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Rhodes Canyon Youth Oryx

Good day everyone. First, I want to thank everyone in advance and best of luck on this year’s hunts! I am asking for peoples experience and advice on the Rhodes Canyon hunt. My daughter drew the youth hunt and I would like to make this hunt as memorable and hopefully successful for her. I have been reading through the old threads and archives, using google to find information and watching YouTube videos trying to get ideas and information about the hunt and Oryx in general. There are some videos of off range hunts and of course none on range due to the rules of cameras and video recorders. We have been discussing shot placement due to the location of the vitals several times. I have a map of the Rhodes hunt area I was able to go on one time from several years ago and have the BLM maps which I have outlined that hunt area and began to study. I am asking because of the inability to scout the actual hunt area before the hunt. What is the best way of hunting these awesome animals? Are the flats or foothills better? Is it better around Red Canyon and the Oscura foothills or west toward Rhodes Canyon and the San Andres foothills? I do plan on doing some driving and some spotting (prefer spotting because I don’t road hunt).She is determined to get an Oryx and I am determined to do everything I can to help her be successful on the hunt. I’ve already spoke with one person that has provided some info. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again. Carlos

Plan on driving. You’ll have to cover a lot of ground. Get to some high spots near the roads and glass from there. Don’t waste a lot of time hiking around. Best by getting away from the hard top roads and drive and stop and glass frequently. Take a step ladder with you for the back of the pickup so you can get a bit higher to glass. And ask the game wardens and security there when ever you see them, they will help you out especially on the youth hunts. They will often have you follow them right to the herds if they have seen any. As for where to hunt they roam around a lot so anywhere can be good one day and not the next. But overall the odds are great on these hunts

Weekend Warrior provided the best advice on how to hunt them. As far as shot placement, tight behind the shoulder (or slightly forward of that) mid body level with the top of the "racing stripe" on it's belly will give you a good solid double lung.

Whatever they tell you, DO NOT attempt to break the front shoulder on purpose. That is how they run and run and suddenly turn into the "toughest animal in NA". Use a good, deep penetrating, slow expanding bullet such as an Accubond, Partition, ELD-X, etc.

Best way to spot them in brush is to look for the black and white "clown face". When they are looking at you and swish their tail, they are getting ready to run. They run in a straight line to where they are going so are easy to head off if you need to get ahead of them. As far as judging horn length, don't go off the "if the horn is twice as long as the muzzle" thing. If their head is down and feeding and the horn tips extend up to the shoulder hump, shoot. If the horns are at least 3x the head length, shoot but bear in mind horn length is right around 30".

I killed mine on Rhodes, north toward Mockingbird Gap. Oryx are where you find them. Most important, have fun!

Funnest hunt in the state. Get on the two tracks and drive to high spots and glass. I have been on several hunts there. Biggest bull we saw one time was about a 1/4 mile from the gate. They can be anywhere on the unit. Took me 16 years to draw my OIL there. Killed a 39 3/4 inch cow the first morning. Practice getting on shooting sticks and getting setup. That has been the worst part of helping on some hunts is getting them in position to shoot quickly enough.

Thank you for the replies, I really appreciate it. Carlos

They are scattered all over the unit but I would lean toward brushy draws or the foothills areas. Don't waste a lot of time glassing open areas. My daughter killed hers in Red Canyon back when it was a separate unit. We drove up the canyon until it got brushy and got on a high spot and glassed. We made 4 stalks all around that high spot and never hunted another area. When one stalk didn't work out, we went back and glassed up another bunch. Don't give it a 5 minute look see and drive off. It takes some time to see them moving through the brush. All previous advice is spot on with the exception of shot placement. You do not want to aim half way up the shoulder. Their spine drops way down low behind the shoulder and I've seen many oryx hit just above half way, drop and then get up and never stop. That is hands down the most common shooting mistake. They have bones growing up off of the spine to create the hump and if you hit one of those bones, it will shock the spine and they will drop just like a solid spinal hit. Don't let that fool you. If they go straight down, put another one in the lungs. Aim below the halfway point. I enjoy hunting the thick brush at the edge of the mountain range to the west side of the unit but it can be hard for a youth to get a good shot in the thicker stuff. I would start out going straight north from check in area and work north west. Then just glass until you see some.

I agree, a high shoulder shot should be avoided. Don't try to duplicate the traditional "Best of the West" shot. The top of the racing stripe on their belly is about 1/3 to almost half way up.

Have killed several and seen several killed keeping elevation there and windage tight behind the shoulder. This is why you do not want to try and break the shoulder the way your paperwork and orientation will say.

Chris from compass west outfitters took my daughter as I had no idea on hunting oryx and we both drew first time we applied on 2 different weekends.He usually gives a great write up on monster muleys.com.We practiced alot as she was shooting the 7mag with a SIMS vibration recoil pad and had no problem.We shot off sticks and off a bipod alot,we would go each evening and shoot 10 shells.One thing that we did alot was getting her to shoot then jack one in and get back on target.She ended up making a perfect 374 yard shot,not bad for a 13 year old.We went in summer so lots of snakes so we had gators.

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