09 Aoudad Hunt

[WyoXtec]

Here are a couple pics of the Aoudad hunt my brother and I went on this year in west Texas. I saw one of these sheep life size mounted a few years back and started researching the various ways to get one. You can hunt them behind a fence or you can hunt them free range in west Texas and southern New Mexico. We ended up booking with a retired Border Patrol Agent that runs a guiding service in the Davis and Chinati Mountains near the Mexico border. This is a great off season hunt and fairly affordable compared to most guided hunts. The Aoudad are pretty challenging and fun to hunt, they hang out in typical sheep habitat, are always on the move and seem to have eyes in the back of their head.

My brother killed his in the Davis Mountains after a three hour stalk, the shot was 111 yards which was the closest shot our guide had seen on these sheep (they are pretty tough to get close to). He measured 27 inches and had an awesome cape and great mass.

IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/WyoXtec/2009Aoudad009.jpg[/IMG]

I killed mine on the third day in the Chinati Mountains, 312 yards, 32 inches and just an awesome animal.

Almost there.

 

[clifhunter]

Nice............................

 

[scottyboy]

Great rams guys!! Ive taken a couple of nice rams over the years back home in west TX and I would hunt them every year if I could!!

 

[littlebighorn]

WYO,
I am not trying to be nosey, but I am interested in knowing what a hunt like that costs. You can PM me if you would like.
Nice Rams.

 

[marley]

I just got back from west texas hunting hogs and aoudad, free roaming, out of a group of 6 guys we shot 8 aoudad and 6 hogs and the best thing about it was it didn't cost us a dime. The guy that owned the land just wanted to get rid of them to keep whitetails around as they are pretty aggressive with their territory. Awesome hunt, fun animals to chase around!!

 

[ClarkW]

I have been wanting to go on a aoudad hunt for years now. I looked into the New Mexico tags and found it to fairly unrealistic to harvest one without paying high $ trespass fees. All the guided hunts I see in Texas are as much or more than I see deer and elk hunts selling for. Amazing! It would be nice to find an affordable hunt someday and be able to hunt them.

 

[Spencer]

>I have been wanting to go
>on a aoudad hunt for
>years now. I looked into
>the New Mexico tags and
>found it to fairly unrealistic
>to harvest one without paying
>high $ trespass fees. All
>the guided hunts I see
>in Texas are as much
>or more than I see
>deer and elk hunts selling
>for. Amazing! It would be
>nice to find an affordable
>hunt someday and be able
>to hunt them.

You and me both!! I'll never be able to afford a Rocky Mtn, Desert, Dall, Stone sheep hunt so the Aoudad will be my "trophy sheep" hunt. I am mostly finding $4500-$6500 for an Aoudad. Would love to find a Texas ranch where the guy runs a whitetail/muley hunt and will allow me to hunt the Aoudad for a fee of about $1500-$2000. I'd gladly pay that much for a fair chase situation in west Texas.

Scott
Member: RMEF, SCI, and NRA

 

[3bigelkid]

Tory,
Great rams! My brother and I are heading to NM in two weeks to hunt the poor mans sheep. Hope we do half as well as you and your bro. Still looking forward to seeing your pics from last fall.
Jake

 

[WyoXtec]

Good luck on your hunt 3bigelkid, hope you get into 'em dude.

Check the Wyoming page, I'll post a couple pics of last years hunts.

I am somewhat anal retentive when it comes to researching hunting, (probably not unlike a lot of huntin fools on this site), especially if I am paying someone to point directions. In the case of Aoudad in Texas, you have to book with someone to get access. We booked with Alamito Hunting and Guide Service, Wayne Weimers. He is a retired border patrol agent and has connections with all the local ranches in the area. This is huge because these sheep roam like a Gypsy and covering a ton of country to find the older rams is key. The price of the hunt was $3450, not beans but for a good sheep hunt I thought it was very reasonable for the quality. The guy doesn't advertise or have a website but if you Google him you can get contact info, and yes I would go with him again.

For those that are truly interested in booking this hunt I learned something that might be financially worthwhile. I missed a shot (hate to admit it but $#it happens) on a great ram at 320 yards, the herd had already spotted us and were moving out but the big ram stopped for a second and give me a quick chance, I shot high. This was a giant ram in a herd of approximately 70 animals with a couple other shooter rams in the group. We were on the boundary of the adjacent ranch which charges around $1800 for a three day hunt. I had talked to this ranch owner a couple of times during the research process and didn't book with him. 1) Didn't want to be locked into hunting a single property, 2) He is an attorney that doesn't live in the area and couldn't even answer simple location questions that I asked him about his property (Google Earth and GIS are amazing tools). I'm getting long winded here but what I am saying is this could be an excellent deal as his property has the habitat and numbers of sheep to find an old ram. Google Boerschig Aoudad. Good Luck.