Cody Johnson may only be a country music star so that he can finance his dream hunting trips.
The “Dirt Cheap” singer is anything but cheap when it comes to big game hunting. That’s made evident by his trip to the Covered S Ranch in Synder, Texas last year, which is one of the premier big game hunting preserves in the country. It costs a pretty penny (more on that in a bit) to gain access to the land and guides that work there, and it appears that Cody Johnson didn’t mind paying the hunting and trophy fee (especially considering the fact that he now holds a world record after his hunt there).
CoJo described his trip there as “the hunting experience of a lifetime.”
The “Dirt Cheap” singer took to his Instagram back in September to share a picture of a Transcaspian Urial ram that he downed during his trip. The bearded ram (that’s typically native to Central and South Asia) he bagged was massive, and ended up being recognized in the Safari Club International record books, as Johnson explained in his caption:
“I wanna thank my buddy Patrick Smith for introducing me to Chet Pharies with the Covered S Ranch. The experience I had there will go down in history, not only in the Safari Club International record books, but it will go down in history as my greatest hunting accomplishment so far in my life!
I never thought in a million years that I would hold a world record, and I’m so grateful not only to Patrick and Chet, but to Mark and Andrew at the Covered S ranch for their hard work and preparation that made this hunt possible.”
But that wasn’t the only animal be bagged and tagged during the trip.
The day after he shot that world record ram, CoJo went back out on the sprawling Covered S Ranch in search of a markhor. If you aren’t familiar with the animal, it’s also known as the screw-horned goat, and it’s a Capra species that’s usually native to the mountain regions in Central and South Asia.
Here’s a teaser that he shared for the hunt that was captured on camera:
Markhors typically stay up in higher elevation areas, which make them harder to hunt. Cody Johnson even explained in the video that the rams (like the one he shot) on the property climb pretty high, though apparently not as high as the markhor. They like to bed on cliff edges, and usually travel with other markhors.
That makes for a tougher hunt, but nothing that Cody Johnson couldn’t handle.
The Covered S Ranch and all of its resources also made the experience one that was easier, though making the shot on the markhor is only really half the hunt since the animals stay up higher in the mountain areas. Johnson and his guides confirmed that when they tracked down an old Markhor and brought it down.
The only problem? Once Cody took the shot, there was a ravine between where they fired from and where the markhor went down. Then, once they did get close to where they thought the screw-horned goat went down, they struggled to find a blood trail.
But as you’ll see, they eventually found the trophy animal. And if you didn’t think this was a luxurious hunt already… they used a helicopter to carry the markhor out of there. Talk about high-class living and hunting.
You can watch the entirety of the hunt in the “Chasing Legends” video below:
