I'll be putting the stalk on a scimitar horned oryx in a bit over a week and would like to hear from those of you who have actually hunted oryx.

I've been doing some research on shot placement and, as usual, opinions are mixed on the subject. Some say use a standard behind-the-shoulder placement, but most of the diagrams I've seen show the lungs riding above the heart, which is positioned somewhat forward and low, protected by bone. This leads some to say "No, no, don't shoot behind the shoulder or you've screwed the pooch." These folks advocate shooting at the shoulder, but some decry that placement on the basis of excessive meat damage, which I'd like to avoid. This leads to a third school of thought, which holds that you should shoot just behind the shoulder -- not 3 or 4 inches behind, but JUST behind the shoulder, inline with the rear line of the front leg.

What say you, experienced oryx slayers?

I'll probably use a .300 WSM, but I don't want to launch another cartridge selection debate. This is all about placement.

Never have shot an oryx, but this should give you an idea of structure and plumbing:

what ib posted.....



maddog

Boddington has a book on shot placement with pics like that. I saw some of the pics and they all look pretty much alike. It's weird. I've heard that African plains game have their vitals lower and further forward than North American game. It seems to be true. Strange, but valid. I wonder why the divergence.

Straight up the rear of the front leg & 1/3 up from the belly. Works on most all plains game. Hits the top of the heart & lungs.

In Texas,
Why, only a Texas Heart shot will do!

Have downed a couple of Scimitar Horned Oryx. Put both down with a shot thru the shoulder about 1/3 up. Both dropped on the spot. Heavy animal, delicious meat. I use TSX's and had virtually no meat loss.

I knew you were gonna do this....

Shot placement is what these guys have said.....but the meat is no good, go ahead and send it to me.....

I knew you would be along...mind sharing an oryx roast?

Shhhhhhhh......( soon as KW comes through on sending me the "bad" meat.....)

Poobah - I'll just go ahead and apologize in advance for failing you. You know how I'm a terrible hunter and worse shot, so my odds of actually bagging one are miniscule... almost non-existant, really. It would be a miracle of the first order.

So it's highly doubtful I'll ever have the good fortune of being in a position to send you some of that bad Oryx meat.

I'll see if I still have some road-killed muskrat though. It might be a tad freezer burned, but you can just eat around those parts.

Any Axis left...???

What Axis?

*blink blink*

Actually, not much... but will shoot an Axis doe late Oct. to replentish.

You can shoot those down here for $200 or a bit less. You can't beat that deal with a stick.

Can always shoot em in the rear shoulder. *Grins*

You must have me confused with Swampy.

Lol, just wanted to keep ALL options open.

Shot mine in the shoulder-DRT. They are pretty much plumbed like all four legged cloven hooved animals. The only PG I found to be differently plumbed was Wildebeast.

I shot a gemsbuck too far back on a quartering away shot once. Luckily I got a piece of both lungs but he went a long way before we found him.

Approached every clump of brush for about a mile with the rifles at the ready as they can get pretty grouchy when hurt and those horns are long and sharp...

When i was on my Oryx hunt on fort bliss in february I saw first hand what a typical behind the shoulder white-tail shot does. It kills them, but they can go a LONG LONG way. Not something you want on the McGreagor range! The folks I spoke with prior to the hunt said shoot for the ball of the shoulder. I did and he went DRT with the top of his heart ripped off. Didnt destroy that much meat. Polaxed him with a 180 Accu-bond out of a 300 win.

Really glad your taking advantage of Texas year round hunting.

There is a lot to be said for year-round hunting opportunity -- especially when it's possible, with a little research, to go out and harvest numerous trophy animals for the price of some Texas whitetail hunts. I've hunted south Texas whitetails, javelina, predators, etc., before, and I'm certainly not knocking that. Truth be told, I really hadn't given exotics a second thought before moving here, but it's almost impossible to ignore all the opportunies here when they're practically in your backyard. I'll always be focused primarily on traditional North American game, but for now, I'm having a ton of fun with some of these "Texotics." It also doesn't hurt that some are among the best-eating game animals on the planet.

Hope you have a lot of fun on the hunt. Seems the long term "heat" has dropped the price on Exotic hunts this year. Ranchers just can't afford to keep the feed out. Pictures would be nice after the kill---

True. On a lot of ranches I've seen, conditions are terrible. Feed bills are untenable for some, so you're seeing a lot of herd reduction right now. Bad deal for ranchers, but a temporary good deal for hunters looking for bargains. Look around, and you'll find them.

