August Oryx Hunts...

[npaden]

Okay, I'm thinking about applying for a OIL Oryx hunt this year. I'm a CPA and the late winter hunts won't work for me and I really don't want to take up fall hunting time if I don't have to so I was thinking about applying for one of the August hunts.

I did a search and ready several comments on how bad the rattlesnakes are that time of the year and that the Oryx tend to bed down early and all that. What I'm curious about is with these big animals and the warm temperatures, how quickly do you have to get these guys quartered and on ice? If I'm going to pay $1,600 for a non-resident tag, I really don't want to waste the meat.

Any thoughts or comments on an August hunt?

Thanks, Nathan

 

[Cuacopollo]

Carry lots of block ice with you in your truck, quarter it immediately, ice it down, no problem.

 

[adobe_joe]

I got a Sept off range oryx 2 years ago and 1/4 of it spoiled. Take plenty of help so you can get it quartered and cooled. I had a front quarter and the neck spoil on me. I was able to gut it out and spread the rear quarters but the front quarter that was next to the sand is the one that spoiled. The hide is very thick so it has to come off soon. Daytime temps are in the 90's to 100 during that time of year. You also could be into the rainy season so prepare for that.

 

[nmyotebuster]

take 2 100+ qt ice chests, load them to the gills with ICE.


Get the animal down and work quickly to get it quartered, and on ice. If you want to take the rib cage etc,load the chest cavity with ice, wrap once with a tarp, and put more ice on top of that.

We took one on Aug 1, ( it was close to 100 all day ) and did not have any loss due to spoilage.

As mentioned before, bring a friend or 2 along and get it done quickly.

Good luck in the draw!!

NMYB

 

[npaden]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-30-10 AT 08:24AM (MST)[p]Thanks for the comments everyone.

I'm used to shooting pigs in the summertime and haven't ever had one spoil, but they are much smaller animals (largest I've shot was just under 250lbs) and generally you shoot them in the evening as it is starting to cool down. My rule of thumb has always been that from the time you pull the trigger to the time the pig is in the cooler needs to be no more than 1 hour. The only problems I've had meeting that timeline was when I shot more than 1 pig and I was by myself and I ended up taking closer to 1 1/2 hours in July, but I worked on the larger pig first and then the smaller one and the meat all turned out fine.

I've got plenty of coolers, isn't an Oryx about the size of an elk? If so I might bring 4 coolers so there would be plenty of room for the ice and the meat. My last bull elk pretty much filled up 2 good sized coolers and there wasn't a whole lot of room left for ice, but it was cool enough that it really didn't matter.

This will be my first time applying for the Oryx hunt. I'm hoping that with the down economy and the fact that you have to pay the full amount up front that my odds might be decent. The August hunts already have some of the best odds at right around 10% so who knows, maybe I'll be hunting Oryx this summer!

 

[npaden]

P.S. - What about the cape? Do you have to put it on ice too if you want to get a shoulder mount done?

 

[mozey]

CPAs are losers...

Oryx are not quite as big as a bull elk unless we're talking about spike elk. But they're plenty big enough that you'll want to have someone with you to speed up the field butchering, loading, etc.

I was with BIGBULL48 a couple summers ago when he shot a 38" off-range cow in July. It was easily a 100+ degrees. He went to work on it immediately while I hiked a mile or so back to the truck and then wasted valuable time trying to find the two-track road that passed within 30 yards of the downed oryx. It probably took me an hour to get back to him. He wasn't quite finished, but because of the heat we just threw in the back of his truck (covered with a shell) and drove to Socorro. We bought a bunch of ice at the nearest gas station and iced it down and then drove to Albuquerque. The game processor in Albuquerque was closed for the off-season (it was July), but we called the phone number on the door, and someone was nice of enough to drive from home and open it up, and hang it in their cooler.

Just a little less than five hours had passed since he downed it. No spoilage at all, but I think the key was getting to Socorro and icing it down a quick as we did.

