a pm. West Texas Outfitters. I had a javelina hunt with him at the end of January near Apline TX. He has quite a few ranches with aoudad

He posts here---Mulie Mike

Thanks. He resides here now. The blackbuck came off the same place on the same trip. They escaped from the same high fence place. I will never turn down a free blackbuck.

Gonna cost a few bucks, but his hunters have killed some whoppers

Great! We are already covered up with pigs, and not the aoudads are coming!!

We have both

In January at the Dallas Safari Club convention I visited with the folks of the Texas Bighorn Society. They work to get bighorn sheep reintroduced into the mountains in west Texas.

I asked them how the bighorn numbers were doing and they said there's been a 55% death loss due to a respiratory disease that the auodad carry. Like hogs, sport hunting alone won't kill enough aoudad to make a difference in the aoudad numbers, so they're working on legislation to make it legal to shoot them from helicopters.

That would be fun

A ranch family I know near Sierra Blanca TX introduced me to aoudad as wild game meat. They have a big walk-in cooler, and they routinely hang the carcasses for 3-4 weeks (much like aged beef cattle). The meat is tasty but a bit chewy. It makes excellent burger and sausage, however.

Now, that all changed when a friend and I shot a big aoudad ram south of Ozona in the Pecos River canyon country. We ate backstrap steaks that night, but preparation was an eye-opener. Joe (our host) got out his commercial grade meat tenderizer, and he ran the backstrap steaks through the tenderizer 4 times each before we cooked them, Texas chicken-fried steak style. To give some perspective, a Grade A sirloin steak would be hamburger after going through that tenderizer twice. In any case, this made the meat edible, and it was tasty.

Just my limited experience with eating them.

Hunting them, though, is wonderful. Long hours of glassing, spot-and-stalk after finding them, and generally pretty long shots... all in spectacular country. They look damn fine on your wall, too.

Awesome. That’s exactly what I’m hoping for

We use to catch hundreds of them a year from helicopters and relocate them before they became popular to hunt. I’d imagine the market for them is still pretty strong and most LOs would take cash for them…

They are impressive animals but I hate the worthless varmits. They will eventually eliminate Bighorn sheep in Texas due to their competition along with other wildlife. Once full grown a mountain lion cant take them down so they dont have any natural predators. They are fun to hunt but they breed like rats and are super destructive to the environment. They are like feral hogs. Once they get established you really cant get rid of them.

Looking forward to pictures and the story. Heading to Texas in October for my first Auodad hunt and can't wait either.

Good luck

TPWD has been shooting them out of helicopters for over a decade near Big Bend Ranch State Park and other bighorn reintroduction areas. They'll dwindle for a year or so then are back full strength. They are as bad as hogs.

They are in the canyons around Dryden also. About 100m west of Del Rio. I must of forgot to set the date and time on that camera, but it was a picture from last year. Had a picture of an elk down there in my canyon also, but I can't find it so I guess I deleted it.

This was my first and only one on a south Texas ranch. Spot and stalk in the mid nineties.

I started a thread elsewhere about experience vs trophy. One thing these critters bring to the table is a great experience hunt. If like me, you will never be able to afford a sheep hunt, I highly recommend an Audad hunt in SW Texas. Spot and stalk. Big, rugged, quiet country after very warry and worthy game. I may do it again some time.

As to eating them, they are goats. People all over the world eat goat. Look to the Mediterranean or Middle East for recipes. Texas style chicken fried steak is also a great way to do it. You may have to get creative but they are perfectly edible.

A friend and I hunted them just west of Marfa TX. It was on a 38K acer ranch that wasn't high fenced. We both got nice rams and it was all spot and stalk. I used a Ruger #1 300 H&H and and my buddy had a 7MM-08.
The backstraps were chewy but we ended up grinding it and added some pork sausage and spices and it made great summer sausage and burger.
It was a fun hunt and I would do it again.

We had a pretty good sized herd of Aoudad on our West Ranch for years I think we have finally killed them all out haven't seen one for a couple of years, don't miss them at all. they can be a good hunt, but the B.S. about how hard they are to kill and you have to shoot a mile to get one makes me think they are 24 Hour Campfire Elk in Des guise. Rio7

I only hunted them once. The guide was griping about my 270 WSM...until I dumped one with a single 150gr Partition.

He kept telling me I should have more horsepower.

I wonder if their perceived difficulty to anchor is related to long shots that are poorly placed?

M
Most people try to shoot them like deer, etc…

I’ve killed a half dozen with a bow, they kill as easy as a pig or deer.

West TX Chianti Peak free range

Darn it Hanco! I was thinking an Axis first and now I am thinking Aoudad.

GreggH

Fine Ram there Dan!

ya,

GWB

Two of several in NM that I could have killed…but just wasn’t confident in their size or ownership of a set of nuts.

They’re a spot and stalker’s dream.

Well I got one. Was a lot of fun, definitely hope to hunt them again

Congrats, thats a nice ram. They are fun to hunt

Great ram in some great country. Congrats, and great pics!

Took my first Aoudad hunt this past October in the Davis Mtns of West Texas. By far one of my favorite hunts to date! Great outfitter and a wonderful trip and experience with my 16yr old son along as well as a couple good friends. Beautiful landscape and they put all 4 of us on some nice rams! I enjoyed this hunt way more than my Montana mule deer hunt we took several years back. I’d love to go again!

That ram looks like a whopper

I was blown away by the size of these animals when I walked up on them. I’m in Illinois and our Whitetail are good sized animals but these rams dwarfed them. They are built like little tanks! lol

Along with the 84 Lb. coyote,

For me, none so far. But it's on my bucket list!! Where and what time of year for an old fart (coming up on 69 y/o) to have a good chance of success?

Contact Mulie Mike on here

I went with Premiere Hunt LLC. Hunted near Marfa in west Texas, 30,000 + acers all free range sheep. A good hunt and I was 70 when I did it.

Mulie Mike has an add in the classifieds now

hanco add Cooke County in North Texas to that map. Some idiot GW though a good idea to release some several years back without telling anyone.
Thankfully a lease guy shot one he saw and none other were ever spotted for extermination. Haven't seen anymore over the years.