BigBob

This was a great hunt!!!!! I did take a 38" cow. Not real big, but I'm more than happy with it. The Range Police and the state game wardens were fantastic. All bent over backwards to help. My son Michael, from Phoenix, joined me to assist in the game recovery as required by the Range. All staff were adamant about cameras so I was unable to get photos. Such a hard hunt. We spent Friday night in a Super 8 motel in Las Cruses. To be sure where the gate to the Small Missle Range was located, we drove out friday evening to find it. While there, a couple came up doing the same thing we were. As with old people, I cannot remember their names. The husband was the helper and the wife the huntress. He had been applying for a permit for 18 years and had never been drawn. The huntress, who was younger than the helper, had been drawn on her first application, and this was her very first hunt. She was useing her husbands 8mm mag.
Everyone met at the Range at 0600 hrs
saturday. After a safety and hunt area briefing we got the bad news. About 2/3s of the Range was closed too hunting due to delayed test being completed. This necessitated 23 hunters in a small area than intended. We had four stalks busted as a result of crowding. It seemed everytime we found a herd and started a stalk, the staff would bring a bunch of hunters into the area. The game wardens and police worked hard to get everyone onto a Oryx.
On the first stalk we met the couple from the previous evening. In fact, she took a 40 1/2" cow that I was after. It took me about two minutes to get over the disappointment, then I was almost as happy as they were. I really enjoyed seeing a first time huntress get her animal. Plus she took a real trophy. The game wardens showed up in a few minutes and were as happy as I was about her prize. The longest horn taken this year was 41". I got carried away a little, and just walked up and gave her a hug. With her husband standing there. And I got away with it! I put her thru the "hunters rites". I told her she had to fed the spirit of the Oryx by placing a green sprig in it's mouth. She even put up with me marking her forehead with blood, but drew the line at taking a bite out of the raw heart. We all had a good laugh over that. She had taken the Oryx with a neck shot from about 75 yards. I wonder if he has lost a rifle. About then a warden walked up and said that they had found a herd of 13 Oryx and would lead me there. There was a slight problem. The Oryx were on a closed area and hunters were prohibited from it. However, they could place me on an ambush spot and try to drive the herd into a open area. For the next two hours those wardens worked like hell to push the herd off the closed area. Every time the Oryx approached the power line that marked the boundry, they stopped, looked around, and turned and ran past the wardens. I think those Oryx had been shot at before. I called a halt to this effort and said I'd find another herd.
We made two more stalks that were busted. We found one Oryx that I sure would liked to have taken. This lone Oryx was very wary. We looked him over with a spotting scope from 3/4 of a mile and found it to be a brute. I'm sure it was longer than the Oryx taken by the huntress, and heavier. He spotted us and took off as if he'd been turpentined. We parked the truck in a wash and made a foot stalk, but never saw it again. By now it was 1600 hrs and getting late. Mike suggested we return to the area where the wardens had tried to drive the Oryx. When we reached the area we found that six had moved into the open area. We'd been told we could take a rest on the truck, but could not shoot from in the truck. Two of the Oryx were about 125 yards away. I jumped (read stumbled) from the truck and leaned over the hood. The nearest Oryx looked to be the longest horned one of the two. As I sighted on her, she started to turn away from us to the left. I put the bullet just right of center of the neck at the butt of the ear. I was useing a Rem. M-700 BDL in a 7mm RM. The bullet was a Sierra 160 grain HPBT hunting bullet. Now here is the weird part, when I recovered from the recoil, the Oryx was still on its feet. I'd heard the bullet hit, and thought I'd grazed it. I looked down to work the bolt and when I looked up again, there was only one Oryx there. I looked at Mike questioningly and was told mine was down. The bullet had hit the spine destroying it and exited thru the right eye. (YUCK!) Since the skull cap was broken and the cape a mess, I will have just mount the horns. I HAD A BALL!!!!!!!!!! Thank you all for your interest. Good luck.

Robb92

CONGRATS. ON THE SUCCESSFUL HUNT. SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAD A HARD DAY OF HUNTING BUT IT PAYED OFF FOR YOU IN THE END.

Big Earl

Great job. Sounds like you had a blast.

halcon

Congrats on the hunt .

Tim Buma

Where is this missile range?

Deleted User

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remingtonman

Congrats!
Now that different kind of hunt and it sounds like a great time.

Deleted User

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BigBob

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!I appreciate your good wishes. The range is located in south central New Mexico, north of highway 70, between Alamagordo and Las Cruses. I used a new tool on this hunt that was easy to use and a great time saver. I'm going to post it in the big game forum. Take a look, this is slick.

stickerpt

Thanks for the story BigBob. Just got a chance to read it. Do you remember I told
you you wouldn't be needing any luck? <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>
How many days was the hunt scheduled for?