I was one of the lucky few to get drawn on the 2022 January Aoudad hunt at Devil's River Del Norte Unit Aoudad hunt. After making ample preparation for all kinds of weather due to the sleet/snow in the forecast I lit out early Thursday morning for McKenna Ranch. The Bunk House at Devil's was already booked and instead of camping I decided to stay at Mckenna as they have several small cabins for rent. After passing through some heavy sleet between Kerrville and Junction and snow between Junction and Sonora I arrived at McKenna ranch just after dark. I stayed in the Medic cabin a small 3 bed cabin with a AC/Heater, fridge and coffee pot but was only $50/night.
After a good night's sleep, I woke up early Friday morning so I could be at the SNA about 8:30 as that's when the Rangers requested, we be there to check in. It ended up being chilly but cleared up and warmed up to the 60's. After a quick briefing on the area and a random draw of units we met with the rangers to discuss our units. I drew Pasture 9 known as the Rough Trap Pasture and is approximately 450 acres. The Rangers had said the sheep when pressured from other pastures (10 and 2) like to travel the back-fence line of 9 to move between the pastures. He also mentioned on which hill side they like to sunbathe on. Once all recommendations where done I headed out to campsite one to park the truck and start my hike.
For Day 1 you can see the Orange line starting and ultimately ending back up at campsite one, that was the rough path I followed. I stopped in a few locations to glass for a couple hours and ultimately spotted a ram 600 yards away following the property fence line. I immediately started to try and cut him off, but he disappeared. So, I struck out to the north side of the canyons so I could overlook Dolan Creek, once o got on that side of the ridge it was impossible to traverse so I headed straight down the canyon. What followed was me acting like a bulldozer pushing my way through cactus and other assorted brush until I reached Dolan creek. As I followed Dolan creek back to the main 12-mile access road it was already late in the evening, so I was focused on getting back to the truck more than hunting. Right before I got back to the road, I stopped to glass the cliff side above me and saw an Anger (group of Aoudad). They where all fixated on me and what I was doing, unfortunately for them they where only a bit over 100 yards above me. I lit into them with the 7mm loaded with some 140gr TSX at 3050fps, I fired 4 rounds scored 3 hits (one animal shot twice) for two dead Aoudad before the Anger disappeared over the ridge. I skirted the ridge coming out on the main access road and got to a position where I could look up the ridge. I spotted the remaining portion of the Anger climbing the cliff/hill heading dead away. I sat down and adjusted my BOG pod, ranged them and started in on them at 400 yards. Once I started the barrage the Anger scattered like roaches when you turn on the lights. In total I ended up firing 6 more shots and killed 4 more Aoudad, the furthest was 546 yards when ranged. Thus ended my first day of Aoudad hunting 10 shots fired, 7 hits and 6 dead Aoudad ewes. I started my drive back to McKenna ranch which is roughly 20 miles and takes about 45 minutes. I cooked a tasty steak and had a great whiskey drink and slept like a baby that night.
over looking the valley below.
views of Dolan creek
this is looking up at were the first shots occurred.
Day two started out fairly early, arriving at my hunting area a little after 8am it was overcast, blowing and fairly chilly. My path for day 2 is the pink line, I hiked up the east face of the canyon so I could drop over the top and spot anything that may be in the canyon below. I settled in and glassed until almost 1pm, only spotting three ewes feeding on the hillside opposite of me. Since I had hammered the ewes the day before they got a pass. Around lunch time I meandered down to a utility ROW and sat down for lunch and watched AggieJames09 and his buddy in compartment 10 over 2000 yards away pack out a nice Aoudad Ram (see his photos in the 2022 Western Hunting Thread). I did more glassing on day 2 than day 1 and did not see a ram, the weather stayed cold, windy, and overcast and don't think the sheep moved much. That evening I had dinner with AggieJames09 and his buddy at their campsite in the SNA.
Day 2's sit location
I was sitting just below the top outcropping all the way on the right
There are two people in this phot can anyone find them?
Day 3 I got a early start as I was only going to hunt until about 11 or so then start my trip back home due to work and weather forecast for Monday. I decided to change up my strategy a bit, one of the main reasons the state wants hunters to shoot every sheep they see is due to the damage they cause on the states natural resources. Included in the states natural resources are historic/pre-historic shelter locations and the hieroglyphs that many of these shelters contain. These sheep are some of the only animals that can access these shelters now, they get in the shelters and rub up against the walls essentially erasing the hieroglyphs. My pasture has a prominent cliff side that has many of these shelter locations, I pulled my truck up and parked it on the side of the main access road so I could glass these shelter locations. It didn't take long until Aoudad started materializing out of the face of this cliff, so many started showing up I lost count of how many there where and where they all where. I got out of my truck set up my Bog pod and settled in behind the rifle, the first goat I shot was a touch over 250 and I think the rest varied in distance up to about 300 yards. In total I ended up killing 5 more ewe's/lambs for a trip total of 11 Aoudad.
The ridge where all of the killing occurred.
Proof of some of the departed Aoudad, we were not required to retireve any of them. Most of these would have been impossible to retireve without climbing gear.
