LAST EDITED ON Jan-04-11 AT 10:37PM (MST)[p]It's only fitting that one of the last hunts of year be so rewarding in so many ways. This includes taking my uncle Ramon ?Tio Ray? on his ?Once in a Lifetime? Mobility Impaired Oryx hunt this past December 2010. The boys and I had a great time.
It was an honor and especially meaningful to take my uncle on this hunt, to pay homage, as he has been very instrumental to me in my upbringing as a sportsman. He is truly one of ?best hunters and fisherman? I will ever know. When I was very young, every time I would visit, I recall going into his garage and seeing a nice 7x7 elk rack displayed on the wall. I would ask him to tell me ?the story? on how he got that elk every time. I never got tired of hearing it. I also remember admiring his Pre-64 Winchester Model 70 30-06 that he had hanging on his gun rack. I remember the time he took my cousin Nanny and I rabbit hunting and the time I went fishing with him to the Upper Rio Grande gorge and I thought the fish were ?flying through the air? as he yanked them out of the river. One of my most memorable hunts is when he took me elk hunting to the Urraca WMA. I harvested my first elk with him on that hunt. My ?Tio Ray? is one of the reasons I am so passionate about the outdoors.
Our Oryx hunting adventure started on the Friday before the hunt as we traveled down to Albuquerque to pick up my uncle Ramon (Tio Ray) along the way to our final destination?. Alamogordo, NM. We got off to a very late start from home due to a winter storm and vehicle heater problems that delayed our trip. The trip from Albuquerque to Alamogordo seemed to go pretty quick. Re-living our past hunting and fishing trips along the way made the time go fast. We arrived in Alamogordo at 9PM that evening. Once we checked into the motel room, it was off to bed. We needed to be at the ?Tule Gate? early the next morning.
Early that next morning we got to the gate early we were greeted by two other MI hunters, their guests, and the WSMR Oryx hunt escorts. The customary hunt briefing was conducted and the escort assignments were made for the hunt. My uncles hunt escort would be Gilbert Villegas.
Once the sun started rising and warming the desert landscape, we followed Gilbert's lead down one of the main roads and stopped to glass for Oryx about every quarter mile or so. The other hunters and their escorts had already gone ahead of us on another main road. It wasn?t long before we learned that one of them had already tagged out on a nice Oryx. That's when we saw our first herd of Oryx down a side road. My uncle Ramon could not believe what he was seeing. He said he thought he was ?watching something on ?National Geographic TV or he was in Africa?. He kind of got caught up in the moment and forgot he was hunting. As we approached, the Oryx started running and then stopped about 230 yards from us. My uncle Ramon got ready for a shot but could not decide on which one of the Oryx to shoot. Several Oryx in the group were very nice and it was hard to decide which one to take. We were telling him ?shoot the one on the right, no, the one on the left?..that one is 37?.that bull is 38??they are at 230. There were too many instructions and too many numbers being yelled out at one time and my uncle Ramon did not know what to do. As we all know Oryx don't stand still long for a bunch of guys wearing blaze orange yelling out a bunch of numbers and away they went. Man there was some good Oryx in that bunch. We were laughing what had just happened. My uncle Ramon was now very excited and looking forward to see what was around the next bend or over the next hill.
We drove around some other areas and other roads for about half an hour and could not glass up any Oryx. We decided to cut back and go down another road where some Oryx had been seen earlier that morning. Once we went down road about half a mile we saw a lone Oryx standing out in the open. There was a lone tree about 300 yards from the Oryx and about 200 yards from the road we were on. I asked my uncle Ramon if he could walk enough to do short stalk. If he could walk about 200 yard to that tree, he may get a shot. We told Gilbert we were going to try a stalk on the Oryx. So my uncle Ramon grabbed his cane and we walked slowly towards the Oryx, using the tree for cover. The stalk went very slow. Finally we got to the tree. The Oryx was starring at us. It was about a 33-34 inch cow standing broadside at 323 yards. My uncle?s Ramon maximum effective range was about 300 yards. He practiced out to that distance and could shoot out to that distance with no problem. I asked what he thought about 23 more yards. He said he could do it. The next question was whether the Oryx was big enough or should he pass her up. By the time we decided, the Oryx walked off another 100 yard or so. We then decided to pass. We walked back to the truck. As we walked back, I asked my uncle Ramon how his legs and back felt. He said he was OK. I did notice he was a little winded. This might be the last stalk we would do the rest of the day.
