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Old August 14, 2011, 06:12 PM   #1
MEATSAW
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Scimitar Oryx Success

I am happy to say that my first big game hunt ended in success. This weekend I was down in south Texas going after a scimitar horned oryx. Its such an amazing animal. I was able to put one on the ground yesterday. Unfortunately my shooting was not perfect. I had to shoot twice. The first shot went low behind the shoulder and exited the back leg, it was taken while the animal was on the run and at 175 yards or so. Just a bad shot. The animal was wounded and made a successful escape. Thankfully we found the animal alone in a mesquite thicket. It was standing still and facing away from me at 50 yards. My second shot dropped it like a stone. It entered the right hip and went into the chest cavity.

For this hunt I was using a Swiss K31 in 7.5x55 -- I used Prvi Partisan 174gr soft point.

I am so grateful that I was able to take this. I believe this is rated as a trophy. It is a male with 37" horns. Total score is 86 3/4.

I have the quartered oryx in a cooler full of ice overnight. I am planning on cutting up the meat tomorrow. Oryx on the grill is so good!

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Old August 14, 2011, 06:38 PM   #2
SurplusShooter
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Now if you just give me the time I will bring drinks and chips
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Old August 14, 2011, 06:53 PM   #3
hooligan1
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Beautiful animal man!!
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Old August 14, 2011, 06:56 PM   #4
Pahoo
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What can one say ???

Fantastic and I like your work !! ...

Be Safe !!!
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Old August 14, 2011, 07:49 PM   #5
mete
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Nice animal !! The Texas heart shot really works !
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Old August 15, 2011, 04:47 AM   #6
swopjan
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how does it taste?

wouldn't expect to see something like that in Texas. were they artificially introduced?
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Old August 15, 2011, 09:38 AM   #7
Art Eatman
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swopjan, think "exotics". Quite a few non-native game animals on Texas ranches. E.g., the King Ranch has IIRC over 10,000 nilghai, some saying that's more than remain in India.

There is a small oryx herd on the 02 ranch south of Alpine, in the 100,000-acre "east pasture". They sometimes hang out near the highway fence, counting cars.

Axis deer have spread from original locations, as have aoudad. And, to a lesser extent, blackbuck antelope.

Other than for aoudad in the Texas Panhandle, it's open season on these ferals. They are thus a source of income outside of our usual deer seasons.

There is a slow growth in the population of elk which are not native to Texas. SFAIK, those brought in from the Rockies are a different sub-species than the extinct Texas elk. By law, they are feral. It's thus up to a rancher as to when and how they are hunted.
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Old August 15, 2011, 12:04 PM   #8
FrontSight
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AWESOME!! Congrats!
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Old August 16, 2011, 04:45 AM   #9
swopjan
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Art, let's see if I understand this correctly; if I spoke to a landowner who was agreeable, i could hunt some of these "feral" deer year-round?

do you have links to more information? i would love to do some pest-control if that's the case.
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Old August 16, 2011, 08:36 AM   #10
Art Eatman
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Yes, year around, but it's not cheap.

Offhand, while there are numerous hunting ranches with these ferals, I only recall the YO Ranch near Kerrville.

Google around for Texas Hunting, as well as for specific species + hunting.
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Old August 16, 2011, 01:44 PM   #11
rickyrick
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I think you could judge the price in proportion to the fence height.

I've seen some free roaming audads on the edge of the caprock....pretty cool to watch them zoom up and down it
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Old August 16, 2011, 10:29 PM   #12
Art Eatman
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Down here in south Brewster County, TP&WD has been killing aoudads on the Big Bend Ranch State Park so they could re-introduce desert bighorn. Aoudad are aggressive and territorial, and will keep mule deer and bighorn away from water points.

There is a herd of aoudad around 20 or so which comes down to my part of Terlingua Creek for water. And, I occasionally see them in the back country. They're even in the open country grasslands north of Marfa.

Apologies to the OP for the thread drift. Heckuva nice trophy...
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Old August 17, 2011, 02:13 AM   #13
lt dan
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Meatsaw, i cant agree with you more about the tastiness of the Oryx meat.
on Monday i suddenly realised that my freezer is almost empty. i had to think fast, but got an Oryx on n game ranch about 7 miles from my hometown. this was not much of a hunt, it was more like a cull. from when we left till the Oryx was down was about 15min. i could choose between a kudu eland blesbuck spring buck blue wildebeest, bu in the end the choice was easy for the best meat i will always take the oryx.

congrats on your kill and let us know how about your favorite recipe's
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Last edited by lt dan; August 17, 2011 at 02:19 AM.
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Old August 17, 2011, 08:01 PM   #14
MEATSAW
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swopjan: I apologize for not giving more information about this animal in the original post. Scimitar oryx are considered "extinct in the wild" which means they can only be found on game ranches, zoos, etc. Here in Texas they thrive! But they are considered an "exotic" game animal so there is no special season for them. Plus since they are not out in the wild you can only hunt them on private ranches. There are very limited opportunities to get a drawn tag through the state. I'm a ranger for Texas Parks & Wildlife and I get questioned a lot about how our hunting here works. Since its an exotic species on private land its not really regulated. When you consider that 99% of land here is privately owned it means there are ample hunting opportunities year-round if you have property or have a deep checkbook.

However, scimitar oryx are going on the threatened species list come September 1 which means they will be illegal to hunt period. Game ranches all over the state are now trying to thin their herds before then because once they are illegal to hunt they are worthless (sounds cold but its reality).

I just finished getting all the meat cut up and man it looks gorgeous. The backstrap is going to be amazing. I think I am going to through a roast in the crockpot this weekend. The meat is very lean and no "gamey" flavor. It takes on the flavors of how you cook it.

lt dan: I'm jealous. Being forced to choose between such awesome animals must just be terrible.
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Old August 17, 2011, 09:38 PM   #15
Cowboy_mo
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Congrats on taking that nice animal!!

If it weren't so far to Texas and my pocketbook wasn't so shallow I would definitely be down there hunting with you guys.
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Old August 17, 2011, 09:46 PM   #16
warbirdlover
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Pretty animal! Wished I could go on a hunt for one. Getting a giant whitetail buck year after year here in Wisconsin gets pretty boring (yeah, right )
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