Wow! The Cortez family has drawn two Oryx tags in two years. Last year Kiko Jr. drew and took a nice cow in January 2010. This year Gail drew for the November 2010 on the Stallion Range Center of the WSMR. I almost forgot to mention my uncle Ramon drew his MI Oryx hunt that is scheduled for this coming December. We love it! Lots of Oryx hunting. We?re getting kind of used to hunting these fabulous creatures. By all means we are not pros (if any exist) when it comes to hunting Oryx, but thus far we having a blast and things are working out for us. Regardless, the last two years we've managed to have some luck and have had some tasty Oryx meat in the freezer under lock and key. Each package is marked in bold letters ?Poison?.
The Friday before Gail?s hunt had us jumping into the truck loaded with gear. We headed south to Socorro, NM. It is a drive that we have taken before. We either would go down there to see Kiko Jr. participating at the State Science and Engineering Fair at NM Tech. or to go Oryx hunting. Of course on the way down we had to stop at Sportsman?s Warehouse. We pretty much walked around the store and checked things out and did not put much in the shopping basket. As we walked around the warehouse, I noticed Gail?s eyes starring intensely at all the Oryx shoulder mounts in the store. If I could read her mind, my guess is that she was saying ?I'm going to be hunting one of those things tomorrow?. Then she would say ?I have to shoot them right there?.
The last leg of the trip lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes. I would use this time to reflect on the past years events and to review the last minute pre-hunt plans. I reflected on how difficult this year was for the family with my mom being sick and passing. I knew she would be with us on this hunt. With that in mind, I felt at ease and reminded myself to make the best of spending quality time hunting with Gail, Kiko Jr. and Santiago.
It's sure funny how I wanted to do the same things that we did for Kiko Jr.?s hunt. Like stay at the same motel and eat dinner at the same place. So we did. We checked into the same Super 8 and ate dinner at Denny?s. Then we chilled out for the rest of the evening watching TV. If I could remember what we were watching on the tube the night before Kiko Jr?s hunt, I would have tried to find that channel. An early bedtime came and the TV and lights were turned off.
Believe it or not, we all slept pretty well, unlike other nights before opening day hunts. I was glad for this, for we knew we needed to be well rest for these ?all day long? Oryx hunts. We left the room by 4:20 am and head to ?the gate?. At approximately 4:58 am we arrived. This time, unlike last year, we only had about 20 sets of break lights in front of us. Right at 5:00 am the hunt officials began to check vehicles into the gate. As we approached the game warden in our line, I rolled window down and handed him all the pertinent documents he needed to look at. Because we were so ready he asked if we had done this before. I answered with a big smile on my face and said ?Yes we have?. He looked over the paperwork and wished us luck. Our vehicle was searched by WSMR officials then we were asked to check in and get ready for the briefing.
On this hunt there were not as many hunters as other hunts that we had been on due to fact that they have somewhat cut back the tags for these hunts. As we were asked attend the hunt briefing, unlike other years we were greeted with handshakes from other hunters/guests we knew and good gestures from other folks we didn't know. This made Gail very comfortable and confident. Thank you guys! The briefing began and ended with the same words of wisdom and to our surprise all the hunters and theirs guests walked to their vehicles in a polite fashion and took their time getting out of the parking lot as they headed to their favorite ?honey holes?. It was a nice and comfortable sight to see. Thanks goes out to all that were part of that. You gals and guys are true sportsman.
With wanting to repeat last year?s success, we arrived at the same area that Kiko Jr. took his nice cow last year. Again, we immediately saw some stalk-able Oryx so we were off to first of many stalks we would do this day. In that first group there were some good ones, however our stalk failed as we were made out early and away they went. It did not take us long for us to find more Oryx. This time it was a group of 7 with a very nice bull that would be pushing 36 inches. We had a nice yacca field that we could use for cover and hopefully get into range for a shot. Unfortunately, we ran out of cover and had to get to our hands and knees for about 200 yards. We got within 500 yards or so and the stalk failed. The next half hour we spent the time licking our wounds and pulling out cactus needles from our knees, elbows, and hands. Yeah, you guys are saying we should have had knee/elbow pads and gloves. We did, but they were put away nicely in the truck for future use. What future use? Gail made it very clear to me that she did not want to crawl after Oryx on this hunt again. She was still picking cactus from everywhere on her body last night. I had to help her out for some the hard to reach areas.
The rest of the morning found us trying to stalk more Oryx. They just would not let us get within Gail?s comfort shooting range. The ?magic number? for her shooting range was 300 yards. She had practiced out to this distance a bunch and would be comfortable taking this kind of shot. The way things were going I was considering bumping up that number up to 400 yards because we knew the ballistics of my Weatherby Mark V in .300 Weatherby Magnum that she was using would nicely group shots only 12 inches low at that distance.
