Part 2 If you missed part 1 it was posted yesterday.
By that point they had worked a bit up the mountain and the furthest range we could get to register above some rocks was 600 yards. We felt they were about 50 beyond that. We had a cross wind from left to right. Where we were at it only felt about like 5 mph. I adjusted my scope with my dope chart for 650 yards and wind for 5 mph. The first shot was just low and right off of the back foot of the ewe to the right. Knowing that, I changed distance to 700 and adjusted the windage a bit more to 10mph. I settled in and went through my shot process and pulled the trigger. The shot felt perfect. My brother exclaimed, “She’s down!!” Looking through the footage on the spotting scope, it was right behind her upper right shoulder. She bedded down and I put another finishing shot in her hoping to ease any longer suffering. She slid down the hill about 30 yards out of view behind some mesquite bushes.
I can’t figure out how to link video, if interested just send me a request through personal message and i can text or email it to you to watch. Or my tech savvy brother can embed it later.
It was honestly an unexpected outcome. Not that I don’t have confidence in my shooting abilities or hunting skills, but I had never hunted aoudad before and had minimal expectations due to the time constraints. The flood of emotions is hard to describe. From the elation as my brother and I high fived and acted like kids, to the play back of the footage, to the awe and “fear” of climbing the opposite side of the canyon, it was definitely an emotional high.
At this point it was about 2:30 in the afternoon and we knew the fun was over. We decided we would have to hike down to the base of the mountain near where the truck was and climb back the other side of the canyon to recover and pack out. We got back to the truck about 3:45. We ran into town about 15 minutes away and loaded up with some Gatorade and some more food and developed a plan on the onX maps where we felt we could safely scale and climb to where she was at. It took us about 3 hrs to get to the spot we thought she was at. It was dark and took us about 40 minutes to find her after gridding back and forth.
This picture shows where i shot her looking from where i shot from.
We field dressed her and decided to head down the mountain and got back to the bottom at about midnight. Progress was slow, not because the weight of the packs, but the constant side-hilling to only drop a little in elevation. It felt so good to get back to the truck. It was then that the entirety of the day and the awesomeness of the terrain and these awesome aoudad really stood out.
My quads are still recovering as I write this. It was an amazing memory that I will never forget and I feel no other better way to spend time with your brother than hunting together. I would recommend anyone looking for a fun OTC hunt to extend your hunting season check out the NM Barbary sheep hunt.
Realizations after the fact:
#1 I want/need a new rangefinder. Looking at Sig Sauer 2200LRH or the new Nikon Monarch 3000.
#2 I want/need a new pack. I have been researching and looking for last 3-4 months. Think I will go with an Exo 3300 or the new Stone Glacier Evo40/56. Whichever seems to have the best system for rifle carrying will win out I think.
#3 I need to get into better shape for next time. I am not in terrible shape, but being in really good shape would have made it easier.
#4 Aoudad are amazing animals
Hope you enjoyed the read.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
By that point they had worked a bit up the mountain and the furthest range we could get to register above some rocks was 600 yards. We felt they were about 50 beyond that. We had a cross wind from left to right. Where we were at it only felt about like 5 mph. I adjusted my scope with my dope chart for 650 yards and wind for 5 mph. The first shot was just low and right off of the back foot of the ewe to the right. Knowing that, I changed distance to 700 and adjusted the windage a bit more to 10mph. I settled in and went through my shot process and pulled the trigger. The shot felt perfect. My brother exclaimed, “She’s down!!” Looking through the footage on the spotting scope, it was right behind her upper right shoulder. She bedded down and I put another finishing shot in her hoping to ease any longer suffering. She slid down the hill about 30 yards out of view behind some mesquite bushes.
I can’t figure out how to link video, if interested just send me a request through personal message and i can text or email it to you to watch. Or my tech savvy brother can embed it later.
It was honestly an unexpected outcome. Not that I don’t have confidence in my shooting abilities or hunting skills, but I had never hunted aoudad before and had minimal expectations due to the time constraints. The flood of emotions is hard to describe. From the elation as my brother and I high fived and acted like kids, to the play back of the footage, to the awe and “fear” of climbing the opposite side of the canyon, it was definitely an emotional high.
At this point it was about 2:30 in the afternoon and we knew the fun was over. We decided we would have to hike down to the base of the mountain near where the truck was and climb back the other side of the canyon to recover and pack out. We got back to the truck about 3:45. We ran into town about 15 minutes away and loaded up with some Gatorade and some more food and developed a plan on the onX maps where we felt we could safely scale and climb to where she was at. It took us about 3 hrs to get to the spot we thought she was at. It was dark and took us about 40 minutes to find her after gridding back and forth.
This picture shows where i shot her looking from where i shot from.
We field dressed her and decided to head down the mountain and got back to the bottom at about midnight. Progress was slow, not because the weight of the packs, but the constant side-hilling to only drop a little in elevation. It felt so good to get back to the truck. It was then that the entirety of the day and the awesomeness of the terrain and these awesome aoudad really stood out.
My quads are still recovering as I write this. It was an amazing memory that I will never forget and I feel no other better way to spend time with your brother than hunting together. I would recommend anyone looking for a fun OTC hunt to extend your hunting season check out the NM Barbary sheep hunt.
Realizations after the fact:
#1 I want/need a new rangefinder. Looking at Sig Sauer 2200LRH or the new Nikon Monarch 3000.
#2 I want/need a new pack. I have been researching and looking for last 3-4 months. Think I will go with an Exo 3300 or the new Stone Glacier Evo40/56. Whichever seems to have the best system for rifle carrying will win out I think.
#3 I need to get into better shape for next time. I am not in terrible shape, but being in really good shape would have made it easier.
#4 Aoudad are amazing animals
Hope you enjoyed the read.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
