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2013 New Mexico Oryx

pointingdogsrule

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northeast Iowa
My cousin, Chucky drew an Oryx tag for the last week of Feb. We flew into to Albuquerque and drove to Alamogordo where we stayed. We would be hunting the Rhoades Canyon area of the Whitesands Missle range. A week before the hunt we were sent and email telling us that 45% of our hunt area would be closed due to base activities. First time this has happened, that anyone can remember. That meant 68 hunters in a 28 mile by 20 mile area. It would be nice if the Oryx were spread out however, they tend to "like" certian areas. That meant overcrowding of hunters. The New Mexico Game & Fish thought that they could still put on a "quality hunt". In the end everything worked out.

My cousin decided to go with a guide. Good as it turns out because of the partial closure. After the meeting it was off to the races. Trucks headed out in all directions to the "hot spots". We soon spotted Oryx on the hill sides, as did other people. One broken horned Oryx stood by the road as hunters passed him by in search of better Oryx. The first day was unsucessful... a few that could have been shot, however, they were not shooters on the first day. The first day they saw 70 Oryx. 13 Oryx were harvested the first afternoon. Saturday started much the same as trucks raced to the coveted areas. You could tell the Oryx were pressured and they were even more skiddish then Friday. Chucky had a great stalk on Saturday. We spotted 5 Oryx from a mile away after and hour of glassing. We made a plan to circle around the 5 Oryx. Chucky and the guide started the stalk through the tall brush, constantly trying to keep an eye on the Oyrx. They saw where the Oryx were headed and cut them off. They were coming right at them, however, the brush made them hard to keep track of them. The guide saw them at 100 yards and then popped up from the brush for one more look to see where they were going. He saw the Oryx at 40 yards in front of him and out of this left eye he saw a "white face" looking at him.... it was the lead cow at 40 feet... staring him the face. I could only imagine both the guide and the Oryx thoughts... "OH S**T". Well she didn't stay around to see what was going to happen and took the rest of the herd with her. It was a great experience for the hunter. By the way, if anyone tells you that you just go there and step out of the truck and shoot an Oryx.... thay are WRONG. These animals have become wise over the years and this being the last hunt of the year they were especially wary. 300-400 yard shots were common. Lots of fun was had the second day going after these wise animals. A nice one was missed and another passed on at 125 yards because of tall vegetation blocking the kill zone. the total killed after Saturday was 43. Sunday rolled around and the motto was "if it's brown it's down"... not being picky on the last day. We had heard how great the meat was and some was going home with us. Shooting started at 6:15 am. at 6:25 we reached our area nad low and behold an Oryx ran across the round and almost hit our truck. He was an old broken horn bull. Large in size. Chucky left the vehicle and walked over a little hill where the animal had gone. There stood the bull and a very old cow. She had two broken horns and was nice in size. She presented a 75 yard shot and she was downed with a perfect heart shot from the 300. The biologist estimated her age as 8 years old.

The hunt was an experience that I will not forget. Someday I hope to draw. I just wish that instead of being the truck driver I could have tagged along with Chucky and the guide to see the vast area that they covered and been on the stalks close up.

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good luck to all
the dog
 
Cool, I have been waiting for this story. Congrats to the hunter!!
 
Those are such a cool looking animal. I've been applying to NM and hoping to go to Africa someday as well, maybe between the two someday I'll see one in the crosshairs. Congrats to all!
 
Sounds like an interesting hunt report, enjoyed the read.

They are responsbile for plenty of injury to hunters in Africa and certainly have the will to live like most plains game from there.
 
That is the down side to a hunt on a military base. Luckily, it never happened to me. You will enjoy that meat. It is the best there is as far as I am concerned.
 
That is so cool - would love to do that someday. Congrats on connecting! They need that kind of a program on the ol' AIr Force base for mule deer.
 
Very cool hunt!

I saw several on the Donna Anna and McGregor Range while I was training to go to Iraq in 2003.

I've wanted to hunt them since then.
 
Martin,

Nice to meet you guys down there.

Nice story and picture.

You guys were a lot of fun to visit with, glad you had fun!

Chris
 
PEAX Trekking Poles

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