1st Aoudad Hunt...

Many thanks to AoudadShooter1975 for his advice on field judging and areas to hunt. My .300 Win Mag and 215 grain Berger Hybrid Target connected on a 78 yard shot and he didn't take a step.:cool: Got the shot on video as well. The Ram measured 33 6/8". Fun Trip to West TX.
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BEAUTIFUL

CONGRATS
 
Are you going to eat him? I'm going in January... and the guide says to trash the meat.. which I don't agree with.

It's a mixed bag. Some say it is fine in burger, stew, etc. Some say it is tough as leather. My experience is the latter.

For what its worth, Texas Parks and Wildlife shoots them out of helicopters as a herd reduction effort in the national parks. Those animals are not retrieved.
 
Great looking ram. Bucket list for sure. So tell us about the hunt. Private or public land? Guided or DIY?

Guided and Private... And in my case, I'm sure it had a lot to do with the exceptional quality of the Rams we saw. I enjoy DIY hunts as much as the next guy, but I'm also not opposed to going guided when I find good ones.
 
Great Ram! No doubt a monster!

Table fair: I shot quite a few and the ewe's are very good. But the big rams can be tough, but there are still ways to put the meat on the table. You can either make Summer Sausage or Smoked Link Sausage.

Either way the meat is ground to help with it being tough. The taste is like deer, not like a true sheep so your real challenge is it being tough. Both processes take care of the meat being tough!

My last big Ram came off State Natural Area here in Texas and it was fine to leave them where they fell. I recovered all of mine but it was a heck of a job. Because it's a "Natural Area" the state has let the roads go back to nature so you had to pack everything out of the pastures I had to hunt.

I was alone so it took three days to get the head and cape out. But that just made the hunt more memorable!
 
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Great Ram! No doubt a monster!

Table fair: I shot quite a few and the ewe's are very good. But the big rams can be tough, but there are still ways to put the meat on the table. You can either make Summer Sausage or Smoked Link Sausage.

Either way the meat is ground to help with it being tough. The taste is like deer, not like a true sheep so your real challenge is it being tough. Both processes take care of the meat being tough!

My last big Ram came off State Natural Area here in Texas and it was fine to leave them where they fell. I recovered all of mine but it was a heck of a job. Because it's a "Natural Area" the state has let the roads go back to nature so you had to pack everything out of the pastures I had to hunt.

I was alone so it took three days to get the head and cape out. But that just made the hunt more memorable!
Did you add any form of fat to the sausage? Seems like that might help.
 
Are you going to eat him? I'm going in January... and the guide says to trash the meat.. which I don't agree with.

A buddy of mine told me the same thing. He said that his dog wouldn't even eat it. I have never hard of such a thing, but he swears that it's true. What's up with that ? Are they just really tough, or is there a bad taste to the meat ?
 
Guy I elk hunted with in NM said he thinks they are terrible but also said the ranch hands (mostly from Mexico) love to eat them.

Said usually when a client kills a ram, they give the meat to the hands and they spend an entire day prepping and cooking for a big fiesta. He said the client has a blast and if you drink enough tequila its decent table fair :D.
 
When negotiating on one of these private land guided hunts, always hit them up for a free ewe or kid or two for meat. With how much most are asking for a trophy ram, and how fast they reproduce you will be surprised how many will agree.
On our leased land they are regarded as pests by the ranch and are a free shot year round. Hard on feeders and tend to dominate food sources. We don't see many lol.
His dog just isn't hungry enough yet Lol.
 
When negotiating on one of these private land guided hunts, always hit them up for a free ewe or kid or two for meat. With how much most are asking for a trophy ram, and how fast they reproduce you will be surprised how many will agree.
On our leased land they are regarded as pests by the ranch and are a free shot year round. Hard on feeders and tend to dominate food sources. We don't see many lol.
His dog just isn't hungry enough yet Lol.

You've got a good point there. This guy feeds his dog better than most guy's feed their kids, so maybe the dog has gotten to be pretty fussy.
 
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