Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Sitka's Oryx Hunt

After chasing the tails of Oryx all morning to no avail, We were taken to a different area in the afternoon. With time pressing, and the Orxy spookier than hell, we finally got a Bull to stand still long enough to measure..35 3/4X 33 1/2..Art made a 220yd offhand shot, and did an excellent job. I told him that I would post, and let everyone know..With the hunt cut to one day, and the Oryx not letting us get to within 400yds all day, it turned out well. I am sure he will fill everyone in when he gets back home.
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<br>Lee.

Where? When? who? what? Tell me more pretty please..... Oryx is number one on my list for Namibia in September.

Sitka Blacktail, drew a tag here in New Mexico for Oryx on the White Sands Missile Range, and was wondering if there was anyone that could help. I told him to come on down, and we would try to get him a big one..Apparently they had been hunted quite a bit, because they were running at 600-700yds and really could not get a shot. We were taken into a different area around 1:00, and the first thing we saw was this Bull laying down under a brush, and boy did he look big, sitting there in the sun..I told Art to go ahead, the bull stood up, and then went back down, with a bullet in him..Art made a great offhand shot at 220yds. It was a tough hunt compared to some of the other ones I have been on..Nothing like a little blood on the ground.

Can't wait to see some photos. Hey did Art ever get any of those Abert's squirrels? Do you have a lot of those little fuzzy eared critters down there?

I just know he made the comment he did not get one..I have no idea how many we have, as I have never hunted them..

