33" public ground NM Audad - 10/14/21
I just got done hunting Aoudad in the Guadalupe Mts. With Dylan Baca of Dylans Guide Service in NM.. I was fortunate to draw a tag as it was only one of ten available . We were fourtunate to harvest this 33" Barbary on public ground with only five days to do it.I wanted to let folks know that if you are looking for a challenging hunt they should consider these free range public ground hunts.
I live in South East Alaska and when I left my home at sea level it was 29 degrees at 5am. When I arrived in NM late that night it was in the 80's. Walking out of the airport felt like walking into an oven. After getting supplys in town we headed for the mountains.The next morning before dawn, we were headed up the mountain toward 6 thousand feet with 90 degree weather in the forecast. We made our initial climb and Dylan didn't see the sheep where he had located them and we began going from canyon to canyon. They turned up in a different draw and we were able to stalk up to them within 300 yards. We got set up and watched, waiting for a good shot opportunity. There were in the neighborhood of 40 sheep with 8 rams 3 being over 30". Our target ram was attached at the hip to another ram . As they cleared away from the other sheep our ram turned his back to us. Suddenly the sheep turned left and vacated. We were dumbfounded. We attempted to relocate them but failed. We left that country to allow them some space and not push them out of that canyon. The country is a seemingly endless maze of canyons ,draws and hidden slopes . The next day we attempted to locate sheep in a different area and after hiking 8 miles in 60mph wind gusts turned up nothing. Exhausted we called it a day. Checking in with our spouses they encouraged us to back after the big ram.We agreed . We went back in and glassed that canyon for an hour when Dylan located them again from 3 miles out. All we could determine was that they were sheep and the size of the heard was inline with the numbers we had seen.We decided to see if we could narrow down thier location from the top. We glassed all morning and turned up nothing for the first half of the day . That afternoon the herd showed up again in the canyon behind where we encountered them on day one. That night we put them to bed at dark and called it a day. The next morning we showed up at the same gassing point and waited for them to show. As the sun continued to rise the anxiety of finding them built. Sure enough the herd filtered out into a vertical canyon .We were able to decend to within 450 yards.We were on top of a rise with
another rise behind us.The sheep were all relaxed and feeding calmly. We took our target ram at 465 yards with one shot. The pack out was a long 3 miles
This country is harsh. The plant life is angry, the canyon walls are sharpend by the wind which seems endless.The footholds are far from solid and up or down seem to be the only possible direction. I have goat and sheep hunted Alaska several times in several places and this hunt is no joke. If you enjoy earning your trophy these hunts are a must do.
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I live in South East Alaska and when I left my home at sea level it was 29 degrees at 5am. When I arrived in NM late that night it was in the 80's. Walking out of the airport felt like walking into an oven. After getting supplys in town we headed for the mountains.The next morning before dawn, we were headed up the mountain toward 6 thousand feet with 90 degree weather in the forecast. We made our initial climb and Dylan didn't see the sheep where he had located them and we began going from canyon to canyon. They turned up in a different draw and we were able to stalk up to them within 300 yards. We got set up and watched, waiting for a good shot opportunity. There were in the neighborhood of 40 sheep with 8 rams 3 being over 30". Our target ram was attached at the hip to another ram . As they cleared away from the other sheep our ram turned his back to us. Suddenly the sheep turned left and vacated. We were dumbfounded. We attempted to relocate them but failed. We left that country to allow them some space and not push them out of that canyon. The country is a seemingly endless maze of canyons ,draws and hidden slopes . The next day we attempted to locate sheep in a different area and after hiking 8 miles in 60mph wind gusts turned up nothing. Exhausted we called it a day. Checking in with our spouses they encouraged us to back after the big ram.We agreed . We went back in and glassed that canyon for an hour when Dylan located them again from 3 miles out. All we could determine was that they were sheep and the size of the heard was inline with the numbers we had seen.We decided to see if we could narrow down thier location from the top. We glassed all morning and turned up nothing for the first half of the day . That afternoon the herd showed up again in the canyon behind where we encountered them on day one. That night we put them to bed at dark and called it a day. The next morning we showed up at the same gassing point and waited for them to show. As the sun continued to rise the anxiety of finding them built. Sure enough the herd filtered out into a vertical canyon .We were able to decend to within 450 yards.We were on top of a rise with
another rise behind us.The sheep were all relaxed and feeding calmly. We took our target ram at 465 yards with one shot. The pack out was a long 3 miles
This country is harsh. The plant life is angry, the canyon walls are sharpend by the wind which seems endless.The footholds are far from solid and up or down seem to be the only possible direction. I have goat and sheep hunted Alaska several times in several places and this hunt is no joke. If you enjoy earning your trophy these hunts are a must do.
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