High Fence Ram hunting

Whats the deal with the high fence Ram hunts I see advertised?
Corsican, Black Hawaiian, Texas Dall, Painted Desert, etc.
Are you just shooting some variant of a Barbados Sheep in a big pen?
My grandpa had some Barbados Sheep!

Has anyone done one of these type hunts? Experiences?

Depends on the outfitter, but most reputable outfitter will have a rather large HF ranch and the rams are there along with other exotic species. Many of the common exotic sheep (Corsican, Black Hawaiian, Texas Dall, Painted Desert)are hybrids that have some Mouflon in them.

There are several outfitters who specialize in Armenian Mouflon, Europen Mouflon, Red sheep (Transcaspian Urial x Armenian Mouflon), Afghan Urial and Transcaspian Urial sheep. Lots of cross breeding goes on so you need to do your home work on hunts for these sheep. There are also a lot of Urial hybrids sshowing up.

Bottom line is to do your research on the sheep breeds and the outfitter (and the size of the ranch he hunts).

unfortunately this is what takes place on a lot of these places. they buy them at the auction, then turn them out in a pasture (sheep can't jump a low fence so really any fence with net wire confines them) for hunters to shoot a few weeks/months later.


a Pure Bred Mouflon is a bundle of nerves, they are wild as hell (same with aoudad) but just about everything else is just a variant of a domestic sheep that has been turned out.

Not saying they don't exist, but I personally have never seen a wild Corsican, Black Hawaiian or a Texas Dall. Most just look at you when you drive past them.

Yea, a ram hunt is typically a pretty easy endeavor. Good for kids though. Im sure the first animal besides a deer that my sons will take when they are old enough will be a corsican.

X2
The wild sheep and goat species are super paranoid, smart, and wary critters.
Afghan Urial are like whitetails on crack, wildness wise from my experience. Hunted them at the Priour and it was one of the most fun hunts of my life.
Aoudad will haul butt if you even sneak out a fart.....I swear that's all they do is run run run!!
A big ole pure european mouflon in his winter/fall coat is one definitely for the bucket list for me.

Honestly if your going to hunt a corsican, at least maybe try to find a breeding herd if ranches even have them. They sure as heck are not going to be anything close to an aoudad, but they will probably have more run in them so to speak then one who spent his life in a breeding pen/barn and was just turned loose in a lot.

As mentioned above, I think the high fence part of this question is irrelevant since most of these sheep species will stay within a good low fence.

So much of it depends on how long they've been on the place and how much pressure there is. We received some Black Hawaiians as a gift years ago. We kept them in a small pasture for years but eventually moved them out to the ranch. Within a few years they were pretty wild. We started letting youth hunters hunt them, and then they became really wild because they knew they were fair game. Hardly got a look at them standing still after that.

A side note... the ewes did not last very long once they were put on the ranch and away from our protection. The coyotes wiped all but 2 ewes out within the first year. With that in mind, I would imagine it would be hard to establish a wild breeding herd. Of course, that all depends on a lot of variables.

When the outfitter shows you pictures of them and they're 30 yards just staring at the camera (not trail camera), I wouldn't want to hunt them. But that's just me, I know some people wouldn't bat an eye. Heck, there's probably people that would pay good money to hunt an Angora billy for that matter.

Do you have pics of yur Afghan?

Like mentioned above they are typically not very spooky or wild animals and great for a kid or someone with an itchy finger.
There are some very wild Corsican in Texas, I know first hand because we hunt them around the Devils River and closer to lake
Amistad where there are more Mouflon in them. The Corsican though will see you 500+ yards off and haul butt straight up some
very steep terrain. It has taken us several days to score on a decent ram before and they are just as hard to hunt as the Aoudad
on that ranch.

agree with what most have said they are very good for kids to hunt

Of the Rams I've seen and hunted, some were very skittish and others less so. It really does just depend on the Ram. Many are used to seeing the Ranch pick-up going by so they don't spook when it roles through. But park that vehicle and get out, and as soon as they see you they'll take off. Others are wary but won't run immediately, while others are even more tame. Sometimes they don't take off running but they do like to put something between you and them, like a big cedar or low rise or something like that.

It's just hard to say. When hunting spot and stalk with a bow, if the animal is at all skittish it's a challenge either way.

I've been on one Ram archery hunt, well I called it a hunt until I got there. The ranch was split into several smaller pastures with different animals in them. Drove around in the truck and glassed them, then got out on foot and just followed them around. After a little while of following them they would let you get closer & closer, then pick out the one that you want and take the shot when he's clear. There were 19 of us that went, was a Father's Day hunt. Well, not a hunt. It was just a killing, I took a Black Hawaiian. It was different, if I ever go again it will be my kids shooting.

Got a thread going over in Guides/Outfitters if anyone cares to make a recommendation.

Mods can close this one out if need be.