What I know about Aoudads......
They all have horns....no horns coming out of the head.

They have long ears like a mule deer but skinnier....nope...small triangular ears like a cat.

They have a distinctive sloped back from front shoulders to rear legs....nope lion shape.

They carry more weight in the shoulder area...nope about the same.

Tail is 6-8"....nope. If you enhance the photo the tail curves to the ground.

If you have Aoudads in the area I would think you would have seen them multiple times and numerous photos with multiples.....just like pigs, raccoons and deer.

If it were truly an Aoudad you would be able to smell it...

here's a picture of a cat at almost the same angle as the pic



and biscuit's cropped pic




[This message has been edited by YellowPot_97 (edited 10/20/2008 7:01p).]

That last picture is a young cat. I think the cat in the original picture is much older and has that sagging belly skin that they get. That is what people are seeing from that quartering shot and saying that it is audad nuts.

aoudads have tiny ears, much shorter than a whitetail and very skinny...about half the size of a whitetails ears, so they are WAY smaller than a mule deers ears...my aoudad I shot had 5.5 inch ears (based off the mount), the south tx bucks I have mounted have 8 inch ears from where the top of the ear attaches to the head.

there tails are much longer than 6-8", again see previous pics I posted

smelling aoudads?? we have tons of them and they get within 20 yards of me when I'm bowhunting and I have never smelled one...maybe my honker doesnt work like yalls but I have never smelled an aoudad, much less be able to smell one just cause it walked by an area

your other observations seem somewhat accurate but these above are not anywhere close

[This message has been edited by aggzwin (edited 10/20/2008 7:08p).]

[This message has been edited by aggzwin (edited 10/20/2008 7:11p).]

look at how the tail comes of the butt of the aoudad. nothing like a cats. it's going straight down whereas cats typically go a little more out and then down. also, this "cat" would be dragging his tail on the ground based on the angle his tail is already at and i never see cats dragging their tail in the dirt. maybe that's just me though.... still an aoudad

i'm not arguing either way, but here is a pic of one dragging it's tail

I thought it was a cat when I first saw the pic and after 4 pages of hypothesizing from all of us experts I still say it is a cat. As someone mentioned earlier, the tail is actually to the lower right and you can see the black tip on it.

And for those who mentioned it looks too tall to be a cat (or not low enough to the ground), look at the original pic and compare the height of the feeder to the back of the cat and then do the same with the second picture and the deer. It is just the right height for a cat that is walking upright and not stalking (as in the cat on the trail cam following the deer).


[This message has been edited by ConstructionAg01 (edited 10/20/2008 7:24p).]

the black tip to the lower right is actually a stump. you can see it in the daylight picture.

like i said, i can see both.

obligatory:

I was addressing the shape of the ear rather than a size comparasion.....like a mule deer but skinnier.


Based on the ears in the original photo which of the following is the best comparasion?

Where are the horns in the photo?

Where is the difference in the shoulder area?

An aoudad tail "is" around 6-8" in length. A human head is about 9".....If someone has a 2 foot beard is their head 33"? I don't think so.

I played with the photo quite awhile today....I can bring out the barrel....I can see one side of the tail go below where the right leg disappears. It curves. I see nothing from a common sense standpoint that tells me that I am looking at an aoudad.

I have seen a lot of elk...they smell. I have seen a lot of aoudad...they smell. I must admit I have never been around corn feed aoudads...you may have me there.

One thing that I don't understand is what is on the ground near the front legs. The only thing I see in the deer photos is cactus.

yup........

After all the Bull$hirtting.....

i still say it's a liger.

or it could be a Aodapuma! Yea, that's it!

I don't know where the horns are...maybe they are invisible like the rest of the tail is??

It's a cat.

That is a really tough call! If that is a cat, it has EXTREMELY broad shoulders. Must be hanging out with Barry Bonds.

They are invisible...that's why you can see the mountain lions left ear and the top of his head.

What's interesting is if you lay the night shot on top of the day shot, and have it slowly fade in and out---the left "ear" lines up perfectly with what ever the round pointy thing on top of the buck's neck is. Now I am curious about what's behind the deer.

