PSEps Report post Posted October 9, 2011 My little brother Tyler drew a September off-range oryx tag this year. We knew that this hunt was going to be tough. We missed the first 11 days of the hunt because we were elk hunting up in 23. The week after we got back from the elk hunt we decided we would head out that weekend and try to get an oryx. The first morning of the hunt was rather uneventful, only seeing a few fresh tracks. At around 10:30 we cut a fresh set of tracks and decided to track them for a little while. We didn't walk 200 yards and spotted the oryx. Tyler got setup on the shooting sticks, took a shot....and missed right under it's chest. I kept my eyes glued on the oryx until he went out of sight at least 2 miles away. We went over and looked for blood but we couldn't find anything. Tyler was bummed out that he missed, but I told him "we have already had a successful hunt, you got a shot!". I explained to him that there are a bunch of people who don't see a single oryx on these off-range hunts, and you got a shot the first morning. We didn't see anything else that day, but talked to a guy who had been hunting for nine days and only saw one oryx! Sunday morning we decided to go into the same spot and glass for a few hours. We finally spotted oryx at around 5:00pm. I could tell this oryx was a lot bigger than the one he missed. We walked to the yucca I had last seen it at, but there was no oryx...or so we thought. We rounded a sand dune and the oryx is at 30 yards!!! The oryx took off running, and disappeared before Tyler could get a shot off. We tracked it until dark but never saw it again. We were stoked that we had seen an oryx both days we went out and couldn't wait to get out the next weekend. The whole week Tyler was kicking himself for missing that first oryx we had seen, but he was even more determined to redeem himself. So finally Friday rolls around and I get the truck loaded up while Tyler is at school. We went out to the shooting range as soon as he got off school to make sure the gun was still dialed in. We woke up at 5:00am Saturday morning, picked up a couple burritos and we were on our way. We got to our glassing spot at around 7:00am and spotted an oryx right away. We started the stalk but lost he oryx in the maze of sand dunes. We drove around until lunch and decided to glass some more at a different spot. We didn't see anything for a couple hours so we decided to drive some more. At around 3:00pm I spotted an oryx about a mile and a half out. We stalked into 134 yards of it, but he didn't have a shot. So we waited for an hour until it finally stood up and he took the shot. The oryx dropped in it's tracks, but got up and started running. Tyler took one more shot and missed it. We went over and found blood and tracked him till dark. We came back the next morning and tracked him for another 2 miles until he jumped onto some private land... Tyler was so bummed out that he lost this oryx. The shot was high and probably stunned the oryx, but by the time we got to the fence it had almost topped bleeding completely. We thought that this was the last day we had to hunt, because Tyler had school.... but he had permission to miss Friday the 30th to hunt the last day of the hunt. Thursday night we loaded the truck up and got ready to go out for the last day of the hunt. We got up at 5:00am and headed out to our "honey hole" as Tyler calls it. We didn't see a single oryx until 5:00pm. As I was driving, I just got a feeling to stop and get up on the top of the truck and glass. As I crawled up on the truck, I looked out over the mesquite bushes and saw two oryx standing 200 yards off the road! I told Tyler to get out and walk off the road about 80 yards so he could get a shot. Tyler took a shot and the oryx ran about 20 yards and stopped, so Tyler shot again and hit him. I told him to wait there until I caught up. We got to the spot he hit the oryx at, and found blood! I told Tyler to stay put while I went back and got my pack, the camera, and as I was walking away I heard BOOM and I looked back and Tyler shot the oryx again. The oryx had bedded just 50 yards past where I turned around to get my pack, and must have heard me walking away. I ran back to the truck got everything and ran back to Tyler. We started tracking it and spotted it running at 300 yards so I said shoot him again he's running towards the fence! Tyler shot and the oryx disappeared behind a mesquite bush. We started tracking blood and found the oryx dead right where we had seen him last. We were so happy that we got it done after all the bad luck. We took a real quick photo session as the sun was going down. We got him back to the truck at around 11:45pm. This hunt was mentally and physically challenging, but we stuck with it and got it done! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SirRoyal Report post Posted October 9, 2011 Huge Congrats to you and your brother!!! You guys stuck with it and got done!! Good story ,nice pics ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coues Sniper Report post Posted October 9, 2011 Awesome job! Way to stick with it and get'er done. You guys earned that one Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
