Long pursuit for elusive aoudad

By Nate Skinner

For Lone Star outdoor newS

It’s no secret Texas is one of the top destinations for hunting white-tailed deer. According to the latest U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recreation survey, the state ranked among the highest for the annual number of deer hunters it accommodates, as well as the number of days spent deer hunting by people in the state each year.

One figure most people probably aren’t as familiar with is the annual total spent by both hunters and landowners on whitetailed deer hunting activities — $4.3 billion.

To better understand the value of whitetailed deer in our state’s economy, Texas A&M University Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management and the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute conducted a web-based survey of a random sample of 100,000 Texas hunting license holders from the 2022-23 season.

According to the report, they were able to direct participants to separate questionnaires, one hunter-focused and the other landowner-focused, based on a filtering question, which asked, “Do you own hunting land in Texas?”

They received about a 9-percent response rate, with a total of 9,079 unique responses between hunters and landowners, 6,275 (69 percent) of which responded they do not own land. Based on the respondents who reported expenses related to white-tailed deer hunting in Texas during the 2022-23 season, the average hunter expenditures totaled $3,348.

Most of these hunters reported hunting 10 days or fewer over the course of the season. Based on the breakdown of where those who were surveyed hunted, 52 percent hunted on land owned by family or friends, 41 percent leased land, 5 percent hunted on public land and 2 percent hunted with outfitters.

The most common expenses included licenses, transportation, meals, shooting equipment, feed and feeders. The most costly annual expenses, on the other hand, included outfitter or guide fees, lease fees, lodging and land management activities.

Nearly 2,000 hunters reported lease fees as a significant expense when hunting white-tailed deer, posting an average lease fee of $2,904.

The report accounted for 2,804 hunters who claimed to own hunting land, and calculated an average of $18,812 in landowner expenditures against an average revenue of $20,658.

According to the study, an estimated 554,900 white-tailed deer hunters spend about $1.9 billion annually, and roughly 198,500 white-tailed deer landowners spend about $2.5 billion annually.

By Lili Keys Lone Star outdoor newS

A six-month pursuit of a particular aoudad certainly tested Hunter Lively’s deter mination. It wasn’t until his 42nd hunt when he was final ly able to lay eyes on the ram that had been evading him, wearing its mythical aura like a cloak.

Lively guides upland bird and big game hunts at Greystone Castle in Mingus.

“I was preparing for my first (guided) hunt after my son was born, checking trail cam eras for a customer, and I kept noticing this aoudad,” Lively said. “He was just so consis tent on the game cameras. I decided I wanted to go after him and the whole thing spi raled into a six-month event.”

Early in the pursuit, the bow hunting enthusiast couldn’t catch up to the ram in the day light, so he decided to take to the trees with the hope of clos ing the distance in the timber.

Although an accomplished hunter, Lively hadn’t spent much time hunting in treestands. Ron Stott, a contract guide for Greystone, mentored Lively and taught him everything he knew about hunt- ing with elevation. Switching methods turned out to be ineffective, however, as Lively never once laid eyes on the ram from a tree. After 40 unsuccessful archery hunts, Lively again decided to switch things up, this time taking a rifle. “The hunt before I got him, it was more than 100 degrees in the box blind,” he said.