I hunt a close friend's property in the hill country, and we seem to have a growing aoudad problem. We have a group of more than a dozen now, and of course they are eating and dominating protein and cotton seed and crowding out the deer and other more desirable species.

Does anyone have a unique solution to this challenge, other than blind-sitting and just hoping for a shot at one or more of them? They are smart critters and very aware, so we see them rarely in person, but regularly on our game-cams.

Any ideas are welcome.

Have an OB thermal doodad smackdown party! I volunteer to help if need be.

Edit for serious reply: if serious about killing them to rid them of the place, hire a chopper and wage war. That is how lots of ranches out west thin out the ewes. Mow em down on the side of a mountain and leave em for the lions.

Also, an automatic trap you can trigger from a cell phone might work. Feed a ton of alfalfa in the middle of it and send it when you've got em all in there.

I've been dealing with this problem for about 10 years now and cannot express how much I hate Aoudad without every word being filtered out due to profanity. They suck!

Your assessment is spot on - they're smart, they have incredible eyesight, and they're way more sensitive to pressure than almost any animal I have hunted.

They absolutely dominate protein feeders (see recent evidence below):









We had a trapper out there to try and catch them but never had any real success. Part of that was due to some constraints with keeping livestock out but it still wasn't successful. I think this is probably the best approach but didn't have good luck with it.

You need to shoot everyone of them you see, period. We have a shoot on sight rule. If you're at a feeder and an aoudad comes out, you start blasting, immediately. We've killed over 50 in the last 3 years and it hasn't made much of an impact.

We've flown for predators and hogs with a helicopter and told them to shoot any aoudad they see… despite shooting 40-50 hogs or more each time, they've never seen more than 1 aoudad in all of their flights. They bury themselves in the thickest nastiest crap (cedars) and don't come out.

Sure you can try thermals but you'll have to sit in a blind all night because you're not sneaking up on an aoudad. They're too smart and see too well.

The best thing we did was learn how to shoot long range and just whack them every chance we get. That's the only real solution we've had thus far… they're a hog with horns and they taste like crap.

Good luck with your situation!

The ranches out west lack the cover a lot of the hill country has and enables much more success during aerial assault. We just haven't seen that at all - which sucks.

Have gun will travel…

they are just like hogs and multiple like crazy.

back in the late 80's we used to hunt them in Palo Duro canyon when they actually had a season and limit. we didn't see them much at all.

now they are everywhere in large groups.

They are fun as hell to hunt but they need to be gone.

You guys need to have a Texags get together!!!!!

highvelocity said:

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Have gun will travel…

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Same....I will come with

I'll make a stop in cs along the way

Will be happy to volunteer for a firing lane. Any weekend will work.

I know a guy that has 80 hours of vacation that needs to be used in the next two months, along with assorted firearms, and a working vehicle…
It's me, I'm that guy…

I can help kill as well

Quote:

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The best thing we did was learn how to shoot long range and just whack them every chance we get. That's the only real solution we've had thus far… they're a hog with horns and they taste like crap.

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That's very unfortunate.

Sign me up!

Zheinsohn said:

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I know a guy that has 80 hours of vacation that needs to be used in the next two months, along with assorted firearms, and a working vehicle…
It's me, I'm that guy…

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Is your wife hot too!

We had them on our ranch. Intense management to keep the population in check. They were good money makers for us on hunts for large males. ( upper 10% in the SCI record book). So we managed the females to hold the numbers in check.
I disagree somewhat on tasting bad….. young females (11/2 years old and lambs especially are extremely tender and taste about the same as good BBQ mutton.
Older females and males….. not unless it's all I had to eat.
We had some Hispanic guys that worked on the ranch. They loved them no matter the size. They would use the flank meat for a fajita type of meat and make tamales out of them that were not half bad really.

Way out of my league, that's for sure!

highvelocity said:

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I'll make a stop in cs along the way

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Would Dripping Springs be out of the way?

I'd love to shoot one

Nearly all hunters want the big wall mount ram and completely gloss over the ewes. You have to hammer the ewes to have any chance. Every hunter that takes a ram should have to have 5 documented ewe kills first, minimum.

country said:

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Nearly all hunters want the big wall mount ram and completely gloss over the ewes. You have to hammer the ewes to have any chance. Every hunter that takes a ram should have to have 5 documented ewe kills first, minimum.

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What about those willing to just shoot ewes? Every single one, on sight.

You guys are really awesome. I really appreciate all the feedback and ideas. I was really hoping that maybe the helicopter idea might be the answer, but it sounds like they're too smart for that in the hill country. Guess I'll talk with the landlord about an aoudad shoot fest lallapalooza, and thanks guys!!

Sign me up for the "aoudad shoot fest lallapalooza!"

You have a GREAT audad elimination gun!!

I volunteer with Texas BHA and we have a R3 program that is always looking for more opportunities to get new adult hunters into the sport and learn how to do it in an ethical way with a conservation focus. If you were open to hosting an R3 hunt, we run the whole thing turn-key with skilled guides and all the gear.

From experience….. if you do decide to have an outside group or " host" an event per se…… Make sure you have some type of firearm/hunting liability insurance policy and have a attorney experienced in this sort of thing to write some " hold harmless" liability waivers for your guest to sign before hunting……
If your landowner buddy does not already have something in place already.

Roger that Gunny. Will do.

+1 in the hunt

Gunny456 said:

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From experience….. if you do decide to have an outside group or " host" an event per se…… Make sure you have some type of firearm/hunting liability insurance policy and have a attorney experienced in this sort of thing to write some " hold harmless" liability waivers for your guest to sign before hunting……
If your landowner buddy does not already have something in place already.

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Amen. Gunny, we're back to zero on our search.

Add me to the list.

What do you know - more Aoudad

In. I bet I can get a few before they clear outta sight.

Meet us in CS and let's ride!

Would love the chance to help. Have always wanted to hunt aoudad

I'll trade you a weekend fishing n the coast for letting me take my 10 & 13 yr old to shoot one a piece.