cramerhunts Report post Posted January 31, 2015 The second part of our West Texas Aoudad hunt was crazy difficult that started out with a freak snow storm that closed the freeway for several hours and dumped a bunch of snow that made traveling extremely slow. We arrived very late and proceeded to set up camp in the rain. After putting on close to 30 grueling miles over the next three days we finally caught up to some sheep. We weren't able to locate any of the monsters I was holding out for but just watching the heard was a great experience. That evening before we bailed off the mountain we debated packing it up and heading home. We had hunted hard and had a great time but were worn out, thankfully after a few very supportive texts from my wife I came to my senses and decided to give it one more day. The next morning we spotted a lone ram across the canyon and it was game on! After some long range shooting and some cat and mouse I had my last day trophy. Unfortunately we did not get the shot on video as we were focused on putting the ram on the ground and given the long distances we did not want to take our eyes off of him to switch over to the camera. As luck would have it when we were packing my ram off the mountain and almost back to camp we jumped a band of six big rams and one of them was the exact stud I had been holding out for, it was bitter sweet but awesome to know he's still roaming those hills. Just like part 1 I owe a huge thank you to Scott Kendrix, Zac Griffith, and Mike McKinny for allowing us to hunt these magnificent creatures in some of the most beautiful country you can imagine. For anyone that has a desire to hunt sheep and can't wait for the elusive tag I would highly recommend getting hooked up on an aoudad hunt but be warned they are extremely addicting. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZbowhntr Report post Posted January 31, 2015 Phil, I have been meaning to send you a text and congratulate you. Awesome job on sticking it out and getting it done. He will make a nice mount. Now to start getting ready for our Mexico hunt next year. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DesertBull Report post Posted January 31, 2015 Sweet Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tunachaser Report post Posted February 2, 2015 Awesome! A big Aoudad ram is my dream hunt. How long was yours? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tjhunt2 Report post Posted February 2, 2015 Congratulations Phil. Great video. Looks like a lot of walking. TJ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Couestracker Report post Posted February 2, 2015 That's really awesome Phil! What a great hunt and video - congrats! Man, that looks to be a difficult hunt. What's the meat taste like? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bonecollector Report post Posted February 2, 2015 Big congrats to you. Looks like a lot of hard work and persistance paid off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big Browns Report post Posted February 3, 2015 Looks like you had a lot of fun. Congrats! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heat Report post Posted February 3, 2015 Congratulations on your success! I understand those mountains where they live are pretty nasty. Thanks for sharing your hunt with us! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Havasuhunter Report post Posted February 3, 2015 A dream hunt for me. Thanks for sharing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cramerhunts Report post Posted February 3, 2015 Thanks for the comments guys. To answer a couple of the questions: it was a smaller ram so after I decided to take it I never even really looked at the horns again but would guess its shy of 27". For that reason I'm just doing a European mount (plus it gives me an excuse to go back). Normally the meat is considered very bad and not worth the time to process it but since this was a young ram we took the time to take the majority of the meat off the mountain. We jerked pretty much everything but the choice cuts. So far we've only tried a few steaks off the back straps and surprisingly they were dang good. A little tough but that's my only complaint, we did however marinate them prior to grilling and I would guess on an older ram like the one John took the meat would be extremely tough. Even though this was a really tough trip I'm already planning my next Aoudad hunt! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trphyhntr Report post Posted February 3, 2015 i want one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chef Report post Posted February 17, 2015 The RUM roars again Phil! Congratulations again on your success. It's great that you were able to go back for a round two, and even better that John was able to accompany you. Especially after the grueling hunt you two had the first go around. You guys are nuts! Those are some tough critters! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