We drove down the road some more and glassed up some more Oryx on both sides of the road ahead of us. We came up with a plan. The plan would be to pick out a good Oryx, then drive down as close as we could, try to get within 300 yards or closer, and try to get my uncle Ramon shot. The plan seemed to be working until the time when the Oryx started running and then stopping behind other Oryx. Confusion set in again as the Oryx got mixed up. Again there were too many Oryx in the group that were of equal size or bigger. That's when we started telling him ?shoot the last one on the right?.that's a 36?.no, the bull on the left, he's a good one?he's at 256?. Again, there was too much confusion and numbers at one time without enough time for a good shot. The herd ran off out of range except for a sub-adult bull. He stood there about 150 yards. My uncle Ramon was on him and was telling me ?I got a shot?.I can take him?. I told him not to shoot because he was too small. He really wanted to pull the trigger on that one. We are glad he didn't.
We regrouped and drove down the road some more. I could tell we all were getting a little frustrated. We had just missed another opportunity on some great looking Oryx. I told my uncle not to worry, that we would see more and he would get one. I told him that we needed to find one or two Oryx at one time to make it obvious and easier. As we stopped and glassed again there they were two Oryx right on the road, 600 yards ahead of us. This would be an obvious decision. One was broken; the other had two good horns. Gilbert told us it was a good representation of an Oryx, one that would meet my uncle?s expectations. A plan was developed and an approach was made, the target Oryx ran across the road to the right and stood broadside at 249 yards, long enough for my uncle to get a shot. This time, the only instructions my uncle heard was to ?hold dead on the shoulder?. He squeezed the trigger of the .300 Short Action Ultra Mag. and the Oryx hit the ground. We all thought the Oryx was done and it lay on the ground motionless. Then all of a sudden, Gilbert noticed it was starting to kick and get up. Like the ?Energizer Bunny? the Oryx got up and gained strength with every hobbling step and ran off another 1000 yards until it bed down. The first shot was a bit high in high shoulder/neck area. Two more shots in the shoulder were needed to put the Oryx down for good. I have never seen anything like this. I had heard that Oryx were tough. I had taken these words of wisdom with a grain of salt because the two other Oryx I had seen shot had expired with one good well place shot. I now have new respect for these animals.
As we approached the downed Oryx, the horns seemed to be getting longer and longer. No ?ground shrinkage? on this one. It was more like ?ground growage? or whatever you want to call it. We were pleasantly surprised to have underestimated the horn length. Gilbert taped it at 39.25 x 38.5 inches.
The expression on my uncle Ramon?s face was pure amazement. He was amazed that he had just taken a trophy of a lifetime. Not because size, but because it was a fabulous creature that he had never had the opportunity to hunt before. He said it was ?like a dream?. Way to go ?Tio Ray?!!!!
It was an honor and especially meaningful to take my uncle on this hunt, to pay homage, as he has been very instrumental to me in my upbringing as a sportsman. He is truly one of ?best hunters and fisherman? I will ever know. When I was very young, every time I would visit, I recall going into his garage and seeing a nice 7x7 elk rack displayed on the wall. I would ask him to tell me ?the story? on how he got that elk every time. I never got tired of hearing it. I also remember admiring his Pre-64 Winchester Model 70 30-06 that he had hanging on his gun rack. I remember the time he took my cousin Nanny and I rabbit hunting and the time I went fishing with him to the Upper Rio Grande gorge and I thought the fish were ?flying through the air? as he yanked them out of the river. One of my most memorable hunts is when he took me elk hunting to the Urraca WMA. I harvested my first elk with him on that hunt. My ?Tio Ray? is one of the reasons I am so passionate about the outdoors.
Our Oryx hunting adventure started on the Friday before the hunt as we traveled down to Albuquerque to pick up my uncle Ramon (Tio Ray) along the way to our final destination?. Alamogordo, NM. We got off to a very late start from home due to a winter storm and vehicle heater problems that delayed our trip. The trip from Albuquerque to Alamogordo seemed to go pretty quick. Re-living our past hunting and fishing trips along the way made the time go fast. We arrived in Alamogordo at 9PM that evening. Once we checked into the motel room, it was off to bed. We needed to be at the ?Tule Gate? early the next morning.
Early that next morning we got to the gate early we were greeted by two other MI hunters, their guests, and the WSMR Oryx hunt escorts. The customary hunt briefing was conducted and the escort assignments were made for the hunt. My uncles hunt escort would be Gilbert Villegas.
