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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 20,215
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 20,215 |
I kind of figured that, but have had a couple of beers. I whacked my 100th ptarmigan of the winter yesterday, plus my first white-tailed ptarmigan (damn things live in sheep country) so I have dug into the brewskis  and probably am not making a whole hell of a lot of sense. It's all good!
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 14,119
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 14,119 |
None taken, at ALL, especially since I have such little experience with them. I am not totally recommending it, just saying I wouldn't have an issue with using it, and I have that much confidence in the round. Aoudad just are not big critters. The ewes looked not much bigger than antelope to me. Whatever works for deer, should work for them. You already answered your own question to my post. Wind and distance in West TX aoudad country is the reason I choose otherwise. No doubt you can kill them with a good .223 bullet in close. Big rams will weigh near 300 lbs or so, mature ewes about 150-175 IME. I have Aoudad on my deer lease that I can shoot at will. I've killed with 26 Nosler, 6.5 PRC, 7 mag, 308 Win, 30-06 and 9.3 x 62 142 to 250 Gr, Bullets. The only one I've lost was a stud. Here is one of a sequence of game camp photos taken two years before I had the opportunity to take a shot at this guy! ![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/Xgfmgpv.png) IIRC I ranged him at 408 yds. Shot him cross canyon with at 150 Gr. Accubond out of a 308 Win. Felt good about the shot. Saw him hunch up at the shot, and run straight down the side of the hill. It was an hour before dark and I had no marker as to point of impact. I did not find him that night, or the next couple days, and I spent hours looking. I continued to look for the hide or horns for a couple months to no avail. IMHO, I can't imagine why a hunter that may pay $4,500 to hunt an Aoudad Ram would choose anything less than a 6.5 mm. Chances are, if you draw blood you're paying for the animal. If it were me, I'd go heavy! ya! GWB
Last edited by geedubya; 03/21/21.
A Kill Artist. When I draw, I draw blood.
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 20,215
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 20,215 |
Saw him hunch up at the shot, and run straight down the side of the hill.
Come on my man....you've been around the block enough to know that's very possibly a gut shot. We've all done it. It sucks ass but it does happen and if so, an -06 wouldn't have changed the outcome. I took my 6.5x284 to New Mexico but I just never had the right opportunity. It was a hell of a fun hunt though.
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 15,648
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 15,648 |
Saw him hunch up at the shot, and run straight down the side of the hill.
Come on my man....you've been around the block enough to know that's very possibly a gut shot. We've all done it. It sucks ass but it does happen and if so, an -06 wouldn't have changed the outcome. I took my 6.5x284 to New Mexico but just never had the right opportunity. It was a hell of a fun hunt though. Lol. Amen....
- Greg
Success is found at the intersection of planning, hard work, and stubbornness.
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 14,119
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 14,119 |
Saw him hunch up at the shot, and run straight down the side of the hill.
Come on my man....you've been around the block enough to know that's very possibly a gut shot. We've all done it. It sucks ass but it does happen and if so, an -06 wouldn't have changed the outcome. I took my 6.5x284 to New Mexico but I just never had the right opportunity. It was a hell of a fun hunt though. 100%, ![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/i4gj1tX.png) Here is a pix. The two juveniles that are in the pix are pretty much at the same spot that I shot the ram. You can see the nature of the terrain. I want a bullet with enough velocity and mass and construction, that if I make a foul hit, I get two leaky holes and a blood trail a blind man can wade in, should I be able to find the point of impact. Ya! GWB
Last edited by geedubya; 03/21/21.
A Kill Artist. When I draw, I draw blood.
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 2,934
Campfire Regular
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OP
Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 2,934 |
Well that answers my question then, looks like I’m definitely sticking with my good ol 30-06 for this hunt!
==================================================
I'm a proud member of the BGE cult ... yes, I consider myself an EGGHEAD
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 863
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 863 |
I think the issue is less about toughness and more about placing a bullet or broadhead in the vitals. Like many African game and wild hogs, their vitals are lower and farther forward than a whitetails. If you try to center punch lungs back from the shoulder like you do with whitetails, you’re going to more often catch liver-guts. Shoulder shoot them with any big game rifle and they won’t go far. My last archery kill went 15 yds after taking the top of the heart off....
