New Mexico Oryx Hunt Help

[BriggsRi]

Ok, I have been drawn for a state wide 30 day Oryx hunt. I spent all day Thursday scouting the Bosque Wild Life Refuge and came up with very little sign. Friday spend all day on the back side of the Fite Ranch and found a little more sign, but nothing real encouraging. However, we did see 25 - 30 Oryx on the White Sands property, but nothing would cross the fence.

Does any one have any suggestions or recommendations on where to possibly bag an Oryx?

Thanks,

 

[nfhjr62]

Of course they wouldn't cross the fence they know they can't be shot at were they are at, you have to figure out a way to get them to cross???

 

[BriggsRi]

I have tried the " here Oryx, Oryx, Oryx " method with very little success

I'll have to keep glassing and scouting, I know that they are out there, it's just a matter of time!

 

[sp6x6]

Is it hot or dry enough to warrant any water source hunting? If you know they are in the area, tracks,etc. they will have to drink some time

 

[leadshot]

I have found Oryx several times on the other side of the river behind Bosque Del Apache. There is a huge hill climb it early or mid afternoon and glass.

 

[BriggsRi]

Leadshot,

Thanks, we hiked from the parking area about 4 - 5 miles back in and found very little to no sign.

I know last year that area was the hot spot.

We also, ran into some bird hunters that they had seen lots of Oryx in the area last year and non this year.

Just goning to have to keep glassing the area!

 

[leadshot]

I looked last weekend and found no sign on the refuge. I would glass the knob behind from a high elevation and see what you may. Numbers are lower every year.

 

[hshunter]

Hunted several years ago on BLM just past carizozo ( not sure of the spelling). hunted along the edge of BLM and white sands, was able to get a decent cow with a 308 win in a HS handgun. 252 yd shot dropped her on her nose. saw several Oryx but all were trying to get back to the white sands side. good luck on hour hunt
nmhunter

 

[big1fox]

Try further south on the west side of WSMR, like south of Engle. Ain't gonna work to hunt them on water holes. The Oryx have been hunted off range all fall and winter and are way skittish, tend to run off about 600 yards or more then stop and look at you - they run first. On the east side of WSMR, they are going to be hard to find, maybe try south and east of Oscura near the Lincoln County line there is a two track that goes east toward the Godfrey Hills. Be ready for a LONG shot. Of course private ranches would be great but access is not available. Good luck.

 

[BriggsRi]

Thanks,

This is where we were hunting today, ( south and east of Oscura ) and in fact we had seen some of the BIGEST Oryx yet! Only problem, these guys are smart and never came off the base property!


All in all, we are having a great time - just one more week to go!

 

[thewileyone13]

So how did the hunt go? Did you end up with one?

 

[BriggsRi]

Well, we ended seeing lots of awesome animals, but everything was on the WSMR.
Heck one day my hunting partner and I were glassing a field and at the same time we spotted about 20 large Oryx about 1 mile or so out. We put the stalk on these guys, belly crawling, running all of the low spots, sneaking from bush to bush, well after a 2 1/2 hour stalk we were able to get with-in 400 yards.

Man things were looking good, my partner sets up and we finally pick a huge monster out of the heard - Black Beauty. This bad boy had the biggest set of horns that we had seen over the past few weeks and he was almost black in color, a real monster, we were guessing about 40"+ horns.
We glass some more, re-range things and steadied up for the shot - about that time, I'm glassing up and down the areas where the heard is grazing and Bam! It hits me, these suckers are just on the other side of the fence on WSMR - it was a no go!

Regardless, this was an awesome hunt, we found lots of great areas to hunt Oryx in the future - well if one of us gets drawn in the future, I know exactly where we will start scouting right off the git go.

We passed this spot on to another buddy's daughter who had a youth tag for the following weekend. Not even 45mins into the hunt she bags a great double broken horned Oryx!

So ya, the hunt was a success – good times and great memories!

 

[82ndreddevil]

Last year I went on two oryx hunts. One was my fathers off range hunt, the other was my hunt on the Stallion range. My hunt on Stallion produced alot of small calves and broken horns. I cant say I saw anything that I wanted to mount. A couple of stalks got busted by other hunters pulling over to see what I was doing and spooked the animals. The problem with the on range hunt is that its a two day rush to bag something. Did not really feel like I was hunting. The success rate is still around 50% but a lot of the animals being killed are nothing impressive. I do not see why people shoot calves.
The off range hunt produced nothing more than alot of sign but no animals. The sand is so dry it is hard to see how fresh it really is. We drove the outskirts of stallion at 5mph stopping very often to glass. I have heard that the hunting was much better 20 years ago. From my opinion the majority of the success comes from shooting broken horns or calves. I understand there are some guys that bagged some nice ones that would dissagree but this is just my opinion from talking to many people and seeing what was getting killed. Thank god we still got excellent elk in this state!

 

[Trikstr]

Friend killed his here a few years ago.
UTM coordinate
13 S 326715 3724251

Good luck!
I've been applying for quite awhile still no luck.
Should have checked date closer. Sorry.