Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Trans Pecos Aoudad

So my buddy Big Al went on a hunt for big aoudad sheep in the rugged Davis Mountains of West Texas and I tagged along with him. The elevation won't kill you ( up to 6500' on this ranch), but the fact that you're stepping on unstable rock with most every step makes it tough going. IMO, free range aoudad are a spot and stalk hunter's dream. This sprawling ranch encompassed 400 sq miles, 250,000 acres. We put 170 miles on a polaris ranger, and 20 miles hiking/stalking in 4 days.....it was an absolutely awesome adventure.

First evening found us in t shirts and 82 degrees.....


By the evening of the next day it was 33degrees and snowing.....


Big Al was toting a Bergara B14 7mm08 in which I had loaded him up with 140 accubonds running 2810. I still cannot believe feral hogs inhabit this harsh, rocky, dry desert environment.


The spanish daggers were in full bloom.....the desert was stunningly beautiful in it's own way....and the aoudad love eating the flowers


But you better watch where you're going.....the catclaw will kick your asss, and the instability of the rocks with every step are a PITA....


There are other targets of opportunity though.......these guys have killed 16 lions on this property in the past year. We only saw a handful of mule deer over 4 days.


The sheep are there though, but you have to hunt hard and make good use of your glass.....


Snapped this through my Fury 5000 AB's....at 725 yds.


We finally located a really, really big ram that Big Al was interested in. We probably passed on 20, 30" rams. I gave Big Al the dope through the Fury AB's as the huge ram finally cleared a small group of sheep he was with. The 140 AB hammered home at 508yds, placed perfectly through the shoulder. The longest side was 34 1/2 inches......an absolute giant ram.

Nice……and with a Leupold too

Thank you for posting, beautiful pics, some on our deer lease, but nothing to compare with that.

3-15x VX5. He dumped another big pig at 718 with it as well.

Hell ya....that is my kind of hunt.

Stellar work.

Thanks for sharing the pics and adventure!

I will be down in a few weeks hunting Javelina and hoping to see an Auodad or two.

Aoudad might be my favorite critter to hunt. Sure wish tpwd would open a draw hunt at big bend sp.

Looks like yall had a great experience. Beautiful tight curl on that beast.

(Can't believe a little 7-08 could take down the mighty aoudad....people claim a 300 win mag is the minimum lol)

Great pics and write up but...................look at the cutters on that boar!!!!!!!!!!!! Dang, super trophy sheep and hog. Congrats

Awesome stuff man....

Very good Aoudad, 6500' doesn't sound like much compared to the Rocky's, but it will kick your Ass it's like walking on big marbles in some places, and steep, great place for a good long range hunter to test their Rifle and ability, looks like you had a fun hunt. Rio7

Awesome hunt! What a great ram! I’m curious was he in a bachelor group, solo or with ewes? It was always mind boggling to me that even on some of those big ranches, when the rams pulled off the herds they were GONE! you could find 300 head of ewes and a few mid twenty rams but the big boys had bachelor pads and they might on the neighbor. Pretty frustrating at times. Congratulations again! I love that part of the world! Definitely no country for wimps!

I have always been amazed how many giant rams show up that have never been seen before. I suppose it speaks to the size and type of country they inhabit. Hint, if you ever do see a true giant, you better do your best to kill him that day.

When traveling from Monahans, TX to Coyanosa, TX on highway 1776, you drive upon a rocky outcropping that suddenly drops off into a wide sweeping plain. At the bottom of the outcropping is a dry gulch. That dry gulch is the Pecos River!
As far as the eye can see, the horizon is a blue line of mountains.
I've pulled off at the top of the outcropping and pondered, "If I crossed several hundred miles of this God forsaken landscape on foot or horseback when I came upon this view? What would be behind me that I would push further into this great unknown?"

It's hot!
It's hostile! Not only the snakes, bears, cats and javelina, but the cactus, thorns, stickers and needles. Not to mention the lack of water and rocks that cut like glass.

The devil we're told, in hell was chained,
And a thousand years, he there remained.
He never complained, nor did he groan.
But was determined to start a hell of his own.
Where he could torment the souls of men
Without being chained in a prison pen.
So he asked the Lord if he had on hand,
Anything left when he made the land.
The Lord said, "Yes, there was plenty on hand,
But I left it down by the Rio Grande.
The fact is, ol' boy, the stuff is so poor
I don't think it can be used as a hell anymore!"
So the devil went down to look at the truck,
And said if it came as a deal he was stuck.
So the deal was closed and the deed was given
And the Lord went back to his home in Heaven!

Appreciate the pics! Looks like cool hunt for sure. Good shooting too.

It's never not fun to see Texans using the wrong scopes on the wrong guns with the wrong boolits somehow manage to slay the wrong critters.

Laughin'

But mostly jealous that I wasn't there.

Nice pics and great ram Johnny. Congrats to Big Al.

Not to be too dramatic, but NM Pistolero is spot on.....this country is no joke and he described it perfectly. That big ram was ironically (this time of year) with a group of about 5 smaller rams, 10 ewes, and 7-8 tiny lambs. Believe me those little guys can bounce around on those rocks with incredible ease. They are a blast to watch.

400 square miles and not one single head of livestock on the whole place. I've hunted quite a bit in my life around the Davis Mountains and have never seen anything remotely like this place. Free range aoudad are vastly underrated IMO. They are incredible animals.

Memories made!

Mighty fine, JG.

Best,

GWB

Nice Ram and hog. Tough hunt and typical Texas weather, hot one day and cold the next. Memories!!

Thanks for sharing.


Deans

Stole my words. That looks like a fun as hell hunt! Great work JG. Too dang cool!

