Elkeater
AH veteran
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- Feb 14, 2023
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- USA and RSA
got back a couple weeks ago from our annual guys trip to the Harding Ranch 45minutes North of Del Rio Tx. This was my 5th year back and as usual it never disappoints. Always a fun time with friends Drinking scotch, smoking cohibas, and shooting stuff.
Day 1: 4 of us headed over this year for our annual guys trip. We left Globe AZ at 0300 and made the 12 hour drive to the Harding ranch on Sunday January 19th. We were met at the gate by the new guide Derek (as well as a herd of oryx and nilgai cows) who let us in and handed us the keys to the house and the side by sides.
Being our 5th year back we don’t generally need much guiding (none at all other than we take a little help with some odds and ends). We got paperwork signed and our gear hauled into the house We hadn’t planned on hunting that first night but we got to the ranch with enough time to go crawl into the blinds over the feeders for an hour or so. We all crawled into separate blinds for the evening with no real plans to shoot anything other than maybe a hog. I hadn’t been in the blind for more than 2 minutes when a herd of about 36 aoudad came off the hill and straight into the feeder 100 yards away. Now this is a meat hunt mostly for us. So we had 4 aoudad ewes on the list. I picked a young looking ewe and head shot her with a suppressed .223. Bang flop. That was the only animal we shot the first night so we grilled a half a backstrap and ate good. I also didn’t take a picture cause you know head shot.
Day 2: first official hunting day. Up early and into the blinds before first light. Nothing was taken. We saw fallow deer, axis deer, bison, whitetails, nilgai, maybe a few others. About 0900 we all were getting a little cold so we climbed out and went back to the house to regroup and come up with a plan for the rest of the day. Some of the guys had seen a herd of aoudad on a far ridge so we all headed that direction looking for anything to shoot. We tried to work in on some bison but they never gave us a shot on a cow so we moved on. We climbed a ridge and spotted a herd of 10-15 aoudad at about 600 yards. We worked in on them and really wanted to get as close as possible because the wind was blowing at like a sustained 20mph. We closed the distance to like 385 yards and since this was Scott’s first time here we let him shoot. He made a decent shot but hit further back than he wanted due to the wind drift being worse than we anticipated. We saw the hit and saw where the sheep went so we opted to give the sheep a few hours before looking for it. We headed back up to the house for a quick lunch and I went over and cut up my aoudad that had been hanging in the cold temperatures. We drove around the ranch a bit and gave Scott the tour. The rest of us had been there before. We saw all kinds of critters.
About 1500 we headed back out to look for Scott’s aoudad. It didn’t take long to find his ewe. Still alive but barely. Scott finished it with a single shot.
Me and Scott headed over to the skinning shed to take care of his sheep while Lance and Ricky headed out trying to shoot something else. After Scott and I got finished with cleaning his sheep we looked at each other and decided we had an other hour or so to hike around and glass for more critters. We had 8 Catalina goat Nannie’s on our package so we figured we’d go back behind the house and hike some ridgelines looking for goats. Nothing in the first canyon except a big axis buck. But as soon as we looked into canyon number 2 we saw a group of maybe 10
Hogs rooting on the edge of the brush. We quickly closed the distance to about 140 yards. I gave Scott the go ahead on a big sow that was third in line and he tickled the trigger. Bang flop and the rest of the group ran. I tracked one running up the hillside. She couldn’t tell where the shot came from since we were shooting suppressed rifles. I rolled her with a single shot. Good thing Scott is a big guy because I am not and it was work getting those two hogs out of that canyon. We never toss the hogs out like some guys. They all get turned into sausage.
The other guys came close on a couple aoudad but didn’t close the deal. Aoudad tenderloin and Glenfiddich 12 year for dinner.
Day 3: Lance had his eye on a good axis buck. Scott and I had a date with goats. Lance and Ricky crawled into a blind where they’d been seeing axis and Scott and I planned to hike up the ridge behind the house to look for goats. Scott and I left about 20 minutes after daylight and made it about 100 yards from the house before we heard a suppressed rifle shot from Lance. Axis buck down crackled over the radio. Scott wanted a bison cow and as soon as Lance announced axis buck down he asked if Scott wanted to shoot a bison. Heck ya! So we hiked the 1/2 mile or so over to the blind where Ricky and Lance were. There was 3 bison including a very large cow feeding. Scott made a perfect shot just at the base of the skull dropping the cow without a twitch. Not bad for the first 30 minutes of daylight! The bison would take a good chunk of the day to deal with.
After using a skid steer to retrieve the bison we all went over to the skinning shed. Lance and Ricky worked on his axis buck and me and Scott skinned his bison. It was work! About 1pm though we were all ready to head back out. Scott and Lance opted to sit in a blind for a bit. Ricky and I opted to hike a ridgeline and look for some Oryx. There was half a dozen broke horn scimitar oryx and Ricky wanted to try for one with his bow. We hiked around several canyons and eventually ended up on a little Mesa top. As we eased through some cedars I saw a flash of white and knew it was an oryx. We eased up around some brush and suddenly we were within 50 yards of a broadside oryx with about 5 others behind it. Ricky got ready and drew his bow back. Something went wrong and his arrow flew very high hitting the oryx just above the spine. I knew immediately it was a bad shot and swung my rifle as the animal turned to run. I hit it but wasn’t sure where. We ended up following blood for like 1.5 miles until at dark we saw them 1500 yards away. One was lagging behind the others in the group. We opted to come back to find it in the morning.
