Friday April 13th was my last day at Dell after almost 14.5 years.  My father-in-law and I decided to take some time at the Hackberry Ranch located in Eastern Edwards County along the Nueces.  The ranch is low fenced and very hilly with hunting done from the ridges and bottoms.  It has a good population of free ranging exotics, especially Axis and Aoudad.  We arrived Friday afternoon and started making our plans for the the next five days.  Several of us had been seeing a large chocolate Aoudad on a ridge at the north end of the ranch.  He was usually part of a larger group that typically appeared early morning.  They would typically graze from West to East and then disappear onto the ridge.  Several folks had made stalks on him, but no success.

Saturday
I started the morning the hunting near the western bottom side of the ridge.  I didn't expect the Aoudad to show up here, but the blind gave me a good vantage point to glass several of ridges.  Around 8:30 AM, I went to check a nearby hog trap.  I glassed the canyon behind the trap and immediately found four Aoudad grazing at the back of the canyon, but I didn't see the large one.  On my way back to the cabin, I stopped to glassed his typical area. All I saw a lone Aoudad high up and nothing else.

Around 10 AM we moved into a canyon further south.  We named this one "Aoudad Canyon" because of the number of Aoudads we see in it.  We found the Aoudad sunning themselves at the very top north rim of the canyon.  Tthere were two large rams, one a monster.  There was a group of Aoudad several hundred feet below them that blocked our approach.  We didn't think he was the Chocolate Aoudad, so we made note of their position and moved on versus trying to stalk them.

Next we moved to a vantage point to glass the first ridge we looked at in the morning.  There is a feeder on the high point of the ridge that goes off at 11 AM, but before going up there to hunt (a long walk) we wanted to be sure.  We glassed for about 30 minutes.  Nothing.  Right when we were about to move on we sighted another group of Aoudad in yet another canyon that lay between the two canyons we had been in earlier in the morning.  We studied them for about 20 minutes.  They were in very thick cedar and hard to make out.  We determined they were a different group. That night I hunted the same location as I did in the morning just in case the large Aoudad made a rare evening appearance as he had a few times past.  Nothing.  Just a single Hog.

Sunday
I decided to the top of the ridge above where I saw the large Aoudad Saturday morning.  Maybe he would come to the top to eat.  Only Hogs came to the feeder.  Nice.  I walked down the ridge and found the area I saw the Aoudad sunning themselves Saturday morning.  The cover is a lot thicker than it looks once you are in it versus looking across from the other side of the canyon.

I headed to Aoudad Canyon for the evening hunt.  I parked at the gate and walked in (about 600 yards), during which I jumped the same Axis buck twice.  I got into position on the side of the hill opposite the feeder and waited.  From about 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM I glassed several different lone Aoudads and groups moving about on the hills.  We have a lot more on the ranch than we ever thought.  Around 6:30 three Whitetail bucks came into the feeder and stayed until it went off.  At this point the side of the hill came alive with noise and eight Aoudad ran full speed to the feeder and started to eat.  The large one was nowhere in sight.  I spent the next 30 minutes glassing the opposite hillside and finally found the large Aoudad with another mature ram, a ewe, and a lamb.  They were very far away.  I moved laterally across the face of the hill to try and get closer.  I decided to take a cross-canyon shot at 516 yards.  I had my 300 Ultra Mag.  I got into a rock steady position and after watching him move in and out of cover for about 20 minutes, I took the shot.  The herd reacted immediately.  He ran down the rock face, back up, and then ran full speed across the ridge, and disappeared into the brush with his herd.  I looked across the canyon and there was yet another group of Aoudad eating, watching me shoot, and not even running.  I ended the hunt and walked back to highway.  I jump the same Axis buck.

Monday
We slept in Monday morning so we could get some work done during the day.  I decided to hunt Aoudad Canyon again that night and got into position around 5 PM.  Again, I saw large numbers of Aoudad grazing on the opposite hill side.  Around 6 PM I sighted a large group to left before they disappeared into the tree line.  I saw several large Aoudads in the group, definite shooters, but at this distance I couldn't determine whether the large one was in the group.  After the feeder went off, a group of Aoudads made their way down to feed.  This was a different group from the previous evening hunt.  It was smaller group, but with much large ras; at least two shooters.  It was also a different group than I had seen around 6 PM.  We have a lot of Aoudad.  I waited until 7:45 PM and then decided to walk to the very back of the canyon to see if I could see any other Aoudads or maybe run across some Axis or Hogs.  I didn't find anything, but it was an incredibly beautiful walk.  I eventually turned around and made my way out in the dark. I jumped the same Axis again when I got near my buggy.

Tuesday
We almost stayed in because of a very light rain, but decided to go ahead with the hunt.  This time I parked a little further in to shorten my walk over the wet rocks, plus the rain and wind offered some sound cover for the buggy.  I managed to jump the same Axis buck again.

I got into position around 6:20 AM and waited.  First visible light was around 6:45 AM and I noticed a lone Aoudad ram under the feeder patiently waiting for it to go off.  At 7:00 AM the feeder went off, but the Aoudad barely touched the corn.  Around 7:25 AM a ewe came in and they start to feed together.  I guess he was waiting for his girlfriend to show up.  I didn't know Aoudad were so polite.  I decided to be polite as well and waited for the big Aoudad.

Around 7:45 AM a group of five Aoudad showed up and started eating with the other two.  I kept glassing the hill sides and ridges for the large Aoudad, but don't see him or any others.  I had just put my binoculars down when I caught movement on the opposite side.... it was the large Aoudad!  He was moving down the side of the hill, I assumed he was making his way towards the feeder.  He stopped for a few seconds and looked at me, but not enough time for a shot.

As he came in closer, I confirmed he was the one I saw Saturday morning and took the long shot at in the evening.  This would be much easier at 122 yards.  Once he got settled down I slowly moved from behind a cedar tree to shoot.  I raised my 300 Ultra Mag up, steadied it on his shoulder (an Aoudad's vitals are further forward than a deer, behind the shoulder would be a gut shot) and squeezed the trigger.  It hit him, but it didn't knock him over.  I've shot 500, 700, and 1,500 pound Africa antelopes at longer distances than this and put them on the ground!  He spun around and started running on three legs!  I chambered another round and got ready to shoot, but he crumpled over after running about 60 yards and disappeared down the side of the hill.  I couldn't see whether he regained his balance or not so I quickly ran down to look for him.  I found him a few yards from where he fell.  The bullet had gone through both shoulders, the center of his heart, and his lungs. A perfect shot! I beg to differ with the African PHs that say the Blue Wildebeest is the toughest animal pound for pound on the planet!

He weighed in at 233 pounds. His right horn measured 32" and his left 30.875". I still don't know if he was the Chocolate Aoudad or another monster we had on the ranch. Let's hope "Chocy" is still up on the north road waiting for someone.

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