Couple months ago got my meat back from my TX Aoudad hunt in Feb. Everyone I talked to really made it seem like the meat is next to nasty, near inedible. With wife and kids gone again I decided to test it out. I grabbed a 8" chunk of backstrap out of the freezer and a whitetail tenderloin from my home grown ND muzzeloader buck (1st deer with a smoke pole). The Aoudad came from a high fence ranch, got it off a auction that didn't have a very good description, TX hill country and the animals have access to various feed such as cotton seed and alfalfa. The whitetail have a variety of acorns, soybeans, corn native grass and a little fresh alfalfa (not much alfalfa field these days).
Seasoned up each piece and let sit for a few hours.
The Aoudad (bigger piece) got a light coat of TX Rub and good coating of Camo. The Whitetail got a good does of TX Rub and dusting of Blanco.
Fired up the pellet pooper with Scheels Bold Blend (or something like that). Aoudad went on first for about an 1.5hr or so at 160 to get a little smoke on it and Whitetail was on for about 30min. Had a cast iron pan preheating and once the Aoudad was about 95F IT i opened up the diffuser and got the CI ripping hot lubbed with a little oil and butter. Started rolling the aoudad watching the IT the whole time aiming to pull it around 125-130F IT and set it off to the side then threw the Whitetail on for a few minutes on each side. Final ITs got a little higher than I wanted but they came out just fine
Cut them open and like what I see.
My opinion on the Aoudad is that it isn't that bad overall, taste was fine, tenderness was fine stayed juicy and the rub combo paired well. The whitetail tenderloin was great as usual. I probably wouldn't put aoudad above whitetail but both pieces ended up in my belly with no complaints.
This kind of shows that you can't always trust everyone else and it pays to experiment. I look forward to doing a little more experiments.
Seasoned up each piece and let sit for a few hours.
The Aoudad (bigger piece) got a light coat of TX Rub and good coating of Camo. The Whitetail got a good does of TX Rub and dusting of Blanco.
Fired up the pellet pooper with Scheels Bold Blend (or something like that). Aoudad went on first for about an 1.5hr or so at 160 to get a little smoke on it and Whitetail was on for about 30min. Had a cast iron pan preheating and once the Aoudad was about 95F IT i opened up the diffuser and got the CI ripping hot lubbed with a little oil and butter. Started rolling the aoudad watching the IT the whole time aiming to pull it around 125-130F IT and set it off to the side then threw the Whitetail on for a few minutes on each side. Final ITs got a little higher than I wanted but they came out just fine
Cut them open and like what I see.
My opinion on the Aoudad is that it isn't that bad overall, taste was fine, tenderness was fine stayed juicy and the rub combo paired well. The whitetail tenderloin was great as usual. I probably wouldn't put aoudad above whitetail but both pieces ended up in my belly with no complaints.
This kind of shows that you can't always trust everyone else and it pays to experiment. I look forward to doing a little more experiments.