Lee was too kind, both while I was there and while posting. He saved me from a tremendous amount of grief on several fronts and didn't even mention the extremely dangerous exploding rocks on the White Sands Missile Range.
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<br>From the top, he offered to drive me around in his truck saving me a bunch of problems, as no one would rent me a truck (first thing that happened when I picked up the rental car was an offer to upgrade to a truck... go figure) and then he let me barge in on his family for the night, not knowing me from Jack the Ripper. He drove me all over the missile range, occasionally at speeds only he enjoyed, and would not even let me pay for gas. He was a race car driver in a former life, really.
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<br>I will stop extolling his virtues, lest he be innundated with other houseguests-from-hell!
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<br>Back to the planning stages... I brought the same 300WM SS Remington 700 that I used on Kodiak this fall, with the exact same reloads, 180gr Barnes XBT over MR3100, which this rifle has always liked well enough (under 1 1/4" at 100) and they make me feel better in bear country. Oryx have a reputation for toughness, so the X seemed to make sense there, also. At Lee's private range I sent a couple down-range knowing they would be right where they always are... WRONG!!!
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<br>My quite accurate rifle was more of a scatter-gun, at about 5-8" "groups" at 100. The scope was tight, the barrel still free-floating, no obvious signs of a problem other than shooting way high and all over place.
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<br>Lee immediately pulled out a few pieces of new WW brass and put 72gr of RL22 behind a Sierra 180gr Pro-Hunter, his pet accuracy load for the 300. My rifle immediately settled into under 1/2", though high and right. Lee cooked up a box and I shot enough to bring it to 2 1/2" high at 100 and that is what I hunted with.
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<br>I have no idea why the accuracy went south, especially so far south, but will be looking into it. The barrel had been very carefully cleaned, then fouled with a few rounds just before I left.
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<br>What we had not counted upon, nor known, was that the oryx hunts had been going on steadily in the exact same area for the 2 previous days, making the critters nervous. When I applied for the hunt it was to be a 2-day affair, but with 9/11, the military had reduced the hunts to a single day and crowded them all together. I was given the option of getting my money back when they rescheduled the hunt and reduced it to a single day, but the success rate has been so high I never dreamed the hunt would be as difficult as it turned out to be.
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<br>On saturday there was a single hunter who went home empty-handed. On sunday there were more, I'm sure, who were skunked. When I finally shot mine at 2:20, there were only 11 down out of almost 30 hunters. That is information that I will have to check into.
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<br>We were fortunate also, in that they gave me permission to take pictures and the extra obligation on them caused them to give us their lead guy and we were the only group with him. Most of the others had 2 hunters per escort.
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<br>Back to the very dangerous exploding rocks on the White Sands Missile Range... just before noon a fairly large bull was spotted with 4 smaller ones, they allowed me to get close enough for a shot, which I took from the prone position, over a sand and lava berm. I remember looking through the scope and deciding the little bit of desert grass was not going to be a problem. At the shot, little pieces of rock shrapnel went everywhere, and the volcanic rock a few feet off my muzzle disintegrated. I felt like an absolute idiot!!!
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<br>We searched carefully for any sign that the bull might have been hit, but I knew there was no way any part of the bullet could powder a rock and make it down-range. Realize the oryx was the first real opportunity after several hours and many miles of walking and driving.
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<br>I also figured out at that point that the idea of bellying down in the desert is not a good one. Everything there has thorns, spines, prickers, hooks or blades! I am still itching!
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<br>I know Lee wishes I had gotten a bigger oryx, but I am perfectly contented, particularly because it turned out to actually be a challenge, I had been afraid it would be too much like a petting zoo massacre, or assissted suicide. Lee, as guide and local guru, had seen better times for picking and choosing and had a real feel for what might be available. As a guide, I know I get "possessive" about what my charges shoot and feel like it is more my fault when they fail. I suspect Lee felt I would do better (though doubt likely rose significantly after the exploding rock was discovered) and we all thought the bull was bigger than it was.
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<br>The bull I finally shot was found bedded down on a mesquite and buckbrush choked flat (well, everything there is a flat!), slightly back-lit and accompanied by a cow which was probably bigger than the bull. I had very little to shoot at, due to the brush. I hesitated to shoot, but found a small hole when the bull started moving out. He was quartering slightly away and my shot ended up about 10" behind the exact right spot, but due to the angle it was really only a couple inches behind where I aimed and a couple high. It broke the spine, shed its core and made an exit wound, leaving the jacket just under the hide, on the far side. The bull thrashed around, likely shortening one horn by a couple inches and died only after being shot twice more, once in the neck, proving how bad an aiming point the neck is, and then through the lungs. They are as tough as their reputation.
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<br>Have been distracted dozens of times trying to write this up, so I will add some more details later about the mountain lion hunting I did for a few days prior to the oryx.
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<br>All in all, it was a great time, Lee; his family; his friend James, the owner of an Alamagordo sporting goods shop who accompanied us, and everybody else I met bent over backwards to help me and I very much appreciate that! So if you are ever in New Mexico, don't bother Lee... he has done enough for out-of-state riff-raff!
<br>art
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Thanks for the post Art.. I guessed it would take a day or two to get your legs back under you...Very honest post. I just thought it was your call, to tell your hunt the way you wanted to..Just one correction though...76grns Rl22 will do the trick...Not 72...I should have wrote the recipe for you, but with all the commotion, I forgot..
<br>76grns Rl22..Fed215M...180 Sierra Prohunter..Works every time..
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<br>Lee

Lee
<br>Thanks again for everything! The 72gr was actually a typo, and I do not know where it came from, my notes show it as 76gr??? I can mistype every bit as well as I can shoot rocks!
<br>art

Sitka Deer:
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<br>Congratulations on that trophy rock. Did it require a finishing shot? Do New Mexican Lava Rocks require a special license? Well, congratulations on your honesty anyway. I'm not sure I would have told that, as the punch line to the joke goes. LOL
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<br>Sounds like a great hunt and a very nice guy to help you. Glad you made it back to the frozen North OK.

CAT
<br>Everybody would love to forget their screw-ups, me included, but the rock shooting is an integral part of describing my anxiety as the day wore on. Nobody does what I did and feels good about it. Knowing the public/printed and actual description of a number of events has convinced me that I want no part of living with what is really a meaningless lie to most, but critical to those who were actually there.
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<br>I knew that I would catch a bit of heckling, but I know that you cannot say you have not screwed-up, and you have admitted that you might not tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I might not either, but on little things which bear on an event, no problem, I'll admit what I did wrong.
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<br>I do not even remember the last time I got to shoot at game from a prone position, it is just not an option very often where I hunt.
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<br>Still have not figured out how to throw in smiley faces and winks... so take this as dead serious and get mad about my pontification before you realize I'm just kidding;-)
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<br>As to your questions, no special tags required, and 180grs of lead and copper at 3000fps are enough to guarantee the rock will only move once.
<br>art

Sitka,
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<br>Great recounting of events. Sounds like you were in VERY capable hands,how much luckier could a guy get?
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<br>Glad to hear the trip South,was fruitful. When time allows,I'd like to her about the Lion escapades.
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<br>Not sure I can top the rock story,but I've had my share of plans that didn't go exactly as planned. We've ALL been there. It just seems so much more "romantic" with and audience watching(grin)...............

