lifetime hunt-Oryx on White Sands missile range

Update on this segment and thank you all so very much for your inputs, which were largely Very helpful.
Our hunt was held up by a military mission, but eventually we were allowed to go hunting. None of the checks regarding cameras or searching through the vehicles were enforced. Weather was cool and partly cloudy.
We noted on the directions delivered to us via our radios that there was a road that lead to a restricted zone and since it did not allow access to any other road, reasoned that other hunters would pass it by, so we took it. Basically it was a dirt path with a single set of tire tracks that wandered through the desert. We quickly spotted a bull, who headed quickly for Arizona. We stalked another across a sandy, open area and suddenly realized there was a huge heard of over 40 staring at us, about 250 yards away. We were caught flatfooted and there was a solid mass of bodies with several broken horned bulls and no animals which could be targets outside of the herd. They all took off at once, raising the dust and I was not about to take a hurried shot into the herd. My friends walked to a rise to ascertain exactly where they were going, while I started to return to our truck. On the way back, my friends caught up with me and hurriedly told me thenherd had split up and some were circling around towards us. I set up my shooting sticks I had designed. Both my friends , by now on either side of me could see the Oryx, but I could not through the brush. Eventually I spotted them through a "v" in then branches. It was obvious a large animal was in that group and it came into my view and I fired and cut all arteries and veins off the top of the heart. This is the first time I have used Barnes Bullets and all,of us noted the large impact sound of the hit from my 300 WSM. The animal turned around and fell over.
As we approached we noted it's size, it eventually was weighed after field dressing and hide and head removed at 303 pounds and then butcher estimated it at 220 pounds of meat. The horns were 36 inches, and incredibly it was a cow, so the meat will be delicious. Like a fairy tale,a rainbow appeared and I noted we had found and shot the animal, photographed it, dressed and finally got it into that tall Dodge diesel, which was a real tussle. I noted it was 3:47 and the hunt started at 11:00 for us. My two friends had been trying to draw this once in a lifetime hunt for a total of 21 years, and I realized how lucky I was. What an incredible experience!
 
Congratulations to you and thanks for circling back to this thread and telling us what happened. Although you made no promises, many other posters promise to do this but never do. It's nice to know how things turned out!
 
Thank you very much. I started hunting in 1957 and will be 80 in may. The preparation work for this unique hunt was significant in that all the information given prepared me so well, so we could make judgements, that, almost certainly we would not have, if I had gone in "cold".
 
Fantastic! I'm glad the hunt worked out as well as it did. That was about as good as we could hope for. Thank you very much for posting the results. I enjoyed your excellent write up. I am hoping for pictures if that's possible.
 
Hello Everyone,
I had attempted to reach everyone who left significant info on the thread and thank them unsuccessfully. The site refused all the names of the serious hunters who provided me, so I shall attempt to write Len and find out what I was doing wrong. I have never been so prepared to hunt a location I had never been in,
before.
WW
 
****! I've been applying for the lifetime hunt since the late 90s a few years after I retired from the Air Force. You should play the lottery with your luck. I'm now going on 78 years old. I call that tag a "Not in my lifetime tag." BTW, if no one has told you, Oryx are one of the best tasting critters around. I've had a steak or two from a friend who got an off range hunt.
 
Hello Elkslayer44.
Thanks you, I was extremely lucky, by the way I am 79 and am recovered from both Cancer and a heart attack and had permission to hunt from my doctor. I shall be spending the rest of my active life trying to draw a broken horn or outside the fence hunt. If the meat ,220 pounds worth estimated by the butcher, is half as good as I have been told it will be very special indeed.

Do not give up hope and make the second hunt your first choice! After all, these animals who reproduce like rabbits, virtually are living on an area probably larger than some New England states. We chose to drive on a road that led to an area that was closed to hunting and did not connect with other roads, but we could hunt in the area leading to the closed area. We chose to do so, because we felt most other hunters would not make this choice. That road consisted of a single tire track that meandered across the WSMB desert.

WW
 
Had a friend get a really nice bull this week. Same place I took a lady to last year. Off range does still produce some dandy Oryx. He got stuck , a long story, and I had to go on a rescue mission. Since I did not draw anything I may buy a private land tag and go get one. Congratulations on your hunt .
 
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