World's Best Sheep Hunting Bargain

Free-Range Aoudad Sheep

"Sheep" can be a very haunting word in a hunter’s vocabulary. In any form and hunted in the rarified air anywhere that they live around the world, sheep hunting has likely produced more defining moments in hunting careers than other species. It’s a game animal that must be earned. The puristic nature of sheep hunting challenges us to establish our ambitions and abilities realistically as we commit ourselves to it. 

Whether you want to get started in sheep hunting or need more species to complete your World Slam, put a free-range aoudad sheep on your radar. Hunted the right way in the mountains, the aoudad is not only a legitimate game animal, but also the equal of any mountain game. 

Many know the aoudad more so as the Barbary sheep originating in North Africa. Thankfully, they have been transplanted in various locations around the world, and although they may still be classified as “exotics” by game departments, they are just as at home in their transplanted territories as they ever were in Africa. Living, breeding, thriving, and huntable. 

In the early 1940s, a few bands of sheep were transplanted across various states in the USA. Many ended up on exotic game ranches, but others were released in mountainous terrain and climatic conditions identical to their native African habitat. Today, the very best free-range aoudad hunting takes place in the Chinati and Davis Mountains of southwest Texas. They excel there more so than in their native habitat and to the point of now being considered indigenous in most of their transplanted range.

Rams that reach 30 inches around the curl are considered trophy class animals but exceeding that length is not unrealistic for a selective hunter. The biggest of the rams tend to come from a few select outfitters who specialize in these hunts and who exclusively control the hunting in the desolate hills and canyons of vast privately held ranches. The better outfitters self-impose a very limited take-off of 1-2 rams per ranch so that trophy quality remains consistently high. 

A big ram will be as impressive and satisfyingly earned as any sheep that walks. Their wide, heavy and arching horns are first to draw the eye, but interest soon shifts to the strands of long golden chaps flowing down from the neck onto the legs. Unlike mountain goats which will “hair out” when the weather gets colder, the beauty of chaps is a function of genetics, not weather. Most mature rams will have chaps that are as long and full during the hot summers as in winter.

Their bodies are tough, deceptively blocky and front-loaded. A weight of 300 pounds is not out of the question. One master outfitter specializing in Aoudad for 35 years estimates that the majority are taken between 200 to 300 yards. A 6.5, .270. or any of the mid-magnums of 7mm and .300 caliber with homogeneous copper or bonded core bullets work well. 

The official hunting season runs year-round in Texas, but some months are simply too hot to hunt. The most practical time to hunt is from the beginning of October through the end of March. The rut begins in early October, and the rams are much easier to spot because they gather in large groups of females and competing rams.

Their tan color matches the rocky terrain and dry brush of the southwest. So good optics are a must for lengthy glassing sessions. 10X is a good minimum for binoculars, but 12X to 15X mounted on a tripod makes a big difference in finding and judging big trophies. Especially during the post-rut when the rams are isolated or accompanied by a few companion rams, methodically “looking small” section by section with tripod-mounted binos pays for whatever weight this equipment adds to a daypack.

The good news is the cost of the hunt will not break the bank like most sheep hunts do. A premium 4-day hunt conducted on a 1:1 basis will cost $7,500-$9500. The special 5-day license, which is date-specific, costs only $50. 

Although physical conditioning is an important factor of success for any hunt, a hunter does not have to be an athlete to successfully hunt aoudad sheep. Certainly, these are real sheep that live among the rocks and canyons, but the terrain is navigable for most. The highest peak of the Chinati Mountains is 7,700 feet, and most aoudad will be taken between 1,500 and 4,000 feet on average. 

Weather-wise, hunters will most often experience sunshine and a swing of 40-50 degrees daily between early morning lows and afternoon highs. The climate is dry, but snow can fly and the wind can blow especially during January and February. If it snows, it won’t last long. Temperatures are generally mild enough to melt snowfall the same day. 

Each ranch offers basic accommodations in rustic houses located on ranch property. However, motels can also be used depending on the ranch to be hunted. In one case, we hunted a client from a mid-mountain spike camp. We awakened to frost covering our tents one day in March. Coffee helped offset the cold while breakfast was being cooked over an open fire. We set out with the intent of peering down into promising canyons just as the clouds gave way to the warming sun. We stopped and glassed methodically but did not locate any rams until well past noon. As we were judging them, the wind shifted and gave the rams our scent. They were off and running instantly and we followed as fast as we could while hoping they would stop for a breather and allow us to get another look at them. They didn’t stop.

Light was falling fast, so we allowed the rams to bed down instead of making a stalk. We were far enough from our spike camp that heading back and returning early the next morning didn’t make sense. So, we backed our way down the ridge about 1000 yards from where the rams were bedded and built a fire. That was a very cold and long night. There was no place level or soft to lay down, so we sat around the fire dozing in and out of sleep all night long. As a hint of the morning sun emerged, we climbed back up the ridge and found the rams feeding around their beds just as we had thought they would. It was an easy shot of 150 yards, and the whole ordeal made us feel as though we had earned that ram. 

On another of our hunts we used a ranch house for accommodations and set off by vehicle each morning. We spotted a heavy-based ram with two younger rams and made the stalk to within 190 yards. The big ram had backed his body into a crevasse for an afternoon nap. Annoyed by a mesquite sapling that was in his way, he stood up, wrapped his horn around it and yanked it out of the ground with a twist of his powerful neck. It was an awesome demonstration of the aoudad’s physicality and sheer power. Before he could lay back down, one slug from a .264 Win. Mag. folded him instantly.

That ram was officially scored (but not entered) as a new SCI #11. On that same hunt, a companion hunter took the new #10 off the same ranch. It didn’t matter what they scored then, and they probably have been bested since. But the quality of those rams was a testimony that some outfitting operations are managing them for the long term.

If you want a real sheep hunting experience on terms that are very acceptable, we enthusiastically recommend that you consider a mountain hunt for the impressive aoudad. Hunt them properly in the mountains, and you will have achieved one of sheep hunting’s greatest honors at a bargain price.

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