Found a property that has pronghorns, mule deer and gemsbok on it near Alamagordo, NM.

My father is thinking about buying it as a winter residence and it is about 360 acres.

Pronghorns will jump, but they kind of hate too. I have been told the same thing about gemsbok oryx in Africa.

I have taken 3 oryx in Namibia and this place is big enough to qualify for land owner oryx tags.

The land owner also owns 40,000 and runs cattle over the whole thing. Unless we want to pay his cattle feed bill with our grass we need to fence the property.

The question is if I put up a evaporation guzzler and maybe a couple of protein feeders, would gemsbok be kept out of it if I put up regular 4 strand barb wire cattle fence?

Do they use protein feeders?

I'll have to ask New Mexico Game and Fish if I can feed wildlife and then put the feeders in the garage the month before the hunting season.

Just read that you can't use feeders, so scratch that.

Looks like water isn't a problem though.

Still interested in your thoughts on what kind of fence I would need to keep out cattle, but still be inviting for oryx.

In Namibia they used plain wire fence that I assume held the cattle in and the gemsbok went thru or over. Maybe that would work here?

BigB

On the place I was on in Namibia they had sheep fence over most of the ranch. As they had sheep.

I never thought to ask about 4 strand barb, but the guy told me they couldn't get over sheep fence.

What about electric fencing , with the bottom wire at a height that the gemsbok could slide under it but cattle wouldnt ?

I've hunted BLM next to White Sands for oryx,and the boundary is a typical 3 strand barbed wire fence. It stopped the cattle but entire herds of oryx went across or under it all the time. Several nice stock tanks and the Rio Grande were within a few miles of the boundary, and the oryx liked both, but mostly lived on White Sands.

There are several big cattle ranches out there between the Rio Grande and White Sands. The military doesn't much like cattle on the missile range; that fence keeps the cows out.

Probably do 4 strand, and have the bottom wire be high tensile instead of barb.

I hope he buys it, he is looking at areas in Arizona and West Texas as well.

They just got back from Arizona and that is where my mother wants to snowbird.

One of the ranches they were going to look at the real estate agent in Carlsbad sold the next day and they cancelled their trip.

It was $400,000 for 1300 acres, had aoudad, mule deer, javelina and pronghorns. Might have even been big enough to get land owner antelope tags.

Oryx will go under/through most any fence you build. If they can't do that, they have no problem jumping over a fairly high fence.
Neither property you mentioned will qualify for landowner antelope tags after the NM Wildlife Federation (I call them 'Sportsmen Against Wildlife') mucked up the landowner antelope tag allocation. Antelope can jump fences also, they just don't like to. If the property you're looking at us up around Carrizozo, you might have a nice mule deer wander through occasionally. It is illegal to put up a feeder to attract wildlife in NM. It is legal to feed your goat though. Might consider buying a goat to help control the brush on your property.

Live really close to WhiteSands and deal with the Oryx on occasion. They will go under the fence or through it before they go over it.

May want to consider putting your bottom wire a bit higher than normal to allow them to come under easier.

This link is a must for anyone fencing in wildlife country.

http://wildlife.state.co.us/Si...thWildlifeInMind.pdf

quote:

The land owner also owns 40,000 and runs cattle over the whole thing. Unless we want to pay his cattle feed bill with our grass we need to fence the property.quote:

Or why don't you work out a long term lease for grazing the property? That would save you from having to fence the whole property.

quote:

Originally posted by Pancho:
Oryx will go under/through most any fence you build. If they can't do that, they have no problem jumping over a fairly high fence.
Neither property you mentioned will qualify for landowner antelope tags after the NM Wildlife Federation (I call them 'Sportsmen Against Wildlife') mucked up the landowner antelope tag allocation. Antelope can jump fences also, they just don't like to. If the property you're looking at us up around Carrizozo, you might have a nice mule deer wander through occasionally. It is illegal to put up a feeder to attract wildlife in NM. It is legal to feed your goat though. Might consider buying a goat to help control the brush on your property.

A man has to control the brush on his property.

quote:

Originally posted by taylorce1:

quote:

The land owner also owns 40,000 and runs cattle over the whole thing. Unless we want to pay his cattle feed bill with our grass we need to fence the property.quote:

Or why don't you work out a long term lease for grazing the property? That would save you from having to fence the whole property.

The place we are looking at is a development where most of the shareholders own 160 acres and there is free land between.

Fences like locks keep neighbors honest.

Pronghorns also prefer to go under a fence rather than over it. I observed it many times in Wyoming. It amazed me how fast they can squeeze themselves under such a low fence with the bottom strand only about 10" off the ground.

Deer also like to go under or through a fence, but will jump one a lot more often than antelope. Many times you will see where they have rubbed the hair off places on top of their back from rubbing when they go under a strand of wire.