Like most hunters here in TX I always look forward to October but unlike most hunters here in Texas it's not because of the start of Whitetail season.  For me, October is when I typically hunt Pronghorn and Aoudad out in West TX.  Unfortunately the West Texas population of pronghorn is being decimated by a blood worm and on a lot of ranches, mine included, there's no longer a huntable population of pronghorn.  It looks like my pronghorn hunts will be moving up around Dalhart, TX, in the Panhandle,  but more on that in another blog.

Hunting free range aoudad is always a challenge, but they are probably my most fun hunts.  I love the mountains of West Texas and I feel very fortunate to be able to hunt 50 sections between Ft. Davis and Valentine.  I've been hunting this ranch for about 7 years and have taken some great free range aoudad over the years and this year was no exception.

Because the terrain is so rough and rugged we hunt aoudad out of a 4 seat dune buggy.  Once we locate the aoudad we get as close as possible with the dune buggy and then the hunt begins.  Aoudad have great eyesight and with the sparse terrain it's quite a challenge to get close enough for a shot, but that only adds to the excitement of the hunt.

Here's Brutus in the dune buggy...

Bill arrived the 1st week of October and the hunt was on.  Having hunted this ranch for 7 years I had a pretty good idea where to start so we loaded up dune buggy and headed into the mountains.  Late in the afternoon I spotted some aoudad about a mile away.  Daylight was fading fast and we had to come off the mountain we were on and get to the top of the mountain the aoudad were on, and we had to do it quickly.  We made it to the top of mountain and got into position for a shot, but we couldn't get any closer than 450 yards.  After making several moves to get closer we just couldn't get any closer and had to take a shot.  Bill picked out the biggest aoudad and fired and you could tell he was hit, but he didn't go down.  Aoudad are very tough and after having to chase one last year I knew I didn't want to have to do that again, so I was trying to get into position for a follow up shot.  With aoudad running all over the mountain it was tough to find the one that was wounded, but I was lucky enough to locate him as he stood broadside 510 yards away.  I layed down and got a good rest on some rocks and fired.  He took 3 jumps and fell over!

We had a big aoudad ram down on the first day of the hunt....

Now the hard part began.  We had to cape an aoudad in the dark on the side of the mountain and to make matters worse I got the dune buggy stuck at the bottom of a ravine trying to get closer to the aoudad.  Caping the aoudad was the easy part. Digging the dune buggy out, not so much.  I ended up hiking back to the house and driving my truck back to get Bill and Ruben, my buddy that came out to help with the hunt, and his aoudad and leaving the dune buggy on the mountain for the night.  The next day Bill headed home with his aoudad, Ruben headed back to NM and William, the ranch foreman, and I went back and got the dune buggy.  Just another day on a ranch out in West TX.

A few days later, Ron and Lori Kutter flew in to start their aoudad hunt.  After sighting Ron's rifle in at 300 yards we were back in the dune buggy and heading into the mountains to search for more aoudad.  Luck was on our side again and I spotted a small aoudad horn about a mile away and we were off.  

We got as close as we could and climbed up on some rocks to take a better look....

The aoudad finally moved over the top of the ridge and gave us the opportunity to get a closer shot...hopefully.  When we got to  where the aoudad had been I noticed there was another herd coming up the valley, aoudad rut in October and get in big herds,   and now we had almost 100 aoudad all together with 3 huge rams to choose from.  Once the herds came together the 3 big rams began to fight with each other and the sound of them butting heads could be heard echoing all over the valley.  

The rams finally separated enough for a clear shot and Ron did the rest.  This picture is awesome and says it all!!

With another big ram on the ground it was time for the hard work to begin.  Ron, Lori and Ruben (he was kind enough to come back and help with another hunt) began the hike down to his aoudad and I went back to get the dune buggy and met them at the aoudad.

I'm not sure if he's happy about his aoudad or the fact I brought him a cold beer.?.?

Ron shot a monster aoudad ram!!

I can't thank Ruben Ramos enough for coming out to help with these aoudad hunts.  Ruben is a custom knife maker from Jal, NM and a great friend.  I've used a lot of knifes over the years, but Ruben makes the best knifes I've ever had in my hands.  Check out his website here.

