Two trips, 64+ hours of driving, thousands of miles on the road, three days hunting, two beautiful trophies, and family memories to last a lifetime – the 2024/2025 season was one we will never forget. It started April 17, 2024 when I rushed to my office to check our results for the New Mexico draw after finishing up in clinic. After scrambling to find our logins, I got my son’s results pulled up and saw the green check next to oryx. I hollered “Yes!” and my staff came running to see what the issue was. Needless to say, they were not nearly as excited as I was when I told them Davis had drawn an oryx tag on the White Sand Missile Range. After taking a second to soak it in, I logged into my account and couldn’t believe it when I saw the green box next to my first elk option. We had won the hunt lottery not once, but twice!
Having very limited western hunt experience, I had opted to have Huntin’ Fool set us up with an outfitter, G3, for both hunts. Our plan was for my dad, Davis, and me to go on the elk hunt in September and then for my wife, Davis, and me to go on the oryx hunt in February. I love the planning and preparation aspect of our western hunts, and these were no exception. As the months slowly passed, we worked on our gear lists, planned out our travel itinerary, and constantly discussed our trips. In addition, I exercised hard, shot my bow nearly every day, and did my best to prepare for the New Mexico mountains.
When the time finally arrived, my dad, Davis, and I left Mississippi for New Mexico on a Friday afternoon. We split the 16-hour drive into two days and arrived at elk camp Saturday afternoon in time to shoot the bow, unload our gear, and get settled into camp. The excitement and expectation for opening morning was high as none of us had ever hunted elk before. That morning hunt was fast paced as we were on bulls from the moment we stepped out of the truck in the dark. Due to the physical nature of the hunt, my dad elected to stay at the truck while we struck out north up a drainage into the cool, crisp mountain air.
It was incredible hearing bulls bugle all morning, and before long, we had hiked over five miles into the backcountry. Just when we thought the morning was over, we had a bull come screaming down the ridge right at us. I asked Jake if he was a shooter, and all he said was, “Draw!” I assumed it was a shooter. As I came to full draw, he stopped at 40 yards. I settled my pin, and the release broke cleanly. The arrow seemed to move in slow motion as it arced straight into his vitals, and I knew it was a perfect shot as soon as it hit. The bull took off out of sight, and we took a couple minutes to gather our composure and recap what had happened. Davis had filmed the entire event on my phone, which made it easy to verify the hit and gave us confidence that the bull was down.
Upon getting to the impact site, we peeked over the ridge and realized the bull had barely gone 40 yards. Walking up on the bull was surreal. He had everything I had wanted in an elk, and my lifetime dream of harvesting a mature elk with my bow was complete. We took a pile of photos, waited on some help to arrive from camp, and then quartered him up and packed him out (downhill thankfully) about two miles to a nearby road. Honestly, it was bittersweet killing on the first day, but I couldn’t have asked for a better first elk hunting experience.
Fast forward several months and we were trying to balance Mississippi whitetail hunting with oryx preparation. Thankfully, Davis and my daughter had each killed a doe and buck during deer season, so we were able to focus more on long-distance shooting in preparation for our New Mexico oryx trip. After sending quite a few rounds downrange, Davis’s confidence was high as we prepared to leave, which was exactly what we wanted. Leslie, Davis, and I turned my Tundra west for New Mexico after school on a Wednesday, and we stayed outside of Dallas in the same hotel we had previously stayed in back in September. On Thursday, we finished the drive and were able to meet our guide, Korey, in Ruidoso to do some long-distance shooting. After checking the gun out to 500 yards and making sure the gear was all good, we proceeded to our hotel room in Socorro to try to get some sleep.
We were up early the next morning to get in line at the WSMR gate where we waited for several hours. We were able to get through the gate late morning, listen to the orientation on the radio, and then were finally released to begin hunting. It didn’t take long to realize this hunt was going to be much harder than we realized. The oryx were on high alert, and at any sight of our orange vests, they would start running. Unlike other animals I had seen, the oryx simply would not stop running. There was no “run 150-200 yards and stop to look back at us.” No, they just ran, and ran, and ran. We would see them at 250-300 yards, and by the time we had the gun set up, they would be 500+ yards and still running. That issue combined with strong winds made for a challenging first day, albeit we had several close calls.
After dinner and a good night’s sleep, we woke up on day two with high expectations and a renewed drive. We made several good stalks, all of which ended up fruitless, but we felt it was just a matter of time before we had a proper shot opportunity. Mid-morning, some friends told us of a group of oryx in a stalkable location and we went to meet them. It didn’t take long for us to find (and quickly spook) the group, which required us to duck into a draw and run a couple hundred yards to get back into position. After finding them, we quickly set Davis up on the gun and ranged the oryx at 500 yards. This was further than I wanted, but Davis assured me he was comfortable and ready to shoot. With the scope dialed and safety off, Davis squeezed off a round on the 6.5 PRC and the oryx buckled at the impact. The oryx took off, and we quickly learned how tough they really are. Thankfully, Davis made a well-placed follow-up shot, and it wasn’t long before we were able to get our hands on this beautiful oryx.
To say I was proud of his shooting and composure under pressure was an understatement. Not many adults could have done what he did, let alone a 10-year-old. The beautiful oryx appeared extremely old and had a huge body and a unique horn on the right that swayed further back and right, giving it a unique appearance. This capped off an incredible season, and it made for an easy 16-hour drive back home while I relived these hunts in my head and planned for the next adventure. I have been dreaming about hunting out west since I was a young boy, but I never dreamed I’d be able to share such incredible hunts with my son, wife, and father. Thank you to my wife for continuing to support me in my hunting adventures, my father for helping me plan and go on the trips, and for everyone else who helped make these trips a reality.
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