Holy Schitballzz that's a BIG RAM!!! Over 34 inches and look at the space still between the horns! Was his head as big as a horse's? If I shot that thing, I'm afraid I'd have to do a full body mount - making the hunt cost double. LOL

Many congrats to your buddy!

Nice work, JG !

Awesome pics.

Spectacular, thanks for sharing.

Hey Heeler, You’re absolutely correct that’s a giant ram but space between the horns is kind of a wive’s tale. Head/ horn shape contributes to the space between the horns more than actual base size. You’ll hear guys say look for one that has horns almost touching which is kind of ridiculous, for one, the differences would be in fractions of an inch and not as apparent as actual inches of horn. Not knocking on you, just an opportunity to educate on these super cool critters.

Dream hunt for sure! Congrats.....

No worries!!! I guess I was likening it to cape buff when the bosses grow together. And that ram sure makes mine look puny. As an aside, I was telling a buddy about my aoudad I got and how it wasn't a goat and wasn't a sheep - kinda it's own thing. Buddy looks at me and says 'So, it's like a souped-up range maggot.' LMAO.

Looks like a great Hunt, and a great time with friends !

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

Lot of quality info on this thread if a guy pays attention.

Youngest went to school at Sul Ross in Alpine.
Worked for a couple, house sitting and tending horses.
Every afternoon a herd of aoudad would come down out of the surrounding mountains and clean up the hay the horses left.

Follow up to Heeler's earlier post.

Dandy, massive ram eastex. Whereabouts?

This was in NM as opposed to TX, but it illustrates how rough of country these things can live in. They are a true sheep hunt IMO, even if they're not technically a sheep.

That's a badass pic TInman. Nice work.

JGR, that ram had exceptional mass on a small frame. Davis Mts.

Cool pic taken by long time outfitter/guide Bubba Glosson in the Chinati Mountains from far away with a crude set up.

Awesome pic......

^^^This^^^

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

We had aoudad on the ranch I hunted north of Van Horn for 30+ years. The local TPWD wildlife biologist told us to kill everyone of them we see, so I did my darndest to do just that. The biggest herd I saw was 30-40 animals and they eat EVERYTHING down to the rocks. They are fun to hunt, that's for sure. I helped a fellow hunters daughter try and kill a huge ram we called Casper (because he had the habit of disappearing). She was 8 months pregnant, but didn't complain once when climbing that mountain straight up. And I mean it was straight up. Got to the top, peaked over the rim and Casper was staring at me at 35 yards. Being 8 months pregnant, she couldn't hardly lean over to shoot, but when she did shoot she shot over his back.

We found another group the next day and this was another long, up and down stalk to get into position. When she finally got into position she squeezed off one with her 300 Win mag and killed the ram in his bed at 182 yards. Me and her daddy commenced to shooting at the 6 ewes he had with him. That guy couldn't shoot for squat. I killed 4 and watched the other 2 run over the top of the hill and disappear into the canyon. We climbed over to her ram and I found two ewes piled up, one on top of the other. The 140 gr. Barnes TTSX went through one and hit the other one in the head. Darndest thing I'd ever seen.

I sure miss hunting that ranch. The aoudad and varmint hunting was almost as much fun as the mule deer and quail hunting.

Dub, ever see any desert bighorns there?

JG,

I never saw bighorns on that ranch. They were a little west of us near Sierra Blanca. I did hunt the Sierra Diablo WMA when I drew a tag there in 2011 and saw bighorns not too long after getting off I-10 headed for the WMA. I had a good size herd in my hunting compartment on the WMA and saw them nearly every day when they would head for the guzzler for water. There were several rams in the bunch, but one was a bruiser. I've been a sheep fanatic for most of my adult life and that was one was a "gagger". The curl went well below his chin before coming back up over his nose.

Thanks for sharing. Great pictures and story.

I’ve seen some troglodytes too.


image posting

Incredible hunts! Thanks to the OP and all the rest of you for sharing the stories.

I only went after them in New Mexico's southern Sacramento mountains 20 years ago. Never did get one in an entire month of hunting; work 40 hours a week, then barbery sheep hunted on my days off. Had a blast the whole time, hell'va workout too.

Looks like a hell of a cool spot. Great pics and congrats on the ram.

Thanks for sharing. Great pics and a great hunt, congrats!

Some nice country there.

Great ram. I got back from hunting them south of Van Horn the beginning of February. Weather like you experienced. Saw around 150 sheep in the 3.5 days! Great hunt, but can be tough hiking as you mentioned. This was my second time down there and might go back next year if I don't draw my oryx tag!!

Amazing pictures!

Thanks!

What an awesome hunt. Thanks for posting. Great pic's, write up, and shooting too. Congrats to both of you.

Awesome hunt and a great write up, Thanks. I've hunted the northern sheep and I hope one day to try for an Aoudad.

Great stuff JG.

They are great fun to hunt, have killed a few dozen over the years south of there.

Also FYI, I've seen feral hogs less than 20 miles north of Terlingua. Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen them with my own eyes.

Bill

That’s awesome. Man I want to hunt these so badly

Just now stumbled across this thread. Great hunt, story and pics.

JGRaider, This post was great with a lot of interesting information. Loved the photos. I had a friend who went aoudad hunting for the first time last year on a “small” 50,000 acre ranch but it still required several days to track one down. It took a lot of teamwork with his brother but he finally managed to take one with a 7mm Rem. Mag.

As I’ve gotten older, I have found that I often enjoy being in harsh, remote & desolate places (as long as it doesn’t kill me). So I liked the terrain you were in as much as I did your hunt. Growing up in the swamps of south Louisiana, it’s very different from what I’m accustomed to but I like being in places like that nonetheless.

Right on odonata! Thanks!