Day 4: started the search for Ricky’s wounded oryx at first light. It didn’t take long. It turns out my rifle shot had hit the animal in the lower jaw and it was hurting. A couple final shots from my rifle ended it quickly only a few hundred yards from where we had seen the lagging animal at last light.
The rest of the day we spent cutting meat and taking out a couple of Catalina goat Nannie’s. Lance shot one at about 30 yards and I shot one at 309 yards. Ricky connected on an aoudad ewe with his bow.
Day 5: bison day for me. I got out at first light looking for a bison cow for me. Lance and I ran all over the place checking feeders openings for bison. We saw exactly 0. I did roll another goat off a cliff with a handy 250 yard shot. I spent the entire day hiking all over the place looking for bison. It was hot. T shirt weather. Sunny. I spent the afternoon looking for the bison at the feeders and openings and then it dawned on me that it was hot. They needed water. I hiked up a ridge line and started glassing water troughs. Bingo! Found a bull and a cow a few hundred yards below me. I wanted to make a single clean shot. I snuck down through the rocks and brush eventually closing the distance to 30 yards without them noticing anything. I dropped the cow with a single shot just behind the base of the head.
I spent the rest of the day skinning and gutting my bison. More work! Lance was able to get on an aoudad ewe in the canyon behind the house.
Day 6: final day. We got up and got Ricky on a goat. And then Scott was able to get a goat with his suppressed .30-30. He bought one of the Henry x models for this trip and was excited about taking a goat at 100 yards after a solid stalk across two ridge fingers. Far more exciting than just popping them from afar as I did. Ricky got a second goat late in the afternoon. We got all the meat squared away in coolers. Nothing like loading down the coolers with a years worth of meat. We settled up and enjoyed one last dinner and drinks. We hit the road at first light for the drive home.
All in all it was another awesome trip. 16 animals between the 4 of us. An axis buck, a oryx, two hogs, two bison, 4 aoudad ewes, and 6 goats. We saw plenty of animals. Never a boring time in the field. If I didn’t have an African taxidermy bill and shipping coming up in a few months I would have been adding a Mouflan for sure. Maybe next year. Anyone looking for a nice time in the hill country chasing exotics or whitetails I’d recommend the Harding Ranch. I’ll be back next year.
Day 1: 4 of us headed over this year for our annual guys trip. We left Globe AZ at 0300 and made the 12 hour drive to the Harding ranch on Sunday January 19th. We were met at the gate by the new guide Derek (as well as a herd of oryx and nilgai cows) who let us in and handed us the keys to the house and the side by sides.
Being our 5th year back we don’t generally need much guiding (none at all other than we take a little help with some odds and ends). We got paperwork signed and our gear hauled into the house We hadn’t planned on hunting that first night but we got to the ranch with enough time to go crawl into the blinds over the feeders for an hour or so. We all crawled into separate blinds for the evening with no real plans to shoot anything other than maybe a hog. I hadn’t been in the blind for more than 2 minutes when a herd of about 36 aoudad came off the hill and straight into the feeder 100 yards away. Now this is a meat hunt mostly for us. So we had 4 aoudad ewes on the list. I picked a young looking ewe and head shot her with a suppressed .223. Bang flop. That was the only animal we shot the first night so we grilled a half a backstrap and ate good. I also didn’t take a picture cause you know head shot.
Day 2: first official hunting day. Up early and into the blinds before first light. Nothing was taken. We saw fallow deer, axis deer, bison, whitetails, nilgai, maybe a few others. About 0900 we all were getting a little cold so we climbed out and went back to the house to regroup and come up with a plan for the rest of the day. Some of the guys had seen a herd of aoudad on a far ridge so we all headed that direction looking for anything to shoot. We tried to work in on some bison but they never gave us a shot on a cow so we moved on. We climbed a ridge and spotted a herd of 10-15 aoudad at about 600 yards. We worked in on them and really wanted to get as close as possible because the wind was blowing at like a sustained 20mph. We closed the distance to like 385 yards and since this was Scott’s first time here we let him shoot. He made a decent shot but hit further back than he wanted due to the wind drift being worse than we anticipated. We saw the hit and saw where the sheep went so we opted to give the sheep a few hours before looking for it. We headed back up to the house for a quick lunch and I went over and cut up my aoudad that had been hanging in the cold temperatures. We drove around the ranch a bit and gave Scott the tour. The rest of us had been there before. We saw all kinds of critters.
About 1500 we headed back out to look for Scott’s aoudad. It didn’t take long to find his ewe. Still alive but barely. Scott finished it with a single shot.