Once the sun started rising and warming the desert landscape, we followed Gilbert's lead down one of the main roads and stopped to glass for Oryx about every quarter mile or so. The other hunters and their escorts had already gone ahead of us on another main road. It wasn?t long before we learned that one of them had already tagged out on a nice Oryx. That's when we saw our first herd of Oryx down a side road. My uncle Ramon could not believe what he was seeing. He said he thought he was ?watching something on ?National Geographic TV or he was in Africa?. He kind of got caught up in the moment and forgot he was hunting. As we approached, the Oryx started running and then stopped about 230 yards from us. My uncle Ramon got ready for a shot but could not decide on which one of the Oryx to shoot. Several Oryx in the group were very nice and it was hard to decide which one to take. We were telling him ?shoot the one on the right, no, the one on the left?..that one is 37?.that bull is 38??they are at 230. There were too many instructions and too many numbers being yelled out at one time and my uncle Ramon did not know what to do. As we all know Oryx don't stand still long for a bunch of guys wearing blaze orange yelling out a bunch of numbers and away they went. Man there was some good Oryx in that bunch. We were laughing what had just happened. My uncle Ramon was now very excited and looking forward to see what was around the next bend or over the next hill.
We drove around some other areas and other roads for about half an hour and could not glass up any Oryx. We decided to cut back and go down another road where some Oryx had been seen earlier that morning. Once we went down road about half a mile we saw a lone Oryx standing out in the open. There was a lone tree about 300 yards from the Oryx and about 200 yards from the road we were on. I asked my uncle Ramon if he could walk enough to do short stalk. If he could walk about 200 yard to that tree, he may get a shot. We told Gilbert we were going to try a stalk on the Oryx. So my uncle Ramon grabbed his cane and we walked slowly towards the Oryx, using the tree for cover. The stalk went very slow. Finally we got to the tree. The Oryx was starring at us. It was about a 33-34 inch cow standing broadside at 323 yards. My uncle?s Ramon maximum effective range was about 300 yards. He practiced out to that distance and could shoot out to that distance with no problem. I asked what he thought about 23 more yards. He said he could do it. The next question was whether the Oryx was big enough or should he pass her up. By the time we decided, the Oryx walked off another 100 yard or so. We then decided to pass. We walked back to the truck. As we walked back, I asked my uncle Ramon how his legs and back felt. He said he was OK. I did notice he was a little winded. This might be the last stalk we would do the rest of the day.
We drove down the road some more and glassed up some more Oryx on both sides of the road ahead of us. We came up with a plan. The plan would be to pick out a good Oryx, then drive down as close as we could, try to get within 300 yards or closer, and try to get my uncle Ramon shot. The plan seemed to be working until the time when the Oryx started running and then stopping behind other Oryx. Confusion set in again as the Oryx got mixed up. Again there were too many Oryx in the group that were of equal size or bigger. That's when we started telling him ?shoot the last one on the right?.that's a 36?.no, the bull on the left, he's a good one?he's at 256?. Again, there was too much confusion and numbers at one time without enough time for a good shot. The herd ran off out of range except for a sub-adult bull. He stood there about 150 yards. My uncle Ramon was on him and was telling me ?I got a shot?.I can take him?. I told him not to shoot because he was too small. He really wanted to pull the trigger on that one. We are glad he didn't.
We regrouped and drove down the road some more. I could tell we all were getting a little frustrated. We had just missed another opportunity on some great looking Oryx. I told my uncle not to worry, that we would see more and he would get one. I told him that we needed to find one or two Oryx at one time to make it obvious and easier. As we stopped and glassed again there they were two Oryx right on the road, 600 yards ahead of us. This would be an obvious decision. One was broken; the other had two good horns. Gilbert told us it was a good representation of an Oryx, one that would meet my uncle?s expectations. A plan was developed and an approach was made, the target Oryx ran across the road to the right and stood broadside at 249 yards, long enough for my uncle to get a shot. This time, the only instructions my uncle heard was to ?hold dead on the shoulder?. He squeezed the trigger of the .300 Short Action Ultra Mag. and the Oryx hit the ground. We all thought the Oryx was done and it lay on the ground motionless. Then all of a sudden, Gilbert noticed it was starting to kick and get up. Like the ?Energizer Bunny? the Oryx got up and gained strength with every hobbling step and ran off another 1000 yards until it bed down. The first shot was a bit high in high shoulder/neck area. Two more shots in the shoulder were needed to put the Oryx down for good. I have never seen anything like this. I had heard that Oryx were tough. I had taken these words of wisdom with a grain of salt because the two other Oryx I had seen shot had expired with one good well place shot. I now have new respect for these animals.
As we approached the downed Oryx, the horns seemed to be getting longer and longer. No ?ground shrinkage? on this one. It was more like ?ground growage? or whatever you want to call it. We were pleasantly surprised to have underestimated the horn length. Gilbert taped it at 39.25 x 38.5 inches.
The expression on my uncle Ramon?s face was pure amazement. He was amazed that he had just taken a trophy of a lifetime. Not because size, but because it was a fabulous creature that he had never had the opportunity to hunt before. He said it was ?like a dream?. Way to go ?Tio Ray?!!!!