After I was done shooting on day 3, I ended up being 12/16 for an average hit percent being 75%. The country despite being super rough and very unforgiving was beautiful in its own right. I can honestly say I will be returning whether to hunt for rams on private land or just to explore the rest of the SNA.
View of SNA headquarters and the entrance to Devils river from the highest point in my Pasture.
After a good night's sleep, I woke up early Friday morning so I could be at the SNA about 8:30 as that's when the Rangers requested, we be there to check in. It ended up being chilly but cleared up and warmed up to the 60's. After a quick briefing on the area and a random draw of units we met with the rangers to discuss our units. I drew Pasture 9 known as the Rough Trap Pasture and is approximately 450 acres. The Rangers had said the sheep when pressured from other pastures (10 and 2) like to travel the back-fence line of 9 to move between the pastures. He also mentioned on which hill side they like to sunbathe on. Once all recommendations where done I headed out to campsite one to park the truck and start my hike.
For Day 1 you can see the Orange line starting and ultimately ending back up at campsite one, that was the rough path I followed. I stopped in a few locations to glass for a couple hours and ultimately spotted a ram 600 yards away following the property fence line. I immediately started to try and cut him off, but he disappeared. So, I struck out to the north side of the canyons so I could overlook Dolan Creek, once o got on that side of the ridge it was impossible to traverse so I headed straight down the canyon. What followed was me acting like a bulldozer pushing my way through cactus and other assorted brush until I reached Dolan creek. As I followed Dolan creek back to the main 12-mile access road it was already late in the evening, so I was focused on getting back to the truck more than hunting. Right before I got back to the road, I stopped to glass the cliff side above me and saw an Anger (group of Aoudad). They where all fixated on me and what I was doing, unfortunately for them they where only a bit over 100 yards above me. I lit into them with the 7mm loaded with some 140gr TSX at 3050fps, I fired 4 rounds scored 3 hits (one animal shot twice) for two dead Aoudad before the Anger disappeared over the ridge. I skirted the ridge coming out on the main access road and got to a position where I could look up the ridge. I spotted the remaining portion of the Anger climbing the cliff/hill heading dead away. I sat down and adjusted my BOG pod, ranged them and started in on them at 400 yards. Once I started the barrage the Anger scattered like roaches when you turn on the lights. In total I ended up firing 6 more shots and killed 4 more Aoudad, the furthest was 546 yards when ranged. Thus ended my first day of Aoudad hunting 10 shots fired, 7 hits and 6 dead Aoudad ewes. I started my drive back to McKenna ranch which is roughly 20 miles and takes about 45 minutes. I cooked a tasty steak and had a great whiskey drink and slept like a baby that night.
over looking the valley below.
views of Dolan creek
this is looking up at were the first shots occurred.
Day two started out fairly early, arriving at my hunting area a little after 8am it was overcast, blowing and fairly chilly. My path for day 2 is the pink line, I hiked up the east face of the canyon so I could drop over the top and spot anything that may be in the canyon below. I settled in and glassed until almost 1pm, only spotting three ewes feeding on the hillside opposite of me. Since I had hammered the ewes the day before they got a pass. Around lunch time I meandered down to a utility ROW and sat down for lunch and watched AggieJames09 and his buddy in compartment 10 over 2000 yards away pack out a nice Aoudad Ram (see his photos in the 2022 Western Hunting Thread). I did more glassing on day 2 than day 1 and did not see a ram, the weather stayed cold, windy, and overcast and don't think the sheep moved much. That evening I had dinner with AggieJames09 and his buddy at their campsite in the SNA.
Day 2's sit location
I was sitting just below the top outcropping all the way on the right
There are two people in this phot can anyone find them?
Day 3 I got a early start as I was only going to hunt until about 11 or so then start my trip back home due to work and weather forecast for Monday. I decided to change up my strategy a bit, one of the main reasons the state wants hunters to shoot every sheep they see is due to the damage they cause on the states natural resources. Included in the states natural resources are historic/pre-historic shelter locations and the hieroglyphs that many of these shelters contain. These sheep are some of the only animals that can access these shelters now, they get in the shelters and rub up against the walls essentially erasing the hieroglyphs. My pasture has a prominent cliff side that has many of these shelter locations, I pulled my truck up and parked it on the side of the main access road so I could glass these shelter locations. It didn't take long until Aoudad started materializing out of the face of this cliff, so many started showing up I lost count of how many there where and where they all where. I got out of my truck set up my Bog pod and settled in behind the rifle, the first goat I shot was a touch over 250 and I think the rest varied in distance up to about 300 yards. In total I ended up killing 5 more ewe's/lambs for a trip total of 11 Aoudad.
The ridge where all of the killing occurred.
Proof of some of the departed Aoudad, we were not required to retireve any of them. Most of these would have been impossible to retireve without climbing gear.
After I was done shooting on day 3, I ended up being 12/16 for an average hit percent being 75%. The country despite being super rough and very unforgiving was beautiful in its own right. I can honestly say I will be returning whether to hunt for rams on private land or just to explore the rest of the SNA.
View of SNA headquarters and the entrance to Devils river from the highest point in my Pasture.