Aoudad Hunt May 26, 2008
ByOn May 24, 2008 my good friend Austin Roberts came to the Windmill Game Ranch with his two friends Brad Spicer from Lubbock & Randal Patton from Dallas. Brad had his mind set on a very large Aoudad Ram he had seen pictured on the website back in 2007. Randal was considering a Mouflon Ram but wasn’t positive if that was what he wanted.
The first evening Jerry Beaird (the owner & guide) was showing the guys around the ranch & drove down in a deep canyon & right in their path was Big Daddy (a nickname given to a gold medal Aoudad Ram). With a little encouragement from Jerry, Brad decided to make a stalk & try to get a clean shot with his bow right before dark. After circling around the big Ram to keep his scent downwind, Brad & Austin were able to get within 30 yards of this magnificent Aoudad Ram. Brad was set on making a clean shot but never quite had that opportunity, so after he watched this monster of an Aoudad for about 15 minutes he decided to wait until another day to make sure his shot fell perfect because it would be a shame to only wound such a magnificent specimen.
After taking a tour of the ranch both Brad & Randal were getting anxious for the morning hunt. Sunday morning all the exotics as well as the Whitetail deer were out moving & feeding. Several large Red Stagg Bulls were seen in the early stages of their velvet. One large male Barasinga was also out & his antlers were almost completely developed, but in the velvet as well. Randal had an opportunity to get his Mouflon Ram but he decided to wait because Jerry kept telling him about this enormous Axis Buck. We all saw a beautiful herd of Scimitar Oryx, one large female in particular had horns past the middle of her back that had rubbed black streaks on both sides. A small herd of Black Buck were also seen, but only for an instance as they sprung into the brush & out of site. Amazing us as too how quickly a herd of Black Buck can actually move. By around 11:00 am it was getting very hot & all the animals had disappeared into the brush to find a shady cooler spot to wait out the heat of the day, we decided to do the same & headed back to the cabin.
Sunday evening around 6pm the animals were on the move again. Not far from the cabin we drove up on a herd of around 30 Aoudad & 20 Mouflon. After stalking within about 75 yards of the herd we determined the gold medal ram “Big Daddy” was not with this herd. Austin & Randall continued to observe the herd & wait if any larger rams came out. Brad decided to go back to the spot he had seen the big ram the night before & sit in a tree stand with his bow. Well that was the right decision because around 7pm Big Daddy appeared. All Brad had to do was wait for a clean shot because a couple of female Aoudad were beside the big ram & in Brad’s line of fire.
Meanwhile Austin noticed a larger Aoudad Ram had joined the herd, he was watching. He decided to see if he could move in for a shot. The herd had drifted away & without a lot of cover in the area Austin had to resort to kneeling & crawling to get closer. But his efforts were rewarded because after stalking for a few minutes Austin was able to maneuver in behind a large boulder & wait for his shot (see video clip under photo gallery). Getting a shot was not the problem but with so many animals in the group, he needed to wait for a clean shot. Finally Austin had a brief window of opportunity & his shot landed perfect & the Aoudad ram stumbled a few feet & fell motionless from the slug of Austin’s 25-06 (see Austin’s reaction under photo gallery). It took every muscle that Austin, Jerry & Randall could muster to load that large Aoudad Ram into Jerry’s truck. The ram must have weighed well over 300 lbs. & his horns measured just over 28″.
As for Brad his patience was unbelievable. He decided once again to hold off his shot because there was no way he was going to take a chance on only wounding Big Daddy. The rough hilly country with large canyons & thick brush makes it very difficult to track & find a wounded animal & using a bow only adds to the likelihood of this.
Back at camp we all participated in gutting & skinning Austins Aoudad & placed him in the freezer. The next morning Austin & Randal loaded up their frozen mount & cape & headed to the taxidermist.
Brad stayed & decided to use his rifle on his final day. On Monday morning no large rams were sited, but late Monday evening a large ram chasing a female Aoudad in heat appeared & Brad’s shot with his 300 mag dropped the ram in his steps. Once again Big Daddy escaped, but both Austin & Brad succeeded in harvesting very large Aoudad Ram’s that will make excellent trophys in their trophy room at home.