You folks are probably saying ?Gail?s tiny! How in the heck can she be shooting that howitzer type rifle?? Don?t worry, the rifle has a muzzle break on it and it kicks like a .270. It's very loud, but both of use had our hearing protection on. In fact you will see that Gail forgot to remove her hearing protected when we took the pictures. The rifle is a little big for her, but honestly she practiced with rifle to a bunch and was real comfortable with it. In fact, she could have picked any of the dozen big game rifles that we own and she picked my pride and joy, ?Excalibur?. A great choice in my opinion.
Back to the hunt? Finally, the break we were looking for. We were going down this road when all of a sudden we glassed up three bulls walking towards the road ahead of us. I knew we could get a shot if we inched forward and cut them off as they approached the road. Sure enough, it was the shot opportunity Gail was looking for. As the bulls were walking towards the road ahead of us we got into position 40 ft. off the road like they told us to and Gail got a 294 yard shot at the bull that was bringing up the rear. I thought he was toast. Unfortunately, Gail shot over the Oryx and away they went. We stayed behind thinking about the ?what ifs?. Dang it! Oh well. I promised that's what I said.
After that, it got kind of slow. It usually does, from about 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. We had a quick lunch and began to glass some more. Finally we located a good sized herd with some nice looking Oryx amongst them. With some patience and luck Gail could get a shot at them. To get closer we had to drive another road closer to them and plan our stalk from there. We got on the truck and started our approach. As we got closer to the stalk zone, another truck with other hunter/guests started to tailgate us hard and made us move a little faster. If we would let them pass, they would drive to far up the road and would spook the Oryx for sure. Yep, the Oryx had seen the whole commotion and we on guard. We tried a stalk anyways to no avail. Again, when I thought Gail had a shot, my Leica Geovids told me we were still 524 yards away. The Oryx thought that was to close and took off.
After hunting a good chunk of familiar ground in the morning and early afternoon, we decided to try some new and unfamiliar ground. It was already about 3:00 pm and we knew that if was going to happen this day, it was going to happen soon. We began to glass even harder. Our efforts were reward with a group of four nice bulls in 32 to 36 inch range. They were way off, so again we would have to drive on a road a little closer to try another stalk. Perfect, the road we were on would make that possible. We drove a little and glassed where we thought the bulls were. Instead of the Oryx standing where we thought they were, they appeared more to the right of out location. They did not know we were there so we planned a stalk. We tried used all the available cover as we approached. I really thought it was going to happen this time. The Oryx were still not aware of us but were moving away from us. I thought we might be close enough, put again the range finder told me otherwise. 545 yards? Dang it! I promised that what I said. At this point I thought my Geovids were malfunctioning. It seemed that all the Oryx I was ranging were 500 + yards and thought I would have to send the optics back to Leica. Instead of trying to get closer on foot and probably spook them, we decided to get back to the truck and get back on the road and get closer to them. We did alright. In fact, we almost drove right past them. There they were standing looking right at us. We bailed out of the truck and got off the road. I set Gail up on the Bogg Pods. I ranged again. This time the range finder told me the lead bull was standing at the ?magic number of 300 yards?. This confirmed that I my Leicas were functioning and told Gail to hold dead on the shoulder of the front bull. He was a dandy. He had to be pushing 36?. To my surprise Gail told me she could not see him. How could that be possible? You guessed it the bulls? tails started to flicker and took off running away from us. From Gail?s angle she must have not had the shot.
By now it was after 4:00 pm and one hour from legal shooting hours. If it's going to happen, it will have to happen pretty quickly. With that in mind, we decided to take one more two-track that hit the one of the main dirt roads and head back to the gate. We were going down the road through some dense brush when all of a sudden I could see Oryx crossing the road in several hundreds of yard in front of us. They were in the thick. We got off the truck and angled towards the direction they were all headed. Man the creosote brush was thick. We could hardly see a 20 ft. in front of us. We were looking for anything that looked like an Oryx. They had to be right in front of us somewhere, when all of sudden, there they were going single file. They were only 80 yards away. I didn't even need the range finder to tell me that. Getting a good shot would still be difficult. It was too thick. Finally, the Oryx stopped. I picked out a long horned cow for Gail to set up on and shoot. It was a very nice cow. The cow would probably measure in the high 30?s. I told Gail to shoot the cow in the shoulder. Gail says, ?I can't see the shoulder, I could only see her head?. By that time all the Oryx were on us and they were beginning to get nervous. I looked over to the right and saw the vitals of a very large bodied Oryx. It was probably the largest bodied Oryx in the group and figured it had to have large horns. Even though I did not see the horns, I swung Gail over to that one and told her to shoot. She confirmed she had the shot as said ?I got the shot?. The next thing I remember is a huge boom and seeing the vapor trail and actual copper sheen of the bullet as bullet smashed into the slightly quartering to chest of the Oryx. As the bullet him home, the Oryx?s skin wrinkled and was literally taken off its feet. Kiko Jr. was beside us and witnessed the Oryx go down. His immediate words were ?You shot the wrong one. There were bigger horned Oryx in the bunch?. The first words out of Gail?s mouth were ?You can't eat the horns?. This final event that had just happened was too fast. Of course after the dust settled the rest of the Oryx in the group stopped and starred at us. There were one or two dandy cows in there pushing 40?. But like Gail said, horns don't taste so good.
