Aoudad Success

[LDHunter]

Not being as well versed on "exotics" as many of y'all I did some googling and found a very interesting article on the aoudad which by the way isn't a sheep and is genetically much more similar to a goat but really isn't completely either. It's an aoudad and as such is a blessing/scourge in Texas because of its population explosion that has been compared to the wild hog situation in Texas.

Texas Can’t Quit the Aoudad

Some Texans are calling for the extermination of this exotic African transplant. But others depend on it.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[Aoudad shooter1975]

Well, a scourge only in areas where they want to do Desert Bighorn reintroduction. We saw very few when I was a kid in the late 80s, and over the years saw them more often--now I can go and see them almost anytime. I would not say--where we are--loaded with them--but have enough. The outfitters are hammering them and getting good prices. I know a land owner that has 11,200 ac--that is taking off 12 rams a year and getting $2800 a ram...that is a pretty good calf crop. He doesn't think it is a scourge...it pays it stays.

 

[GLTaylor]

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing. Only vermin we have here are hogs. The are bad enough.

 

[mrbigtexan]

Hogs are still only in a few select spots here in the panhandle. I'm waiting for them to invade though!

 

[Treeslug]

Hogs are still only in a few select spots here in the panhandle. I'm waiting for them to invade though!

I love feral hogs. I love hunting them and I love eating them. Hope you get an invasion soon!

 

[LDHunter]

I love feral hogs. I love hunting them and I love eating them. Hope you get an invasion soon!

Well... That one definitely comes under the category of "careful what you ask for"....

Many landowners across the south are suffering from huge losses due to wild hogs and despite their best efforts the damage continues. Eradication of this pestilence is nearly impossible and hugely expensive.

 

[Treeslug]

Well... That one definitely comes under the category of "careful what you ask for"....

Many landowners across the south are suffering from huge losses due to wild hogs and despite their best efforts the damage continues. Eradication of this pestilence is nearly impossible and hugely expensive.

I owned a two hundred-acre tree farm in East Texas. When I was looking for land, I was specifically looking for hunting land, and this place was covered in hogs. You didn't really have to hunt them; you just went out and shot as many as you wanted to clean. You are right. My neighbors hated the hogs except when they could charge someone to go out and shoot a few. They got to be too much for some folks, and they hired professional trappers to get rid of them. Well, they got rid of my hogs, too. Dag-nabbit. We missed the year around hunting. Sold the place--for other reasons, but I always will miss the hog hunting I had the first few years.