Texas Exotics

[Ugly Dog]

Aoudad is not the best table fair. It's best to ground into breakfast sausage or similar then it's fine. African plains game are just about all really good eating.

Good to know. The guy that told me about eating Audad said prepare and season the meat get your well seasoned cast iron skillet good and hot. Toss the meat in the garbage! Let the skillet cool then eat the skillet. ))))

 

[Elkeater]

Good to know. The guy that told me about eating Audad said prepare and season the meat get your well seasoned cast iron skillet good and hot. Toss the meat in the garbage! Let the skillet cool then eat the skillet. ))))

I ate mine. Good flavor, very tough. Grind everything including the backstrap and tenderloin, add some pork fat and make breakfast sausages, brats, chorizo etc. I did I a thread on this a couple years ago. https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/eating-aoudad.235619/

 

[wildcat westerner]

With regard to Oryx or Gemsbock ( two names, same animal), I would seriously dispute the statement of that animal not being the best wild game to eat on this planet! I've consumed both African and U.S. Oryx from New Mexico and it is OUTSTANDING! Perhaps some oryx in some pen somewhere has been fed something that affects the taste of that animal. Any wild oryx subsisting on the desert environment is extremely tasty.
For those of you wanting to hunt these incredible animals, I suggest two things: patience and the New Mexican draw hunts. Everybody with a rifle tries to draw the Oryx once in a lifetime hunt as a native New Mexican resident. Non residents get few tags but so few non residents apply for this hunt that the odds for a non resident are higher than anybody living in the state of New Mexico. From what Iam reading in this column it would be much cheaper to hunt on the WSMB ( White Sands Missile Base) in New Mexico, which is 3x as large as Rhode Island, than other places which feature these animals. Since they are such nomadic animals, they have gone off base to both Texas and Arizona.

 

[the blur]

I have a few free range exotics in mind, but trying to line up a butcher that ships UPS is not easy.
Can you recommend someone ? I typically fly in, then rent a car.

 

[wildcat westerner]

With regard to the Oryx on White Sands Missile Base, there is a butcher and taxidermist stationed at the entrance gate, and the butcher did a great job for me. Oryx tastes so great I cannot imagine anyone who could demean its quality. Since I wanted my Oryx mounted for someone else,the taxidermist caped my animal and split the lips so I could safely ship it and he only charged me $50.00.

 

[the blur]

I found a few free range Black Bucks hunts in TX. They don't look very big, but would make a nice mount. I may do that if I get low on meat.

 

[Panhandlin Pat]

I ate mine. Good flavor, very tough. Grind everything including the backstrap and tenderloin, add some pork fat and make breakfast sausages, brats, chorizo etc. I did I a thread on this a couple years ago. https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/eating-aoudad.235619/

I shot one out of palo duro one time. The back straps dulled my knife, you could see the connective tissue between muscle fibers. It was crazy, but ram was aged at 14 years old by taxidermist.

Oryx are delicious, red stag eat like elk, black buck are delicious as well (comparable to a good pronghorn), axis are amazing. The sheep usually make ok sausage. When I used to guide high fence hunts most clients agreed that axis and blackbuck were the best eating. I never killed any though so don't know from personal experience.

 

[CA48]

Elk eater is right. Grind up Audad into sausage, or put in a crockpot pot. The meat has good flavor but is tough.
I have no idea how much a Nilgai hunt cost as buddy's have offered me cow hunts for free but the meat is excellent and you get a lot. They run wild down there on the coast and get spooked easily, it can be a tough hunt. The last Nilgai hunt I went on, I went home empty handed.

 

[Buffalobwana]

95% of hunting done in Africa is high fenced. Texas great alternative and great place. You can find Aoudad, axis, and black buck free range is Texas in places. pretty much everything else will be high fenced. As long as is a big enough property it's a good hunt it's worth while. Don't get hung up on the high fence if it's fun and you like it, do it!

This couldn't be farther from the truth. You are confusing Africa with South Africa. You are also confusing TX Hill country with the rest of Texas.

I'd venture a guess that 5% of the state of Texas is high fenced. Possibly less.

We have Alligators and Black Bears in the East (can't hunt the bears, but you can hunt Gators!). A short 14 hour drive to the west will get you into the Glass, Chianti and Davis Mountains where you will find Desert Bighorn, naturally occurring Elk populations Javelina and a ton of Aoudad. Go another 12 -14 hours north and you can hunt Mule Deer, Whitetail and Pronghorn in the panhandle.

In between all of that, you have the King Ranch with Nilgai and Whitetail, Pronghorn before you hit far West Texas. You will find the odd game ranch outside the hill country, but they get scarce the farther you get from there.

Texas is enormous and the hunting possibilities are vast. It's not a fenced state by any measure.

Yes, the majority of hunting in South Africa is fenced. Most of the plainsgame in Botswana is fenced (by law, or you are forced to pay license fees.) but even then, I have found their idea of fenced can be a bit murky in areas, because, "There is a fence somewhere". The ranches I have hunted there are enormous. 110,000 and 150,000 acres with one perimeter fence.

Namibia seems to be 50:50 (roughly). They have some incredible communal conservancy properties that are as wild as it gets. I hunted the Ehi-Rovipuka and Omatadenka conservancies. Unbelievable experience with Lions, Leopard and Elephants roaming the bush.

Dangerous game, outside of South Africa is almost all free range. Zambia and Zimbabwe do have a couple fenced ranches, but vast majority of DG hunting is free range. Tanzania and Mozambique have none that I'm aware of (possibly there are some, just never heard of one).

 

[Plinker147]

Yes it is true re-read my post. I didn't say most of Texas I said most of the exotic hunting in Texas is high fenced.

Last I check I checked South Africa is part of Africa! Once again most of the hunting people do in Africa is plains game and is high fenced. Most can't afford the true bush type hunts

 

[the blur]

Is it low fenced or high fenced? ??