By this time it was about 4:30. I went back to the truck to try to call the Check Station to tell them Gail had shot one, to tell them our location, to tell them we would be a little late, and to ask for advice on what to do. However, my Verizon service phone didn't get any service. In fact, Verizon serviced phones struggle with service wherever you are at on the Stallion Range. We decided to try to get the Oryx out as soon as we could and knew we would be late to the gate. By the time we gutted it and got the Oryx to the truck, it was after 6:00 pm. We knew the hunt officials would be trying to get a hold of us and wondering where our location was. This was very frustrating. We really wanted to talk to someone at the gate and let them know of our situation. We were on our way to the gate, when all of a sudden we noticed some vehicle headlights coming our way. It was game warden that was looking for us. He asked if we were lost. We told him no. We told him that Gail had harvested her Oryx at about 4:30 pm and we tried to contact them to advise them of the situation. We then followed the warden to the gate and got checked out with Gilbert V. and the other hunt officials. We discussed the inability to communicate with each other. Gilbert and other hunt officials completely understood our situation and were totally cool with us. Thanks guys! They congratulated Gail and off we went to get the Oryx skinned. By this time, we were totally beat. We decided to have the taxidermist/meat processors outside the gate skin, quarter, and cold store Gail?s Oryx. We told them we would be back in the morning to pick up the meat.
Off to Socorro we went to stay another night. On the way we talked about the hunt. Gail was very relieved she had harvested her Oryx. We all were very happy and proud of her. We are especially glad that Gail shot the biggest bodied Oryx in the bunch because we will have more meat and like Gail said ?You can't eat the horns.?
The Cortez Crew
http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/8714mom_oryx_019_1.jpg
The Friday before Gail?s hunt had us jumping into the truck loaded with gear. We headed south to Socorro, NM. It is a drive that we have taken before. We either would go down there to see Kiko Jr. participating at the State Science and Engineering Fair at NM Tech. or to go Oryx hunting. Of course on the way down we had to stop at Sportsman?s Warehouse. We pretty much walked around the store and checked things out and did not put much in the shopping basket. As we walked around the warehouse, I noticed Gail?s eyes starring intensely at all the Oryx shoulder mounts in the store. If I could read her mind, my guess is that she was saying ?I'm going to be hunting one of those things tomorrow?. Then she would say ?I have to shoot them right there?.
The last leg of the trip lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes. I would use this time to reflect on the past years events and to review the last minute pre-hunt plans. I reflected on how difficult this year was for the family with my mom being sick and passing. I knew she would be with us on this hunt. With that in mind, I felt at ease and reminded myself to make the best of spending quality time hunting with Gail, Kiko Jr. and Santiago.
It's sure funny how I wanted to do the same things that we did for Kiko Jr.?s hunt. Like stay at the same motel and eat dinner at the same place. So we did. We checked into the same Super 8 and ate dinner at Denny?s. Then we chilled out for the rest of the evening watching TV. If I could remember what we were watching on the tube the night before Kiko Jr?s hunt, I would have tried to find that channel. An early bedtime came and the TV and lights were turned off.
Believe it or not, we all slept pretty well, unlike other nights before opening day hunts. I was glad for this, for we knew we needed to be well rest for these ?all day long? Oryx hunts. We left the room by 4:20 am and head to ?the gate?. At approximately 4:58 am we arrived. This time, unlike last year, we only had about 20 sets of break lights in front of us. Right at 5:00 am the hunt officials began to check vehicles into the gate. As we approached the game warden in our line, I rolled window down and handed him all the pertinent documents he needed to look at. Because we were so ready he asked if we had done this before. I answered with a big smile on my face and said ?Yes we have?. He looked over the paperwork and wished us luck. Our vehicle was searched by WSMR officials then we were asked to check in and get ready for the briefing.
