It's been a while since I posted a hunt report here. At the risk of starting what seems like a nearly inevitable shitstorm because someone doesn't like someone else's hunting method, I'm' going to throw one out for the crowd. There's good, bad, maybe some ugly, so flame on if you care to...

Hunt Report: Free Range Oryx
Location: Southern New Mexico
Outfitter/guide: yours truly, with friends' help
Rifle: Kimber 8400 in .300 WSM shooting 150 grain Barnes TTSX
Other noteworthy gear: Kahles 10x42 bino, Eberlestock X1A1 pack, Bushnell rangefinder, Garmin Oregon 450 GPS with Kirsch's land ownership maps, Primos Trigger Sticks

Kalahari Gemsbok (Oryx gazella), commonly referred to as oryx, were released into New Mexico in the early 1970s to provide a big game hunting opportunity in an area of the state (the wide open Chihuahuan Desert) where big game was relatively scarce, primarily due to the lack of water and suitable habitat. Oryx, which were determined to be quite suitable for the region in studies conducted by the NM Game Commission, were originally introduced on the sprawling White Sands Missile Range (WSMR, a US Army base) in southern New Mexico. Game managers expected a huntable population by the year 2000. They seriously underestimated the reproductive capacity of these animals! With excellent habitat and virtually no predators aside from man, these animals thrive in their new environs. They adapted rapidly, and have expanded their range, much to the chagrin of some property owners and our now very xenophobic Department of Game and Fish. Populations have far exceeded the expectations of the original game managers in charge of their release, and now provide a unique hunt for over 1,000 people per year. New Mexico is likely the only place in the US where one can hunt truly free ranging oryx.

With very limited “natural” predation, oryx populations must be managed by hunting. New Mexico oryx hunts are divided into several categories, and all licenses are awarded through an allegedly random drawing. Unlike most other big game species in the state, there is no resident quota on oryx licenses, and non-residents typically draw more than half the available licenses. Within the Missile Range boundaries, specific areas are set aside for once-in-a-lifetime trophy hunts. These are areas that reliably produce trophy animals, year after year. There are also hunts on the Range for broken-horned oryx (BHO), those animals with at least one horn broken off at least 25% and deemed less trophy-worthy. Trophy and BHO hunts are held throughout the year and are only three days in duration. In the fringe areas of the Range, people with WSMR hunt badges (or one escorted by a badge holder) can apply for a license to hunt oryx. These licenses are valid for a given month, during which the hunter may hunt on non-working days in specific areas at WSMR. As I mentioned, oryx populations have expanded significantly in the last several decades, and there are now numerous animals outside of WSMR. Hunts for these animals are conducted in two ways. The first is a population reduction hunt, in which hunters who drew a “spot on the call list” in the random draw are called by the Game and Fish to hunt problem animals at the request of various agencies (USDA, Army, etc.). These hunts are generally arranged on short notice, and if the hunter is unable to participate, he/she loses the opportunity and the next hunter on the list is called. The final major category of oryx hunt in New Mexico is the off-range hunt. Hunters apply for a license to hunt oryx on lands not generally considered to be access-restricted, such as BLM, state trust land, Forest Service, and private land with permission. All other federal govt. agency lands (Army, Air Force, NASA, USDA, etc.) are off limits. Off-range licenses are valid for a full month. Read more about oryx hunting opportunities on the NM Game and Fish page.

In March, I applied for an oryx tag, selecting a BHO hunt as my first choice, an off-range hunt in September as my second choice, and an off-range hunt in August as my third choice. I know it sounds nuts (and it probably is) to want to hunt the southern NM desert in August, but the draw odds for September and August are considerably better than the other months, so that’s what I put in for. A couple months after applying, I learned that I had been drawn for the August off-range hunt! Although I’ve accompanied others on a number of hunts over the years, this would be by first time carrying a rifle since 2000, when I drew and filled my once-in-a-lifetime tag. Time flew by, and before I knew it the season was upon me. I didn’t get to scout much on my own, but I had gotten a few good tips from friends who had been successful or seen animals on public land.

