I have unsuccessfully been applying for the coveted WSMR oryx tags in New Mexico for the past few years. This year I decided to put in for off range tags for my second and third choices. As luck would have it, I drew my second choice. I immediately called my dad and told him the good news. He didn't even know what an oryx was, but he said he would be happy to come along. As soon as we got off the phone, I started doing research about the hunt. There wasn't a lot of info about the off range hunts, but the consensus was that it can sometimes be tough to even find any oryx. I got to know a couple NM locals that had fair amount of experience with the off range hunts and they were very helpful. Talking to them and some other guys, I got the impression that if I found any mature animal I should be shooting. I was hoping that if I found an oryx that it would be mature, because I'd hate to pass up a younger one and then not get any opportunities for the rest of the hunt.
I spent a lot of hours e-scouting the next few months and I felt confident that if we hunted hard for a week we'd get an opportunity at an oryx. When December arrived, we hit the road and 22 hours later we were in New Mexico hunting oryx. When we got down there we realized how big the country was and it was a little intimidating. The first day and a half we covered a lot of miles and glassed a ton of country without even finding a track. They get hunted for 9 months of the year, and it was evident that these animals were getting a lot of pressure. Every two track had fresh vehicle tracks and almost every spot that gave you a little elevation gain had boot tracks on it. On the morning of the third day we started to drive into a spot I wanted to check, but after getting a little ways in there we saw tail lights on the trail ahead of us. Since someone beat us, there we decided to turn around. After driving a little further we came over a rise and there were two oryx standing about 600 yards away. Unfortunately they were across the fence on the missile range. They gave us about 30 seconds to look them over and then took off like a couple of horses. At least we knew what they looked like now. Farther down the trail we found a set of tracks that looked to be fresh. I followed them for a couple of miles but never caught up to the animal. It amazed me how far they would walk without even stopping to eat anything. While I was following that track the vehicle we had seen earlier drove up to where my dad was parked. It turned out to be a guide with a client, and the client spilled the beans that they had seen an oryx that morning but they had spooked it. We followed another set of tracks in the afternoon with the same results. Following the tracks took up most of the day and since it was starting to get late, we decided to turn around and head back towards camp. With about an hour of daylight left, we decided to go back where we had turned around in the morning. I didn't have much hope of seeing anything since the other hunters had spooked an oryx there in the morning, but it was a spot I had marked on my map so I wanted to see what it looked like. We stopped at a glassing point and when I pulled up my binos there was an oryx standing right in my field of view about 800 yards away. He looked awesome with the setting sun shining on him while he fed unaware of us. I wished I had time to admire him a little longer but the sun was setting fast and I knew if I was going to make it happen I needed to make a move fast. I could tell he had both horns intact and was a mature animal so I grabbed my pack and gun and the stalk was on.
Since the oryx hadn't seen us we decided to go straight at him until we were in range. It was fairly broken, brushy country and we had to keep stopping to relocate his head and horns sticking up in the brush. Even though he was feeding he was moving around quite a bit which made it kind of tough to keep eyes on him. Every time he'd go out of sight I'd move ahead a little. We were trying to relocate him and I spotted him less than 200 yards away. I quick told my dad to hand me the tripod. As he was handing me the tripod the oryx looked back and stared right at us. I told my dad to stay still as the oryx seemed to have us pinned. Finally the oryx started walking again but I didn't have time to get the gun on him before he was behind some brush. We stood in that spot for what seemed like forever trying to spot him. It was almost dark and it was starting to look like we were going to miss out on our shot. If the oryx would have got too much farther he would have got our wind so I decided to swing way to our left to get the wind right again and hopefully get a better angle to see around the brush where he disappeared. We got to where we could see behind the brush but we still couldn't locate him. I was starting to think that he might have seen us earlier and took off after he got behind the brush. It was literally the last few minutes of shooting light so I was about to back out and hope that if he hadn't spooked he would be close by in the morning. I decided to look way to the left and I spotted him again about 140 yards away feeding straight away from us. The oryx turned broadside as I was getting my gun rested on the tripod. As soon as he came to a stop I put it on his shoulder and squeezed off the shot. He whirled around and took off. I could tell he was holding his leg up like he was hit, but it didn't seem to be slowing him down at all. He was out of sight right away so I didn't have time to put another one in him. I went to cut him off while my dad went to pick up his track. I got up on top of a dune where I could see in case the oryx was still alive. As I stood there watching my dad cover the whole area where the oryx should have been, doubt was starting to set in. I had heard they are really tough animals and can go a long ways after being shot. It was getting dark enough that if he was wounded it would have been difficult to make a follow up shot, and I was regretting my decision to shoot that late in the day. Eventually my dad made his way over to me. There were lots of oryx tracks and with it being dark it was difficult to see which ones were from my oryx. We both started zig zagging and eventually my dad found the bull piled up in a low spot about 50 yards from where I shot him. It was a surreal experience standing there looking at an animal that was so foreign to us. Finding the truck in the dark was an adventure in itself. After getting the oryx packed out and having some celebratory beers, we got back to camp around midnight. I wish I could have got on him right after we spotted him because the lighting for the photos would have been awesome, but these will have to do. I think it's really cool that New Mexico decided to introduce them back in the day, as they seem to thrive in that environment that otherwise wouldn't have much for big game.
