Devils river del norte aoudad

I drew a devils river exotic hunt for this coming January. I drew and shot a decent ram at PD canyon in 2017. I Also live and hunt in Wyoming (native Texan) so I usually hunt spot and stalk in the west.

Is there any advice those who have been on this hunt would care to provide? Feel free to private message me. Anything like how much fuel you brought, water etc. I've already reserved a camping spot (bringing a canvas tent)

I called the and spoke with staff on site already, but I'm trying to gather as much info as possible.



Also if anyone wants advice for PD canyon feel free to PM me.

Call the WMA and reserve a bunk in bunkhouse. Full amenities kitchen to cook in and hot showers. Get I the rough country and stay all day. I killed 4 aoudad a d 2 Corsican there on a hunt. One hunter scored a 33” beast.

Agree 100% with wtjim. It gets cold and you will be more comfortable in bunkhouse. I don’t think there are any bad units. We shot 2 auodads the first day right when we started and right off the road. Bring everything you will need and don’t plan on leaving the unit until the hunt is over. You won the lottery. Definitely one of the best draw hunts. Aoudads move all day too

How cold are we talking? Certainly not below zero right?

Which hunt? I drew the January 15th hunt.

I believe our hunt dates are 22-25th, we're getting there a day early since we're driving from Wyoming (time to rest)

Lookup the McKenna Ranch for lodging. Its within 20-30 mins away of the park. That's where I'll be staying during my hunt. I've never been there, but it looks like a nice place; beats primitive camping anyway.
I've bow hunted a neighboring ranch and have shot a handful of ewes. There are a TON of aoudad in that country.

Oh, bunkhouse has been closed and will remain closed due to covid.

Not too worried about camping. Heck at least we're going to be able to bring more gear than what we can carry on our backs, which is usually how I hunt. It will be pretty luxurious.

Glad to hear sheep numbers are high. From what I understand the axis deer are almost nonexistent

Congratulations on the draw. Never been so no help.

Good luck sir

That sucks, they could have let the first group that called use it at least. Its desert, dry air, it gets cold at night but nothing ridiculous and might be 80 degrees by 3pm the next day.

Did anyone get drawn for this weekend's hunt? I did a little scouting a couple weeks ago and found 3 groups; about 30 total. One group had a nice ram or two I didn't see anything else other than whitetail. The road to the park is just as rough as advertised.

Scouting is kinda pointless since they won't let you choose your compartment

I don't know if Devils River allows it, but most of the drawn hunts will let you request a compartment change after the first day. I have killed trophy exotics on two past drawn hunts this way. One I requested a move to a compartment I had spent two days scouting and shot my ram right were I saw him during my scouting days. The other kill I had actually made two compartment moves as compartments came open due to other hunters going home. It finally got me into the area where I knew most of my target animals were located. Even if you only get to see the lay of the land, the habitat, how the animals move on the area, what they are feeding on, gear you need for the hunt that you would not have thought of otherwise, etc. scouting will increase your success greatly even if they give you a different compartment. Less so if hunt is by assigned blind of course. I got nothing for you Hunter, but sounds like your doing it right. Good luck.

Ditto.

I didn't choose my compartment, but I learned a lot scouting and learning the area better. I ended up taking 11 ewes and 6 rams. The biggest was 29".

Thanks for the update. Sounds like you did great, congratulations!

I'm doing final packing now, and heading out tomorrow morning...its a long drive from Wyoming. Double what we did for PD canyon. But I want a 30" ram bad! Lol

There were two 30"+ rams taken during the prior hunt.

We had a great hunt. We hunted every chance we could, caught some bad breaks with the weather on the two full days of hunting (fogged in until 10am Saturday and mist and fog until 3pm sunday). The two guys that hunted with me shot a 30" and 29" rams (I'll take credit for spotting them lol) both at about 660yds. I missed a decent ram (guessing 26ish) the last morning at 500....about 4 inches right over his back.

All together we killed 5 rams and 3 ewes.

I'd suggest using 12 power binoculars and definitely have a spotting scope. I used tract toric 12.5x50 binos, my buddies had swaro 12x binos and swaro 65mm spotter, vortex razor 10x binos and a razor spotter. We were heavy on glass and it proved to be worth it. Also we were lucky enough to draw a great compartment, but I think there are good rams in every compartment.

If anyone has questions or needs advice from logistics to hunt strategy pm me.

Please post pictures! 30" rams are awesome.

What unit did you hunt? I hunted unit 7.

11 and 9

Just had some aoudad tacos, tasted great

Did you crock pot the meat ? I hear it’s tough

Nope, just cooked it on the pellet grill on high. Had a steak last night, amazingly tender and delicious.

I think most folks write the meat off as nasty because they don't want to deal with it.