Four of us hunted there last week. I felt like if we could hunt water when it was hot and dry, we should have a good chance at getting our oryx.
At this point I was worried that I would lose it so I made a poor decision. I went back to the truck and headed back with a rifle in one hand and my bow in the other. I later learned that I should have left the rifle behind and just given it a little more time.
I snuck back in and got close enough to put a couple more arrows into it. Like most African animals, oryx are extremely tough critters. At this point, I wasn’t sure if I had hit it with the rifle shot. I later found out that I had but it was not a very good shot. I should have just let the arrow do its job. It had been leaving a good blood trail, I just hadn’t found it.
I still want to do this hunt with ya man
Good luck, Robb
I put 2 arrows in the chest to finish it off. It was trying to get up so the first one wasn't far enough forward. The final shot was just right.
The Accommodations and food were excellent as was the Skinning cooling shed, first class all the way.
If anyone else does this try to get them to take you out to watch the Bats come out of the caves some evening, it is unbelievable.
It was a lot cooler on our hunt. It actually rained and snowed the week before our hunt and that spread the oryx out quite a bit. Prior to the rain and snow, there had been quite a few coming into water during the day regularly at several locations. While we were there I think there was only one trail camera picture of one coming in after dark.
My buddy Dan was able to stalk in on a bedded oryx that I spotted driving down the road. It was a really windy day and they were not up and moving around much. I just saw the face in the brush in some creosote brush In a tight gully as I was driving.
It was easier for Dan to roll out of the truck with his bow and I wanted to get a little further away before parking. I told Dan to get out and ease back down the road toward where I had seen it. I drove on out of sight and went back to help guide Dan in for a shot.
Dan was able to get to under 30 yards and the oryx was still bedded. He shot through a hole in the brush while it was bedded and hit him.
The bull jumped up and trotted up over a hill and we kept him in sight as he walked down into some other gullies. Not much blood, but he didn’t act like he was feeling good. He disappeared in some brush and we figured he was bedded again.
I got on the trail and backtracked to where he had been bedded at the shot. Dan’s arrow was laying there without the broadhead or insert and not much penetration evident.
We decided to call Kyle to bring out a rifle before going after him. Kyle met us and we got on his tracks. Very little blood, but easy enough to follow the tracks.
I carried the rifle and Dan carried his bow. The bull jumped up and trotted over a rise at about 60 yard and Dan asked for the gun. He made a good shot just as the bull was going over another rise.
When breaking the bull down to pack him out, the arrow had hit the elbow and the broadhead had glanced backwards into the guts. We potentially could have closed the deal with the bow but did not want it to turn into a mess or lose a wounded animal.
The entry into the body cavity would have been a heart shot on an elk or deer.
Very tough critters.
We learn a little more each time we hunt there.
The section we of the ranch we were hunting had a much lower population than other areas of the ranch. There were definitely oryx there, but they were not coming to water and were very difficult to stalk.
Easier than public land, most likely....
Fish in a barrel, no way!
There aren't anywhere near 1000 oryx on the ranch so I have no idea where you got your information. Apparently you have an issue with hunting on private land. We are trying to an create opportunity for bowhunters to have a decent chance, maybe 30 or 40% to harvest an oryx with a bow. We have had some of world class bowhunters give it a try and our success is still low. It is a very difficult hunt.
How many hunters is that?
As Barerra points out, if you come home empty handed, it's because of the wounding policy and you couldn't find your animal.
He also commented on the difference between rifle and bow. These are the first hunts offered for bow, all in the past have been rifle so that is where the most harvest and hunt data is relative to the 100% harvest/shot opportunity.
Have taken numerous wild and free-ranging species spot-and-stalk with a bow and arrow — it is never easy! Much harder with a “wide-awake” species such as an Oryx in a desert environment. Will tip my hat to anyone taking one with an arrow.
That’s a trip that I never even considered. Thanks for sharing - it looks like a lot of fun.
Monday afternoon started with me trying to cut off a lone bull in a draw. He was feeding away and the wind was iffy at times due to an approaching storm to the north. As I closed to under 200 yards the bull started to walk back toward my location. I was stuck behind a lone bush that didn’t due much to hide someone who is 6’4” tall. The bull got to 110 yards and picked me off behind the lone bush. I made my way back to the ranch road and found my hunting partner moving in on what we thought was 2 oryx standing in the shade of some taller brush. We worked in from different angles as they fed over a ridge to find 32 animals in the next draw. A stalker caught some movement and spoked the herd. They ran a short distance and started feeding again, with several bedding down. With a couple hours until dark, we sat tight to see what they would do. The lead cow started taking the herd down the draw and we moved back to where the original 2 were spotted under the tall brush. The herd started feeding by at 175-200 yards going down a wide draw with little cover. As they started down the draw I could see a small saddle in the next lava ridge. The herd started for this saddle and through it. The saddle was about 10 yards wide and just deep enough to hide them as crossed though. After waiting for what seemed like an hour the last bull and calves walked into the saddle. This was our chance!
We ran across the draw to the lava ridge in no time. Once reaching the ridge we crawled up and peaked over to see the oryx coming out still 90-110 yards away. Several were now standing on the ridge and keeping us from moving closer to the saddle. As the started filtering out of the saddle, I was ranging the first animals at 100, 90, then 80 yards. The next one into view was at 70 and the few on top of the small ridge were getting closer to a point they would be able to see us. Just as I was thinking all of them would be out of range a bull popped into view at 56 yards feeding toward us.
Now his is where being tall has an advantage. Peeking over the ridge, I could see closer to the bottom of the ridge that my partner. The bull turned broadside and started feeding to our left. We already had decided that the first shot opportunity would be taken by either of us at the beginning of the hunt. My hunting partner whispered to take the shot if I had one as the bull stopped at 60 feeding unaware we were there.
With the wind in our face I drew and tried to get steady in the wind gusts topping the ridge. It felt like forever before the wind subsided for a second, the pin settled and the arrow was off. I watched it arc and knew instantly it was going to connect. The shot was a couple inches right of where I wanted to hit, but blood spurted when the arrow disappeared and the bull jumped forward.
The bull ran to the next small knob 80 yards away and started doing circles and back pedaling before going over backward. He never got up again. The arrow had struck low passing through he bottom of the heart and both lungs.
Those are some great photos, the color pops.
Hunted ranch 2 years ago, interesting place, a lot things going on various research projects by different scientific and academic organizations, eco-tours, a guy whose entire full time job is to tend to and monitor the hundreds of quail feeder / waters, Ted Turner likes to quail hunt a few weeks each year. Also may well be the only time I will ever see coyotes just walking around and even sit and watch you go by, only coyotes I have ever seen anywheres else are always on the move. this ranch there is a no shoot or harass coyote rule so they just wander about at their leisure no concerns about getting shot evertime a truck shows up or stops . When I did my research for this off-range hunt , I come to find out this ranch was lowest price hunt of 4 Outfitters i contacted. Surprised me expected it to be most expensive. I seen hundreds of Oryx, guide Mike said at any given time there could be up 500 on 400,000 acre ranch. He guides 70-80 rifle hunters a year and that is not enough to keep the numbers from increasing. They breed year round.
