Aoudad Hunt in New Mexico: Chasing 30 Horns and Taking Down a Ewe

Finally, the guys were able to visually walk me in to a 28” ram that they were able to pick apart in the binos. They described what he ram was doing and I confirmed that the sheep in my scope was standing/facing/head turned l/etc the exact same way. I settled the scope on the sheep, calmed my nerves and squeezed the trigger... I don’t remember the blast or the rifle jumping. In the split second after I took the shot, all I remember is the dead silence from the guys as I went to rack another round. Expecting to hear “high” or “to the right”, the silence made me start to wonder how badly I’d missed my shot. Suddenly, I hear one of them blurt... “Or that one will do!” and then “Holy s**t! That’s one dead sheep!”
...
Suffice to say that, the sheep I had in my scope and the 28” ram were about one bino width apart and just happened to be behaving exactly the same... and my one shot had dropped it dead in its tracks. It can be a bit hard to judge Aoudad because both rams and ewes can have horns. Fortunately, my tag was good for either, so we packed up and prepped for a rough hike down and back up to my sheep.
...
After about an hour and a half of hiking, we got to the spot and the guys held back and gave me a moment to walk up to my sheep. I climbed up to it and, while the 28” ram I had pictured in my head wasn’t laying in front of me, I stood there in disbelief... overjoyed with the incredible Aoudad ewe that I was fortunate enough to harvest. Then the real work began. We grabbed photos, quartered out my ewe, then loaded up. A front and rear quarter went into my pack along with the cape and we headed back down the face for the long pack out.
...
While, it wasn’t the big ram that I had gotten my hopes up for, I still count myself beyond fortunate to have harvested this incredible and absolutely fascinating animal and am happy beyond measure. I can’t say thank you enough to @bassjerk for linking me up with these guys and to Otis, @john.pins

Finally, the guys were able to visually walk me in to a 28” ram that they were able to pick apart in the binos. They described what he ram was doing and I confirmed that the sheep in my scope was standing/facing/head turned l/etc the exact same way. I settled the scope on the sheep, calmed my nerves and squeezed the trigger... I don’t remember the blast or the rifle jumping. In the split second after I took the shot, all I remember is the dead silence from the guys as I went to rack another round. Expecting to hear “high” or “to the right”, the silence made me start to wonder how badly I’d missed my shot. Suddenly, I hear one of them blurt... “Or that one will do!” and then “Holy s**t! That’s one dead sheep!”

Suffice to say that, the sheep I had in my scope and the 28” ram were about one bino width apart and just happened to be behaving exactly the same... and my one shot had dropped it dead in its tracks. It can be a bit hard to judge Aoudad because both rams and ewes can have horns. Fortunately, my tag was good for either, so we packed up and prepped for a rough hike down and back up to my sheep.

After about an hour and a half of hiking, we got to the spot and the guys held back and gave me a moment to walk up to my sheep. I climbed up to it and, while the 28” ram I had pictured in my head wasn’t laying in front of me, I stood there in disbelief... overjoyed with the incredible Aoudad ewe that I was fortunate enough to harvest. Then the real work began. We grabbed photos, quartered out my ewe, then loaded up. A front and rear quarter went into my pack along with the cape and we headed back down the face for the long pack out.

While, it wasn’t the big ram that I had gotten my hopes up for, I still count myself beyond fortunate to have harvested this incredible and absolutely fascinating animal and am happy beyond measure. I can’t say thank you enough to Joshfor linking me up with these guys and to Otis, John and Clint for an incredible hunt. I thought this was going to be a one and done deal... but you can be damn sure I’ll be putting in ever year again moving forward.

Shoot man, I'd take that experience any day! Congratulations! Are they a native sheep?

@Adam They’re a non-native species... an exotic. But, in New Mexico, it’s a draw tag for the best opportunity.

Congratulations! What an awesome experience, me and my brother in-law were just talking about looking in to doing an Aoudad hunt in the future.

Congrats brother! That’s awesome

@Chance Do it! Definitely an amazing hunt!

@Brad 👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻

Fantastic man, even a benny hill reference 😂 I take it that’s from your time in Ireland haha

@David Haha! Doesn’t everyone know Benny Hill?! And, honestly, Father Ted was more my speed when I was in Ireland. ;)

@Samuel Ayres (Living Country in the City) haha yea mines too man. Benny hill was about wen I was a kid in the 80’s dude. I don’t think u were even breathing then 😂. It’s great you know who he is though, dudes a legend haha

@David Ha! I’m older than I look buddy boy.

@Samuel Ayres (Living Country in the City) all that sunshine living has been kind man 😜😂

@Samuel Ayres (Living Country in the City) there's so many animals I didn't even know existed in the Southwest I wasn't sure. Can't wait to hear what the meat taste like.👊

@Adam I’ve heard mixed reviews, but I’m sure @From will have the perfect recipe for me to try.

@Samuel Ayres (Living Country in the City) I cooked up three incredible dishes last weekend with mine

@From Looking forward to checking out the recipes!

This is a kickass post, btw. 👊🏼

Congratulations