Went to a friend’s ranch in Leakey to help him get some deer ready for AI! He is trying his luck at breeding WT deer, and has been at it for about 3 years and starting to see decent results.
The cool thing about this trip was we worked hard and I got to hunt each morning and evening on the open or free range section of his ranch! He said some Aoudad had been coming down a mountain and there were a few goods ones I should try and take. He said they were tearing up the protein. Said I could shoot anything I wanted to. My bud doesn’t hunt anymore.
I hunted out of a pop-up that I put up 20 yards from the protein feeder and 40 yards from a corn feeder.
Thursday evening-whitetail does and small bucks come in to corn feeder, with about 15 minutes of shooting light left a shooter buck comes in, 10-12 pointer, 16”-18” wide high horned-maybe 140ish, hangs out @ corn feeder, out of my range, no Aoudad, nothing goes to protein feeder.
Friday morning-few small whitetail nothing to Protein feeder-No Aoudad.
Friday mid-morning we begin darting buck in pens, vaccinating them and cutting off horns. I have never done this before, quite the experience!
Friday evening-few whitetail @ corn feeder-No Aoudad.
Saturday morning-hunted for a hour saw two WT does at corn-No Aoudad.
Saturday mid-morning till mid-afternoon darting does, vaccinating and taking them to the vet on location to get them ready for AI in early Nov. Completely wore out, went into town and when we got back I went and moved the pop-up closer to the corn feeder (25’), brushed it in as best I could and returned to the house for a power nap.
Saturday evening-setting in the new set up with a n east wind blowing in my face, perfect spot, feeder is west of me. With about 10 minutes of shooting time left a nice hill country 8 pointer comes in to corn along with a few other smaller bucks. Still No Aoudad so I am thinking I will go ahead and take the eight. Right when he turned broadside to me, I thought an avalanche was happening, about 6 to 8 Aoudad came storming down the mountain into the corn feeder and scared all the WT away. I am at 25 yards, and this is the first time I have ever seen an Aoudad in the wild and there they are, what a majestic animal. Once I got control of myself, I was able to pick my glasses up and started scanning the group for a target. Well I sure enough found one--------not sure how big his horns were (30”+ my best guess) but he looked like he weighed about 300 to 350 pounds, it was awesome, they didn’t have a clue I was there-sweet. Anyway, the Aoudad I was going to take was facing me so I didn’t have a shot, it was getting dark fast, a few seconds or minutes later he turned broadside and I decided to take a shot. Problem one-I was fricking shaking so bad I couldn’t hook my release to my string, it was ridiculous but it is what it is. Well anyway I finally got hooked up, pulled back and set up to shoot, I was back under control now and ready to fling that arrow, problem two, it was so dark I could not see my pins, I have shot at targets before at night and did pretty well, so I decided to take the shot. I aimed right behind the shoulder and flung the arrow his way, all heck broke loose from the shot and I saw sparks fly, conclusion- I shot a few inches over and completely missed. While I was disappointed, I was thrilled just the same, phew what an awesome experience. I went look for my arrow or any blood (wishful thinking), found nothing went back to house. Life is good! My bud said the Aoudad would probably be back in the morning, sounded good to me.
Sunday morning-Last hunt. Feeder goes off @ 7 am about 10 or 15 minutes after that, in walks the WT from the first night-very nice buck. I watch him chowing down on corn and he has settled down and is comfortable, he is finally broadside, it is still fairly dark, same wind direction. I draw back can’t see my pins, I let off and wait a few minutes draw back again still can’t see my pins and let off. Wait a few more minutes and he is still unaware I am there, right about then he looks up to the mountain and I am getting ready to try again when he turns and walks off…………daggummit, I am thinking he’ll be back. After a minute or two I look up towards the mountain and I see a single Aoudad looking directly at me, now I am not sure if he has seen me or not and he just kept staring-not moving. I figured he was at 30 yards. So after a minute or two of us both staring, I slowly eased by bow up and drew, put my pin on his shoulder (WOW I could see my pin) and let the arrow fly, that sucker hit him dead on, he jumped and staggered back from where he had been standing. I was fairly sure I had a good shot but decided to wait before I went looking. About 10 minutes after the shot 2 small bucks came back under the feeder as if nothing had happened, they got a pass. I waited about 45 to 50 minutes and then went looking. I didn’t have to go far, he was about 50 or so yards from where I had shot him, at the bottom of a dry creek. I thanked the Good Lord for a wonderful and heart thumping experience.
He was not the big one from the night before and it is possible that the rest of them would have come to the feeder, big one included, but I wasn’t taking any chances. LH 21.5” 11.25” circumference, RH 22” 11.50” circumference. I am not sure how you score these but he was 20” wide from tip to tip. I took it to my Taxi this am and I am going to get a Euro mount done. I’ll post that up when I get it back.