Ruben is not only a great knife maker, he's a great pack mule too!!!

This time I didn't get the dune buggy stuck, so we made it back to the ranch house just after dark where I fired up the grill and we had ribeyes' and grilled asparagus.  It was a great end to another great hunt.

I really want to thank Bill, Ron, Lori, and especially Ruben for once again making my these free range aoudad hunts very enjoyable and memorable.  I couldn't have done it without y'all.

I typically run my West Texas Free Range Aoudad hunts in October to coincide with the rut.  It's a lot easier to find a herd of 50-100 aoudad on 32,000 acres than it is to find 2-3 lone aoudad rams.  Aoudad are an exotic though, and can be hunted year around.  If you plan on hunting free range aoudad make sure you have a very comfortable pair of boots and are comfortable shooting 400-500 yards.  These hunts are a lot of fun and I can't wait to get back out to West Texas.

So who wants to hunt free range West Texas aoudad??

Whitetail season is a busy time of year for me and unfortunately keeping my blog up to date has been neglected.  I'm trying to catch up though....

Back in the 2nd week of November, Brandon and Marty came back to south Texas from North Carolina.  Last year they joined me on their 1st South Texas whitetail hunt and shot some great bucks.

Here's Brandon's buck from last year....

Here's Marty's buck from last year....

Facing the worst drought in Texas history, I knew I was going to have my work cut out for me on all of my whitetail hunts, especially my trophy whitetail hunts.  Antler growth has definitely been effected by the lack of rain and it's just been tough to locate any trophy whitetail.  All of my ranches are very well managed and feed protein, but you just can't replace what mother nature can do for you.  I knew what Brandon and Marty were looking for and was finally able to locate a few bucks I thought they might like.  

After picking them up at the San Antonio International Airport we headed to Encinal and with a cold front blowing in we were doing our best to make the afternoon hunt.  We saw quite a few deer, but not any of the bucks we were after.  The next morning we were settled in well before daylight.  As soon as it started to get light enough to see I noticed we had whitetail all around us and more were coming in.  Suddenly, one of the big 10 points we were hunting stepped into the sendero and after a few tense minutes debating whether or not to shoot him, Brandon decided he wanted to take him.  Unfortunately the big 10 had enough and was headed for the brush.  Luckily I was able to stop him just long enough for Brandon to make a perfect shot on him and the buck was ours.  

Here's Brandon with the buck we nicknamed Diamond...

That afternoon Marty and I headed back to the same blind where Brandon had shot his buck and once again were covered up with whitetail as soon as we got in the stand.  About an hour from dark we saw a buck coming in with really white front legs.  We immediately recognized the buck as Socks, one of the bucks on our hit list, and began to get ready.  Once the buck got to about 180 yards and turned broadside, Marty made a perfect shot and Socks was ours.

Here's Marty with Socks....

With their trophy bucks in the cooler it was time to help the ranch out with it's management program and try and get some of the management bucks on the ground.

It didn't take Brandon long to score on a great management buck...

After Brandon got his management buck, Marty and I were in search of a management buck for him but started having some difficulty locating any.  With our last afternoon hunt coming to a close, none of the management bucks were showing themselves.  Their flight was leaving San Antonio about 1pm the next day, so we would have one more morning hunt, but it was going to be a short one.  We were all beginning to wonder if the management bucks would show themselves.  Settling in for our final hunt none of us knew what was about to happen.  Once again as soon as it got light enough to see we were covered up with whitetail.   Suddenly at the end of the field one of the management bucks stepped out and started to head our way.  About that same time, another management buck stepped out in the middle of the field.  Luckily, the buck at the end of the field didn't like the other buck coming out and started running toward us.  The next thing we knew we had both bucks almost right under the blind and Marty got ready for his shot.  He shot and the big 8 point management buck dropped.  We looked up and the other management buck ran off about 100 yards and stopped and started eating corn.  It didn't take long for Marty to get on target again and the big 10 point management buck dropped as well.  With just a few hours until their flight was scheduled to leave we had two bucks on the ground and had our work cut out for us.

Here's Marty with his two management bucks......

We quickly field dressed the bucks and headed back to camp to load up and hopefully get them to the airport on time.  