Stick
<br>It was a set of capable hands and I suspect you and Lee would find lots of common ground. Though it would not be around Barnes bullets!
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<br>Any thoughts on why they would suddenly stop shooting? They were not even close to where they had been shooting, both in regards to POI and accuracy, yet the rifle was back to its old self with Lee's Sierra pro-hunter load.
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<br>The mt. lion hunting was near Reserve, NM, on the western border and fairly well north in the state, where a friend from AK retired a few years back. Andy is putting together a pack of hounds and paid the money to have them trained by a professional lion hound trainer in AZ. His 5 dogs are all under 18 months, but have treed a couple cats. I will likely go back when they get a bit more proficient.
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<br>The basic idea is that a snowfall lets you find a fresh trail and release the dogs. We did not get snow, though the forecast was for several inches the second night I was there. Without the snow, the best we could do was to let the dogs run in front of the truck until they cut a track. They put at least 20 miles on while we drove around, but never cut a confirmed cat track that interested them.
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<br>We spent most of our time right on the AZ border, because it is the only area still open near there.
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<br>The cat problem is pretty obvious there, for four days we were out in the dark, until it got dark again, running back roads and glassing from good vantage points. I did not see a single deer, and only saw a very few tracks. The elk are not as sensitive to the cat population, as they are everywhere!
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<br>I saw Gambel's quail, Nuttal's and desert cottontails, jack rabbits, though I am not sure which ones, Abert's squirrels, javelina (had thought they could not take the cold??? it was 7 degrees there one morning,) coyote, gray fox, RG turkeys, skunks, lots of cactus, and a few new birds. Andy also took me to a couple indian ruins, including a cliff dwelling site that took quite a bit to get to. Took lots of pictures of petroglyphs and cave dwellings, cacti and mountains and even found a bunch of banded agates in gray-blue and some that looked just like smoked salmon.
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<br>The dogs only chased one critter and we were not close enough to them to know what it was. I was hoping to see a gray fox treed, Andy was hoping they weren't running trash. We got to use the tracking collars and locator and found the hounds about 10 miles from where they started running.
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<br>The terrain was everything from wide-open cactus and brush to a large freshly-burned area of big Ponderosa pine, to old-growth seeming pinyon and ponderosas, alligator junipers and live oaks.
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<br>Everyone burns the juniper for firewood and the whole area smelled of cumin because of it. It was pleasant only after I got accustomed to it, as it was pretty strong until then.
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<br>A neighbor and good friend of Andy's had a small heart attack the day I arrived and died from complications when they preparing to insert a stint in a vessel on my last day there, so there were some difficulties that had to be dealt with, and Andy was not at his most comfortable either.
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<br>While I didn't get to see a lion, I didn't really expect that my chances were going to be that great anyway. I have absolutely lucked into two in the past, so the odds were against me. But I had a good visit and saw some new country and couldn't ask for more.
<br>art

What's a Nuttal's? Oh and btw, I'd bet the jackrabbits were the antelope jackrabbit subspecies.

Sky
<br>Realized that I misspelled the name, Nuttall's. They are a small cottontail, which I used to shoot a lot of in eastern WA. I think they are the only ones you have in western Montana? I know they are found there. They are named after Nuttall, who was a doctor/naturalist who named a bunch of western critters and plants.
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<br>I also thought the jacks were of the antelope variety, but the book I looked at said they are only found south of where I was??? They looked different from the WA jacks is all I really know at this point. If any photos prove conclusive I'll update, but for now I'm guessing.
<br>art

