I got to go hunting a few weeks ago in West Texas. Steve LaMascus (Guns Editor Texas Fish and Game Magazine) and I were invited to go with Chris to his family ranch in Brewster county. The idea was to do some varmint calling and sight see. One thing Chris said was that if we saw an aoudad, we were to shoot it.
We spent a lot of time running allover the ranch is a jeep. The ranch is nearing 60,000 acres so there was a lot to see.
We had made a couple of stands to call and had called some foxes in. The first one either saw us or winded us, but he was gone before we could get a good shot at him. The second stand was a little more fun. Steve called in a fox that had no idea what he was in for. I saw the fox first and took a long shot. I missed, but he keep coming. Steve now new something was coming but he had not seen what. I got up and moved over closer to Steve and Chris to let them know what was coming. I said it would come up right in fort of Steve. We were on to of a very steep hill. Well there was a large drop just in front of us that we had not seen and one that the fox could not get up. So he went around it to our right, but we did not realize that until he was about 10 feet away from Steve. The little sucker did not now what to do, so he hist and growled, arched his back and decided to go back from where he came. Steve was caught off guard as much as the fox was. He swung his gun around and took a shot from the hip and missed. But as he ran off Steve laid into him with his AR and put him down.
The next morning we went out again. All this time I had ridden in the back seat of the jeep that set a little higher than the front ones,and I could look out over the top which gave me a really good view. The roll bar also made for a good gun rest. After about an hour of bouncing along some really rough rig top roads, we came to an old trapper house.
We spent some time looking around taking pictures and picking up some old brass.
We then got back in the jeep and head to the end of the trail that was on a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande Rive. As we pulled up on the bluff, I saw and aoudad. I said "aoudad,aoudad!". Chris then said "shoot him, shoot him!". So I got my gun up, took a rest on the roll bar got the aoudad in my scope and squeezed the trigger. All I heard was "click". I had not chambered a round, well the made me lose the little composure I had. I then chamber a round and shot again, low. Chambered again, high. Third shot hit him hard, but did not put him down. He ran about 20 yard and stopped broadside. I now had to reload my gun. There was a lot of excitement in the jeep. I got it read, I took a long breath, steadied myself and shot again. That shot put him down. Wow. After looking at the aoudad, I think the first hit would have killed him. I hit him a little far back, and it came out his hip on the opposite side because he was quartering to me. And I think that is what kept him from running and further than he did. The second hit was in the spine, so he was down. After looking things over from where we were, Steve estimated the shot at around 325+/- yard.
Once we got over to the aoudad, Steve was excited. "What a monster", "he is huge" on and on. I was, should we say, ho hum about it all. I had no idea what a good aoudad was. I was glad I got to shoot him, but not real emotion. We caped him out, which is a story in itself, and head back to the jeep. It took us two hours to do that. Once back at the ranch house we got a tape measure and got some perspective. He was over 30 inches. Then I began to realize how big he was.
We came home a couple of days latter. At home I got on the internet and started to read about aoudad. Then I started to get excited. My daughter Brenda took him to the Hibler taxidermy in Kingsville,TX. Through them we contacted and scorer for SCI. He went over and measured the aoudad, and he is a great one. Right now he is projected to go #17 by method of kill for free range aoudad, and #18 over all for free range aoudad. He measured 152 4/8. 33 and 32 4/8 length, and 14 1/8 bases on both sides.
If you look hard in the top left corner of the lower pic, you can see the jeep form where the shot was taken.
We spent some time looking around taking pictures and picking up some old brass.
We then got back in the jeep and head to the end of the trail that was on a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande Rive. As we pulled up on the bluff, I saw and aoudad. I said "aoudad,aoudad!". Chris then said "shoot him, shoot him!". So I got my gun up, took a rest on the roll bar got the aoudad in my scope and squeezed the trigger. All I heard was "click". I had not chambered a round, well the made me lose the little composure I had. I then chamber a round and shot again, low. Chambered again, high. Third shot hit him hard, but did not put him down. He ran about 20 yard and stopped broadside. I now had to reload my gun. There was a lot of excitement in the jeep. I got it read, I took a long breath, steadied myself and shot again. That shot put him down. Wow. After looking at the aoudad, I think the first hit would have killed him. I hit him a little far back, and it came out his hip on the opposite side because he was quartering to me. And I think that is what kept him from running and further than he did. The second hit was in the spine, so he was down. After looking things over from where we were, Steve estimated the shot at around 325+/- yard.
Once we got over to the aoudad, Steve was excited. "What a monster", "he is huge" on and on. I was, should we say, ho hum about it all. I had no idea what a good aoudad was. I was glad I got to shoot him, but not real emotion. We caped him out, which is a story in itself, and head back to the jeep. It took us two hours to do that. Once back at the ranch house we got a tape measure and got some perspective. He was over 30 inches. Then I began to realize how big he was.
We came home a couple of days latter. At home I got on the internet and started to read about aoudad. Then I started to get excited. My daughter Brenda took him to the Hibler taxidermy in Kingsville,TX. Through them we contacted and scorer for SCI. He went over and measured the aoudad, and he is a great one. Right now he is projected to go #17 by method of kill for free range aoudad, and #18 over all for free range aoudad. He measured 152 4/8. 33 and 32 4/8 length, and 14 1/8 bases on both sides.
If you look hard in the top left corner of the lower pic, you can see the jeep form where the shot was taken.
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