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.
Our latest report on the hunting here comes from subscriber Rich Papapietro, who took a mature Armenian mouflon with McBride in March. Time constraints kept Papapietro from taking a red sheep, but he is trying his luck for that trophy and for free-range aoudad as of this writing.
Papapietro says hunters go out at sunrise to drive the ranch in a 4WD vehicle looking for game. Once sheep are spotted, they are approached on foot. Papapietro warns, "This is truly a wild sheep hunt, not a gimmee' hunt. You have to work hard to get to the animals." McBride agrees and cautions hunters to prepare for fast and distant shots. "Reds and mouflon are spooky little guys, under a hundred........(continued)
