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NM Oryx Draw


HOGWILD

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I was notified i was drawn for Oct Oryx hunt on Whit Sands Missile Range and stoked about this hunt! This is an ES Oryx and a Premier hunt and only cost me around 320.00 minus the Taxidermy fee which will run near 1K! I can't flipping wait till Oct!:D

Edited by HOGWILD
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Guest cleefurd

My Dad (retired Missile Engineer from White Sands) won the draw back in the late 80's or early 90's and scored a nice one. Still has the trophy in his upstairs library. They live in Dona Ana.

Good luck on your hunt. Last I heard the odds are... extreeeemely good you will get one. They are not timid.

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Thanks a bunch, been at the range doing brake in of my 300 Weatherby Vangguard SMOA but still need to sight in the rifle due to high winds and sore shoulder! I have an accu-brake on my 300 but try shooting 40 rounds at 1 setting and i needed a brake anyway! I was out of ammo for brake in anyway since i used cheap spritzers for that! i will be buying some Barnes 180 Gr TSX rounds in the next couple days for sight in of the Swarovski Z5 it has on it! My back up rifle will be my new Weatherby Mark V Accumark 338-378 which needs brake in also! I will also use the Barnes TSX in 225 Gr for the hunt in it!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I will not wing a once in a lifetime Oryx hunt as it's just something you can't do hardly unless you go to Africa! Big Bucks for that trip and this one i could do as a out and back every day hunt but i will stage out of Alamogordo, NM in a hotel and hit the Tulie gate for Rhodes Canyon daily! They have emailed everyone and said digital cameras were ok for on range as long as they were not taking pictures of background terrain and buildings and only of hunting party and kill! Top Secret tumbleweeds and sand blasted sheds are of vital National Security:p

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  • 2 weeks later...

Congrats Hogwild! I've only shot Gemsbok in Africa but I can tell you the meat is outstanding. I have buds in NM that guide on and off the range and they tell me they are as wild as anything in the west. Tough to sneak up on so watch the wind and hope for some cover. Good luck on your hunt, I hope you tag a whopper!

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Hey Thanks, i think my 300 Weatherby Mag will be up to the task and i should get the Hunt package middle of May. I might get some of those Montana decoys to just have an advantage as i have seen a few hunters use them out west with success! This should be a fun 3 day trip and i have a couple friends that will help me gut it and load it so i can take it to the gate to check it and finish by letting the skinners and Taxidermist take over the task! They are reasonable with their prices and local and have been doing this every year for a long time so it should turn out to be a good mount if i harvest! Wind in NM is terrible this year so getting winded will probably be an issue!

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Time has come bags are packed and White Sands, NM here i come, Friday morning the Taxidermist has a short briefing and at 10:00 the Hunt Coordinators will have a 1 hour briefing and then they will search everyones vehicles and turn us lose mid morning as long as they have no Military Missions keeping us from being in the area of Rhodes Canyon! Saturday and Sunday will also be the other days of this hunt and it's got a 72 or 73 % harvest rate but my 338-378 has come around to shooting under a 1/2 inch at 100 yards and it is a hoot to pull that 2.5 Lb Timney trigger with a 225 gr TSX doing 3180fps! Should be a blast as it has turned off wet and cool here in NM finally! Pictures if i harvest will be posted hope everyone else has a great hunt camp as i know mine is going to be sweet! Just wish i was in the Gila in unit 16A doing Bull Elk! I am happy with the hunt i got for sure!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I appreciate all the comments and had a great hunt but i did not harvest and i should have but not meant to be?

Saw a bunch of really smart Oryx that were very good at staying near 800 yards out and they must have a great pair of eyes and the heard on WSMR Rhodes Canyon are some really elusive critters. The fact my range finder broke on day #1 did not help my chances very much but no exuse for not tagging out! If you get to do this hunt go for it as over the years it ha gotten to be a tuff hunt. But worth every penny even for an out of state hunter!

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  • 2 weeks later...
I appreciate all the comments and had a great hunt but i did not harvest and i should have but not meant to be?

Saw a bunch of really smart Oryx that were very good at staying near 800 yards out and they must have a great pair of eyes and the heard on WSMR Rhodes Canyon are some really elusive critters. The fact my range finder broke on day #1 did not help my chances very much but no exuse for not tagging out! If you get to do this hunt go for it as over the years it ha gotten to be a tuff hunt. But worth every penny even for an out of state hunter!

