Arrived in Rocksprings early friday afternoon June 29. It was nice clear skies all the way their until 30 minutes from the ranch gate. I have never seen that much water in Rocksprings, had to put truck in 4wd drive just to drive down the ranch road to property.Arrived at ranch house got gear ready(put on rain gear) and headed to the tripod stand where the Aoudad have been known to funnel thru to feed on the tall grass. After a couple of hours the rain finally slacked off then eventually stopped. Maybe an hour after the rain had stopped they started to show up. Caught glimpses of them thru the thick cedar about 100 yards away. Finally had a few Auodad within 30 yards one of them was a shooter eased my bow up slowly and got busted by one of them apparently because they were gone just like that. Just sat their dumbfounded and asked myself what the heck happened? This was going to be harder than i thought. Thoughts were running thru my mind about packing up for the evening. Decided no been here this long will stay till dark, heck this is better than working anyday. It wasn't 45 minutes later another group came in maybe 15-20 of them. A bigger one than the first time was in the group and he was working my way. He finally arrived in a good 30 yard shot. Slowly drew back and released thwack! Looked like a good shot he ran about 60-70 yards and layed down all the other Aoudad surrounded him. I just sat their frozen for what seemed like eternity the other Aoudad left him and started feeding again. He was just laying their with his head up for another 30 minutes or so. All the Aoudad started to leave and walked right passed him, he got up and walked away with him. What the ? I waited a little while and recovered my arrow good blood one of the feathers was 10 yards away came off on impact i guess. Went to where he was laying and their was not a bunch of blood but a pretty good puddle. Marked the spot and went back to camp to get ranch owner me and him was the only ones their nobody else wanted to go because of the weather. Fair weather hunters. Anyway got some flashlights and started to follow blood trail very little blood to follow. Another storm came in and started pooring down rain again, with the small amount of blood and pooring rain we decided it was pointless to try any longer and will continue in the morning. Went out at daylight the next morning and searched for hours, nothing. Ranch owner and i discussed it and we decided it was not going to be a recovery. Went to a different stand and sat their until late in the afternoon. This area had alot more open spots and i could see 300 yards in several areas. Watched alot of animals come and go. Aoudad never came 100 yards from the stand. Decided to get out of the stand about 2:00 and get some late lunch before going back out. Ranch owner arrived and picked me up. We were leaving from stand and seen some Auodad about 400 yards away we drove to about 250 yards from them and were doing a little glassing. Ranch owner sais their he is and pointed one out. Had blood down one side of him. Arrow hit him a little high between lungs and spine. Ranch owner said lets let them calm down and come back after lunch. I agreed. He asked if i had my rifle with me because he wanted me to take him down with a rifle because we will never get close enough and more bad weather was coming.Got some grub and grabbed my rifle and headed back out. After about an hour finally got a shot on him with my Remington 700 .308 from about 220-230 yards. Made a good heart shot on him and he still ran another 60-70 yards before piling up. When we cleaned him the Muzzy had missed the lungs by 1/2" and the 150 grain ballistic tip found the heart and wasn't much left of it we were amazed how far he ran after a shot like that. They are one tuff animal. After a few photos the rain came down with a vengeance for the rest of the evening. So we got some sleep and headed back home sunday morning. Had a great time as always and can't wait to go back.
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Don't know what happened to picture. hopefully here he is. 12" bases and right at 30" on both sides. -
Very Nice. Congrats.Comment
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congrats. They sound like tough animals.Comment
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Awesome story, I want one, where did you go?Comment
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That is a great goat right there. They are extremely tough and their vitals are a lot further forward than a whitetail. I have heard way too many stories of these animals taking what folks thought was a great shot and then vanishing to never be seen again.
Congratulations on spotting him again and puting him down. That does not happen very often.Comment
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Great lookin' animal. Congrats!Comment
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Awesome trophy,congrats.
DJComment
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Way to go Eric!!! Nice critter!Comment
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Dang, that is a tough ram! Congrats and turning his lights out! BTW, from what I know, a 30incher is a pretty high quality aoudad.Comment
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congrats on a very nice trophy.Comment
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congrats on the take down
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NIceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee looking Goat ! Great story !Comment
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CongratsComment
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Nice 'dad. Congrats!Comment
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