Texas legalizes shooting invasive sheep from a helicopter for sport

I’ve been around Texas a fair bit…. I’d love to know where this public land is, that supports half the Aoudad population?

I think you’re misleading people, or you actually have no idea what you’re talking about.
Possibly a little confusing since I said public and it's not technically "public," it's owned by the state. There's a huge amount of land in west Texas that's owned by state agencies, over half a million acres, that nobody is allowed to hunt.
 
Let me get this straight. The Barbary Sheep in Texas are so destructive to the landscape and wildlife that aerial gunning for them has been legalized. But it costs thousands of dollars to hunt them there (average price approx $4500?). If you glance at the New Mexico draw odds it's clear that there is no shortage of people eager to hunt Aoudad. If you are a Texas landowner bitching about the Barbs eating all your cattle forage or outcompeting native wildlife I don't feel bad for you. Count me in as someone that will happily make the drive to West Texas and help with this problem for anyone willing to let me on their land. I promise to be low maintenance and respectful.

Sometimes little history goes along ways. TPWD got hammered for trying to thin back the numbers to help Desert Bighorns via the Air. This bill clears the air if you will for them to continue their management program, it takes 100 ewes to produces an 8-year-old trophy ram every year. Traditional Hunting to eliminate aoudad is like hunting to eliminate hogs, you will fail. New Mexico is a perfect example unit 34 is OTC yet..... still lots of Aoudad,

I have culled a lot ewes, I won't publicly state how many but its alot, I've burned a barrel out and fed alot yotes. You cant kill them all out or effectively control numbers via normal hunting from the ground. You have to deal with multiple landowners/property boundaries, you as a hunter can not cull enough before they cross property boundary or get into terrain you can not effetely traverse. That is different from the Air because topography is no longer an issue nor is speed to get INFRONT of them.
 
Possibly a little confusing since I said public and it's not technically "public," it's owned by the state. There's a huge amount of land in west Texas that's owned by state agencies, over half a million acres, that nobody is allowed to hunt.
500k is NOTHING. Only sizable public land out there is big bend, is 500k out of 3.9Million in Brewster County, you STILL HAVE 40 million acres of private in transpecos area alone, that doesnt count panhandle and hill country populations.

Dont like it go buy a ranch then you can protect them or kill them. Personally, they need to KILL EVERY AOUDAD AND WILD HORSE, they are a parasite on the ecosystem.
 
Charging to cover cost and liability is one thing. Breeding, feeding, ear tagging, and then selling $20,000 helicopter hunts as a business model while begging for less regulation so you can charge even more is something totally different.

There are less than 50k Aoudad in Texas and half of them live on public, we could knock them out in a weekend but as long as it's legal to sell exotic hunts for profit, landowners will never let them all die.

Also, just on principle, anyone who complains about how expensive it is to fly their helicopter can suck a whole egg.
I grew up near the Trans Pecos, and have killed over a hundred of the vermin. You have no idea what you're talking about if you actually believe what I highlighted above.
 
Suggest you read the studies the feds have done to eradicate aoudad from Guadalupe National Park to enable recovery of DBH, bottom line cant be done.
Need more data read the Texas Bighorn Society funded studies with several Texas universities.
Price escalation has occurred with the transition from ranchers handling their own hunting leases to outfitters leasing large tracts and setting prices at whatever the market will bear. I understand and have seen the problems ranchers have managing hunters on their properties, its easier with higher revenue to turn it over to an outside entity. Got one or two difficult hunters on a 10 person lease and you are done.
 
500k is NOTHING. Only sizable public land out there is big bend, is 500k out of 3.9Million in Brewster County, you STILL HAVE 40 million acres of private in transpecos area alone, that doesnt count panhandle and hill country populations.

Personally, they need to KILL EVERY AOUDAD AND WILD HORSE, they are a parasite on the ecosystem.
The bottom sentence needs to be posted again and again.

The big issue is outfitters like HWO and "conservation" orgs like WSF and TBHS aren't about to upset the applecart as those worthless african animals are an absolute cash cow for them. Along with TPWD being too scared to do what needs to be done, they will never be controlled or ERADICATED in the way they should be.
 
