My West Texas Aoudad Hunt Pics

[Rackmastr]

Hey Guys,

Just a quick note and some pics as I just got home today and have to be at work tomorrow morning. I just spent the last 4 days hunting West Texas for Aoudad along the Mexican border in the Quitman Mountains east of El Paso. What a COOL experience and a true sheep hunt in some very rough mountains.

We camped about 200 yards from the Rio Grande and had a major Border Patrol presence seen every day. In the mountains away from the river there was a LOT of sign of Illegal immigrants (water bottles empty, clothing, shoes, cans, etc). It was a neat experience being right there and seeing the trails, talking about the treks that some people must make to try to get into the USA, etc.

There were 4 of us who went and we all shot sheep. I was lucky to shoot mine on the 3rd day and we had to really work to find some sheep in the hills. The ranch is 18,000 acres and is not fenced and is very rough terrain. We covered a lot of the mountains but obviously didnt see it all. I had a chance at my ram at 360 yards and being day 3 I thought I had better take him. He's about 26" long which is a good representative of the Aoudad I think. Later that night Chad shot a 30" ram that we had to find the next morning and he is a true cranker sheep. We hunted extremely hard for 4 solid days and all of us agreed that this was a very similar hunt to any sheep hunt we'd been on in the past. Chad has guided 3 Desert sheep hunts and said this was exactly the same and was equally as tough and enjoyable.

We ended up with some very weird weather which made things tough. It hadnt rained since October and we had about 7 hours of rain through the night one night. We thought we'd have major flooding but were lucky to have it calm down on us. A big dust storm the night before made it tough to see the hills and then snow in the hills of Mexico was really crazy to see. Yesterday morning we had snow and ice up top when we were looking for Chads ram.

What an awesome trip!!!

Will post some more details and pics up in a bit....got some sweet video too but just trying to get organized tonight!

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/Rackmastr/P3190868.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/Rackmastr/P3170778.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/Rackmastr/P3190823.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/Rackmastr/P3190802.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/Rackmastr/P3190829.jpg

[buckbrushoutdoors]

Awesome Trevor! Man am I jealous! What a cool hunt!

[Rackmastr]

I'll be going down again for sure!!! Way too cool of a hunt to only do once!!!

[Skeenabilly]

Congrats to you and really nice pictures!
What was the cost like? I heard it is quite reasonable compared to our northern sheep hunts. All in all, about 10K including tags, hunt, hotel and airfare?

[ksteed17]

Awesome job man. Totally jealous can't wait to see that thing on your wall!

[Rackmastr]

Congrats to you and really nice pictures!
What was the cost like? I heard it is quite reasonable compared to our northern sheep hunts. All in all, about 10K including tags, hunt, hotel and airfare?

A person can do it all in with tags, hunt, hotel, airfare, travel, food, etc for probably $3000-7000 depending on the outfitter, type of hunt, location, etc

I was probably very close to the $3000-3200 mark all in....

[Duk Dog]

Congrats again Trev, sounds like a great trip. Sure looks like some unique terrain.

[Rackmastr]

Congrats again Trev, sounds like a great trip. Sure looks like some unique terrain.

My shins have so many marks, cuts, and pin holes from cactus. My hands and arms looks like I fought a barn cat.....haha....

Its wild how many damn cactus there are there....they bite you and I had some good 3/8" daggers in my legs at times!

[The Bit Runner.]

Wicket awesome!!

[buckbrushoutdoors]

that last picture is great by the way, thats one for the frame. Lets go next year!!! I would go in a heart beat! omce again cool hunt!

[threeforthree]

Thanks for posting

[Rockymtnx]

Congrats on the ram Trev.
Thanks for sharing with us.

[Rackmastr]

that last picture is great by the way, thats one for the frame. Lets go next year!!! I would go in a heart beat! omce again cool hunt!

The guys I went with are already talking about going again sometime...lets toss some ideas around man! I'm actually tossing around the idea of a Coues in Arizona and maybe try and do 2 trips in one back to back depending on timing, etc

I was by myself for the kill so all the pics I have are timer ones. I dont have a pile of good ones with me in it, but that one turned out sweet I thought.

[sheephunter]

Too cool Trev...congrats!

[steve]

Congrats trev and beauty ram!

I can see myself doing that hunt in the near future, its nice that it falls in our off season.

Did you see some pretty big herds? Why were you by yourself for the kill?

[elkhunter1234]

That's awesome Trev...

[Rackmastr]

Congrats trev and beauty ram!

I can see myself doing that hunt in the near future, its nice that it falls in our off season.

Did you see some pretty big herds? Why were you by yourself for the kill?

No we didnt see big herds and had a rough go on this ranch. Its not a 'typical' Aoudad hunting ranch I'd say. Smaller bunches and this time of year they are seperated out a bit more it seems. October rut is when things get really good I hear.

It was a 2x1 deal and several times we'd bounce around and do our own thing when we wanted to. I had hit this ram once (with my buddy and guide with me) and I took off after him by myself while they circled wide. They watched it through the spotting scope but I was up in a really cliffy rocky area so I just took some pics, caped him out, and hiked down.

[huntin]

Congrats

[steve]

No we didnt see big herds and had a rough go on this ranch. Its not a 'typical' Aoudad hunting ranch I'd say. Smaller bunches and this time of year they are seperated out a bit more it seems. October rut is when things get really good I hear.

