Cody Johnson Harvests Massive Markhor During Texas Ranch Hunt
The country music star shared behind-the-scenes footage of his hunt at Texas' Covered S Ranch.
Last summer, Cody Johnson made headlines when he bagged a world-record Transcaspian urial ram during a hunt at the Covered S Ranch. But that's not all he got on that trip.
The country music star also harvested a gorgeous markhor.
What is a markhor, you ask? Think of it as a large, wild goat with giant cavatappi pasta for antlers. They're native to the mountainous regions of Central and South Asia. Fun fact: the markhor is the national animal of Pakistan.
But they also have some in Snyder, Texas. And with enough skill and a large sum of cash, you might be lucky enough to find one.
The Covered S Ranch is one of the premier big game hunting preserves in the country. It costs thousands of dollars (plus a trophy fee) to gain access to the land and to the guides there, but that investment gives hunters an opportunity to harvest big game animals that simply aren't roaming in the woods or the plains where most of us live.
If, that is, you can chase one down.
Markhors typically stay up in higher elevation areas, which make them tricky to hunt. If you want one, you better be ready to work for it. Johnson explained in the video that markhors climb very high on the property and like to bed on cliff edges. Johnson said he had a hard time tracking down his markhor after it went down in a ravine.
Eventually, though, he landed his trophy.
Of course, exotic, high-fence hunting like this is not without its critics — though it is legal and heavily regulated.
Some see it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on private land. Others argue that record-book animals (like Johnson's ram) should be taken on free-range, fair-chase terms. Safari Club International (SCI) accepts certain high-fence hunts into its record book, provided they meet strict fair-chase criteria. Other organizations, like Boone and Crockett, do not.
But it's pretty clear where Cody Johnson stands on the issue.
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