Long read I know but thanks for tagging along. Phone picture. My bud has better pictures and he will send to me later.
Montec 100 grain Broadhead
The cool thing about this trip was we worked hard and I got to hunt each morning and evening on the open or free range section of his ranch! He said some Aoudad had been coming down a mountain and there were a few goods ones I should try and take. He said they were tearing up the protein. Said I could shoot anything I wanted to. My bud doesn’t hunt anymore.
I hunted out of a pop-up that I put up 20 yards from the protein feeder and 40 yards from a corn feeder.
Thursday evening-whitetail does and small bucks come in to corn feeder, with about 15 minutes of shooting light left a shooter buck comes in, 10-12 pointer, 16”-18” wide high horned-maybe 140ish, hangs out @ corn feeder, out of my range, no Aoudad, nothing goes to protein feeder.
Friday morning-few small whitetail nothing to Protein feeder-No Aoudad.
Friday mid-morning we begin darting buck in pens, vaccinating them and cutting off horns. I have never done this before, quite the experience!
Friday evening-few whitetail @ corn feeder-No Aoudad.
Saturday morning-hunted for a hour saw two WT does at corn-No Aoudad.
Saturday mid-morning till mid-afternoon darting does, vaccinating and taking them to the vet on location to get them ready for AI in early Nov. Completely wore out, went into town and when we got back I went and moved the pop-up closer to the corn feeder (25’), brushed it in as best I could and returned to the house for a power nap.
Saturday evening-setting in the new set up with a n east wind blowing in my face, perfect spot, feeder is west of me. With about 10 minutes of shooting time left a nice hill country 8 pointer comes in to corn along with a few other smaller bucks. Still No Aoudad so I am thinking I will go ahead and take the eight. Right when he turned broadside to me, I thought an avalanche was happening, about 6 to 8 Aoudad came storming down the mountain into the corn feeder and scared all the WT away. I am at 25 yards, and this is the first time I have ever seen an Aoudad in the wild and there they are, what a majestic animal. Once I got control of myself, I was able to pick my glasses up and started scanning the group for a target. Well I sure enough found one--------not sure how big his horns were (30”+ my best guess) but he looked like he weighed about 300 to 350 pounds, it was awesome, they didn’t have a clue I was there-sweet. Anyway, the Aoudad I was going to take was facing me so I didn’t have a shot, it was getting dark fast, a few seconds or minutes later he turned broadside and I decided to take a shot. Problem one-I was fricking shaking so bad I couldn’t hook my release to my string, it was ridiculous but it is what it is. Well anyway I finally got hooked up, pulled back and set up to shoot, I was back under control now and ready to fling that arrow, problem two, it was so dark I could not see my pins, I have shot at targets before at night and did pretty well, so I decided to take the shot. I aimed right behind the shoulder and flung the arrow his way, all heck broke loose from the shot and I saw sparks fly, conclusion- I shot a few inches over and completely missed. While I was disappointed, I was thrilled just the same, phew what an awesome experience. I went look for my arrow or any blood (wishful thinking), found nothing went back to house. Life is good! My bud said the Aoudad would probably be back in the morning, sounded good to me.
Sunday morning-Last hunt. Feeder goes off @ 7 am about 10 or 15 minutes after that, in walks the WT from the first night-very nice buck. I watch him chowing down on corn and he has settled down and is comfortable, he is finally broadside, it is still fairly dark, same wind direction. I draw back can’t see my pins, I let off and wait a few minutes draw back again still can’t see my pins and let off. Wait a few more minutes and he is still unaware I am there, right about then he looks up to the mountain and I am getting ready to try again when he turns and walks off…………daggummit, I am thinking he’ll be back. After a minute or two I look up towards the mountain and I see a single Aoudad looking directly at me, now I am not sure if he has seen me or not and he just kept staring-not moving. I figured he was at 30 yards. So after a minute or two of us both staring, I slowly eased by bow up and drew, put my pin on his shoulder (WOW I could see my pin) and let the arrow fly, that sucker hit him dead on, he jumped and staggered back from where he had been standing. I was fairly sure I had a good shot but decided to wait before I went looking. About 10 minutes after the shot 2 small bucks came back under the feeder as if nothing had happened, they got a pass. I waited about 45 to 50 minutes and then went looking. I didn’t have to go far, he was about 50 or so yards from where I had shot him, at the bottom of a dry creek. I thanked the Good Lord for a wonderful and heart thumping experience.
He was not the big one from the night before and it is possible that the rest of them would have come to the feeder, big one included, but I wasn’t taking any chances. LH 21.5” 11.25” circumference, RH 22” 11.50” circumference. I am not sure how you score these but he was 20” wide from tip to tip. I took it to my Taxi this am and I am going to get a Euro mount done. I’ll post that up when I get it back.
Long read I know but thanks for tagging along. Phone picture. My bud has better pictures and he will send to me later.
Montec 100 grain Broadhead
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