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School me on Aoudad Hunting #7831242 05/06/20 02:51 PM
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Recently got on a new lease that has Aoudad's on it. In fact saw a group under a feeder this past weekend. Talking to the prior lease group they appear randomly throughout the year. What is everyone's experience hunting them? Do you hunt them? I know they are game on year round due to their exotic status but is their a better time of year to hunt them?

Finally I have seen some folks say they are good to ok eating and others say not so much? Do you target the bucks or both sexes? Any insight is appreciated.

Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7831292 05/06/20 03:33 PM
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Don’t know where your lease is at but these are my thoughts on aoudad having hunted them in several areas of the state:

Two kinds of aoudad hunting goes on, the put up a feeder and shoot them and then the more adventurous way of spot and stalk. They do well in the hill country but they will live in near inaccessible terrain so majority of sheep shot in central Texas are over a feeder when hunting for deer as a target of opportunity.

In the western and northern areas of the state that have sparser cover make it easier to slip up on them after spotting them at distance. Spot and stalk aoudad hunting is one of my top 3 favorite types of hunting. Very challenging animal to hunt.

In my experience they don’t make good table fare. There are some who use them to make sausage and say it’s ok and others who will use 4 lbs of spices to season a 2lb roast and after 2 weeks in a crockpot say it’s tough but has good flavor.

Both sexes have horns but the males are much bigger in both body size and horn mass. A really good male can be 12-14 years old. Shoot the ewes to control population and leave the immature rams to grow up. Tough animals they can take a beating. This is one animal you don’t want to shoot with a light caliber deer rifle, I would saw use a .270 and larger. Normally most are shot during deer season but October- February are good times

Great game animal one of my favorites



For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7831419 05/06/20 05:10 PM
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Thanks TxTrophy! That was the info i was looking for. The lease is out close to Breckenridge.

Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7831764 05/06/20 09:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Old Smuggler
Thanks TxTrophy! That was the info i was looking for. The lease is out close to Breckenridge.

Whereabouts near Breck? Not normal habitat for them, but I did sight one on our low fenced ranch this past year. Think he escaped from the Cedar Mountain ranch that borders our place.


Freedom is a fragile thing ...Those who have known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again.
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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7831812 05/06/20 10:39 PM
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More and more sightings in that area and farther west. Not really a lot, but 1 here and there makes me wonder who lost them.


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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: dogcatcher] #7831825 05/06/20 10:47 PM
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Im surprised to learn there are Aoudad outa Breckenridge. I would assume they are isolated incidents....? By the way, whatever happened to that 3 part thread about exotics in Texas. I don't think part 3 ever came out did it?


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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: dogcatcher] #7831844 05/06/20 11:05 PM
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Originally Posted by dogcatcher
More and more sightings in that area and farther west. Not really a lot, but 1 here and there makes me wonder who lost them.



May not have lost them! They've been migrating south since they were introduced in Palo Duro Canyon back in the early 50's. That's where our bunch came from, they've followed the Cap Rock south. They introduced them down in Big Bend about the same time and they've steadily been migrating east.


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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7831861 05/06/20 11:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Old Smuggler
Recently got on a new lease that has Aoudad's on it. In fact saw a group under a feeder this past weekend. Talking to the prior lease group they appear randomly throughout the year. What is everyone's experience hunting them? Do you hunt them? I know they are game on year round due to their exotic status but is their a better time of year to hunt them?

Finally I have seen some folks say they are good to ok eating and others say not so much? Do you target the bucks or both sexes? Any insight is appreciated.



I shot a ewe on a draw hunt with TPWD , and she was great eating!

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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7831994 05/07/20 01:09 AM
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like eating a leather boot...

Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7832029 05/07/20 01:42 AM
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Before I hunted Aoudad I was told they are trash meat, even the the young and female.
I was told to throw the meat in the trash or leave it to the buzzards.
I have always been one to try things for myself, instead of going by what other people say.
I made a quick clean kill on a mature ewe.
I gutted her quickly and got her cooled down fast.
I got her processed into breakfast sausage,ground meat,tenderized hindquarter steaks,and whole tenderloin and backstrap. It all has been delicious eating. I have been very please with the meat.
The whole family enjoys it.

Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7832093 05/07/20 02:57 AM
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I wonder what the taste difference is between a ewe and a post rut mature male?


