Free Range Barbary/Aoudad Sheep

[Brentc]

I found this old warrior while on an evening hike in the hills last week. I've looked over several rams in this area and helped some friends take several mid to upper 20" rams over the the last few months before this ram convinced me he was the best in the area. One shot in the boiler room from 120 yards sent him to ground. I apologize for not having pictures that do him justice.

 

[Brentc]

This is a 26" ram my daughter took in the same area.

 

[chuckchili]

Beautiful animals. Congratulations!

 

[prhunter]

Very cool! TFS

 

[brownbear932008]

Those are on my to do list. Hopefully soon! Beautiful sheep

 

[fulldraw]

Congrats on a couple nice rams !

 

[bobbydean]

Hard hunt. Hard to find. Any ram is a trophy and I hope your daughter knows how special her ram is.

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Very nice rams

 

[Brentc]

Hard hunt. Hard to find. Any ram is a trophy and I hope your daughter knows how special her ram is.

She was absolutely solid on that hunt. She wasn't phased at all with all of the climbing, and she made an awesome shot to put him down. You couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

 

[fishing4sanity]

One of the harder and more memorable hunts I've had, I look back on it often. Those are both great looking critters!

 

[Redside]

That's pretty cool! How long was your ram?

I don't know anything about length/scoring on these, what's a 26" ram comparable to say a deer or elk?

 

[Brentc]

That's pretty cool! How long was your ram?

I don't know anything about length/scoring on these, what's a 26" ram comparable to say a deer or elk?

My ram is 29"

30" is usually considered the gold standard for a big ram. Relating to score, I consider a public land free ranging 28-30" ram to be equivalent to a B&C Awards category buck or bull. A lot of old rams, like mine, end up in this category because they wear their tips off before they make the final curl.

An old free range 31"+ ram on public land would be equivalent to an All Time B&C award. These are like unicorns on public land, but they are out there.

A 26" ram would be equivalent to a 160" mule deer. Not giant, but a lot of guys would be more than thrilled to have an opportunity at this size of ram due to the effort required.

Opinions may vary.

 

[Brentc]

One of the harder and more memorable hunts I've had, I look back on it often. Those are both great looking critters!

I saw your thread. The Huntin' Fool article is pretty dang cool.

NM Barbary sheep hunt

I greatly appreciate Randy's efforts in providing this forum and its focus on DIY hunting, so in the interest of full-disclosure I confess my most recent hunt was guided, if that's a cardinal sin hit your back-button now. In the end, this turned out to be a very challenging and rewarding hunt...

www.hunttalk.com

 

[LoveBirdDogs]

Would love to hunt Barbary ram. They are such a great looking animal. They are considered non native correct? Does taxes sell a tag for them or do you have to hunt private ranch hunt?

 

[Brentc]

Would love to hunt Barbary ram. They are such a great looking animal. They are considered non native correct? Does taxes sell a tag for them or do you have to hunt private ranch hunt?

They are non-native, or exotic. Generally speaking, there are no tags required to hunt exotics in Texas, only a hunting license, but expect to pay for land access to hunt them. There are some draw hunts that you can get to hunt exotics in the parks. Otherwise, there is very little public land in Texas and finding public property containing Auodad is extremely difficult.

In New Mexico there are OTC tags with long seasons, but there is a lot of competition. You can apply for the draw in NM with OK odds and a good chance of killing a nice ram on public land. There are private land options in NM too.

The easy button to kill a big Auodad when you want is to pay the money and hunt on private land. Expect to pay ~$3500 in TX.

 

[LoveBirdDogs]

They are non-native, or exotic. Generally speaking, there are no tags required to hunt exotics in Texas, only a hunting license, but expect to pay for land access to hunt them. There are some draw hunts that you can get to hunt exotics in the parks. Otherwise, there is very little public land in Texas and finding public property containing Auodad is extremely difficult.

In New Mexico there are OTC tags with long seasons, but there is a lot of competition. You can apply for the draw in NM with OK odds and a good chance of killing a nice ram on public land. There are private land options in NM too.

The easy button to kill a big Auodad when you want is to pay the money and hunt on private land. Expect to pay ~$3500 in TX.

Thank you for the info. I will do some more work and see what I can do.

 

[sigpros]

Cool animals. I watched one on a hog hunt in Texas one time. Would of been an easy shot just couldn't afford it. But neat animals for sure

 

[duckhunt]

Awsome stuff. That hunt is definitely on my list.