It was a 2x1 deal and several times we'd bounce around and do our own thing when we wanted to. I had hit this ram once (with my buddy and guide with me) and I took off after him by myself while they circled wide. They watched it through the spotting scope but I was up in a really cliffy rocky area so I just took some pics, caped him out, and hiked down.

NIce congrats on the rams.

YOu doing the shoulder mount yourself?

[Alberta Bigbore]

Congrats!! Looks like an amazing hunt.

[shedcrazy]

That looks like a great way to enjoy the "off season"! Congrats!

[pottymouth]

Wow, great work buddy! I totally forgot you had that trip planned! Looks like a great adventure, and what an awesome trophy too! I'll give you a shout here this week, I really want to hear about it from you, so I didn't read the story yet!

Huge congrats buddy!

[thumper]

Cool looking critter, and cruel looking landscape! Good on you!

[TangoKilo]

Congrats!!

Cool looking hunt and great pictures!!

[depopulator]

Right on Trev. Congrats. Sounds like you had a great hunt and that's a beauty sheep - great mass ! I hunted mine in the rut and he is one of my more prized trophies. The desert mountains are a special place. Keep us posted on the Taxi.

[honda450]

Cool lookin critter. Are those native to the area? Going to look good on the wall. Congrats.:sHa_shakeshout:

[alpineguy]

Congrats Rack. Looks like it was a real great experience!

[rhuntley12]

Congrats on the ram, looks awesome. Lived for a year in Texas, and know how rough that terrain can be.

[NBFK]

Thats awesome Trev. Awesome field photos as usual! Can't wait to see what you have in store for your B.C hunts.

[huntinstuff]

What a great hunt! Congratulations. Such a beautiful place to hunt too

[marlin1]

congrats , got to see texas someday , great pics , J will be jealous :)

[albertadave]

That's awesome Trev, I remember you telling me you had this hunt planned. Very cool trophy.

[blackmamba]

sweet Trev , sounds like a fun hunt .. congrats a on wicked cool trophy !!

[Rackmastr]

NIce congrats on the rams.

YOu doing the shoulder mount yourself?

Yep I'll be doing it myself. I've got a list of things to mount once I get settled in BC but for now I'm just waiting on permits, etc.

Some pretty cool forms to choose from, and I'll be doing a wall pedestal with some cactus and rock mixed in.

[Chet]

Congrats Trev! Cool critter and nice looking country.

[Springer]

Congrats on your Ram Trevor.
I saw a Shockey video recently and he was hunting them and talked about them being an affordable do-able Sheep Hunt.
Sure hope to see ya Holding that Stone Ram next year being a New BC resident!

[drake]

Congrats Rack......

[walking buffalo]

Congrats Trev!

This sounds and looks like a great hunt. Thanks for the story.

Your sheep looks great! :47b20s0:

[Frans]

Nice job! Sounds like a fun trip...

[M70]

Neat pics! Be sure to update this thread when the mount gets done. Congrats, Trevor.

[Donny Bear]

Very cool nice Ram something to look forward to as a very affordable hunt!

Did this outfitter offer free range Axis as well?

Can't wait to see the mount!

[Rackmastr]

Very cool nice Ram something to look forward to as a very affordable hunt!

Did this outfitter offer free range Axis as well?

Can't wait to see the mount!

Yep he offers free range Axis as well. Has a bunch of ranches and species that he hunts free range.

I had mixed feelings when looking at ranches that are free range. I'm telling you guys, this was 18,000 acres (most of it not fenced except down on the lowlands for cattle) and was more mountains to cover than most sheep hunting spots in Alberta...haha. It was wild country and was NOT 'ranch' hunting at all. Very cool stuff.

For the price of an Aoudad I can see myself doing another one or having Kim go down and shoot one sometime. Its pretty cool stuff!!

[sdeviation]

Nice Trevor ...Congrats ...i want to do this hunt sumday also ...always talking about it but never did it....

[SHORTMAG]

What an awesome experience that HAD TO BE!!! Gorgeous animals!! Thankx for sharing it with us Rackmaster.
sighhhhhh.....now ....I'm just gonna put my " enviously green arse " ta bed !! :D :D

[lone wolf]

What an awesome experience that HAD TO BE!!! Gorgeous animals!! Thankx for sharing it with us Rackmaster.
sighhhhhh.....now ....I'm just gonna put my " enviously green arse " ta bed !! :D :D

Sounds like an awesome experience, thanks for sharing.

[packhuntr]

You knocked it right outa the park on one that needed results man, sounds like it was tough going good job! Thats an awesome animal. Nice work on the field photo!

[BrownBear416]

Well done Trev ..

Great Trophy..

[slopeshunter]

congrats Trev!

[Rackmastr]

One more pic showing the 'group' and the sheep we killed....

http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad168/z24mike/Mixed%20Hunts/caru.jpg

[Rocks]

Cool, good job Rack!

[Toe823]

Way to go Trev, sounds like a great hunt, and a nice ram!!! Someday i will get me one of those!!

[marlin1]

congrats , got to see texas someday , great pics , J will be jealous :)

I take that back:)

[Tundra Monkey]

That's awesome Rack!!

Looks like you had a blast. I killed my first deer ever down there this Fall :sHa_shakeshout:

I could live in a desert now....loved it. Amazing place to hunt.

Man....those boyz down there know a thing or two about BBQ to say the least :cool:

tm