As far as the cape, unless you know what you're doing, I'd recommend having one of the professionals that will be set-up outside the gate take care of that for you.

Good luck!

mozey, CPA, CMA, & CIA
(and no, the "I" does not stand for intelligence...)

 

[npaden]

Thanks for the info. I've always butchered my own wild game, it takes a while, but that way I know 100% how the meat was handled through the entire process.

I went ahead and put in for the August dates and the October draw as my 3rd choice. Right around 10% success rates based on last year so I doubt I'll get drawn but you never know.

I hear you the CPA's being losers. Bunch of pencil necked geeks!

 

[basselkNM]

RATTLESNAKES!!!!!!!!!!!! WATCHOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[leftturnabq]

If you treat it like you do your summer hogs, you'll be fine. Quartered and iced.

As someone mentioned, the hide is thick...around an inch or so along the neck of mature bulls. You'll probably have to consider cooling the head and removing as much meat from the hide as possible for taxidermy purposes.

They're size is somewhere in between mule deer and elk, but the biggest bull oryx is nowhere near the size of a mature bull elk.

 

[habitat]

Both my daughter and I drew the first time we applied for the august hunt,we saw snakes but only a couple.Get the ice like mentioned and have balz and the guys cape and quarter outside the gate and you will be fine.Take a heavy duty deer cart and they aren't to bad to get out.Great hunt,wish I was going again.We hunted RC and SR

 

[Oryxrus]

It will be hot and historically they have two or three Oryx that spoil or that are partial spoiled by the time they get to the check station. Everyone has mentioned the key is to get it out of the field as quickly and safely as possible. The problem you have on these hunts now of days is your not going to kill your animal 300 yards off the road. The Stallion Range Oryx tend to be further away from roads making a 1 to 2 mile back out more of reality these days and this is where the problem is. If you're stalking animals 2 to 3 miles out and you can't drive your vehicle to the animal you seriously need to decide if you want to harvest that animal because your meat will spoil even if you have a game cart. At these distances and temperatures just walking back to get your ATV is enough lapsed time to spoil your meat. This is a classic example of how hunters have lost their meat during August and September. The average time it takes to field dress and retrieve an animal WITH a vehicle or ATV a mile or less from a road is between 45 minutes to an hour and half depending on the terrain and the HELP you bring. Once you get more then 2 miles out you're looking at 2 to 5 hours which is a definite problem. I would recommend not harvesting an animal that far in during those hot months even with an ATV. You really need to look at the situation, terrain and determine how long it will take you to get it out before you pull the trigger. Of course when you get it out of the field you will need ICE and at least two large ice coolers.

Historically the success rate for that hunt is 60 to 65 percent, this might also help you determine if this is a hunt you want to participate in.

The advantage of hunting in August is it's the first hunt of year, but the last several years this hasn't been that big of an advantage for most hunters.

Good luck on the draw

 

[npaden]

I've been thinking somewhat along those same lines for the last week or so AFTER I already put in for the August draws.

I've even been thinking about possibly using one of my helpers as a dedicated ice hauler if we end up needing to go very far off the roads. It wouldn't be fun for them, but the thought would be to have them with the pickup at all times and immediately when the animal hits the ground to contact them and have them heading that way with a cooler full of ice on a game cart or ATV or the pickup depending on terrain. The rest of the crew would begin quartering the animal up and hopefully the ice would arrive within a decent timeframe. I would have more coolers with ice back at the pickup, so the first cooler would be dedicated to just taking the edge off.

I think this scenario could give me an extra hour or so of time if we had to pack it out a long way. I think we could safely be a full mile from the nearest road and most importantly we wouldn't have to be constantly relocating the pickup.

Another option would be to have 2 dedicated ice haulers. That would allow us to probably get out a couple miles with saftey but would be pretty crappy for the guys stuck at the pickup.

