The WOOA Reports: Exotic Hunt

Daniel Sowell and I hunted the Senora Texas area in search of an Exotic. We hunted the McPhearson Ranch in Sutton County. We were targeting an Exotic Ram called a Corsican Ram. Conditions were not ideal, we had a full moon for the last three nights, we had a tremendous season of acorns that provide a food source and the mesquite trees had not dropped their leaves yet. Conditions were tough to find these animals in the 3000 section of the ranch that we were hunting.

We set up early in the morning in an area where a pasture in front of us had a steep drop-off into a large bowl shaped area to the South. These animals are rock climbers and we anticipated that they would come up to us thru the steep terrain. There were White Tail and Fallow deer in the pasture in a very short time. We were observing their behavior closely. They will often look hard in the direction of oncoming animals. That is exactly what happened. A nice 9 point White Tail was looking in one direction for almost 30 seconds motionless. That is text-book for new animals approaching the area.

A herd of 9 or so Corsican entered the pasture in search of water. We were hunting an area that had a man made well to provide water to the animals in this part of the ranch. It did not take Daniel and I long to get a bead on this nice Male Ram.

Hunters Notes:

Corsican Rams are really hybrid sheep. Males mature at 1.5 years of age while females reach maturity as early as 7 months. They are usually brown in color with horns that can vary from a tight curl to broad spiral curl. Most of the time they will have a tight curl but sometimes they do flair out like the one we hunted. The Corsican Ram is the most commonly hunted exotic animals in the United States. They are brown, reddish, or tan with an attractive black main in front of their necks. A mature Corsican Ram will weigh as much as 125 lbs. These animals are from the West Indies. They originated in Texas approximately 40 years ago on the infamous Y.O. Ranch.

When mature, males fight to determine dominance and hierarchy. They are very aggressive among one another. Rams butt heads vigorously to prove their dominance. Usually they move as a heard and consist of a dominant male and possibly a few other younger males and a larger group of females. They form a tight flock when disturbed and then flee from danger as a group. They are most active in the early and late hours of the day and they seek shelter amongst trees, in brush, and inside ravines during harsh weather conditions.