Desert Aoudad Hunts

[bigsky2]

Has anyone ever done a hunt through Matt Cousins at Desert Aoudad Hunts? After doing some research on Texas Aoudad, his name comes up a lot as well as Mike McKinney of WTHO. Most of the stuff about Desert Aoudad Hunts is older though so I was curious if that’s still a good outfit.

 

[Shady oaks]

I'll add one more name to the hat, Texas Hunting Resource at Ky McNett. I leave next Saturday to go down there for my first aoudad hunt. Matt is a good one from my research, dates didn't line up for this year so I continued down my vetting path only with Ky. But like you, I too found mostly good about both those choices.

 

[aghunter1]

My dad and I booked with Matt in 2020 and caught COVID 2 days before the hunt. Matt refused to let my dad go solo as "it was a 2 ram hunt" He also refused to re-book us stating that he was fully booked for the year and my $2,000 deposit was only good for one year. I would understand that for a draw hunt or animal with a short season, but would expect different for an animal without a season on a private land hunt. Take what you want from that, but that coupled with the fact it took me over 24hrs to get ahold of him to tell him my issue 2 days before the hunt. I was less than impressed.

 

[swarovskicoues]

I hunted Auodad with WTHO outside of Van Horn. I believe on the Indio ranch. It was awesome we killed great rams and the sheep were spooky. Had to earn them in nasty Rocky Mountains. None of that roller hill Texas country lol

 

[easttex]

You might want to talk to Bubba Glosson at Southwest Trophy Hunts. He has a website.

 

[MTNHUNTER76]

The 2 outfitters you listed both seem to kill good sheep. I have never hunted with either one of them. I have hunted with Wes Mundy at double diamond outfitters, good experience overall. Lot's of choices out there for west tx aoudad.

 

[Northpark]

I’ve hunted with WTHO. Mike McKinney was great. We killed 3 great rams in 3 days. Excellent experience hunting sheep in the desert.

 

[agaugler]

I can’t speak to the outfitter mentioned by the OP, but I can also affirm that WTHO should be the first and last call you should make for an Aoudad hunt. He’s got first class guides, access to a wide variety of country (something for everyone) and most importantly, incredible animals.

 

[rreichhoff]

Has anyone ever done a hunt through Matt Cousins at Desert Aoudad Hunts? After doing some research on Texas Aoudad, his name comes up a lot as well as Mike McKinney of WTHO. Most of the stuff about Desert Aoudad Hunts is older though so I was curious if that’s still a good outfit.

Don't do it! I now it's been a while since you posted, but I just had the absolute worst experience. No running water, toilets backed up and were directed to defecate outside the building along the sleeping quarters, ceiling falling in on the sleeping quarters, mislead quantity of acreage available to hunt, not supposed to be other hunters there prior to us- we met others on their way out, broken feeders, no drinking water or food supplied though promised, up charged $500 when we got there. I have photos!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Do a lot of research, there’s TONS of aoudad outfits these days, there’s some that have great reputations and others like the one the OP has mentioned.

If it was me, I’d only look at

-WTHO (Mike McKinney)
-sproul ranch (been there, awesome hunting)
-top of Texas outfitters


Just no reason to shop around when outfits like them are available. I’m going back to sproul ranch in 2027.

 

[bigsky2]

Don't do it! I now it's been a while since you posted, but I just had the absolute worst experience. No running water, toilets backed up and were directed to defecate outside the building along the sleeping quarters, ceiling falling in on the sleeping quarters, mislead quantity of acreage available to hunt, not supposed to be other hunters there prior to us- we met others on their way out, broken feeders, no drinking water or food supplied though promised, up charged $500 when we got there. I have photos!

We ended up hunting through him. We did the DIY/semi-guided option and I was not impressed with the service at all. There was no communication leading up to the hunt, I think if I hadn’t reached out he would have just took my money and not said a word. He also didn’t follow up afterwards to see if I was happy with the hunt at all. We must have hunted a different area because there weren’t toilets where we were. His guides were talking bad about Mexicans crossing the border and then in the same breath mentioning how they themselves have took clients across the border into Mexico to kill aoudad. It’s in the middle of nowhere and I’m pretty sure his guides hunt wherever they want knowing they won’t be caught. It seemed fishy when his guides would say things like “once you’re over that ridge out of sight of the road you can pretty much hunt wherever”. I think the average client doesn’t ask those questions and is perfectly happy with the hunt as long as they are successful. I will admit we did see a lot of aoudad but it definitely seems like a shady operation.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

We ended up hunting through him. We did the DIY/semi-guided option and I was not impressed with the service at all. There was no communication leading up to the hunt, I think if I hadn’t reached out he would have just took my money and not said a word. He also didn’t follow up afterwards to see if I was happy with the hunt at all. We must have hunted a different area because there weren’t toilets where we were. His guides were talking bad about Mexicans crossing the border and then in the same breath mentioning how they themselves have took clients across the border into Mexico to kill aoudad. It’s in the middle of nowhere and I’m pretty sure his guides hunt wherever they want knowing they won’t be caught. It seemed fishy when his guides would say things like “once you’re over that ridge out of sight of the road you can pretty much hunt wherever”. I think the average client doesn’t ask those questions and is perfectly happy with the hunt as long as they are successful. I will admit we did see a lot of aoudad but it definitely seems like a shady operation.

Did you kill a nice ram? Last time I was down that way I got a 30” (maybe 31”) double broomed heavy mass one. Inn1027 though I’m hoping to find a 33” + one and that will more or less conclude the Alisa’s chapter for me.