rpierce
Official LRH Sponsor
Well we made it back from an epic hunt down in Texas with Premier Hunts LLC. The hospitality, food and accommodations were awesome and the views were stunning. Highly recommend them if your looking for aoudad and other exotics. The ranch we were at for aoudad was around 37,000 acres. Got to meet up with some friends for the hunt and a great time was had by all. I had built a brand new 300 norma improved for this hunt as I wanted to test out the new Berger 245 gr LRHT bullets that I just got in. Ill do a separate post on that rifle. Needless to say that bullet is a killer on aoudad out to 750 yds and is mind boggling accurate. Exit holes were silver dollar size and the internal damage was impressive. That was without hitting shoulder blades to initiate expansion. All shots were at the crease of the shoulder except my aoudad. My aoudad was shot at 320 yds through both shoulders. The bullet was stuck under the skin on the opposing shoulder. He went bang flop and rolled down off the rocks he was standing on. Came to a stop about 20 yds later in a Yucca bush. After we got him packed off the mountain we were headed back and spotted another real nice ram at 540 yds. Before the guys behind us caught up I had the norma all dialed in and ready to roll. After glassing it for a bit longer Blake decided he was gonna send a 245 gr missle at it. He aimed at the crease of the shoulder as a buffer in case the wind picked up a hair and sent it into the shoulder. He 10 ringed it on the crease of the shoulder and it only managed to go 30 yds or so. We were driving along and Nate saw something move in the brush to the side of us. He said he saw an aoudad. He walked over to where the little bowl was behind the brush. We were beginning to think there wasn't anything in there as he was only 30 yds from it at this point and nothing had busted out. He threw a rock into the bowl and 3 aoudad rams bust out. Nate walked back and grabbed the norma from me and sent one through the crease of the shoulder at 250 yds. The old ram managed to go about 30 yds before toppling over. Big broomed horns on that old ram. Darin managed to get a real nice ram at 750 yds with the norma as well. It didn't make it far either. The next day we were going out to shoot some ewes. After the wind kept switching directions we decided to call it quits on attempting a ewe at 1200+ yds. The huge group of aoudad slowly started making their way down the mountain towards us and there was two big rams with them. Aaron, Darin and I decided to see if we could close the distance. This time Darin brought his 300 wsm I just finished up for him recently. We had a lot of confidence in this rifle also as Darin had shot a 3 shot group at 890 yds right before coming down that measured 1.7" tall x 3" wide. On the way to get in a shooting position I had realized I grabbed Aarons Kestral instead of mine. Naturally Darins wsm profile wasn't on it. So I had to make a new profile on it while hauling *** through the brush. Fortunately our 300 wsm rifles and loads are identical so I remembered every bit of load data and rifle specs for it. As we were scrambling through the brush in the thick bottom we came upon a blind old ram. He couldnt see anything and was running around into brush and trees. We remembered Josh saying he'd give us a heck of a deal on it if we saw it and shot it. We figured it would be a great one for Allie to shoot. We scurried past him and continued to try and get in position for the wide old ram we were after. We managed to get to 500 yds from this group of aoudad and they had no idea we were there. Darin got setup behind the gun. There was an occasional 2-3 mph wind. Since we were way down in a low spot we wouldn't be able to see when it picked up. I told him to aim at the crease of the shoulder. If the wind picked up he would take out the front shoulders. If it stayed calm then he would hit the crease and empty its lungs. Bang goes the rifle. I see the ripple of the bullet hitting the big ram. A second or so later we hear the whap of the bullet hitting the big ram. He turns around and starts going up the side of the mountain. I see blood pouring out of the crease of the shoulder and knew he wasnt going far. The modular evolution bipod was maxed out so we couldn't get another shot on it without throwing it on the tripod. We threw it on the tripod real quick and got it set up. Ram was dead on the side of the mountain laying on a rock. This is a big reason why I love the MDT Ckye Pod lightweight double pull bipod. It has enough adjustment to shoot while sitting if you want. But in the hurry to get down and in place on this ram we forgot to grab my mdt bipod. Lesson learned. Check to make sure you grab the correct kestral before your half way to the sheep and also grab the MDT bipod. Aaron took off to grab Allie so she could shoot that big old blind ram. As we were sitting around enjoying the moment we heard a single shot ring out. Sounded like it was headed towards the direction of the ram. We checked through the scope and he was still dead and hadnt moved. We figured they must of shot at a ewe or something on the mountain side. Just then we heard a shot come from the bottom where that old blind ram was at. Allie and Aaron had found it and finished it off. As the rest of the group caught up to us they said that Gionna had smoked a ewe at 1022 yds. It stayed by Darins ram after it had been shot. So she had sent a 205 gr elite hunter through its lungs with the 300 WSM I had built her husband Blake a few months ago. We got up to the two dead sheep that were only 20 yds from each other. The old ewe had pink eye and was blind. Hence why she hadn't ran off with the rest of them when Darins was shot. It was a great one to get out of the herd. Hopefully the pink eye doesn't spread throughout the rest of the herd. After some awesome pictures we made our way back down the mountain. We got back down to the trail and figured we should shoot some rocks way out there since the wind had calmed down and was staying a constant direction. After finding a rock face at 1905 yds we decided to whip out the 300 norma improved and see what she could do with the 245 lrht berger with a bc of .846. There was a orange circle on the rock that appeared to be a little over one moa. Well my dope was dead on after truing it at 890 yds and 1160 yds back home. First shot impacted about .2 mil high of where I was aiming and about .2 mil to the right. I sent two more rounds and they impacted dead nuts for elevation and .2 mil to the right. Based off measuring the group with my reticle it was about .2 mil high and roughly the same for left and right. So slightly below one moa at 1905 yds. I let JD shoot a shot and it impacted right where my shots hit. We then proceeded to whip out the 300 wsm's and 6.5 saums. They definitely needed more windage but the elevations were dead on as well. It was a great time and was starting to get dark so we headed back to camp. The next day we moved to the next ranch a few hours away. Allie ended up shooting a smoker of a fallow buck that day. Jodi had hit a branch while shooting at a axis doe at 80 yds off the tripod with the 6.5x47. She was a bit discouraged and down on herself for it but it happens. We stayed out til 2 am that night chasing pigs and stuff with thermals. Got a bunch of pigs, some rabbits, and a skunk with the thermal setup. As we were getting setup Aaron and I heard what sounded like a rattle graze a rock about 5 feet to our left. We stepped away from it and it did it again. We turned the flashlight on and this dude started to rattle his butt off. We quickly dispatched him with a rock. I have him in a jar of glycerin and alcohol right now. The next day a beautiful chocolate fallow buck stepped out at 100 yds or so and Jodi redeemed herself with a perfect shot. The buck made it 20 yds or so before toppling over. We got everything cleaned up and packed into the trucks. Said goodbye to everyone and drove straight home through the night and arrived at 6 am thursday morning. It was great to see the little man, Clayton, again. He had stayed at grandmas the whole time and was a big helper on the farm. Not sure what they would do without his help, LOL. Thank you to everyone involved. It was so great to see old friends and meet new ones. Will definitely be doing hunts with everyone in the future.
