Finally, I have the time to post my journal from this hunt. I hope you can tell what a fun and exciting trip it was.
12/17 Arrived at the Tularosa gate at 4:30. We are about the fortieth truck in line. The gate opens at 5:00. We must show a picture id, registration, proof of insurance, and a tag. Each vehicle is searched inside and out, which takes some time to get us all through. We drive a couple miles to the orientation site. There is a total of 117 hunters, 100 Rhodes Canyon, 7 military and 10 mountainous area. Orientation starts at 6:35. We hit the road at 7:00. Only six or seven trucks are ahead of us. One stops about every mile and hunters pile out after oryx that are near the road. We arrive at the location I have picked to start from studying the maps. There is no road as shown on the USGS map. We backtrack a couple of miles and get into the area from a different direction. There is a lot of sign on the two track we are driving, but we see no animals. The area has a lot of greasewood and there are no good high spots clear enough for glassing. After an hour of looking around, we head to another area. My map work and GPS loading are right on the money. It’s very gratifying to succeed at navigating in an area I have never seen before.
We pull up on a tank. It is still frozen at 9;00. Low temperature was 26 degrees this morning. I set up the spotting scope on the berm of the tank which is about ten feet higher than the surrounding plain. I can see a good distance. After fifteen minutes or so, I spot a small group of oryx about a mile out. We pack up the spotter, grab the shooting sticks and range finder, and off we go.
It takes an hour to cover the 1.375 miles. We get within 600 yards of a lone oryx we have been watching periodically as we stalked and he spots us. Fortunately, Bonny spots another about 400 yards out to our left that is unaware of our presence. I look through the range finder and find two others. One is clearly larger than the rest. One is bedded down. We close the distance to 293 yards. We are out of good cover and can advance no further. The biggest one starts moving from our left to right, toward the oryx that knows we are there. He is moving slightly away. I have him in the crosshairs as he glides behind the scattered mesquite. He clears and stops. The others start moving away a little faster. They know something is up and I can feel the opportunity slipping away. It’s a very tense moment. If you have ever stalked a big mule deer or antelope, you know the feeling. I guess him to be about 310 yards. There is no time range him again. At the shot, he just stands there. The others bail out, then he follows. Looks to be a clean miss. I watch the group of oryx for twenty minutes on the open plain slowly moving further and further away. Two more join them. I am sure he is not wounded. There is no blood and he keeps with the rest of the small herd. I watch as they move off into a mesquite thicket two miles distant.
We head back to the tank, which is now two miles away. I’m disappointed that I spent so much time on a successful stalk on a good oryx bull only to blow the shot. As we hike along silently, I go over and over the last moments before the shot, trying to understand what went wrong. My post mortem is making me lose confidence in my zero. Even if I misjudged the distance, I should have had a low hit, not a complete miss. I have to shake it off and get back into the hunt, but there is that nagging doubt.
As we approach the tank, Bonny stops to glass. She thinks she sees a hunter there. She can see his orange vest through the mesquite. I start looking through my range finder and I see movement behind the mesquite but it’s not blaze orange. Before I can figure out what’s up, out steps an oryx. We’re about 400 yards out and I can tell he’s under 30 inches, not what I’m looking for. He spots us and walks off the berm and into some scattered mesquite. Even though I don’t want this animal, we spend fifteen minutes sneaking up on him. I get to 67 yards before he slowly moves off. Cool. We decide to sit he tank and see if any more will come to water. After an hour, Bonny spots four oryx over a mile out. They are headed our way on the run. One looks to be over 30 inches, but it’s hard to tell due to the distance, heat mirage and the fact that they are on the run. We wait thirty minutes after they drop out of sight, but they never show again. I spot three more within a quarter mile of where I missed the shot earlier in the day. The farthest one out looks to be 30-32 inches. The two closer are much smaller.
