My buddy and I took a couple days off prior to Thanksgiving and decided to head out to Texas to add a scimitar horned oryx to our trophy rooms.

The hunt was booked thru MMK Outfitters via Mark. MMK Outfitters Jeremy, Mark's business partner, was our guide on the hunt. Travis the ranch manager also accompanied us on this hunt.

We had an absolute blast handing out with Jeremy and Travis during our stay. Both were very professional and curtious in every way. The ranch was roughly 2600 acres. Travis stated we were the first paying clients to be on the ranch in about 2 and a half years. The ranch recently was taken over by new ownership about 2 years ago and the new owners hadn't allowed paying clients to hunt it, only family and friends.

After stopping by the shooting range, we decided to head out for an evening hunt. A herd of scimitar horned oryx (SHO) were spot feeding in an open field that had some volunteer rye grass just starting to emerge, which is what was attracking the SHO. We moved quickly and got the wind in our favor using a cedar tree row as our cover. We made it to with about 150 yards of the herd and decided to stay put.

For some reason unknown to us, the herd cow sensed something was not quite right and decided to head to the opposite side of the field toward another set of trees. As she went, so did the rest of the herd. Eventually, the herd was stringing out singly in front of us moving broadside from left to right. Towards the middle of the herd, we all agreed upon a cow that would serve as a worthy animal to be taken.

Carlton was up first since I was the nice guy and let him take the first shot. The shooting sticks went up and at about 200 yards, Carlton connected. She ran a few yards and laid down. The rest of the herd ran around in circles not knowing which direction to run. They finally ran straight away from us, with Carlton's cow getting up and tried to keep up with the herd. Two more shots followed with one connecting. We gave the cow about ten minutes and followed up. We found the cow and a final finishing shot was required.

Carlton had a very nice trophy to add to his South African gemsbok from our trip in August.

Carlton's Cow:




The following morning I was up to bat. We finally located a group of SHO on the opposite side of a large creek bed. We made our way towards the SHO we had spotted when we ran into another group of SHO. One of the cows in the group was a possible taker but we decided to move on to the original herd.

A slow and care stalk taking about an hour resulted in us making it to a green field, which the oryx were feeding in. At first they were all within about 125-150 yards, but were feeding from us towards the opposite side of the field. Jeremy and I discussed which animal was to be taken and we finally decided to take the one on the farthest side of the field.

I was up on the sticks. Jeremy and Travis were concerned about the distance, but I assured them I could make the shot. Eventually, she cleared the rest of the animals around her and the 300 Win Mag spoke. At the shot, she dropped instantly. She spun around and tried to get up, but it was clear both of her front shoulders were broken. I shot her again in lungs as she laid on the ground. A third shot hit her in the spine taking out the top of the lungs. We waited for the herd to get out of dodge to claim my trophy. Upon walking up to her, she was still breathing and I added another shot. This is absolutely the toughest animal I have ever taken. Three of the four shots passed thru both lungs.

Once getting to the cow I ranged back to the cedar tree we were hiding behind. The rangefinder read 251 yards and were were probably an additional 15 yards the base of the tree; therefore, the shot was in the 265 range, which is my longest shot to date off of shooting sticks while standing.

My cow ended up being an very old cow. You can tell by the pictures how old she is just by looking at her face. She had scares all over her face and wasn't near as conditioned as Carlton's cow.

Here she is:




After lunch we decided to head out and look for either a blackbuck or fallow deer. I was really looking forward to adding a blackbuck if the right one presented himself.

We rounded a corner and spotted two male blackbuck moving from a treeline out into a field. The wind was already in our face and we moved from cedar tree to cedar tree trying to relocate the two. Finally, the wind blew strong enough that Jeremy could see one of the buck's back. Jeremy is about 8-10 inches taller than me and I couldn't see either of them. In due time, the wind blew hard enough the grass laid over just enough for me to see their backs. A lengthy discussion of what to do next took place. We were about 125 yards from the bucks and both Jeremy and Travis were worried that if we got any closer they would pick us up and that would be that. However, there was absolutely no way I was going to get a shot from this position.

I told the group we need to see what advantage we might have from another set of cedar trees. Travis decided to go over and take a look. He thought it would work and we slowly made our way over to the next set of cedars. I got set up on the sticks and we were having a discussion about which to take. One buck was wider with a little more mass, the other was taller but not near as wide. I decided to take the latter.