One of these fellows volunteered to come along on Friday August 2, the first day I would be able to hunt. We were in position and glassing before the sun rose that morning. After a couple hours of glassing from different vantages, we located a nice bull all alone feeding in a grassy opening. He was a long way off, so we developed a plan to circle around him in the truck, get the wind in our favor, and make an approach. Nice plan, but it failed. We apparently circled out too far and couldn’t find him, so we pulled out and found another vantage point about halfway between where we though he was and where we had spotted him from. Bingo! We found him, but not before he had seen us and started edging away. He did stop broadside once at 448 yards, but I wasn’t comfortable with that shot. We watched him trot away. We tried to cut him off, but were hampered by a washed out road and the very thick brush into which he’d disappeared. Rather than push him too hard, we opted to leave him alone and hope that he followed the same feeding pattern the next day.

We spent another couple hours glassing around this location before deciding to pull up stake and head to another piece of BLM land adjacent to WSMR into which oryx sometimes wander (my partner for the day helped a guy kill one here in February). After a little windshield time, we turned off the highway and followed a rocky two-track into some real nice looking country. We found older sign and did a lot of glassing, but were not able to locate any animals. We did come upon an interesting concrete dam that held back a lot of water. The kids couldn’t resist taking some time to play with the tadpoles and a water snake we found there.





It was getting pretty late in the day, and I was starting to feel my dreaded annual summer cold coming on (perfect timing, right?), so we called it a day.

First thing Saturday morning I went straight back to where we had seen the big bull at 448 yards and started glassing. I spent about an hour behind the binocular but turned up nothing. Time for a relocation. I headed further north into an area with more broken terrain and heavier brush. Within a few minutes glassing from the toolbox, I located two oryx a couple hundred yards from the truck, moving away slowly. They both looked pretty small, but I figured a closer look was in order. I hopped down, grabbed the pack and rifle, and went after them. Unfortunately, the brush was much thicker and taller than it appeared from the truck, and I was unable to get my eyes on them. So after stumbling around aimlessly in the desert for a while ogling all the fresh oryx sign, I figured I’d better just give up and head out. I got back to the truck and circled around to look into the area from another vantage. I was able to spot the oryx again and look them over more closely this time. I determined they were both a bit small and not what I was looking for on the third day of a month-long season. I was starting to feel pretty crappy and knew that I had some chores to take care of, so I called it a day and headed to the house. After a cold medicine-induced nap, I got somewhat productive and canned some peaches and made peach jelly instead of fighting the heat out on the hunt.



My buddy from Friday was scheduled to come with me on Sunday, but ended up having to stay home to receive an early delivery of hay. I was solo again. However, he offered to come help after stacking hay if I managed to kill one. Still hoping for a shot at the big boy from Friday, I returned to his last known location. No amount of glassing from several elevated spots revealed him though. A little bummed, I headed further south. We’d seen some oryx in this area the week before the hunt, but figured they moved even deeper into an area of several square miles with no roads. I drove to the highest piece of ground I could find, climbed up on the toolbox, and started glassing. It wasn’t long before I spotted a small herd of oryx about a mile away in a grassy clearing. It was getting late in the day, and I knew it would be heating up, so I called up a buddy who had hunted this area before and asked for some advice. He directed me to a road on the south end of the area in which the oryx were feeding. I drove about ten miles around them only to find that I was still a mile or more from them! Oh well, at least the wind was better from this side.

I moved gear over from my little day pack into a bigger pack in case I needed to carry meat out, then I started walking. After chugging a bottle of water and a Gatorade, I left the truck at 11:30 am. By 12:30 I’d covered about a mile and a half of desert, crossed three big arroyos, and lost about five pounds of water weight. But I had closed the distance to about 400 yards and confirmed the animals’ location. By this time, the temperature had soared to over 90 degrees, so I knew I would need help if I killed one. I took a few minutes to make some calls and confirm that I still had support. I did, so it was a GO! This is where I made a big mistake. Thinking it would be a quick stalk and shot opportunity, I pulled the rifle from the Eberlestock pack scabbard and ditched the rest. Yes, my pack had all the water in it. Bad idea. The oryx were bushed up in a large copse of mesquite bushes/trees. I used some taller brush as cover to get within about 250 yards, but after that all that was left was knee-high scrub creosote. I watched from cover for a while, trying in vain to pick out a good oryx. They were so deep in the brush though that all I could see was a white face here, a flick of the tail there (they have tails like horses, and use them against flying insects in much the same manner), or a glint of horn there. They didn’t seem too inclined to leave the comfort of the only shade for hundreds of yards, so I decided to get closer. I duck-walked and crawled through the creosote brush, with sweat pouring off me and the sun heating my shooting sticks and rifle to near untouchable temperatures.