Me and Scott headed over to the skinning shed to take care of his sheep while Lance and Ricky headed out trying to shoot something else. After Scott and I got finished with cleaning his sheep we looked at each other and decided we had an other hour or so to hike around and glass for more critters. We had 8 Catalina goat Nannie’s on our package so we figured we’d go back behind the house and hike some ridgelines looking for goats. Nothing in the first canyon except a big axis buck. But as soon as we looked into canyon number 2 we saw a group of maybe 10
Hogs rooting on the edge of the brush. We quickly closed the distance to about 140 yards. I gave Scott the go ahead on a big sow that was third in line and he tickled the trigger. Bang flop and the rest of the group ran. I tracked one running up the hillside. She couldn’t tell where the shot came from since we were shooting suppressed rifles. I rolled her with a single shot. Good thing Scott is a big guy because I am not and it was work getting those two hogs out of that canyon. We never toss the hogs out like some guys. They all get turned into sausage.
The other guys came close on a couple aoudad but didn’t close the deal. Aoudad tenderloin and Glenfiddich 12 year for dinner.
Day 3: Lance had his eye on a good axis buck. Scott and I had a date with goats. Lance and Ricky crawled into a blind where they’d been seeing axis and Scott and I planned to hike up the ridge behind the house to look for goats. Scott and I left about 20 minutes after daylight and made it about 100 yards from the house before we heard a suppressed rifle shot from Lance. Axis buck down crackled over the radio. Scott wanted a bison cow and as soon as Lance announced axis buck down he asked if Scott wanted to shoot a bison. Heck ya! So we hiked the 1/2 mile or so over to the blind where Ricky and Lance were. There was 3 bison including a very large cow feeding. Scott made a perfect shot just at the base of the skull dropping the cow without a twitch. Not bad for the first 30 minutes of daylight! The bison would take a good chunk of the day to deal with.
After using a skid steer to retrieve the bison we all went over to the skinning shed. Lance and Ricky worked on his axis buck and me and Scott skinned his bison. It was work! About 1pm though we were all ready to head back out. Scott and Lance opted to sit in a blind for a bit. Ricky and I opted to hike a ridgeline and look for some Oryx. There was half a dozen broke horn scimitar oryx and Ricky wanted to try for one with his bow. We hiked around several canyons and eventually ended up on a little Mesa top. As we eased through some cedars I saw a flash of white and knew it was an oryx. We eased up around some brush and suddenly we were within 50 yards of a broadside oryx with about 5 others behind it. Ricky got ready and drew his bow back. Something went wrong and his arrow flew very high hitting the oryx just above the spine. I knew immediately it was a bad shot and swung my rifle as the animal turned to run. I hit it but wasn’t sure where. We ended up following blood for like 1.5 miles until at dark we saw them 1500 yards away. One was lagging behind the others in the group. We opted to come back to find it in the morning.
Day 4: started the search for Ricky’s wounded oryx at first light. It didn’t take long. It turns out my rifle shot had hit the animal in the lower jaw and it was hurting. A couple final shots from my rifle ended it quickly only a few hundred yards from where we had seen the lagging animal at last light.
The rest of the day we spent cutting meat and taking out a couple of Catalina goat Nannie’s. Lance shot one at about 30 yards and I shot one at 309 yards. Ricky connected on an aoudad ewe with his bow.
Day 5: bison day for me. I got out at first light looking for a bison cow for me. Lance and I ran all over the place checking feeders openings for bison. We saw exactly 0. I did roll another goat off a cliff with a handy 250 yard shot. I spent the entire day hiking all over the place looking for bison. It was hot. T shirt weather. Sunny. I spent the afternoon looking for the bison at the feeders and openings and then it dawned on me that it was hot. They needed water. I hiked up a ridge line and started glassing water troughs. Bingo! Found a bull and a cow a few hundred yards below me. I wanted to make a single clean shot. I snuck down through the rocks and brush eventually closing the distance to 30 yards without them noticing anything. I dropped the cow with a single shot just behind the base of the head.
I spent the rest of the day skinning and gutting my bison. More work! Lance was able to get on an aoudad ewe in the canyon behind the house.
Day 6: final day. We got up and got Ricky on a goat. And then Scott was able to get a goat with his suppressed .30-30. He bought one of the Henry x models for this trip and was excited about taking a goat at 100 yards after a solid stalk across two ridge fingers. Far more exciting than just popping them from afar as I did. Ricky got a second goat late in the afternoon. We got all the meat squared away in coolers. Nothing like loading down the coolers with a years worth of meat. We settled up and enjoyed one last dinner and drinks. We hit the road at first light for the drive home.
All in all it was another awesome trip. 16 animals between the 4 of us. An axis buck, a oryx, two hogs, two bison, 4 aoudad ewes, and 6 goats. We saw plenty of animals. Never a boring time in the field. If I didn’t have an African taxidermy bill and shipping coming up in a few months I would have been adding a Mouflan for sure. Maybe next year. Anyone looking for a nice time in the hill country chasing exotics or whitetails I’d recommend the Harding Ranch. I’ll be back next year.
