Aoudad Hunt

It’s pronounced AWWdad. A couple of weeks ago, I got invited on the trip of a lifetime to chase Aoudad with @terry.houin and a ragtag crew of industry folks up in the mountains of West Texas… That’s right… there are mountains in Texas and these tough critters like to cruise around on the tippy tops of them.

The locals call these noble desert dwellers SHOATs… it’s a pretty apt name considering that Barbary Sheep are actually more closely related to a goat. In fact… they’ll mate with domestic goats, but not sheep.
Aoudad were introduced in the United States around 1900. As our western big horn sheep populations started to diminish due to disease and overhunting, Aoudad flourished. Extremely rugged animals, Aoudad hardly need any water and take in most of their hydration through the plants that they eat. Considered an invasive species in Texas, increasing Aoudad populations are one of the biggest challenges conservationists face in their attempt to re-introduce and establish desert bighorn populations.

As Terry would say, you can make Aoudad hunting as hard as you want. They have great eyesight and once they start moving, they don’t stop. Also, I can’t express how tough these critters are… in our group, we had some very good shooters (myself excluded) and it took an average of three rounds to put one down. That said, they’re plentiful in West Texas, so you’ll have a lot of opportunity.

Finally, one stigma that must be dispelled is their reputation for being less than desirable table fare. We ate a lot of Aoudad on this trip and all of it was delicious. Slow and low, or smoked is the name of the game.

Can’t thank Terry, Aaron, @trentwhitesell12 and the rest of the crew at @cibolocreekranch for making this trip happen. Met some amazing folks, had some wonderful conversations and watched some incredible stories unfold. For the foreseeable future, I’ll be daydreaming about clinking Lone Stars as the sun sets behind those big desert mountains. Until next time.

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