I start on another mile plus stalk. Bonny stays behind to watch through the spotting scope. I come up on the two small oryx and get within 130 yards. I can’t get past them without spooking them. They run off heading away from the area where I believe the larger one to be. The mesquite is more sparse in this area and I have to be very careful in my movements from this point on. I move to the area I thought I would find him and can’t spot him. It’s really hard to tell exactly where an animal is located when you spot them a mile away in a flat with no landmarks, but I know I’m close. After sitting and glassing for fifteen minutes, I’m worried he may have blown out unseen when the others ran. I radio Bonny to see if he is still in the area. She says he hasn’t moved and is just ahead of me. I still can’t see him, so I move to the next mesquite. I glass again and can’t find him. I start to move and he comes out from behind the mesquite that was hiding him. He’s on the smallish side, but it’s getting late. I will try to take him if I can. I range him at 300 yards, but he won’t have anything to do with me and blows out before I can set up for the shot. Back to the tank.
We decide to drive to another area. As we are driving out, I spot a good size oryx about a mile down the road from the tank. I stop and check him out with my binoculars. Nice animal, about thirty-five inches but he is broken off halfway up his left side. I start driving again and another good bull jumps from his bed 400 yards off the road and heads to the area we just left. He is too spooked and the terrain too open to attempt a stalk. We continue on, knowing we can return in the evening after things settle down. We drive to the other area about 10 miles away. I spot a single oryx from the road that is in a position to be stalked, but it’s well under the 30 inch mark. Definitely not worth the time for a stalk on the first day. We spot nothing more in this area. We drive another five miles to a new area. Shortly after we leave the paved road, the road sides are posted “Hazardous Area Unexploded Ordinance”. It’s not marked as such on the map, but I’m not taking any chances. We decide to return to the tank to finish out the day.
As soon as we arrive, we spot several oryx feeding in the distance. One is the broken horn bull. Another looks to be the 35 incher that was bedded near him earlier. We map out a stalk. There is probably not enough daylight remaining to reach them unless we are lucky enough to have good cover to conceal our rapid progress or the oryx move toward us. It’s the only chance remaining to take an animal today. We’re off. Each time we stop to check on them through binoculars, we see more and more oryx coming out from the mesquite. We count a total of 35 at one time. The broken horn bull and his companion are moving away from us and toward the greater number of oryx. We cannot close the distance quickly enough. Another bull appears where I first saw the broken horn bull when we started this stalk. We might have enough time to get within range on this bull. He looks to be in the 32-33 inch range. We try to close the distance. At 600 yards it’s clear we will run out of shooting light before we reach him. We back out leaving a flat filled with feeding oryx. We will return first thing in the morning.
12/18 Processing through the gate goes much faster this morning. We are driving toward the tank at 6:15. Shooting time is 6:30. It’s too dark for my tastes at that hour, besides we will not reach the tank until 6:45. We set up the spotting scope and start to glass. After 30 minutes, I spot three oryx about a mile and a half out. I take a bearing on a landmark on the side of a mountain in the distance. It’s the only way to keep track of the direction once we are out in the flat. We pack up the spotting scope, grab our packs and head out. It’s now 7:40. We move quickly through the now familiar areas of good mesquite cover, slowing as we move through the more sparse areas and as we approach the area I think the oryx are feeding. We stalk slowly through the flat until we are at the end of the mesquite cover, some two miles distant from the tank. We glass nothing. The oryx have given us the slip. We glass the wide open expanse looking for the horn of a bedded oryx somewhere in the grass flat that stretches a mile to the north and two miles to the east. We decide there are too many oryx that are easier to find to waste too much time on the last day glassing here. We circle to the west, then south to work our way back toward the tank. We see nothing as we return. I set up the spotting scope again and can see no more oryx in this area. We decide to try a fresh area and return later if needed.