After about an hour of agonizingly slow forward movement, I had closed the distance to 151 yards. Now it was a standoff. I waited, and waited, and waited for an oryx to leave the shade. Did I mention it was hot? By this time, it was close to if not 100 degrees, and there I was stuck in the open desert with no water. Note to self: don’t leave your water behind, even for a “short” stalk. Anyway, after two hours of intermittently glassing the clump of mesquite and quickly getting on the rifle every time one looked like it was breaking cover, I got lucky. Somewhere a few miles away somebody let loose a string of rapid fire gunfire. Within a couple minutes, thunder boomed from an approaching storm. This combination of noise got the attention of a couple oryx and they wandered out of the thick brush into the more open creosote/grass. I glassed them quickly and determined that one was a small cow and one a decent bull. As they fed out into the open, a couple more began to move, and I noted that one was a pretty nice cow, with longer horns than both of the oryx that came out first. I decided she would be the target if possible.

The first two had different plans though. While the nice cow browsed around in the protection of the relatively thick mesquite thicket, they started feeding right toward me. Recall that I was crouched in knee-high creosote brush. When those two got within about 100 yards of me, the bull figured out I wasn’t an innocent bush and started to get a little nervous. The nice cow was still in the brush, presenting no shot. But with the bull staring me down, I figured the gig was up. I slowly rotated the rifle on my Trigger Sticks until the keen-eyed bull was in the scope. I could tell he was getting real antsy and was afraid he was about to bolt. After an hour-long walk and three hours of crouching, crawling, waiting, and sweating profusely, I wasn’t about to let this end with him thundering off into the desert with all the rest in tow. So, when he turned to leave, he presented a nice broadside shot that I did not refuse. The trigger break was a mild surprise, and the 150 grain Barnes was on its way before I knew it. I heard the solid “thwack” of bullet impacting oryx, and was sure I’d made a good hit. The bull whirled to run straight away, and when he did, all heck broke loose. There were oryx running everywhere, kicking up a huge cloud of dust. I lost sight of the bull I’d shot, so I started scanning for any oryx acting hurt and in need of a second bullet. I didn’t see anything suspicious. As the dust cleared, I was rewarded with the sight of my bull laying in the grass about 30 yards from where he’d been hit.

As I approached the downed bull, the clouds rolled in and rain began to fall. That cool respite didn’t last long though. The sun was back with a vengeance. After I snapped a few pictures…


...I knew I had to get help on the way if there was any hope of saving the meat in that kind of heat. While I returned to fetch my pack (and water!), I called the buddy who’d already offered his help, and another that lives nearby. Against their better judgment, both volunteered to assist with the meat retrieval in the heat, and started heading my way. I broke out the knives and meat bags and went to work. I removed the back straps and the hind quarter, shoulder, and neck meat from one side. I flopped him over to start working on the other side when the heat and three hours without water finally caught up to me. I managed to get the hide laid back from the meat on the other side before taking a break. I was feeling pretty from the combined effects of a cold and dehydration, so I laid down in a very small bit of shade, planning to rest for a few minutes. I’d been relaxing for about five minutes when my phone rang. My soon-to-be-assistants were nearly on the scene. I stood up to get their attention, as they were just 200 yards away. They headed my way, one of them bringing a badly needed Gatorade. I sucked it down and within a few minutes started to feel human again. With three sets of hands in action, we made quick work of the remaining meat care. We bagged all the meat, strapped it to our packs, and headed out towards the truck.