With all the luggage and 5 whitetail, we had a full load...

I'm not sure how, but we made it to the airport in time for them to make their flight and another very successful hunt had come to a close.  

I've really enjoy getting to know Marty and Brandon and getting to hunt with them the last two years and hope we get to hunt together for years to come.  We always have a great time and end up with some great whitetail.

Whitetail season is always a busy time of year for me but I'm very fortunate to have access to some of the best ranches in Texas and this past week was no exception.  Early in the week a friend,Chris Childs, owner and operator of the Shonto Ranch, called and asked if I could help guide for him and since I didn't have my own hunters I jumped at the chance.  

Chris had 6 hunters coming in from Mississippi to hunt whitetail and the Shonto has some of the best whitetail Texas has to offer as well as world class axis, blackbuck, oryx and fallow.  Plus this time of year they stock some monster rainbow trout weighing up to 10lbs.  It's not uncommon to see 400-500 animals in an afternoon on the Shonto, with close to half of those being whitetail.  I know most people think I'm exaggerating and telling a "hunting" story when I tell them those numbers, but on the Shonto it's reality.  The guys from Mississippi found out first hand...

With the rut in full swing, the bucks were everywhere and it didn't take the Mississippi boys long to start knocking down some great whitetail.  In 2 days we ended up killing 7 bucks!!  Adam, pictured in the center w/o a hat, killed the largest buck of the group and it was a monster 6.5 year old buck scoring right at 160".

We had a break in the action on Thursday and that gave Chris and I time to regroup and get ready for the next group of hunters coming in on Friday.

Friday morning as I was scouting for the next group of hunters I probably saw 300+ animals and knew we were going to have a great next hunt.  About 1 o'clock Carlos, Juan, and Hector showed up and after getting settled in and a short safety orientation we were back at it.  I could tell they were skeptical about me telling them I had seen 300+ animals that morning, but it didn't take them long to become believers.  I almost had to take their bullets away from them as we headed out for the afternoon hunt!

It didn't take us long to locate some great deer and Carlos was the first to connect with this great 10 point.

Keeping things rolling, Juan connected on this great management buck and that brought our afternoon tally up to 2 bucks.  Not a bad first afternoon....

Calling it an afternoon, we headed to the pavilion where we sat by the fire, retold storied of the afternoon hunt, made a plan for the next morning.  The sweet potatoes were ready and I grilled ribeyes.  It was the perfect way to wrap up the evening.

The next morning it was Hector's turn and we started off just the way we left off the previous afternoon.  After looking over numerous great bucks he decided on this great management buck.

After loading up Hector's buck Carlos kept asking about a big 14 point buck we had seen the previous afternoon.  He was a main frame 12 point with split brow tines.  Just a stud whitetail.  We talked about it a little while and we were off in search of Carlos' second buck of the trip.  Once again the rut really helped us out and it didn't take us long to find the monster 14 point.  Once we located the buck and got into position Carlos made a great 150 yard shot and his second trophy whitetail of the trip was on the ground.  I love this picture.  His smile says it all.  What an awesome buck and an incredibly happy hunter!!

Having killed all the bucks they wanted, it was time to help out the management program and kill some does.  It didn't take us long to get everyone a doe and as we were headed back to the skinning shed we noticed one of the momma cows was having some trouble calving.  It didn't look good for the momma or the calf unless we could help her out.  Luckily I got to her in time and after a little pulling I was able to get the calf out and both momma and baby are healthy and happy.

His first steps were a little wobbly...

The other cows had to come check him out....

Momma had to give him the once over.....

We named him Hector.....

So the grand total for the week was 7 bucks with the group from Mississippi, 4 bucks and 3 does with Carlos, Hector and Juan, and 1 brand new bull calf.  I feel very blessed and lucky to be able to get to do what I do for a living.  I get to see and do all kinds of things that most people never even hear about let alone get to experience first hand.  With every hunt theres always a story and this week was no exception.  I'll be talking about this week for a long time to come.  I really want to thank Chris at the Shonto Ranch, all the guys from Mississippi and Carlos, Juan and Hector for letting me be a part of this.  If they had half as much fun as I did it will take weeks to wipe the smile off of their faces!!!