Is this my chance to say "synthetic stock"(grin). Naaah,I wouldn't do that,because it obviously wasn't the stock.
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<br>Sometimes rifles will drive a person batty. My favorite 257Wby went sour on me and I diddled with it for a while,trying to get it back. I knew fouling was the culprit,because I'd shot it a ridiculous amount last Winter. About the time Big Sky was gonna show up,it up and died on me. I gave it a semi serious scrubbing and accuracy would not return. Really caught me off guard as that barrel had never been the least bit fickle. So it sat in a closet,for nearly a year,sort of on the back burner.
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<br>Just last week,I dug it back out and got serious with fouling removal. I scrubbed it pretty good,then Fouled it out electro/chemically. My "hunch" was confirmed,she was copper plated. Eventually,I got it sparkling clean,mounted a straight 16x Leupold on it as a test vehicle and headed for the range. After boresighting and crude sight adjustments I got it on paper. I had 7 oddball moly 115gr BT's that I'd loaded for a prior experiment,those were used to get a sight setting and to foul the bore(I shoot moly in everything).
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<br>So I took it home and loaded my tried and true 100gr Core-Lokts to confirm accuracy potential. I decided to try a new propellant(Re-25),just for kicks. Long story short,the first three shots of that combo at 100yds went sub 1/2". So I got my accuracy back. I need to hit the range one more time,in better weather,to determine it's potential. That to establish if it truly came all the way back,or if something was lost in the fray.
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<br>Why I'm relating this,is because it seemed that this barrel quit performing all at once. Just like someone threw a switch. I'd shot bullets of different manufacture in it,with no rhyme or reason,but all wearing moly. When it croaked,it was printing about Improved Cylinder,at 100yds(12" or bigger). Prior to that,I was banging away with 100% hits at my 500yd steel plate. What I can't savvy,is how I lost ALL the accuracy,in one fell swoop? Very weird,I've never experienced anything like it prior.
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<br>Back to your rifle in question. Did you find anything loose anywhere,between trying your original loads and the second batch of "on demand" ammo? I believe you mentioned not finding anything askew.
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<br>If that was the case,fouling must be the culprit. But it is very odd,that a barrel fouled enough to toss patterns in lieu of groups,then settled down and shot nice clusters with different ammo and no bore cleaning. I've never seen that one. Just chalk it up,to something else that is possible to go wrong,at the wrong time. Mr. Murphy,you know?
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<br>I'll be very curious,to hear your final determination,regarding that rifle.
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<br>Hell,maybe X bullets only work in Alaska? That would explain all the bad press and "non-believers"(grin).........................

Sitka:
<br>Thanks for sharing the hunt. I sure hope that my 375 H&H will pack enough wallop to knock an Oryx flat. Works like a charm on white tail, but I'm not taking anything to chance if I can help it.
<br>Glad that you had a great time and bagged an oryx as a bonus. Really enjoyed the post.
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Stick
<br>I scrubbed the bore yesterday, just checking it, but it had been scrubbed about 10 shots prior, and I found nothing in the way of fouling, and it is a very polished bore with over a thousand recorded shots at the range having been run through it and frequent hunting trips that have not been documented well, but must surely have another hundred or so rounds shot through it.
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<br>I again checked all the screws, including the action screws, and looked for rust or anything else that might be tweaking the action and found nothing.
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<br>The only thing that I can add is that I shot some XLCs through it the last time at the range, before the trip and a serious scrubbing, and they were horrible. I then shot a few foulers just before I left.
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<br>I still have the loads which would not shot and will be curious to see what they do next time.
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<br>MSSGN
<br>I do not think there is a 375-proof oryx built, with half again as much bullet as I used you just need to make sure to deliver it to the right precinct;-)
<br>art

Sitka,
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<br>Does that bore require a certain number of foulers,after a thorough scrubbing? I've seen that lots. I've got a couple superb rifles,that after a thorough cleaning,print patterns for about 6 or 7 pokes. Then it gets crazy good again.
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<br>It generally is something easy. I get caught trying to overlook the obvious sometimes...................

Stick
<br>It never has been that way before... quite the opposite actually. I have never had it foul to the point of losing accuracy before either, it gets cleaned, out of my own innate need to clean, before that happens and anybody who has seen my shop knows that is a lotta shooting between cleanings!
<br>art

Spill your guts,when you cypher the cause...............