On this hunt there were not as many hunters as other hunts that we had been on due to fact that they have somewhat cut back the tags for these hunts. As we were asked attend the hunt briefing, unlike other years we were greeted with handshakes from other hunters/guests we knew and good gestures from other folks we didn't know. This made Gail very comfortable and confident. Thank you guys! The briefing began and ended with the same words of wisdom and to our surprise all the hunters and theirs guests walked to their vehicles in a polite fashion and took their time getting out of the parking lot as they headed to their favorite ?honey holes?. It was a nice and comfortable sight to see. Thanks goes out to all that were part of that. You gals and guys are true sportsman.
With wanting to repeat last year?s success, we arrived at the same area that Kiko Jr. took his nice cow last year. Again, we immediately saw some stalk-able Oryx so we were off to first of many stalks we would do this day. In that first group there were some good ones, however our stalk failed as we were made out early and away they went. It did not take us long for us to find more Oryx. This time it was a group of 7 with a very nice bull that would be pushing 36 inches. We had a nice yacca field that we could use for cover and hopefully get into range for a shot. Unfortunately, we ran out of cover and had to get to our hands and knees for about 200 yards. We got within 500 yards or so and the stalk failed. The next half hour we spent the time licking our wounds and pulling out cactus needles from our knees, elbows, and hands. Yeah, you guys are saying we should have had knee/elbow pads and gloves. We did, but they were put away nicely in the truck for future use. What future use? Gail made it very clear to me that she did not want to crawl after Oryx on this hunt again. She was still picking cactus from everywhere on her body last night. I had to help her out for some the hard to reach areas.
The rest of the morning found us trying to stalk more Oryx. They just would not let us get within Gail?s comfort shooting range. The ?magic number? for her shooting range was 300 yards. She had practiced out to this distance a bunch and would be comfortable taking this kind of shot. The way things were going I was considering bumping up that number up to 400 yards because we knew the ballistics of my Weatherby Mark V in .300 Weatherby Magnum that she was using would nicely group shots only 12 inches low at that distance.
You folks are probably saying ?Gail?s tiny! How in the heck can she be shooting that howitzer type rifle?? Don?t worry, the rifle has a muzzle break on it and it kicks like a .270. It's very loud, but both of use had our hearing protection on. In fact you will see that Gail forgot to remove her hearing protected when we took the pictures. The rifle is a little big for her, but honestly she practiced with rifle to a bunch and was real comfortable with it. In fact, she could have picked any of the dozen big game rifles that we own and she picked my pride and joy, ?Excalibur?. A great choice in my opinion.
Back to the hunt? Finally, the break we were looking for. We were going down this road when all of a sudden we glassed up three bulls walking towards the road ahead of us. I knew we could get a shot if we inched forward and cut them off as they approached the road. Sure enough, it was the shot opportunity Gail was looking for. As the bulls were walking towards the road ahead of us we got into position 40 ft. off the road like they told us to and Gail got a 294 yard shot at the bull that was bringing up the rear. I thought he was toast. Unfortunately, Gail shot over the Oryx and away they went. We stayed behind thinking about the ?what ifs?. Dang it! Oh well. I promised that's what I said.
After that, it got kind of slow. It usually does, from about 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. We had a quick lunch and began to glass some more. Finally we located a good sized herd with some nice looking Oryx amongst them. With some patience and luck Gail could get a shot at them. To get closer we had to drive another road closer to them and plan our stalk from there. We got on the truck and started our approach. As we got closer to the stalk zone, another truck with other hunter/guests started to tailgate us hard and made us move a little faster. If we would let them pass, they would drive to far up the road and would spook the Oryx for sure. Yep, the Oryx had seen the whole commotion and we on guard. We tried a stalk anyways to no avail. Again, when I thought Gail had a shot, my Leica Geovids told me we were still 524 yards away. The Oryx thought that was to close and took off.
