Day 1:
As previously mentioned my hunt was on the Jornada Experimental Range operated by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture. As indicated above, I was one of four hunters that would hunt the 200K acres of the range. I also had my father and brother along on the hunt to help me.
We met at the Range Headquarters at 6:30 on Saturday morning. We we're in-briefed and introduced to the other hunters and the two Ranch Hands who would accompany us on our hunt. One of the Ranch Hands would take two of us up to the foothills and the other would take the other two to hunt the northwestern and western ends of the Range. The NW and west part of the range is mostly flatland with some grassy prairies and lots of mesquite and yuccas. I thought we had a better chance of seeing more animals in the flatlands so I quickly volunteered to follow a Ranch Hand named Joe to the flatlands.
The morning started off pretty good. Within 45 minutes of the hunt we jumped two good Oryx right off the road. They never offered me a decent shot. I decided to follow them over the next hill to see if I could get a shot. I never saw them again. One of the Oryx had lots of mass and I estimate to be 36"+.
Later that morning, we approached an area that looked pretty good (Red Tank). We decided to walk around the area and eventually found 4 Oryx (not before they spotted us!). They spotted us and never stopped back to look at us. Later that day we headed to the foothills and drove and glassed the areas. We saw lots of places where the Oryx crossed the road over our truck tire tracks. Many times I set off trying to find these animals but nothing worked out.
Day 2:
We left the Range Headquarters and decided to see if we could spot either of the Oryx in the flatlands we that had seen the day before. After some driving around we decided to go back to the Red Tank area. Our escort Joe would go to the tank and glass and my vehicle would go northwest to the vicinity where we had seen the Oryx the day before. As soon as Joe started glassing he spotted a group of six Oryx Northwest from the tank at the far end of the prairie (about 3/4 mile away). He called us back to his location so that we could plan a stalk. The plan was, Joe would stay at the tank and let us know if the Oryx moved and my father would drive us up the road and drop us off where we thought we would be in line with the Oryx. From our drop off point to the prairie where the Oryx were, there was a good stretch with some mesquite and yuccas that could provide us with cover. My father dropped us off and we began our stalk to where we thought the Oryx were. It took us a good hour to get to where we could finally see the Oryx. At this point, we were about 350 yards away from the Oryx and could not get closer. By this time, five of the six Oryx we're bedded and only one Oryx was still feeding. Just my luck, all the larger animals were bedded and didn't offer a good shot. We decided to wait a while in hopes that the others would stand and offer a shot. After about 15 minutes, we spotted a hunter and a vehicle on the opposite side moving towards the Oryx. Fearing they may spook the Oryx I decided to shoot at the Oryx that was standing. I steadied on my shooting sticks and let the .300 RUM rip. The Oryx didn't know where the shot came from and they all started running TOWARDS US. I started moving to the right to position myself for another shot. Just then my brother yelled to me that one of the Oryx just went down. The rest of the herd came within 50 yards of me and just paused. They stood there a good minute looking at me then took off running. I would have had an easy shot at a good animal, but I already had one down.
The Oryx I killed was a 30" cow. Not a trophy by SCI or Boone and Crocket Standards, but will be good table fare on the dinner table. Just getting out to hunt with my dad and brother is usually good enough for me. Killing something just makes it a little nicer. The good thing is that this was a depredation hunt and it gave me the opportunity to go hunting during the off-season. I hope to someday get an opportunity at a good bull on Missile Range. Either way, I learned alot about Oryx hunting and had a good time.
Sorry for such a long story. I'll post pictures soon.