If you harvest the cat and want a full body mount, my two cents worth is to really research the taxidermist specifically for cats. The last taxidermy outfit I worked for had a guy who was a graphic artist, and had the God given ability to reproduce a feline species better than any example I've yet to see. Take it for what it's worth.

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What's interesting is if you lay the night shot on top of the day shot, and have it slowly fade in and out---the left "ear" lines up perfectly with what ever the round pointy thing on top of the buck's neck is. Now I am curious about what's behind the deer.

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interesting. I'll have to find a pic without anything directly under the feeder when I get home.

after looking at the pictures I am starting to question my call that it is a cat. That ball sack (if that is what it is) is reminiscent of a ball sack on one of those goats...they are huge.

The round white ball in the photo you are looking at is the reflection off a bit of dust that happens to be floating right in front of the the camera when the picture was taken. Google it, you'll see that many digital cameras get that artifact, especially when using a flash. There's no reason to think the daytime picture with moderate lighting didn't involve the flash going off.

how 'bout a mouflon ewe?

Good point Mouth. I will tell you one thing. I would not like to be out there at night without a flashlight and some kind of powerful handgun. If that is a cat then it looks to be a massive and muscular one.

I'm now firmly in the Aoudad camp. I've outlined the decisive factors I can see. Zooming in with higher contrast on the head area, you can see the faint outlines of the horns coming off. They are only a shade or two different from the dark background. I've roughly outlined them on this drawing, but try zooming in and increasing contrast on the unaltered pictures.

I also outlined the thin front legs and knobby knees of a goat, not the thick muscular legs of a lion.

Zoom in on the tail. You can see it end. The extension to the lower right that seems to make the tail look longer is a couple of weeds sticking up between the camera and the critter. You can trace the weeds to the ground.

The ears are fairly pointed in the picture. Lions have ears with rounded tips, though I suppose if they are angled down and folded they might look more pointed.

Also, look at the tail, it's attachment to the rump, and the angle of the rump. It's not right for a cat at all, but it sure looks like a goat. Same with the back legs. The proportions and angulation of the back legs just isn't right for a cat. The lower leg/hocks aren't the right length and the leg angle and heel isn't right for a cat. There's just too much inconsistent with a cat for it to be a cat.

That is a cat for sure... it doesn't have a short tail, the rest of the tail is just blocked by the grass. Those aren't his nuts, its just his inner leg and the shadow that makes it look like nuts is the shadow of his tail on the inner part of his leg. The horns would show up in the camera pic.

I think it is an old fat mountain lion.

In my humble non-TPWD opinion.

i will offer this bit of info.

If you have been seeing aoudad during the day, then it is possibly an aoudad.

but not seeing any aoudad around at all during night or day, and having a photo that looks similarly like a feline that was taken during the night, lends itself toward a secretive feline.

sadly, if it is a feline, i would expect that photo to be the only one you get (much less a glimpse in the flesh).

but if you start seeing photos of aoudad. well. then it may remove the doubt.


keep us posted and let us know.

I say cat. Where the "nuts" would be, could be the pouch of skin hanging off the belly of a well fed cat.

I think the tail is longer. Short triangle ears. "Hump" = shoulder blade

The length between the shoulders and the rear legs is WAY too short for it to be a cat.

just because they have never seen aoudad does not mean it can't be an aoudad or that if it is an aoudad they will all of a sudden start seeing them

A friend of mine got a aoudad on game cam near Leukenbach and they had never seen one before and still have never seen one a year later

You have to be careful to look at what's there instead of what you think is there, looking at this image. That angle down and to the right is DEFINITELY not the tail. That's a couple of weeds between the animal and the camera that happen to intersect the tail that is curving slowly to the left when it "dissapears".

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DEFINITELY not the tail.

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Since you were there when the picture was taken, why not just tell us what it is

I'm leaning towards mouflon ewe. that would explain the lack of horns. my buddy shot a ram there about 5 years ago. and I saw a ewe a couple of years ago in the area. that's my new guess.

Definitely a big hog.

I think its 3 mojados in a non-descript animal costume trying to sneak further across the border.

That is a very decent Tom.

Sean98.....

that is friggin funny!