I was waiting for the perfect shot when they both started feeding our direction. At one point I almost took a straight head on shot, but decided to wait it out. Jeremy was standing beside me telling me to shoot becuase as they fed, we were becoming more and more exposed. Finally, the one I had chosen turned broadside and stopped. The little buck didn't make it 60 yards before succumbing to the shot. Jeremy later stated that was probably the closest he had ever had a client get to blackbuck at around 70 yards.

A beautiful little trophy!!!




Carlton was up next and decided he wanted to go after a blackbuck they had been trying to take for a couple years now. The problem was he had a broken horn and always stayed in the middle of a field with the closest shot in the 300 yard range. We located the buck in his normal field. He had laid down and all we could see was one horn sticking up above thr grass. We made our stalk to the closest cedar tree and had to wait him out.

Eventually, the buck stood and the rangefinder read 264 yards. The first shot was a miss with the buck looking around in all directions. The second shot was also a miss, but it was over his back, which kicked up some dirt sending the buck in our direction. He ran past us at about 150 yards and stopped on a terrace about 200 yards away to have one last look back into his field. The third shot would be all that was needed.

Carlton's old warrior with the majority of his teeth missing.




A very relaxing couple of days with a great friend!!!

Good looking animals. Congrats

Those are tremendous trophies. I really want one.

Congrats,

Rich
DRSS

Beautiful!

Love those Simitars. Have always wanted to get a single pedestal mount with a Simitar on one half and a Gemsbok on the other.

Glad you had a good time in Texas.

Oh, any word on the fate of the Simitar as far as CITIES?

Excellent trophies guys!

quote:

Love those Simitars. Have always wanted to get a single pedestal mount with a Simitar on one half and a Gemsbok on the other.

They make great wall pedestals too. That's how I got mine done.

Thanks Fellas!

They certainly are a beautiful animal. I didn't realize they had all the facial markings until we had one on the ground. Absolutely stunning!!!

I'm having mine done as a wall pedestal. Carlton is having his done as a book end with his gemsbok from South Africa earlier this year, which they will be facing each other.

As to their fate, everyone who has them believes that action is going to be taken after the New Year. I'm not sure but it sounds as though when something happens it will be almost immediately. Better get one now while you still can.

Thanks again,

Really nice trophies! Good eats, too!

Thank you Miss Ann!!!

Sweet!!!! I want one for my trophy room too!

Best regards, D. Nelson

very nice. scimitar is the best meat i have ever eaten ,better than eland. i thought the blacbuck was gamey.

Thanks D and Kevin!

Everyone has said the scimitar meat is excellent tablefare, not sure about the blackbuck, but we're gonna give it a try.

Thanks again!

Those are beautiful trophies! Congratulations!

Thanks Whitworth!

Very nice, Cody!

Thanks Scott! Aern't you going after one of these soon?

Yes sir, I am!! Pretty soon, in fact!

I've taken a couple of them prior, but figured what the heck, why not 1 more before they list them and they're gone for good.

Nice Oryx and Blackbuck there graybird.

Two buddies and I did that hunt last January.

I'm having Oryx burger for dinner tonight.

Thanks buffybr!

The blackbuck was certainly smaller than I thought they were. I expected them to be a larger animal. I'm glad I made the decision to take one! A truly beautiful species!

I hear the oryx is great. I haven't tried mine yet as I'm still munching on deer from last year, plus my elk from this year is piled on top of it. I've got to get my dad's elk delivered to him and re-arrange the freezers. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to try some before the end of the Holiday season.

Thanks again,

Congrats,Those are some nice looking animals!!!!

FYI,

I called, and you can do this, including meat packaging, etc and a cleaned hide for under $3000.
That is, until the fedguv decides to stop the hunting here.

Rich

FWIW, The one blackbuck I've eaten was as good as any wildgame I've ever had.

Olbiker, Thanks!!!

SGraves, I'm gonna give him a try. I can say the field prep was great and he hardly moved after the shot, so things are all looking in my favor regarding flavor of the meat. We'll see!

Rich, you better jump while you can!

Cody, congratulations on your trophies from Texas. Glad to see you and Carlton had great success. Are you going to try for Addax and Damas next? Stay well.

Yes, congrats!

I'm sure it was very rewarding and an incredibly difficult hunt.