Aoudad Down

[Jay]

Spent the weekend chasing Aoudad out near Del Rio. Was looking at a new dear lease also. After getting a small tour around the place, we got momma up in a box blind over looking a pretty active feeder area with her gun and camera. After getting her all comfy in her stand, we went down into a deep draw to watch for some aoudad. While walking in we were watched by some catalinas the whole way in. Although I had no intrest in one, I enjoyed watching them all afternoon climbing up the sheer cliffs that I would never think of trying to climb. No aoudad that afternoon, but I did see some deer late. The high winds Saturday afternoon did not help us at all. When we got to mommas stand I was fearing the big hit to the pocket book. I knew there were a couple of good elk and one good black buck in the area, I figured I would be mounting a black buck for her. She did good though, and just shot them with her camera, not that I would have mind if she shot any of them. Momma decided to sleep in Sunday morning so I was the only one hunting that morning. We got to the stand and there were elk and black buck in the area when we got there. If a good black buck gave me a shot I was going to stick one. Just after day break, I could see 2 bull elk in the clearing and a black buck doe, but no buck or aoudad. Did not take long for a few smaller aoudad to trickle in. As soon as the feeders went off though I could see animals ever where. First a couple more bull elk cam in, then some whitetail, and then a black buck. I watched him close, but the aoudad had the corn feeder for themselves and would not let him come in for a good shot. About 5 minutes after the feeder went off, I could see a big group of aoudad in the distance running my way. Took them a while to get the nrve up to come in, but when they did they came into the feeders quick. I had at least 60 out in front of me once they all came in. The biggest one happened to come into the corn feeder directly below me. He centered himself right underneath the spinner. It took getting to full draw 3 times to get a clear shot, but I finally got one. He ran about 50 yards into the brush. I was not real happy with the shot and it took him a while to lay down so I got out and put a second shot in him to stop his misery. It was a good relaxing weekend at a great ranch.

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