We drive to the base of a small hill that overlooks miles of flat. We hike to the crest and set up the spotting scope. I glass for an hour without success. Finally, I turn the spotting scope back toward the truck and glass a short slope leading to a low ridge beyond. I spot an oryx less than a mile out. It has already spotted me and is staring intently. It’s a small cow, but if I can reach the truck without spooking it, I have a chance at a stalk. It’s 10:10 on the last day. I’m going for it. Bonny stays with the spotting scope to watch. The oryx focuses her attention on Bonny and I make it to the truck without being spotted. There is a small ditch across the road from the truck that leads straight toward the oryx. What luck! The ditch allows me to walk upright for 200 yards, then bent over for another 100 yards. Now I must crab walk or crawl. It takes some time, but I close the distance to 256 yards. There is a second, smaller oryx slightly closer, but all is good so far. I feel I can move slightly closer without being detected. I must now belly crawl from bush to bush through all manner of cactus and brush with stickers. Why did I not bring gloves and knee pads? I get as close as I dare and set up for the shot. It’s slightly uphill and a few twigs of low brush are in the line of fire. I can’t risk the shot. I belly crawl to the next bush and set up for the shot. It’s clear. Range finder reads 224. I fire and hear the thwack of a hit. The oryx doesn’t react. The smaller cow trots off a short distance and stops. My cow turns and starts to walk slowly away toward the top of the ridge. I watch through my scope and can see blood low on the brisket. I get a bead on a strong quartering away shot just behind the ribs. I hold a little higher this time and get a solid hit with the .338 and the oryx hunches up big time, then walks over the ridge. I slowly hike up the low ridge and see the oryx lay down. I figure it’s over. The second oryx has circled around looking for her buddy. After a long moment of looking back and forth between me and the downed oryx, she blows out. My oryx gets up and tries to follow. She’s hobbling slowly and lays back down after fifty yards. I walk up to her and give one last round through the top of the lungs through and through. The impact of the .338 rolls her. The first two shots were fatal hits but I needed to put an end to her struggles as quickly as I could. I am amazed at how hard these animals are to put down. It’s the first time I have ever fired more than one shot at a big game animal.
There is no grip and grin photo op. Cameras are not allowed on the WSMR. I tag my oryx and then bone out job begins. I’m surprised to see the flesh looks more like pork than beef. Actually, it looks very much like veal. We cape and bone out my prize, then head to the gate to check out. As we are driving the twenty-five miles across the missile range, we see hunters dragging oryx from the field and others loading them into trucks. We are told I am the 72nd successful hunter to check out of the 117 in the field. My cow tapes out at 25 ½ inches. Rather small, but I have passed on larger and had the chance at a nice trophy. I am satisfied. I hope I get a chance to apply all I learned in these two days when I return with Bonny should she be fortunate to draw this tag.
I am always willing to share all I know about this hunt with anyone lucky enough to draw. Just post up or shoot me a PM.
12/17 Arrived at the Tularosa gate at 4:30. We are about the fortieth truck in line. The gate opens at 5:00. We must show a picture id, registration, proof of insurance, and a tag. Each vehicle is searched inside and out, which takes some time to get us all through. We drive a couple miles to the orientation site. There is a total of 117 hunters, 100 Rhodes Canyon, 7 military and 10 mountainous area. Orientation starts at 6:35. We hit the road at 7:00. Only six or seven trucks are ahead of us. One stops about every mile and hunters pile out after oryx that are near the road. We arrive at the location I have picked to start from studying the maps. There is no road as shown on the USGS map. We backtrack a couple of miles and get into the area from a different direction. There is a lot of sign on the two track we are driving, but we see no animals. The area has a lot of greasewood and there are no good high spots clear enough for glassing. After an hour of looking around, we head to another area. My map work and GPS loading are right on the money. It’s very gratifying to succeed at navigating in an area I have never seen before.
We pull up on a tank. It is still frozen at 9;00. Low temperature was 26 degrees this morning. I set up the spotting scope on the berm of the tank which is about ten feet higher than the surrounding plain. I can see a good distance. After fifteen minutes or so, I spot a small group of oryx about a mile out. We pack up the spotter, grab the shooting sticks and range finder, and off we go.
It takes an hour to cover the 1.375 miles. We get within 600 yards of a lone oryx we have been watching periodically as we stalked and he spots us. Fortunately, Bonny spots another about 400 yards out to our left that is unaware of our presence. I look through the range finder and find two others. One is clearly larger than the rest. One is bedded down. We close the distance to 293 yards. We are out of good cover and can advance no further. The biggest one starts moving from our left to right, toward the oryx that knows we are there. He is moving slightly away. I have him in the crosshairs as he glides behind the scattered mesquite. He clears and stops. The others start moving away a little faster. They know something is up and I can feel the opportunity slipping away. It’s a very tense moment. If you have ever stalked a big mule deer or antelope, you know the feeling. I guess him to be about 310 yards. There is no time range him again. At the shot, he just stands there. The others bail out, then he follows. Looks to be a clean miss. I watch the group of oryx for twenty minutes on the open plain slowly moving further and further away. Two more join them. I am sure he is not wounded. There is no blood and he keeps with the rest of the small herd. I watch as they move off into a mesquite thicket two miles distant.