I spent a lot of hours e-scouting the next few months and I felt confident that if we hunted hard for a week we'd get an opportunity at an oryx. When December arrived, we hit the road and 22 hours later we were in New Mexico hunting oryx. When we got down there we realized how big the country was and it was a little intimidating. The first day and a half we covered a lot of miles and glassed a ton of country without even finding a track. They get hunted for 9 months of the year, and it was evident that these animals were getting a lot of pressure. Every two track had fresh vehicle tracks and almost every spot that gave you a little elevation gain had boot tracks on it. On the morning of the third day we started to drive into a spot I wanted to check, but after getting a little ways in there we saw tail lights on the trail ahead of us. Since someone beat us, there we decided to turn around. After driving a little further we came over a rise and there were two oryx standing about 600 yards away. Unfortunately they were across the fence on the missile range. They gave us about 30 seconds to look them over and then took off like a couple of horses. At least we knew what they looked like now. Farther down the trail we found a set of tracks that looked to be fresh. I followed them for a couple of miles but never caught up to the animal. It amazed me how far they would walk without even stopping to eat anything. While I was following that track the vehicle we had seen earlier drove up to where my dad was parked. It turned out to be a guide with a client, and the client spilled the beans that they had seen an oryx that morning but they had spooked it. We followed another set of tracks in the afternoon with the same results. Following the tracks took up most of the day and since it was starting to get late, we decided to turn around and head back towards camp. With about an hour of daylight left, we decided to go back where we had turned around in the morning. I didn't have much hope of seeing anything since the other hunters had spooked an oryx there in the morning, but it was a spot I had marked on my map so I wanted to see what it looked like. We stopped at a glassing point and when I pulled up my binos there was an oryx standing right in my field of view about 800 yards away. He looked awesome with the setting sun shining on him while he fed unaware of us. I wished I had time to admire him a little longer but the sun was setting fast and I knew if I was going to make it happen I needed to make a move fast. I could tell he had both horns intact and was a mature animal so I grabbed my pack and gun and the stalk was on.
Since the oryx hadn't seen us we decided to go straight at him until we were in range. It was fairly broken, brushy country and we had to keep stopping to relocate his head and horns sticking up in the brush. Even though he was feeding he was moving around quite a bit which made it kind of tough to keep eyes on him. Every time he'd go out of sight I'd move ahead a little. We were trying to relocate him and I spotted him less than 200 yards away. I quick told my dad to hand me the tripod. As he was handing me the tripod the oryx looked back and stared right at us. I told my dad to stay still as the oryx seemed to have us pinned. Finally the oryx started walking again but I didn't have time to get the gun on him before he was behind some brush. We stood in that spot for what seemed like forever trying to spot him. It was almost dark and it was starting to look like we were going to miss out on our shot. If the oryx would have got too much farther he would have got our wind so I decided to swing way to our left to get the wind right again and hopefully get a better angle to see around the brush where he disappeared. We got to where we could see behind the brush but we still couldn't locate him. I was starting to think that he might have seen us earlier and took off after he got behind the brush. It was literally the last few minutes of shooting light so I was about to back out and hope that if he hadn't spooked he would be close by in the morning. I decided to look way to the left and I spotted him again about 140 yards away feeding straight away from us. The oryx turned broadside as I was getting my gun rested on the tripod. As soon as he came to a stop I put it on his shoulder and squeezed off the shot. He whirled around and took off. I could tell he was holding his leg up like he was hit, but it didn't seem to be slowing him down at all. He was out of sight right away so I didn't have time to put another one in him. I went to cut him off while my dad went to pick up his track. I got up on top of a dune where I could see in case the oryx was still alive. As I stood there watching my dad cover the whole area where the oryx should have been, doubt was starting to set in. I had heard they are really tough animals and can go a long ways after being shot. It was getting dark enough that if he was wounded it would have been difficult to make a follow up shot, and I was regretting my decision to shoot that late in the day. Eventually my dad made his way over to me. There were lots of oryx tracks and with it being dark it was difficult to see which ones were from my oryx. We both started zig zagging and eventually my dad found the bull piled up in a low spot about 50 yards from where I shot him. It was a surreal experience standing there looking at an animal that was so foreign to us. Finding the truck in the dark was an adventure in itself. After getting the oryx packed out and having some celebratory beers, we got back to camp around midnight. I wish I could have got on him right after we spotted him because the lighting for the photos would have been awesome, but these will have to do. I think it's really cool that New Mexico decided to introduce them back in the day, as they seem to thrive in that environment that otherwise wouldn't have much for big game.
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