Here’s my new Eberlestock X1A1 loaded up with my gear for the day, the rifle, one quarter of the oryx, and the head and horns, just before tightening all the straps and moving out:


We had to navigate our way back through the maze of deep, steep-sided arroyos. We’d gone about half-way when the third and final helper (the fella that gave me the tip on circling around them) caught up to us and offered a bit of relief. We were about a half-mile from the truck when we encountered a two-track road that our new arrival knew from past experience was the extension of the road on which my truck was parked. We gladly dropped our loaded packs while he headed out to get a truck. About ten minutes later, my phone rang – flat tire (his second of the day). I double-timed it back to the truck to get things moving. We dropped my spare so he could test fit it while I drove back to the other two guys and the meat. We hurriedly removed the meat from the bags and got it in the cooler with ice. We loaded up and drove back out to meet up with the tire killer. Luckily, my spare fit his truck and we were ready. Six hours after pulling the trigger we were on the road to home.

Very nice report. I'm going to have to apply for that one day, I love gemsbok hunting.

Right on! I LOVE eating Oryx!

Great!!

Hey Desert Ram
Way to go! Thanks for the great hunt report and pictures, nice Bull too!
Good to see you are doing well haven't talked to you in a long while.

Excellent!

Congrats and thanks for the report!

Very nice report and hunt.

Oh hell yes! I've been putting in for an oryx tag for the past 4 out of 5 years. Maybe one of these days!

Congrats!!!

Congrats on a cool hunt, enjoy that meat, don't think there is any better.

Very Nice and Congrats
Looks like too much fun!!

Very, very cool hunt. I have killed several Gemsbok in Namibia, but I would really love to hunt them in NM. The fact that you get to fill the freezer with all that wonderful meat makes a NM oryx an even better trophy that one killed in Africa(IMO).

Congratulations on bloodying your new pack!

BTW, did it carry all that dead weight as well as it carried the "live weight" in your test?

Congrats on the hunt. Great report too. As good as anything I've read in a magazine lately. Thanks.

Great Story and pics!!!!

I've got to do the research and figure out how to do this. I would love to do this hunt with my kids.

Great Report!
Congratulations

Great report and fantastic gemsbok. I still remember all of your help when I took my Gemsbok off of Rhodes canyon. Thanks again, and congratulations.
Bill

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:
Congratulations on bloodying your new pack!

BTW, did it carry all that dead weight as well as it carried the "live weight" in your test?

Thanks, and yes, it worked pretty well, considering it doesn't really have a frame. I had a decent load on it and I was pretty pleased with it. I need to tweak the vertical adjustment to get it just a bit lower on my hips, then I'll be set. Now, if that oryx had arms to hang on to my neck when I was letting the pack down it would have been perfect!

I really liked it during the stalk with just the basic field gear and the rifle. It was nice to have my hands free to carry the extended shooting sticks and use both hands to glass PH-style. I think it's going to work out well.


I appreciate all the other comments too fellas. Thanks!

Thanks for rekindling my interest in NM oryx.

How difficult would it be for an east-coaster to draw a license that would allow for a proper amount of time to make reasonable arrangements for work, travel and accommodations?

Wow! All I can say is fantastic report, hunt, and a huge congrats from here. Thanks for posting.

quote:

Originally posted by dla69:
Thanks for rekindling my interest in NM oryx.

How difficult would it be for an east-coaster to draw a license that would allow for a proper amount of time to make reasonable arrangements for work, travel and accommodations?

Your best bet would probably be to apply for the once-in-a-lifetime hunts on the Missile Range. These hunts are three days in duration, and if you're willing to put in the effort, have a real good chance of yielding a nice trophy. You know well in advance when your hunt will be, and you can bring several visitors along with you to make your hunt easier (recovery) and more enjoyable. There are several good options for those hunts on the Range, so if you're interested in chatting more about them, just send me a PM and we'll chat. I've hunted on pretty much all the parts of the Range that are open, and would be happy to impart whatever little bits of "wisdom" I may have gained. I've accompanied a guy from New York, Utah (Bill shot a fantastic oryx a couple years ago), and a member from Ontario. Non-residents have just as a good a chance as we residents, but it's expensive - probably close to $1,800 by the time you buy the tag and pay the Missile Range their fee. In the long run it's cheaper to add one to an Africa trip, except you get to take home the meat. I had some oryx backstrap a couple days ago and it was fantastic!