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 28,239
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 28,239 |
I think the issue is less about toughness and more about placing a bullet or broadhead in the vitals. Like many African game and wild hogs, their vitals are lower and farther forward than a whitetails. If you try to center punch lungs back from the shoulder like you do with whitetails, you’re going to more often catch liver-guts. Shoulder shoot them with any big game rifle and they won’t go far. My last archery kill went 15 yds after taking the top of the heart off.... Sorry, but behind the shoulder shots with good bullets kills the crap out of 'em, easily. Their lungs are huge, and they don't tolerate holes any better than any other animal.
It is irrelevant what you think. What matters is the TRUTH.
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,479
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,479 |
To me just think moose. In a smaller way. Easy to kill. Just sometimes takes em a while to realize they are dead. a hole in both lungs almost always kills the animal.
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,606
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,606 |
Hunting pard killed one with. .380 Ruger LCP.
Ok. They walked up on it after it had been in a fight with another ram. He was pretty bunged up. Eyeball hanging out and all.
Old son had a big one about 50 yards from him past Saturday evening while hog hunting. Eatin’ the hell outta prickly pear. 😁
Founder
Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools,
Being native burghers of this desert city,
Should in their own confines with forked heads
Have their round haunches gored."
WS
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 2,934
Campfire Regular
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OP
Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 2,934 |
OP, if you're going guided then this shouldn't be an issue but if you're planning a DIY hunt, do some research in judging the darn things. I could have shot several in NM last Feb but just never found one that I really confidently thought was a ram, despite looking through a lot of manuals and watching a lot of videos. Doesn’t the chaps on the Rams carry all the way down the front legs? Figured this would be enough to make a positive identification.
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I'm a proud member of the BGE cult ... yes, I consider myself an EGGHEAD
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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,117
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,117 |
A few years ago a friend went on a free-range aoudad hunt in West Texas. The guide/outiftter recommended a .375 H&H., but my friend had a nifty custom-made .250 Savage that shot extremely well with 100-grain Ballistic Tips, and he REALLY wanted to use it on something.. Somebody told him it would work. The shot was around 200-250 yards, and he put the bullet close behind the shoulder. The ram ran 50 yards and fell over dead.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 20,215
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 20,215 |
OP, if you're going guided then this shouldn't be an issue but if you're planning a DIY hunt, do some research in judging the darn things. I could have shot several in NM last Feb but just never found one that I really confidently thought was a ram, despite looking through a lot of manuals and watching a lot of videos. Doesn’t the chaps on the Rams carry all the way down the front legs? Figured this would be enough to make a positive identification. I believe so, but that'd be more of a Greg/JGRaider/GDub question. I think only the really big, mature rams have the chaps and their neck beard fully "connected" if that's what you mean by "carry all the way down the front legs".
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 4,355
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 4,355 |
Been on one Aoudad hunt. Took a 300 Win Mag to be prepared for 400 yd shots. Was climbing a cliff and had to rest. While sitting there a 29" stuck his head over the edge to see where all the heavy breathing was coming from. 180 gr Partition at 50 yds in the neck finished him quickly.
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,875
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,875 |
I'm kinda like Hanco, We shoot Aoudad on site, i usually carry a .243 in my jeep so that's what i use, if i was looking to hunt for a trophy Aoudad, and paying for the hunt i would use something a little heavier than a 6mm, But very few get to trophy size here. Rio7
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 2,934
Campfire Regular
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OP
Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 2,934 |
I'm kinda like Hanco, We shoot Aoudad on site, i usually carry a .243 in my jeep so that's what i use, if i was looking to hunt for a trophy Aoudad, and paying for the hunt i would use something a little heavier than a 6mm, But very few get to trophy size here. Rio7
So what are you considering trophy size? Curious
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I'm a proud member of the BGE cult ... yes, I consider myself an EGGHEAD
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 78,300
Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 78,300 |
So what are you considering trophy size? Curious
I think the consensus is 30 inch +
"...the left considers you vermin, and they'll kill you given the chance..." Bristoe
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 21,179
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 21,179 |
Auodad are the new elk!! 🤭🤭😎
Ping pong balls for the win.
Once you've wrestled everything else in life is easy. Dan Gable
I keep my circle small, I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies.
Ain’t easy havin pals.
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Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 1,360
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 1,360 |
Gonna need a minimum 338 Win Mag, better to use a 340 Wby to knock these guys down.
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 21,179
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 21,179 |
Gonna need a minimum 338 Win Mag, better to use a 340 Wby to knock these guys down. I’m thinkin your right!! And shoot through the hips like the guide recommended!! 😂😂
Ping pong balls for the win.
Once you've wrestled everything else in life is easy. Dan Gable
I keep my circle small, I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies.
Ain’t easy havin pals.
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