Doubt Aoudad are going anywhere when the WSF gives away outfitted Aoudad hunts at the Sheep Show now. With the crazy sheep prizes the Aoudad is becoming an "esteemed" backup option that more people can afford, even as prices keep climbing to hunt them. Me and the boy will be heading down to hunt Axis and Aoudad next month on some pretty affordable private land. We'll try our best do bring two home.
 
Have you guys priced a stone or dall sheep hunt lately??? I for one, am glad that I have been able to hunt aoudad. There is a saying about North American sheep, "they are born looking for a place to die". I have hunted dalls in Alaska and Argali in Mongolia, twice. We are lucky to have aoudad.
 
Again, the problem is ranchers charging $400+ to shoot one animal.

They have incentive to sustain the population for profit, so that’s what they do.

Native Texan here. This is the simple truth. Same story with hogs. They are here and will remain here because a lot of people want them here.

I’ve traveled all over the west and Canada hunting mountain sheep. Almost every guide and outfitter I talk to lists hogs and aoudads as the animals they would most like to come to Texas and hunt. Which amazes me because they have about the same value as rats to me, but the hunting media/influencers have made them popular.
 
Native Texan here. This is the simple truth. Same story with hogs. They are here and will remain here because a lot of people want them here.

I’ve traveled all over the west and Canada hunting mountain sheep. Almost every guide and outfitter I talk to lists hogs and aoudads as the animals they would most like to come to Texas and hunt. Which amazes me because they have about the same value as rats to me, but the hunting media/influencers have made them popular.
i ve seen them in Chad the origin of their habitats and for decades not available for hunting no need for media/influencers to know what the value is on those sheep but i can understand the local vision on those sheeps too.
 
Charging to cover cost and liability is one thing. Breeding, feeding, ear tagging, and then selling $20,000 helicopter hunts as a business model while begging for less regulation so you can charge even more is something totally different.

There are less than 50k Aoudad in Texas and half of them live on public, we could knock them out in a weekend but as long as it's legal to sell exotic hunts for profit, landowners will never let them all die.

Also, just on principle, anyone who complains about how expensive it is to fly their helicopter can suck a whole egg.
Who determines what is a fair price to let someone trespass (legally) on their private property?

You are delusional if you think there’s any chance of hunters wiping out 50k Auodad “in a weekend”.
 
The bottom sentence needs to be posted again and again.

The big issue is outfitters like HWO and "conservation" orgs like WSF and TBHS aren't about to upset the applecart as those worthless african animals are an absolute cash cow for them. Along with TPWD being too scared to do what needs to be done, they will never be controlled or ERADICATED in the way they should be.
TBHS knows and is changing their tune, they see the writing on the wall. It’s either or, not both. That relocation that just happed is trickle down due to Aoudad’s.

With that said biggest reason you can’t kill them out is because of all the private.

HWO went from 15 plus DBSH hunts a year to basically 1tag.
 
Please clarify how the TBHS uses Aoudad as a cash cow. Every year graduate students whose research is underwritten by the society at Texas Universities present their thesis projects via the magazine or annual meeting. Nowhere within the society have I seen Aoudad characterized as anything but a threat to bighorns. The outfitter business is a problem without a doubt. Anytime you commercialize hunting unforeseen problems develope. Open some of the fb aoudad groups to look at the ads and prices.
 
The outfitter business is definitely a problem.
Part of me doesn’t blame them for capitalizing on extra income….but when it’s putting a native species at risk, it pisses me off.
After volunteering with TBS for a few years, I asked, selfishly of course, if they work with landowners to do steeply discounted cull hunts? That didn’t seem to go over well.
 
The outfitter business is definitely a problem.
Part of me doesn’t blame them for capitalizing on extra income….but when it’s putting a native species at risk, it pisses me off.
After volunteering with TBS for a few years, I asked, selfishly of course, if they work with landowners to do steeply discounted cull hunts? That didn’t seem to go over well.
It’s not just outfitter, landowner is getting paid too. That country is already a section or two to AU, so any extra income is a blessing. Really if it wasn’t for cattle, not sure there would be many aoudad as cattle is why there so much substantial water.
 
It seems like with the little public land there is in TX the only difference this is going to make is the price of paid hunts.
 
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