We just got back from a 3 day Aoudad hunt in west TX, and it was nothing short of epic. [mention]JWF [/mention] met my dad & I in Sonora on our way out there. We arrived to the ranch around 2:30 Thursday afternoon, and after getting some general info from the ranch manager, we loaded up in the mule to go scout. Surprisingly to us, about 2 hours into the evening, we spotted 2 rams about 1200 yards across the first canyon we glassed. They started working in our direction, and after 20-30 minutes of discussion, it was decided that I should make a move alone. With JWF and my dad staying behind watching, I sprinted back to the north and around the ridge to the end of a finger. The sun was setting fast, and I couldn’t find them. I made another move farther to the east when I got a text from JWF to look down & to my right. I scanned to my right and kept moving east. I then looked to my left, and there he was, a giant Aoudad at less than 200 yards. He saw me at the same time I saw him. Out of breath and pumped full of adrenaline with the light fading fast, I panicked. I didn’t think I could get my pack off and my shooting sticks up without him blowing out of there, so I shouldered my .300WM and tried to time my breaths. Rookie mistake, I missed. I let “ram fever” get the best of me. We were heart broken, and couldn’t believe we got such a perfect opportunity in the first few hours of our trip. We hunted Friday morning and evening in the same general area, working from the far south end of the ranch to the north, with the wind in our face. We saw sheep every hunt, and they all seemed to be moving generally to the east, towards the Pecos. Fast forward to yesterday morning, and we found ourselves in new territory. The heck with the wind, we were going all in on the last day. We drive the mule down the river for about 1/2-3/4 of a mile, trying to find a way to climb up in the the bottom of one of 2 drainages. I picked a spot and started scaling up the bluff, while my dad and JWF debated at the bottom. After some discussion, we decided that dad should go look for deer and leave us to start climbing. After a pretty sketchy climb, we crested the ridge and started glassing to the north. About an hour into our hunt, JWF spotted 2 rams at about 600 yards. They were working from the middle of the valley down towards the bottom, from our right to left. I never got my eyes on them before they disappeared towards the bottom. We made a move to the west about 100 yards to close the distance, got set up and couldn’t find them. We heard something that sounded like rocks crumbling down below us off of the bluff. I told JWF, “It would suck if they popped up right in front of us”. The bluff dropped off about 10-12 yards in front of us, and we couldn’t see directly below us at all. 30 seconds after I said that, the first ram popped up on top of the rocks, at 10 yards. We froze. He knew something wasn’t right, but didn’t see us and continued walking up the ridge to our right. Then the 2nd one popped up in the same spot. He froze, we froze, and the stare down began. After what felt like 5 minutes, but was probably only 30 seconds, he raised his tail and started moving off. I turned my head to follow him, trying to figure out how to get my binos down and my shooting stick up, and JWF went for his gun. The 2nd ram bolted for a bit the. Stopped quartering away. I heard John say “shoot him!” and I settled the crosshairs on his shoulder and let her rip. He dropped like a sack of potatoes. The first ram took off towards the top of the ridge and I told John “shoot him!”, and he touched off the .308. He hit his ram on the run, and he hunched up and froze. He putting another one in him to put him down, and we lost our minds. 2 rookies on a DIY hunt that had no idea what they were doing, just doubled up on west Texas Aoudad. We couldn’t believe it. We were fully prepared to go home empty handed, as this was our first try at a DIY hunt like this. The emotion was unreal. I yelled like a school kid, we high five’d, hugged, and thanked the Lord. After about an hour long photo session and celebration, we got to work skinning our rams. It was the best hunt we’ve ever had, by far. We didn’t deserve these rams, but we definitely earned them. We probably hiked 25 miles between Thursday evening and noon on Saturday. My only regret is that my dad wasn’t able to make the treacherous climb with us to be a part of the hunt with us. I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity and the experience that I’ll never forget. If we get to do this again, it will be with our bows. We didn’t think we’d have a chance with our bows on our first Aoudad hunt, and the dang things stepped out at ten yards. Absolutely unbelievable trip. I foresee many more hunting adventures with JWF in our future.
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