Backstrap and zucchini getting ready:


And here's the backstrap fresh off the grill along with crispy fried zucchini:

You're killing me with the backstrap pics!!! I love eating oryx!

Gives me another tag to try and draw but the meat is definitely worth it. Congratulations.

Wow desertram, that is a great story and pictures. Not sure if I will ever make it to Africa but sure would like to get an Oryx here. They are beautiful animals. Really nice for the advice and offers to help. Will look you up if I get a tag

great report and congratulations! i can't get over how green the grass/scrub is in the desert. i haven't seen green grass around here in 3 months.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
great report and congratulations! i can't get over how green the grass/scrub is in the desert. i haven't seen green grass around here in 3 months.

It looks good, but it's deceptive. We're at the tail end of our annual monsoon, which lasted about a month and dumped probably 4-5 of our average 8 annual inches of precipitation (we're unlikely to get that 8 inches this year). The desert is green like that for about six weeks, then it turns back to the brown and grey we love so much!

Congratulations on a very successful hunt and a blow by blow so that I could be there.
From the looks of the steaks and squash, you are going to enjoy the hunt yet again!
Is there a reason that they schedule these hunts during the Heat of the year?

Seems like a recipe for wasting meat.

quote:

Originally posted by TCLouis:
Congratulations on a very successful hunt and a blow by blow so that I could be there.

Is there a reason that they schedule these hunts during the Heat of the year?

Seems like a recipe for wasting meat.

They schedule hunts pretty much year-round both on and off the range as a means of controlling the population. There are 78 of these off-range tags per month (60 "regular" and 18 youth only), June through March. If my math is correct, there are over 1,500 tags available every year for oryx on and off the range. That doesn't count the call list population reduction hunts, which probably averages another 75-100 hunts during the year. Like I mentioned, our current Game Commission and Department are pretty anti-exotic and efforts are underway to really cut back on the populations of oryx, ibex, and Barbary sheep (aoudad). It's a damn shame if you ask me.

Great write up Desert ram. Had a Rhodes Canyon OIL permit about 5 years ago. Definitely not the calk walk I thought it would be. What amazed me was everything looks flat until you start walking. We would never have found mine glassing from any roads.

Your name "Desert Ram" got my attention. I drew a tag out there this year. I would like to chat if you had some time.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Jim 1367:
Your name "Desert Ram" got my attention. I drew a tag out there this year. I would like to chat if you had some time.

Jim

Jim, my "handle" isn't associated with sheep, but I sent you a PM with contact info so we can chat. I'll eplain the derivation of my moniker then.

Fantastic!


.

Great story of a great hunt it sounds like. Good to see the Kids afield too! You already know this now, but in the dry, cold, hostile lands, the moment you walk away from your water, survival supplies, whatever, but mostly water where you were anyway, is the moment your walk gets very risky. I grew up in that sort of land and still carry way too much water. At least that is what my cohorts tell me. I don't' believe them.
Thanks again for the story!

I used to live in the Vegas/Wagon Mound area and remember reading when they decided to really hammer the Barbary Sheep in the Canadian Canyon.

They seemed to also destroy the deer population in that area with several years of doe hunts.

That is a KEWL old dam. Looks like many a small batch of concrete to form it in the first place.

Is it on the Range, BLM or private land?

quote:

Originally posted by TCLouis:
Is it on the Range, BLM or private land?

Off-range, public land.

I really enjoyed that dam. I may go back for a visit during dove season if I can find a quicker way in from another direction. The way in and the way out we used both took well over an hour to drive over pretty rough ground.

quote:

Originally posted by Fury01:
You already know this now, but in the dry, cold, hostile lands, the moment you walk away from your water, survival supplies, whatever, but mostly water where you were anyway, is the moment your walk gets very risky.
Thanks again for the story!

Yeah, I know/knew it, just thought I could cheat it this time. It was supposed to be a quick stalk, chip shot, and get on with it. So much for that, eh?