Aoudad Success

Finally spending some time sharing another great story from this past year. Ill try to keep it short and sweet.(LOL) So I got sheep fever last year and debated on west Texas or New Mexico. And went with guided pool public land New Mexico because I guess I wanted to suffer a little or a lot. I felt the need to work for it. Little did I know what I was getting into. Warning this hunt is not for everyone. The Outfitter said get into shape so I did some what, I loaded up 35 lbs on my back and would walked 10 miles or so once or twice a week for six months before my hunt. This would end up being the only reason I was successful and I was barely in good enough shape. On day one we set out way before sun light and walked in a few miles and started to look for sheep, then we walked a few more and a few more after covering ground for most of the day we did finally spot some sheep, two separate groups with one OK ram in the 24 inch range. I told my guide that i'm fully prepared to either eat tag soup or shoot a mature ram with hopes of a 28"+. Well day one ended with about 14 miles on our feet and no sheep. Day 2 started much the same and ended much the same, we covered a lot of ground and seen a few smaller sheep. Day 3 would be what I call a all in. My guided pulled the ace out of his pocket I could tell, new area and the way we covered it, this was the money spot. Well early in the day we I had a decision to make a 25" ram at 50 yards eased over a dam right in front of me only 4 miles in. It was easy but not the size of the goal I had set, we watched him for 5 minutes. My guide bless his heart said I want you to be proud of him when you look at your wall. I said I would feel as if I settled a little. Decision was made we passed and went on. Most guides would have pushed you to shoot or been mad if you passed. Honestly I've been on a few guided hunts my aoudad guide was the best. Well 2 hours later the wind picked up and was gusting in the 45 mph range. The sheep disappeared. We covered close to 20 miles some really good spots he had killed sheep over the years. A few spots a could feel that there was sheep close probably just tucked into a pocket we couldn't see. Day 4 the legs are getting tired my guide asked my opinion on what I thought about doing, I told him I think there is sheep back there somewhere; I could feel it he agreed 100 percent he just made sure my tank wasn't on empty. So we set out and didn't stop walking for hours and hours. In fact from before sun up to when I pulled my binos out for the first time it was 1:30 pm. We were way way back in the bush. First spot no sheep he looked at his gps and said to me in 2.2 miles your killing a sheep. We set out made it to a giant rock bluff sat down by a juniper and started to glass. Before my guide had his glass out I spotted 3 rams by far bigger than anything I had seen to date. One was a toad 30+the other 27(who had a slight limp) and 28 we figured. So we played the waiting game to see if they would make a mistake and come up the canyon towards us. They did not just milled around for hours. Well the sun was getting low and we went for it. Which seldom ever works out, but there was no way I could have made the hike again with out resting a day. We got to were we thought they were but we couldn't find them; we didn't panic, just started creeping really slow along a cliff face. Then god gave us a break my guide spotted one 200 yards in front of us we set up and waited trying to get them all to show them selves the one with the limp was first to show he was walking right at me, then the moment of truth the second one was laying down 150 yards away stood up and looked right at me; it was obviously now or never(get greedy and end up with none). So I had a choice a 27 who was injured or a 28 the 30 was not in sight. I said its only a inch and did the right thing and took the 27(ended up being what looked like a horn wound a small puncture in the front shoulder). After I shot the 30 and the 28 paired up as the left the canyon in a hurry. I was very proud and couldn't of been happier. I haven't got buck fever in years but after investing this much energy the goose bumps set in and I was shaking like a leaf. We quickly took some pics and cut him up, caped out ext.. the sun set and the pack out began. Well Holy mother ********. He told me this was his 2nd longest pack out in 20 plus years sheep hunting and he had 3 guys for the one that was father and it was only 200 yards father. I can't honestly say how far we were from the truck my best guess is 14 miles. Loaded heavy we slowly made our way back. On a bright note we did beat the sun coming back up but not by much. After some ibuprofen and a few hours of sleep I will have a memory for the rest of my life. And in a year or two I'll hopefully set out to try it again, just maybe that 30+ might be 32+ just waiting for me. God bless.

Awesome story, congrats on the fine ram!

Great Story, Great Ram...Thanks for sharing!

Great story, awesome little read. Congratulations on a awesome ram. Mind me asking how do you judge Aoudad? And what unit you were hunting? Also what is considered a respectable ram? And big ram?

Any one ever eaten Aoudad?

I’ve heard that it’s terrible

Trix4me said:

I’ve heard that it’s terrible

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I have heard the same and would be interested to hear how they taste from others as well.

Congrats on the great ram!

As to eating it, I've eaten four Barbary that ranged from a young ewe to a 14-year-old ram, and it's all been fine if you take care of it (like most game meat is). I only do ground because the meat is fairly tough and doesn't make good steaks or roasts in my opinion. If I gave you a pound of ground Aoudad and a pound of deer, you likely wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Congrats on your hard earned ram. Both barbary I have eaten have been good eating.

I have eaten barbary sheep and I personally do enjoy it but I was also raised on a beef ranch and my family had a small herd of about 30-40 sheep so I was raised eating fresh meat.I have my meat cutter add 10% beef fat and have the majority of it ground up, but its very good. Mt buddy shared an elk burger recipe that I used for Barbary burgers and they are golden!

I absolutely love the meat. Idk if it's the way I prepare it or just my taste but it's excellent.

Congrats, nice ram!

Add 5% beef suet and grind EVERYTHING (even backstraps and tenderloin) because it's tough. As ground meat it's delicious - ewes to big rams. Just need to keep it clean, get the meat cold as soon as possible just like all game meat. I'm a fan of gutless method and deboning all the meat to help it cool faster in the field, plus less weight to pack out.

Congrats!

I had it made into sticks and sausage by a local locker, it tastes great. Texture is different than deer for sure. I don't think i would eat it with out processing though, probably the same for any animal that can live this long, with a few exceptions.

BradA said:

Great story, awesome little read. Congratulations on a awesome ram. Mind me asking how do you judge Aoudad? And what unit you were hunting? Also what is considered a respectable ram? And big ram?

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28" plus I would say would be like a 160-170 deer anything over 30 is a true giant. My guide has hunted them since the first season opened, probably guided hundreds of people over the years. He had a seasoned eye for size. The mass changes a lot from 24 to 28+ and of course the size of the body of the animal tells the tale.

Great story, Way to hang tough and not settle for less!!

As someone who has been trying in vain for years to score a decent "state-wide" barbary, I can really respect/appreciate what you accomplished. That is an awesome ram.

I've harvested eight barbarys over the years and all but one of them were very good eating. They are chewier than deer, but otherwise I don't do anything special with them other than trim the fat and silver skin off the fillets. The one gamey barbary that I had was a smaller ram. I was able to get him quartered up and off the Brokeoffs within about 90 minutes, so I don't really understand why he was so gamey compared to any of my others.