I was always told to shoot them behind the front shoulder, not in front of the rear shoulder. Now I hear this. What to do?

BMD's daughter popped one this last year with her 7mm-08 and a 120 TSX. Dood guiding her said he'd never seen one fall that fast or bleed that much. Completely pass through-classic over penetration.

Shoot 'em through the "front axle", as a poster here used to call it.

This is essentially like an elk except with a much shorter neck. It doesn't show the diaphragm, however. The lungs will entirely fill the space inside the chest cavity from sternum to spine and back to the diaphragm. The lungs you see when you dress a kill are deflated, much smaller than in a live animal.
Assuming this drawing is correct, the heart and most of the lungs are a clear shot, well behind the leg bones. The scapula is high where it exposes most of the lungs. The short neck give the illusion that there's a lot of leg bone in there. A shot anywhere above the point of the elbow is a killer. A shot in the lower 1/3 gets the heart.

elk kill zone:

Looks like the major plumbing is just a bit forward and better protected compared to Whitetail. Kinda like a hog. Pretty good sized killzone on that beast! As Karnis said, BMD's daughter hammered one a couple of months ago. 7-08 spittin' 120s did a number on it.

I shot mine high shoulder, broke spine, DRT. That wasn't what I intended, but it worked.

Finally got some decent rain here (torrential last night!). That's a bit of good news. The better news is that it's supposed to be clear tomorrow with a high of "only" 82.

Sounds like Scimitar hunting weather to me! I'll be after one first thing in the morning. After some debate, decided to take a 300 Wizzum out for a stroll.

99.9% of big game- you follow the front leg as vertical and 1/4 above the belly as horizontal - putthe bullet in this spot and it's one dead animal

Twenty to 30% of body depth above the brisket, just behind the onside leg and attempt to break the offside. Works for everything.

You need to be over on the hunting forum! This side...is only for IDIOTS akin to Gus!!

Exactly, and gemsbok are as stout as elk, but not "bulletproof" as the game management folks would have you believe. Yes, shoot them just barely behind the front leg on the close side, aiming for the shoulder joint of the other leg, maybe a third of the way up from the bottom line, and prepare to get out your knife.

They strongly discouraged me about the low level killing power of the 30-06 with 180 gr Nosler Partitions. You would have thought their Medicine Man was going to be renting out a .416 Rigby for poor dopes like me. They really, really wanted me to be shooting something BIG, maybe with a belt [like a .338 Win Mag or a .375 H & H ?]. Actually my Power Nap after lunch was more important than the gun I was shooting.

I was refreshed and excited, found one to my liking very soon, placed my belt buckle on terra firma, put the cross-hairs just a little higher than I meant to at 200 yards, and we had a tracking job. It came to a pleasant end 30 steps from where he had been standing, with a very dead oryx piled up in some mesquite. This was on the White Sands Missile Range, and before I might have expected (but not until this very large dead ungulate was laboriously placed in the back of the pickup), the Conservation Officer was there to make sure it was tagged properly.

Who can complain about success? The heart/lung area of an elk, oryx, mule deer, etc. is a fairly large and excellent target. The hide and muscle are not indestructible (didn't find any remnant of said Partition), but exit hole on the far side told me that application of an effective bullet, causing two large wounds which start sucking air and leaking blood is plenty of firepower. No bloodshot meat, no finishing shot needed, just reliable performance within broad parameters.

I had done what might be called a high lung shot. No cardiac tissue was damaged directly and the bullet path was not close enough to the spinal cord/vertebrae to have put him down in his tracks. I a perfect world, I should have aimed at the vertical midpoint of the ribs, or 35.8% up from the bottom of the chest. Didn't matter, though.

The nap, and knowing how well that old '06 and I can shoot, was much more important on that particular day. A sample of one, as JB says, means nothing. Years of shooting and confidence in your rig means much.

I shot 7 Oryx on a cull hunt in 2009, found if the bullet (140Ttsx in 280) hit right where the leg joins the body (front one of course)and forms sort of a pocket, it was pretty much doa.. would run maybe 50 feet or so and pile up.. I called this the arm pit shot, and it works.

Who do we contact in New Mexico or Arizona if any there, about the Scimitar horn hunting..the orxy I shot were Gemsbok, in Namibia.

Same place you shot the unicorn

Got a nice scimitar down today...

New thread with a couple of photos to follow.

For the Orecks I shoot, I usually go for the motor. A frontal or Texas style get that bullet right in there. No raking shots either.

You shot him in the wrong place...

You must immediately relinquish all the meat to me and go try again....