After hunting a good chunk of familiar ground in the morning and early afternoon, we decided to try some new and unfamiliar ground. It was already about 3:00 pm and we knew that if was going to happen this day, it was going to happen soon. We began to glass even harder. Our efforts were reward with a group of four nice bulls in 32 to 36 inch range. They were way off, so again we would have to drive on a road a little closer to try another stalk. Perfect, the road we were on would make that possible. We drove a little and glassed where we thought the bulls were. Instead of the Oryx standing where we thought they were, they appeared more to the right of out location. They did not know we were there so we planned a stalk. We tried used all the available cover as we approached. I really thought it was going to happen this time. The Oryx were still not aware of us but were moving away from us. I thought we might be close enough, put again the range finder told me otherwise. 545 yards? Dang it! I promised that what I said. At this point I thought my Geovids were malfunctioning. It seemed that all the Oryx I was ranging were 500 + yards and thought I would have to send the optics back to Leica. Instead of trying to get closer on foot and probably spook them, we decided to get back to the truck and get back on the road and get closer to them. We did alright. In fact, we almost drove right past them. There they were standing looking right at us. We bailed out of the truck and got off the road. I set Gail up on the Bogg Pods. I ranged again. This time the range finder told me the lead bull was standing at the ?magic number of 300 yards?. This confirmed that I my Leicas were functioning and told Gail to hold dead on the shoulder of the front bull. He was a dandy. He had to be pushing 36?. To my surprise Gail told me she could not see him. How could that be possible? You guessed it the bulls? tails started to flicker and took off running away from us. From Gail?s angle she must have not had the shot.
By now it was after 4:00 pm and one hour from legal shooting hours. If it's going to happen, it will have to happen pretty quickly. With that in mind, we decided to take one more two-track that hit the one of the main dirt roads and head back to the gate. We were going down the road through some dense brush when all of a sudden I could see Oryx crossing the road in several hundreds of yard in front of us. They were in the thick. We got off the truck and angled towards the direction they were all headed. Man the creosote brush was thick. We could hardly see a 20 ft. in front of us. We were looking for anything that looked like an Oryx. They had to be right in front of us somewhere, when all of sudden, there they were going single file. They were only 80 yards away. I didn't even need the range finder to tell me that. Getting a good shot would still be difficult. It was too thick. Finally, the Oryx stopped. I picked out a long horned cow for Gail to set up on and shoot. It was a very nice cow. The cow would probably measure in the high 30?s. I told Gail to shoot the cow in the shoulder. Gail says, ?I can't see the shoulder, I could only see her head?. By that time all the Oryx were on us and they were beginning to get nervous. I looked over to the right and saw the vitals of a very large bodied Oryx. It was probably the largest bodied Oryx in the group and figured it had to have large horns. Even though I did not see the horns, I swung Gail over to that one and told her to shoot. She confirmed she had the shot as said ?I got the shot?. The next thing I remember is a huge boom and seeing the vapor trail and actual copper sheen of the bullet as bullet smashed into the slightly quartering to chest of the Oryx. As the bullet him home, the Oryx?s skin wrinkled and was literally taken off its feet. Kiko Jr. was beside us and witnessed the Oryx go down. His immediate words were ?You shot the wrong one. There were bigger horned Oryx in the bunch?. The first words out of Gail?s mouth were ?You can't eat the horns?. This final event that had just happened was too fast. Of course after the dust settled the rest of the Oryx in the group stopped and starred at us. There were one or two dandy cows in there pushing 40?. But like Gail said, horns don't taste so good.
By this time it was about 4:30. I went back to the truck to try to call the Check Station to tell them Gail had shot one, to tell them our location, to tell them we would be a little late, and to ask for advice on what to do. However, my Verizon service phone didn't get any service. In fact, Verizon serviced phones struggle with service wherever you are at on the Stallion Range. We decided to try to get the Oryx out as soon as we could and knew we would be late to the gate. By the time we gutted it and got the Oryx to the truck, it was after 6:00 pm. We knew the hunt officials would be trying to get a hold of us and wondering where our location was. This was very frustrating. We really wanted to talk to someone at the gate and let them know of our situation. We were on our way to the gate, when all of a sudden we noticed some vehicle headlights coming our way. It was game warden that was looking for us. He asked if we were lost. We told him no. We told him that Gail had harvested her Oryx at about 4:30 pm and we tried to contact them to advise them of the situation. We then followed the warden to the gate and got checked out with Gilbert V. and the other hunt officials. We discussed the inability to communicate with each other. Gilbert and other hunt officials completely understood our situation and were totally cool with us. Thanks guys! They congratulated Gail and off we went to get the Oryx skinned. By this time, we were totally beat. We decided to have the taxidermist/meat processors outside the gate skin, quarter, and cold store Gail?s Oryx. We told them we would be back in the morning to pick up the meat.
Off to Socorro we went to stay another night. On the way we talked about the hunt. Gail was very relieved she had harvested her Oryx. We all were very happy and proud of her. We are especially glad that Gail shot the biggest bodied Oryx in the bunch because we will have more meat and like Gail said ?You can't eat the horns.?
The Cortez Crew
http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/8714mom_oryx_019_1.jpg