We head back to the tank, which is now two miles away. I’m disappointed that I spent so much time on a successful stalk on a good oryx bull only to blow the shot. As we hike along silently, I go over and over the last moments before the shot, trying to understand what went wrong. My post mortem is making me lose confidence in my zero. Even if I misjudged the distance, I should have had a low hit, not a complete miss. I have to shake it off and get back into the hunt, but there is that nagging doubt.
As we approach the tank, Bonny stops to glass. She thinks she sees a hunter there. She can see his orange vest through the mesquite. I start looking through my range finder and I see movement behind the mesquite but it’s not blaze orange. Before I can figure out what’s up, out steps an oryx. We’re about 400 yards out and I can tell he’s under 30 inches, not what I’m looking for. He spots us and walks off the berm and into some scattered mesquite. Even though I don’t want this animal, we spend fifteen minutes sneaking up on him. I get to 67 yards before he slowly moves off. Cool. We decide to sit he tank and see if any more will come to water. After an hour, Bonny spots four oryx over a mile out. They are headed our way on the run. One looks to be over 30 inches, but it’s hard to tell due to the distance, heat mirage and the fact that they are on the run. We wait thirty minutes after they drop out of sight, but they never show again. I spot three more within a quarter mile of where I missed the shot earlier in the day. The farthest one out looks to be 30-32 inches. The two closer are much smaller.
I start on another mile plus stalk. Bonny stays behind to watch through the spotting scope. I come up on the two small oryx and get within 130 yards. I can’t get past them without spooking them. They run off heading away from the area where I believe the larger one to be. The mesquite is more sparse in this area and I have to be very careful in my movements from this point on. I move to the area I thought I would find him and can’t spot him. It’s really hard to tell exactly where an animal is located when you spot them a mile away in a flat with no landmarks, but I know I’m close. After sitting and glassing for fifteen minutes, I’m worried he may have blown out unseen when the others ran. I radio Bonny to see if he is still in the area. She says he hasn’t moved and is just ahead of me. I still can’t see him, so I move to the next mesquite. I glass again and can’t find him. I start to move and he comes out from behind the mesquite that was hiding him. He’s on the smallish side, but it’s getting late. I will try to take him if I can. I range him at 300 yards, but he won’t have anything to do with me and blows out before I can set up for the shot. Back to the tank.
We decide to drive to another area. As we are driving out, I spot a good size oryx about a mile down the road from the tank. I stop and check him out with my binoculars. Nice animal, about thirty-five inches but he is broken off halfway up his left side. I start driving again and another good bull jumps from his bed 400 yards off the road and heads to the area we just left. He is too spooked and the terrain too open to attempt a stalk. We continue on, knowing we can return in the evening after things settle down. We drive to the other area about 10 miles away. I spot a single oryx from the road that is in a position to be stalked, but it’s well under the 30 inch mark. Definitely not worth the time for a stalk on the first day. We spot nothing more in this area. We drive another five miles to a new area. Shortly after we leave the paved road, the road sides are posted “Hazardous Area Unexploded Ordinance”. It’s not marked as such on the map, but I’m not taking any chances. We decide to return to the tank to finish out the day.
As soon as we arrive, we spot several oryx feeding in the distance. One is the broken horn bull. Another looks to be the 35 incher that was bedded near him earlier. We map out a stalk. There is probably not enough daylight remaining to reach them unless we are lucky enough to have good cover to conceal our rapid progress or the oryx move toward us. It’s the only chance remaining to take an animal today. We’re off. Each time we stop to check on them through binoculars, we see more and more oryx coming out from the mesquite. We count a total of 35 at one time. The broken horn bull and his companion are moving away from us and toward the greater number of oryx. We cannot close the distance quickly enough. Another bull appears where I first saw the broken horn bull when we started this stalk. We might have enough time to get within range on this bull. He looks to be in the 32-33 inch range. We try to close the distance. At 600 yards it’s clear we will run out of shooting light before we reach him. We back out leaving a flat filled with feeding oryx. We will return first thing in the morning.