 

Enjoying the hunt is as enjoyable has a harvest animal. For sure they are elusive, but just seeing them is friggin awesome.

 

Edit: forgot too ask:

 

. what length barrel and make of your 338-378 also what scope?

 

. any rumblings about the Gemsboks becoming VERY invasive and the impact on White Sands National Monument?

Edited by crofton
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If they have caused any problems at the Monument I have not heard anything about it? My Weatherby has a 26 inch barrel with a 2 inch accubrake on the end of it and is made by Criterion so it's basically a stock Accumark with a Leupold Mark 4 6.5-20x50 ER/T Front Focal with MIL-Dot reticle! The heard that originally started at the Albuquerque Zoo has moved to off range Ranches and is surviving/thriving and is supposed to be around 4000+ animals. have not heard much about them being invasive as that area they live is known for being the perfect area in which they were originally born as the Tularoso Basin is a tough part of NM.

that is the reason the have done so well in the surrounding area to WSMR. I suppose they could be invasive since they plan on bringing down the herd count to 1000?

 

 

http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/education/wildlife_notes/documents/NoteOryxSm.pdf

Edited by HOGWILD
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oryx Don't know how accurate this is, but there is a reference to them being invasive. Recall reading something about their impact on the monument, did a google and only located the wikipedia link.

 

Dang, that sounds like a great piece you have and 28" is certainly very long. At a RMEF banquet, I won a x-bolt .338 Rem Mag that had a 26" barrel, had the gunsmith cut it down to 22 1/2".

 

 

Edit: forgot to thank you for the link, very educational.

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Wikipedia to me has lost a lot of credibility with the Owners issues, and his actions? They could be causing issues and no one ever know it because the State receives huge revenue from these hunts not to mention the City's of Tularosa, Socorro and Alamogordo! Never been to the National Monument so i have not heard anything about them being an issue but as mentioned they bring in a huge mount of revenue for a lotta small communities out in the middle of no where NM! These animals have thrived as they are a very elusive animal with very keen sight and smell and it used to be an easy hunt when the herd count was up around 8 to 9 K but their numbers have been going down so they have been managing them and continue to have more hunts! So cutting down the barrel you know cut your velocity from 30 to 60 fps per inch you cut off! I strongly suggest doing an out of state hunt as it is only 1600.00 dollars plus 150,00 entry into WSMR but they have a whole lot of restrictions because it is an active test facility and hunts have been cancelled due to Missile launches with numerous well marked restricted areas and people have made mistakes by going into these but it is normally Military guys and they have had fatalities from those guys going into posted areas and getting blown up dead!

On range hunts are the cheapest way to go as Ranchers charge for entry to their property plus most want you to have an outfitter or use them as your outfitter! It cost me like 160.00 bucks for the tag and the normal 150.00 WSMR Fee plus a fair amount of paperwork but reasonable for entry for the hunt! They basically do background checks on your hunt party which can total 3 and yourself! Only approved Outfitters are allowed on WSMR but they have a list and they also have Skinners and Taxidermist at the gates to process your harvest which makes things very easy for travelers! Their prices are pretty competitive and reasonable! Great hunt and hunt ran very well and Game Warden's are on Range and they only issued 1 ticket out of 84 hunters! Not sure what they did wrong but they deserved the ticket if they got caught doing something illegal and i would bet it was hunting from the back of a truck bed! My 338-378 does about 3180 with a 225 Gr TSX factory round which looks like a MAC truck from a spotting scope going down range!

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I found this and it's dated 2002 so their must have been an issue back then according to this article i have linked? Feel now that since they have fenced the Monument that they have controlled their entry as they WSMR is like 300 Square miles and they have a huge area to roam and eat tumbleweeds?

 

Quote:

Because the African oryx is not native to this country, the National Park Service is concerned about how this animal affects the native plants and animals of White Sands National Monument. The National Park Service has fenced the park boundary to prevent the oryx from entering the monument. During the fencing process a number of oryx that were within the monument became contained within the boundary fence. The National Park Service is in the process of removing oryx from within the monument boundaries.

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