If you want to hunt free-range red sheep or Armenian mouflon, but aren't ready to commit to a hunt in Central Asia, read on. We have just received our sixth positive report on Rowdy McBride Hunting Services (432-553-4724; rowdymcbride@sbcglobal.net) and his hunt for free-range Armenian mouflon and red sheep on the 111-square-mile Williams Ranch in West
Texas. The positive reports began back in 1999 with Lou Rupp (1586) and continued with Scott M. Ackleson in 2001 (2532), Ed Yates in 2002 (3085), and Joseph A Susi in 2006 (5195). Hunting Report Editor Barbara Crown detailed the ranch in a 2007 article (Article 1802).
McBride, who hunted the border of Iran and Turkmenistan years ago, tells us this Texas property matches that area almost exactly. The ranch is located in the Davis Mountains, which rise to an elevation of over 8,000 feet, with wide, open ridges dotted with sparse vegetation and lower valleys full of limber pine and oak. Since their release on the ranch, both species have multiplied greatly. McBride says, "There's probably three hundred and change of each species. They're pretty nomadic, so it's hard to get an accurate count." The ranch also harbors more than 400 aoudad that came from a small herd introduced by the State of Texas in the 1950s......