12/18 Processing through the gate goes much faster this morning. We are driving toward the tank at 6:15. Shooting time is 6:30. It’s too dark for my tastes at that hour, besides we will not reach the tank until 6:45. We set up the spotting scope and start to glass. After 30 minutes, I spot three oryx about a mile and a half out. I take a bearing on a landmark on the side of a mountain in the distance. It’s the only way to keep track of the direction once we are out in the flat. We pack up the spotting scope, grab our packs and head out. It’s now 7:40. We move quickly through the now familiar areas of good mesquite cover, slowing as we move through the more sparse areas and as we approach the area I think the oryx are feeding. We stalk slowly through the flat until we are at the end of the mesquite cover, some two miles distant from the tank. We glass nothing. The oryx have given us the slip. We glass the wide open expanse looking for the horn of a bedded oryx somewhere in the grass flat that stretches a mile to the north and two miles to the east. We decide there are too many oryx that are easier to find to waste too much time on the last day glassing here. We circle to the west, then south to work our way back toward the tank. We see nothing as we return. I set up the spotting scope again and can see no more oryx in this area. We decide to try a fresh area and return later if needed.
We drive to the base of a small hill that overlooks miles of flat. We hike to the crest and set up the spotting scope. I glass for an hour without success. Finally, I turn the spotting scope back toward the truck and glass a short slope leading to a low ridge beyond. I spot an oryx less than a mile out. It has already spotted me and is staring intently. It’s a small cow, but if I can reach the truck without spooking it, I have a chance at a stalk. It’s 10:10 on the last day. I’m going for it. Bonny stays with the spotting scope to watch. The oryx focuses her attention on Bonny and I make it to the truck without being spotted. There is a small ditch across the road from the truck that leads straight toward the oryx. What luck! The ditch allows me to walk upright for 200 yards, then bent over for another 100 yards. Now I must crab walk or crawl. It takes some time, but I close the distance to 256 yards. There is a second, smaller oryx slightly closer, but all is good so far. I feel I can move slightly closer without being detected. I must now belly crawl from bush to bush through all manner of cactus and brush with stickers. Why did I not bring gloves and knee pads? I get as close as I dare and set up for the shot. It’s slightly uphill and a few twigs of low brush are in the line of fire. I can’t risk the shot. I belly crawl to the next bush and set up for the shot. It’s clear. Range finder reads 224. I fire and hear the thwack of a hit. The oryx doesn’t react. The smaller cow trots off a short distance and stops. My cow turns and starts to walk slowly away toward the top of the ridge. I watch through my scope and can see blood low on the brisket. I get a bead on a strong quartering away shot just behind the ribs. I hold a little higher this time and get a solid hit with the .338 and the oryx hunches up big time, then walks over the ridge. I slowly hike up the low ridge and see the oryx lay down. I figure it’s over. The second oryx has circled around looking for her buddy. After a long moment of looking back and forth between me and the downed oryx, she blows out. My oryx gets up and tries to follow. She’s hobbling slowly and lays back down after fifty yards. I walk up to her and give one last round through the top of the lungs through and through. The impact of the .338 rolls her. The first two shots were fatal hits but I needed to put an end to her struggles as quickly as I could. I am amazed at how hard these animals are to put down. It’s the first time I have ever fired more than one shot at a big game animal.
There is no grip and grin photo op. Cameras are not allowed on the WSMR. I tag my oryx and then bone out job begins. I’m surprised to see the flesh looks more like pork than beef. Actually, it looks very much like veal. We cape and bone out my prize, then head to the gate to check out. As we are driving the twenty-five miles across the missile range, we see hunters dragging oryx from the field and others loading them into trucks. We are told I am the 72nd successful hunter to check out of the 117 in the field. My cow tapes out at 25 ½ inches. Rather small, but I have passed on larger and had the chance at a nice trophy. I am satisfied. I hope I get a chance to apply all I learned in these two days when I return with Bonny should she be fortunate to draw this tag.
I am always willing to share all I know about this hunt with anyone lucky enough to draw. Just post up or shoot me a PM.
