SC Living Outdoors
Well-known member
Before going to New Mexico to hunt elk I went out to far South West Texas on the Rio Grande river to hunt Aoudad. This hunt was not planned at all, but about a month before I was set to head out I saw a post on a Facebook page that I follow. A DIY hunter had canceled and there was a opening available. This hunt was only for one person on a remote property in West Texas. The 5 day hunt had to fall in an 8 day window. That window just happened to fall in the date range when I would be driving across Texas and I would be solo. To top it all off this property is usually booked two years in advance and since it was a last-minute opening the hunt was severely discounted. It was the perfect storm. This would be my third diy try for Aoudad. Once for 5 days days on a small property in Texas and once for 8 days otc in New Mexico. I was unsuccessful on both attempts.
I headed out Friday around lunchtime after completing a class for work and I made it to Texas Saturday night after dark. While this was not a public land hunt it sure felt like it. I was in the middle of nowhere. Country was pretty rough. There were no people around. It definitely had the DIY feel. Sunday morning I was up before the sun working my way up a ridge. Every time I get to a good glassing point I would stop and glass for 15 minutes or so as the sun came up. My main goal was to make it up on top of the main ridge where I could see a lot of country. Eventually I made it up on top of that location where I sat and began to glass. I was planning on staying out a all day to see if I could turn something up. Around 10 o’clock I spotted a really big lone ram cruising down low close to the location I had come from. I gathered my stuff and took off down towards him. By the time I got within 700 yards or so he had disappeared. I sat and glassed and glassed, but I could not turn him up. I decided to just stay in that spot and glass in hopes that that ram would show up or another one would come through that area. The aoudad rams rut in October so I guess this guy was just cruising and I was hoping another would come through.
About 12:15 I heard some rocks fall on the hill behind me. I turned and looked but I did not see anything. About 10 minutes later and I heard some more. This required closer examination so I got up and snuck over to the canyon adjacent to me and began to glass. I spotted a small ram, ewe and lamb were standing on the top of the ridge about 415 yards away. I was thinking about shooting this ram, but it wasn’t very big and a few minutes later they went over the top of the ridge out of sight. I decided I would sneak up a little bit and glass the canyon then move around to the backside of the canyon where the sheep I just saw went. The canyon wall adjacent to me was fairly steep and had a lot of rocky shelves that created little areas of shade on the side of the canyon. As I began to glass I started picking out that sheep in all of these little shelves. I counted a dozen or so with two good Rams. One at 270 yards and 303yds. Because of my location I was not able to lay down to shoot so I just set my rifle on top of the tripod and studied the two bedded rams. The two were similar in size, but as I studied them one of them had a better shape in my opinion. He swept out and back farther so he became my target. Around 1 PM after 20 minutes or so of watching they began to move a little and my ram finally stood. I hit him hard and he stumbled and fell immediately sliding to a stop 20 yards below and dead within seconds. I finally had my diy ram. I don’t have any problem with guided hunts, but if it’s possible for me to do a hunt DIY that’s how I want to do it. It was a great hunt and because I was able to get it done fairly quickly I was able to head up to New Mexico and get some scouting in before my elk hunt which ended up being really beneficial in the end.
I headed out Friday around lunchtime after completing a class for work and I made it to Texas Saturday night after dark. While this was not a public land hunt it sure felt like it. I was in the middle of nowhere. Country was pretty rough. There were no people around. It definitely had the DIY feel. Sunday morning I was up before the sun working my way up a ridge. Every time I get to a good glassing point I would stop and glass for 15 minutes or so as the sun came up. My main goal was to make it up on top of the main ridge where I could see a lot of country. Eventually I made it up on top of that location where I sat and began to glass. I was planning on staying out a all day to see if I could turn something up. Around 10 o’clock I spotted a really big lone ram cruising down low close to the location I had come from. I gathered my stuff and took off down towards him. By the time I got within 700 yards or so he had disappeared. I sat and glassed and glassed, but I could not turn him up. I decided to just stay in that spot and glass in hopes that that ram would show up or another one would come through that area. The aoudad rams rut in October so I guess this guy was just cruising and I was hoping another would come through.
About 12:15 I heard some rocks fall on the hill behind me. I turned and looked but I did not see anything. About 10 minutes later and I heard some more. This required closer examination so I got up and snuck over to the canyon adjacent to me and began to glass. I spotted a small ram, ewe and lamb were standing on the top of the ridge about 415 yards away. I was thinking about shooting this ram, but it wasn’t very big and a few minutes later they went over the top of the ridge out of sight. I decided I would sneak up a little bit and glass the canyon then move around to the backside of the canyon where the sheep I just saw went. The canyon wall adjacent to me was fairly steep and had a lot of rocky shelves that created little areas of shade on the side of the canyon. As I began to glass I started picking out that sheep in all of these little shelves. I counted a dozen or so with two good Rams. One at 270 yards and 303yds. Because of my location I was not able to lay down to shoot so I just set my rifle on top of the tripod and studied the two bedded rams. The two were similar in size, but as I studied them one of them had a better shape in my opinion. He swept out and back farther so he became my target. Around 1 PM after 20 minutes or so of watching they began to move a little and my ram finally stood. I hit him hard and he stumbled and fell immediately sliding to a stop 20 yards below and dead within seconds. I finally had my diy ram. I don’t have any problem with guided hunts, but if it’s possible for me to do a hunt DIY that’s how I want to do it. It was a great hunt and because I was able to get it done fairly quickly I was able to head up to New Mexico and get some scouting in before my elk hunt which ended up being really beneficial in the end.
