In March of 2023, I started my boots-on-the ground pursuit of an off-range New Mexico oryx with Diamond Outfitters. With the weather in the high teens in the mornings, wind whipping 10-20 mph, and snow falling at different points throughout the day, the hunt was not how I imagined New Mexico hunting to be, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
When I arrived at camp Wednesday afternoon, I met Matt Woodward and Keegan Faulkner, my guides for this hunt. I had met Keegan previously on a fall bear hunt in Arizona with Diamond Outfitters. I had heard about Matt and how great of a hunter/guide he was from mutual friends. After we confirmed that my Browning Hells Canyon .300 Win Mag mounted with a Huskemaw 4-16x42 scope was still sighted correctly after making the flight from Chicago, we went out and started searching for our target. This allowed me to get a feel for the vast ranches we would be hunting on. While we were out scouting, Matt informed me of two things that would come true during different parts of the hunt. First, even though oryx are a strange looking animal, especially in the New Mexico White Sands, which they were introduced onto by the New Mexico Game and Fish in 1970, they can be very hard to spot. Second, New Mexico oryx can be hard to take down, to where it may take more than one or two shots. The first point became a factor the first time they took me out. Matt spotted a big female oryx, one that would be considered a trophy even in the most famous hunters’ trophy rooms, 50 yards away from us, but it had broken off both horns. I could not spot it initially and could only spot it once he pointed at some landmarks she was standing by. We finished the day by spotting one male that had one broken off horn and one normal one. We decided to pass on him, and as the days would eventually go by, deep down, I had the nagging thought if I should’ve possibly pulled the trigger on him.
Days two and three were spent glassing from mesas and trying to put a stalk on oryx we spotted. At one point, we were driving to our next glassing spot when we spotted a male oryx with both horns still intact a few hundred yards away in between hills and a basin. We snuck into the near sagebrush opposite him and started moving through the brush to the right so that we could get the 18-mph wind perfect for our stalk. Right when we got ready to move around the sagebrush to a shooting perch, a blizzard of snow flurries started up and caused a white out!
Another time, we spotted a group of oryx with calves about three or four miles away. Matt and Keegan knew this group from a previous hunt and knew there was a big male oryx hiding in the shadows somewhere up on the bluff. We decided we would make the stalk. We hiked down the bluff we were glassing from and crossed the plains of New Mexico onto the base of the opposite bluff we had spotted the group from. We tried to cut the herd off but to no avail, thus we came up with a new game plan. We would hike down into a ravine and work around the bluff to the other side to cut them off in a meadow where there were natural funnels to lead the group to us. After a few more miles of hiking, we reached the meadow with no sign of the herd. One thing all hunters know, you can do everything right, but sometimes animals don’t want to cooperate with your game plan.
After several days of hiking bluffs and mesas, it was the last day. When we woke up that morning, it was 17 degrees out. Matt knew these animals would have to be sunning themselves on the eastern slopes of bluffs towards the rising sun as these animals are originally from Africa and not used to the cold weather.
As we drove from spot to spot, glassing for an oryx from the distance, we stopped at a ranch hand cabin that is used during cattle roundup season for the extra ranch hands to stay at. From this spot, we had a 360-degree view of several bluffs and plains where we could spot mule deer and antelope herds roaming along with our target, hopefully. Within a few minutes, Keegan spotted two mature oryx over five miles away. Matt led the charge as we climbed up bluffs and hiked into the valley to get into eyesight of these magnificent animals. Finally, we reached an opening 485 yards away, and the wind was perfect. We peeked over the bushes, and there they were, two oryx. One had both horns intact and the other had both horns broken off from fighting. They were sunning themselves on the eastern slope just like Matt had predicted. I settled in for the shot but had to wait for what seemed like forever for the oryx to give us a vital shot so I could make a clean, ethical kill. Finally, it happened in a split second. The oryx turned broadside to make its way up the bluff to a new sunning spot, and bam! We saw the shot hit her in the boiler maker and saw her slide down the bluff, stopping against the lone tree.
We hiked up the bluff to go retrieve this trophy animal with the double broken horn oryx watching us the whole time 75 yards away from where it was last standing with its friend. As we hiked up to the tree where we saw the oryx stop, it got up and sprinted over the bluff! We sprinted after it in the hopes it wouldn’t make it to the next bluff or the thick sagebrush and trees below. Remember point #2 Matt told me on day one?
While these animals certainly have been taken down with one shot, they are genetically created to be resilient as they deal with leopards and lions in their native lands. We finally chased her down. Bam! Another shot roared from the .300 Win Mag into the oryx’s mid- section. After this shot, she decided to hunker down behind an island of trees with dense sagebrush surrounding her, but not before I could get another two shots off, the first to the neck and another to the mid-section. After these shots, the oryx was still standing! Finally, she collapsed with another shot to the neck. With five Berger 185 grain VLD .300 Win Mag bullets into this animal, the oryx took a few more minutes to expire before we could approach and show our gratitude for her providing us with this adventure and meat.
It was truly an unforgettable day. I cannot express my gratitude enough towards Matt and Keegan for helping me take this magnificent animal and helping me check this off my hunting bucket list. The oryx was a large female with a horn length of 35".
Login