Oh well, 90% odds that I won't draw say that I probably won't have to worry about it this year regardless.

 

[Oryxrus]

ice haulers!!! those are some true friends.

 

[OLBUZZTAIL]

npaden...The only way to go is DRY ICE and plenty of it, it lasts for days and will literally freeze a cooler load of meat solid.. it also keeps your block ice from melting away on you.
We use it all the time for early antelope hunts and several hot season oryx hunts.



Hunting is Life...everything else is
Just details.

 

[npaden]

Interesting. That might be an option that someone could haul around in their backpack even so my dedicated "ice hauler" might be able to leave the truck.

 

[crazyelk]

Here are some implements that I have taken a look at but not actually used for warm or hot weather hunts. One is called the Trophy Bag Kooler and the other is called KoolerGel.

http://www.trophybagkooler.com/TBKPage.html

http://www.trophybagkooler.com/newproducts.html

The bag cooler is not cheap. Might be a good investment though. The KoolerGel really catches my eye. Not that expensive and it looks like it might be good stuff. I would get a bunch or "Arizona Tea" gallon sized containers. Have you seen those things? They are thicker than gas containers. Check them out! I would fill a bunch of these tea containers with this KoolerGel stuff and bring along with dry ice in two large 150 qt. coolers for any warm weather hunts.

I would suggest testing these item(s) before an Oryx hunt. Oryx meat is too good to be messing with new stuff before you know they work.

Another thing I have thought of would be a small chest freezer in back of truck or ATV trailer w/ a generator or power inverter.

One thing we have always done on warm/hot weather hunts regardless of the game we harvest is take those guts out quick. Then get that hide off. Then break the animal down into quarters or smaller pieces and stick them into some good quality game bags and then hustle to some cool storage. Along the way, always try to keep the meat clean, dry, and as cool as possible.

This might be a good time to maybe go "gutless" on an Oryx. If done correctly, you should still be able to stay within the current (2010-2011) NMGF general rule for not "Wasting of Game". Just a reminder, the "Waste of Game" general rule has changed from years past. Take a look at the 2010-2011 Big Game Rules & Information Booklet, on page 10. for the new rule.

Just more food for thought.I hope this helps.

 

[npaden]

Thanks for the info. I'll check those out. Chances are that I won't get drawn this year but this information might still be here for someone who does draw.

As far as going "gutless", I haven't gutted an animal since I shot an antelope in 2007. I've shot 5 deer, an elk and at least a dozen hogs since then, and the guts stay in the ribcage where they belong. I do all my own butchering so gutting them seems to just be a wasted step to me. On hogs I even take the ribs depending on the shot placement.

I typically meet the Waste of Game rules, however I don't know how they are going to measure if I got 75% of the neck meat and 90% of the quarters.

One wierd rule that they have in Texas is that you have to keep the bones in the quarters until you get them to where you are going to do the actual butchering. Any odd rules like that in New Mexico?

 

[OLBUZZTAIL]

npaden........PM SENT!



Hunting is Life...everything else is
Just details.

 

[npaden]

Okay, they charged my credit card yesterday so maybe that weeded a few folks out and my drawing odds might have improved a little.

I applied for the August Rhodes Canyon hunt as my first choice and the August Stallion Range as my second choice. I put the October Rhodes Canyon down for my third choice.

I kind of feel like I'm in Vegas at the craps table! ;-)

 

[elkmuzzleloader]

Good luck with the draw. I also applied for the same hunt in Aug. Hope the dice fall right for the both of us.

 

[OLBUZZTAIL]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-11-10 AT 02:50PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Feb-11-10 AT 02:49?PM (MST)

npaden ...Here's a pic of the Bull we took on the Rhodes hunt Jan 30-31 2010 by 9:15 on opening day...we glassed this Bull at more than a mile away and made a successfull stalk to within 500+ yards.

Hunting is Life...everything else is
Just details.