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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7832188 05/07/20 06:20 AM
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My buddies place is SE of Breck and he has got some ewes on cam but that is it ever in 16 years there. He has mountains all around and on his place. Is this NE of Breck?

Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Halfadozen] #7832233 05/07/20 11:15 AM
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Originally Posted by Halfadozen
Originally Posted by Old Smuggler
Thanks TxTrophy! That was the info i was looking for. The lease is out close to Breckenridge.

Whereabouts near Breck? Not normal habitat for them, but I did sight one on our low fenced ranch this past year. Think he escaped from the Cedar Mountain ranch that borders our place.



They are all over PK which isn’t far.

Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7832409 05/07/20 02:16 PM
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My lease is east of Breckenridge about 20 miles so closer to PK..

Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7832426 05/07/20 02:30 PM
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i've only ever shot two aoudad in my life. i shot both in the same day, they just showed up at my deer feeder in the hill country. The first one i shot was a young animal, i don't recall if it was a ewe or not, but definitely a young animal, the second showed up later and was a much larger, i would guess mature ram, weighed about 250lbs, smelled extremely strong, had about 30in horns if memory serves. we eat everything we kill so we skinned them, the large ram just smelled awful, even after he was skinned, a very heavy musky smell. the younger didn't smell nearly as bad but we didn't find either of them to very good table fare. sheep meat/mouton isn't for everyone though just like duck isn't for everyone. its a different flavor. i shot them both with a .270, did just fine.

they were fun surprise that time, but i wouldn't butcher another one, so i probably wouldn't shoot anymore of them either.


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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7832613 05/07/20 04:40 PM
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I used to have the luxury of culling aoudad on a few ranches where the ranchers just hated the darn things, and got to kill all well could kill. I bet I wound up killing over a 100 of them over 10 years. My hat's off to mbavo, as I've never found a way to cook them that was edible. In fact, I'd call it the worst tasting animals I've ever attempted. They're a blast to hunt though that's for sure.

Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7833005 05/07/20 11:17 PM
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I hunt 1600 acres in Llano. There's a heard of I'm guessing 15-20 that roams the area. We catch them on camera at feeders all over the property about a half dozen nights a year. No one has ever seen one in person out there.


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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7833114 05/08/20 01:07 AM
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This ram was killed by the young man using a .223 AR. 22" Horns (26" are considered to be trophy animals). We estimate 6 year old. If you are into shoe leather tough meat, have at it. Since it was first kill, Dad will pay for a shoulder mount..

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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7834929 05/10/20 03:03 AM
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I saw one at a feeder in January but none since. I'm SW of Breckenridge. If I see any again they get a pass, except maybe a big ram. Kinda would like having some around.


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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7839162 05/14/20 12:05 PM
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I have a lot of aoudad at my place in montell, they come and go at no particular time. They love salt blocks and protein, and lots of both. The meat smells a little different when it’s raw, once cooked it’s very good. They also destroy protein feeders, so you need super steel ones....lol

Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7839374 05/14/20 03:54 PM
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We have aoudad that occasionally come through but not with any regularity. I wish I could figure out how to get them to be a little more predictable.

Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7839420 05/14/20 04:27 PM
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That is what we heard from the outgoing lease members. They are totally unpredictable and would come and go without any semblance of a schedule.

Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7843579 05/18/20 06:19 PM
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Maybe this is the Venezuelan in me (proud naturalized American, 26 years here), but I've had Aoudad many times and enjoy it like any other game meat. Admittedly, all have been from young animals, with the ewes being the best. I've never had meat from a big old trophy male but I suspect it's like any other species, younger animals are usually better and females generally produce better meat than males.

At my friend's ranch near Junction you see Aoudad show up on camera frequently but it's tough to spot them in person. I used to tease him that the camera pics were from someone else until one day we had a whole herd come into a protein feeder and start beating it up with their horns. Then I became a believer.


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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7845284 05/20/20 05:50 AM
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I’m starting to wonder about the damage all these exotics might be doing to the native wildlife. So my advice for audad hunting? If it’s brown it’s down.


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Re: School me on Aoudad Hunting [Re: Old Smuggler] #7848129 05/22/20 11:04 PM
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A member posted on here a while back that his father killed one. They gutted and had the animal processed. He said that was 7 years ago and he is finally getting the taste out of his mouth.

I had one on camera and another member on our lease had 5 come to a feeder. This is south San Saba county.

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