Shamelessly copied and pasted from another forum in which I participate.


My two older kids are both of hunting age and have done pretty well in recent years with Texas whitetails and New Mexico elk. As soon as they finished hunters' ed and could be put in the draw for "bigger" game (NM allows non-hunters' ed "mentored youth" to hunt deer, javelina, and turkey), I started putting them in for other NM game species, including exotic oryx, brought here decades ago from the Kalahari Desert in Namibia (southern Africa).

2017 was their Year of the Oryx! In the April 2016 big game draw, my son drew a youth tag in what they call the off-range hunt, meaning he could hunt any public land (or private with permission) outside of the core area in which oryx reside (primarily the White Sands Missile Range and some adjacent government-owned land). His hunt was scheduled for the entire month of March 2017. In the April 2017 draw, my daughter drew a youth hunt on the missile range for September 2017. Both hunts have been conducted, and the results stand thus - kids 2, oryx 0.

Since there are some decent areas close to home for off-range oryx, the boy and I just did some day hunts. We had fun glassing, hiking, and shooting the random jackrabbit.





Late on the fourth day of hunting, I located a herd of a dozen or so oryx way out in the desert. After a nice stalk and a bit of a chase when we got busted while still too far for a shot, we closed the distance and he put his trusty Marlin .308 to good use to take his first oryx.





We were able to rassle the crazy thing up on to the game cart and wheel it back to the truck that we had left in a low spot on the dirt road. Here's a tired kid and oryx "reduced to possession" as the game and fish requires.




My daughter got to hunt a really good area on range, so we were pretty excited. Security is tight, but she got to bring three guests, so we made this a triple-generation affair, with her, good ol' Dad, and two, count 'em two, grandpas. We opted to put the camper in an RV park a bit closer to the gate through which we would enter the base. Here we are getting ready to head to the hunt check-in last Friday afternoon.



We got to the gate well before check-in time, and the hunt officials were already working the line handing out all the safety information and required security/safety waivers. Here's the kid reading up on the rules while we waited.



After a long wait, and the briefing on safety and hunting regulations, we were finally released to hunt at nearly 3PM. We headed straight to an area I hoped would hold oryx. No luck. We covered a bunch of ground, glassed a lot, and made a few attempts to get closer to some oryx, but ended up calling it a day at about 7 so we could check out before dark as required.

Luckily the next morning we got through the gate bright and early and started hunting right off. However, we didn't see any critters until nearly two hours after daylight, when we came upon a pair of oryx near an open grassy area. We made a play for them and were able to get the kid set up on the sticks for a fairly close shot at this one.



With the support crew.



Hunters on range are only allowed to take a few pictures of the downed oryx (no terrain, buildings, live oryx, field dressing, etc.), so these are the only pics I have.


Both of the kids had a great time hunting their first oryx and can't wait to apply in next year's draw. I can't either! And to think, the 8-year old is pretty close to her shot too!

Congratulations, looks like you all had a great time and were successful. I've always been interested in doing one of those hunts.

Very nice as much as I like harvesting game myself watching the kids do it is even better.

Now THAT is really great! Both kids having success thanks to Dad getting them out there!

Can't think of much that is better than hunting with your kids... Good on you for passing on the tradition.

I'm envious as well, never shot or hunted oryx. Thanks for posting the pics and story.

Z

Excellent adventure, those are the best kind of memories.

You are doing a great job Dad!
Great trophies for those two and a lifetime of memories for everyone on the hunt.
I know as much as you do the difficulties at times of getting a kid and a game animal together in the same place and getting them set up and the shot taken, not to mention all the training and shooting to get them ready for it.
The satisfaction though when it comes together is huge.
Great to see your kids grow up to be good hunters but the hunting makes them great kids too.
Way to go DesertRam!

Fantastic stuff. Congrats to you all.

Wow,what a great hunt for the kids.Congrats to both!!!

I had a leased ranch bordering the Missle base on War Road 11, many years ago..From time to time Floyd McDonald the range rider needed some help to move cattle, including some of mine that wondered onto the area..This was about 1954 best I recall?? there were a few Gemsbok there even back then, but were not hunted as I recall, but never in my life have I seen so many monster Mule Deer, as they had not been hunted at the time for some 20 years I was told, and it must be..Then in about 1960 the military opened the area to soldiers out of Ft. Bliss (El Paso). I recall that caused a Texas and New Mexico uproar and they apparently made it a draw hunt. IN the course of a day back then Ive seen as many as 5 Muley bucks over 35 inches, the big ones ran together early on in Sept. or October..Beautiful country behind the college in Las Cruces. I also knew the Cox family who ranched behind the College and bordered the bombing range and they had those big deer. He also had 2 or 3 beautiful daughters, and they were sho nuff real cowgirls for sure..

Good stuff and congrats to your kids.

Mark

Good job dad!

That is some wonderful eating, not to mention the memories!

Ray, you can ride? :-)

Very nice!

Outstanding

Good deal, great to see you sharing this with the kids, and especially that girl. congrats to them on the shots. Nice head and coloration.

Thanks for sharing,
George

quote:

Originally posted by just-a-hunter:
Always look forward to your posts! This one did not! Disappoint...

Nice!

What rifle did your daughter use?

Todd

Thanks Todd.

She used her mom's Ruger Hawkeye in .338 Federal shooting 185 grain factory-loaded ammo. When I bought the rifle that factory ammo was actually cheaper than virgin brass, so I just snagged 100 rounds of it. Now I'm trying to burn through all of it so I can load some 160 or 185 grain Barnes TTSXs, which ought to really shine in this cartridge.

The boy used 150 grain TTSXs for his and we had good performance with complete pass-throughs, which I like!

Biebs,
If your going to hunt at my age you better be learning to ride while your young, that'll extend your hunting career about 25 years!!