Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game How tough are aoudad?

Just wondering how tough these animals are and how strong their will to live is? What size rifle recommendations? Will be pursuing them for my 1st time ever.

Just bring your normal deer rifle. Shoulder shoot them to anchor. They can soak up some lead and will run with lung shots, sometimes far.

But they die just like anything else. They are not mythical....

Agree with GregW. I killed my biggest one so far with a 6.8spc and a 90 gr. bullet. He went 70 yards.
Shot one with a .30-06 and a light 150 grain load went straight down.
Shot another with a .275 Rigby. He went 10 feet.

Hit them in the right place with whatever you shoot deer with and you are golden.

I've used a 30-06 and 270 wsm. I would feel comfortable with a 260, 6.5, 7mm-08, etc. with a good bullet. Do your part with bullet placement and it'll be fine

Have killed more than a few with a .243, 100 gr. SGK or 105 gr. Scenar, shoot them in the front half. Rio7

I've only shot one aoudad. That was on my first hunt with my .300 Weatherby. My guide kept telling me how hard aoudads were to kill, and told me to anchor him by shooting him through his hips. I put a 168 grain Barnes TSX bullet through his shoulders and he simply dropped dead where he was standing.

My guide then said "You don't listen to your guide, do you?" I just smiled and answered "No."

I shot one with my 7mm Rem. 160 Sierra SBT 250 yds. though shoulders. Down right there but gave him another insurance shot as he was on the rim of a "hell hole canyon"

Of course we know Sierras don't work very well.

Lefty

Anything, have killed a half dozen with my bow, half dozen with a 223, at least a dozen with whatever deer rifle I had with me. I’ve never lost one so far. I shoulder shoot em. We shoot everyone we see, as big a pest as pigs.

I think their reputation for toughness stems from being a herd animal and their strong will to stay with the group. They will immediately take off at the shot and run till they drop dead in order to keep up with the herd.

Any deer-appropriate caliber will easily put them down and I've killed a bunch with 7mm-08 and .308.

Don't overthink it.

Saw one a few weeks ago make it a pretty good ways after a 143eldx punched through its lungs (complete pass through). Climbed vertical pretty well with a couple of holes in the lungs. He was dead, just didn't know it.

660yd shot. I was watching through a spotter. The rest were fairly uneventful.

They SOB’s can jump higher and farther than a Whitetail. They have rockets in their asses.

I"ve culled over 100 of the darn things from rancher/friends that hated the darn things and wanted them gone in the Trans Pecos region of W TX. Primarily used 7mag, 7-08, and even a 30/30 several times just to see how well it worked. As GregW and Ingwe said, any good bullet in the right spot takes care of business, just like any other animal. Their mythical "toughness" reputation, just like other African plains game I've shot, was greatly exaggerated.

And no offense Johnny but no one can embellish a tough reputation like a Texan. You'd think all the critters in your state wore kevlar to listen to most guys...

Oh, and size is another thing..I'm the only person who hunts Texas that doesn't regularly shoot 450 pound pigs apparently, or kill elk that yield a clean 800 pounds of meat...

Texas is known for tall tales, we call them “telling a stretcher”.

My son killed one with a .22 once. Shot it right in the forehead from over 50 yards on a run. I was a proud Dad! We've mostly killed them with our regular deer rifles. Shoot them right in the shoulder and they go down.

I couldn't agree more Tom. I've heard it all my life.

Is Craig boddington texan??? Fuuck everything is tough to kill for him, 1500 lb Roosevelt’s elk!!! 😂😂

Kinda funny how things work out, once you’ve got a buncha experience.. 👍

That should be some kind of new world record, ANNY elk approaching 1000 pounds is pushing the upper limit...

Johnny Im headed down in May to hunt Nilgai, which Ive been told are virtually bullet proof. Many guides, as you know, require at LEAST a .300 mag, some require more...a .338 or a .375

I shot my last one with a .30-06..DRT

And luckily my outfitter knows me and hasn't asked, cause Im using the .275 this time.

I'm probably a little less concerned about it than your guide is . If you can't haul all that meat home in the back of that PT cruiser let me know........I'll lighten your load a little pardner! Sounds like fun.