Dates- September 9th-11th
Species Hunted- Aoudad
Rifle- Christiansen Arms .300 Win Mag
Ammunition- Fusion 165 Grain
Outfitter- Mike McKinney
Guide: Tyler

This was actually my Dad's hunt but as he does not frequent the internet, I thought
it would be good to post a hunt report on his behalf.

A few years back, I was fortunate enough to hunt with Mike and I had a great hunt and took a
great 31" ram. Myself and my Dad often discussed the hunt and I knew that he wanted to hunt
an aoudad as well. Being in relatively good health, I thought that it would be a good idea
for him to go sooner rather than later. At 71 years of age, we figured that it was best not to wait.

I called Mike and he had some great options. We decided on the first part of September and therefore
had a few months to prepare. It is recommended that the hunter be ready to shoot 300-400 yards or more.
Therefore, we decided that the shooting practice would be one of the first ways to prepare. The shooting
went well and he was shooting quite well at the range.

As the hunt was getting closer, we started to prepare for the long 1200 mile, 20 hour drive. Coolers were
packed and we were on our way. Me, my son, and dad made it to Amarillo late Saturday evening. I am not sure
about you but the driving is worse on me than hiking. We were about dead. After a good night sleep, we filled
up my diesel truck for $1.75 a gallon- I was shocked! We finally arrived in Comstock Texas mid afternoon and found
the hotel to be nice.

I decided to call Tyler our guide to make plans for the next mornings hunt. He promptly informed me that our did
not start until Wednesday. In all my preparation for the hunt, I missed the day! I really felt like an idiot
and was embarrassed to say the least. Oh well, there was nothing that we could do about it so I took my dad to the
Alamo the following morning (which was something that he has always wanted to do). My son is a Senior at USU and
is in their EE program. Therefore, he decided to stay at the hotel and do homework.

We a great trip to the Alamo and spent Tuesday being bored and sitting at the hotel. We were all ready to hunt Wednesday.
I looked at the forecast and it said RAIN. It seems like it never fails to rain in Texas, when I am there. I woke up around
1:00 AM and it was pouring rain. I went back to sleep and woke up to thunder and more rain. I called Mike and told me to wait
awhile and check back in later and to give the storm a couple of hours. It was still raining later that morning. I was actually
hoping to reschedule the hunt and come back later as Ozona had received 5 or more inches of rain and I did not think we would be
hunting for a few days.

Around 1:00 PM I called Tyler our guide. He was at the ranch and told us to meet him there. I was surprised that he was already
there but as the weather had broke a bit, we were all ready to give it a go. Surprisingly, we made it there and
things were looking up. We followed him for a bit and then got into his side by side and made our way to the ranch. We got out
and started glassing and he soon found our first aoudad. It was so far away that it was hard to tell what it was. Tyler and my
dad went one way and my son and I went to another canyon to glass. By the time they got to where it was last seen, it was gone.

Tyler decided to try another area of the ranch. We started hiking and he soon spotted a small group of ewes and lambs across
the canyon. We glassed some more and he soon found a great ram that looked really good. Side note- Tyler can spot these sheep
much better than I can! As they were very far away, we back tracked and returned to the side be side. We were going to try
and get around them as they were steadily walking up to the top of the canyon. We arrived to the other side of the canyon and
started to walk to the rim. Tyler soon spotted some ewes and labs and we were confident that the ram would soon follow. After
a few minutes we saw it trailing them. Now I don't want to get into too many details about the shooting and spotting bet suffice
it to say that it did not go perfectly. In other words, at 200 yards my dad missed and was very upset. The sheep stopped and I
ranged it at 367. He shot and it looked like a great hit. It slowly walked up the hill and we saw it go down. We were all very
relieved and very happy- especially Tyler and my Dad.

Walking up to the aoudad was amazing. This was a dream hunt for my dad. The ram was great and everything that we could have hoped
for. After a lot of pictures, skinning, and a short hike, we were on our way back to the hotel. The hunt lasted 5 hours which was
great as it started to rain again. Here is a link to a pic of the ram. It is the fourth pic from the bottom (my son is wearing a
Red Sox hat and my dad is holding the ram:

http://forums.accuratereloadin...3411043/m/1611059162

Thoughts on the hunt:

I cannot say enough good about mulie_mike and his operation. Organization, communication and the quality of the hunt is top notch.
Tyler our guide was and is an exceptional guide. He is patient and great at what he does. I have had good guides and bad guides.
I would put Tyler right at the top of the list. My dad was especially impressed with Tyler and grateful for giving him a great hunt.

My dad has killed a lot of nice elk, a great moose, many mule deer, antelope, and some plains game in Africa. He said that this was
his favorite trophy. I believe that aoudad hunting is one of the best values out there.

I am looking forward to hunting Mike and Tyler in the future!

Very nice ram and a great story. Thanks for sharing.


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