Yes..an oryx can be dropped with 1 shot

[elgregoblanko]

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Equipment;
Savage model 111
Bushnell 10x50 binos
Spotting scope
A good pair of boots
Water

Here's a little glimpse into my once in a lifetime hunt at White Sands Missle Range.
The hunt started off traveling to a grazing spot many oryx are known to visit. At first, only 4 were seen at about 800yds, all bulls, 2 with broken horns and 2 with a full rack. Kept glassing, and saw 10 more about 100yds beyond the first set. Panned up and to the left, and saw 30+more,,a big heard with cows, bulls and little ones mixed in!! Panned to the left again, and saw a hunter making a stalk about 200yds from my game,,,$H!T!!! >:(

Pulled out of the area and respected the fact that another hunter just got there and acted before i had a chance to.

Drove 10miles or so, and came upon a high point about 100yds off the trail, stopped the truck, and decided that was a good spot to set up shop n glass for a while. After about 5min. of glassing, my buddy spotted the back end of an oryx,, bedded down and just visible behind a lot of brush, and approx 2 miles away(spotting scope of course). I starting walking.

Got within 900yds of the bedded bull, and saw 2 more sets of horns,, unfortunatly, there was a huge low point that had to be crossed in order to get into range, and the wind was WRONG,,very WRONG- :-\-no way it could be done. This was a batchlor group of bulls. I pulled back out of that area after orienting myself with certian land features, got back to the truck, and made a huge circle behind the group of bedded bulls,,about 3 miles behind.

The flat landscape with very subtle rolling shrubby hills made judging distance VERY decieving,,but the stalk was on. The wind kept shifting and swirling with every step taken. Every 100yds, had to stop, glass and check wind again and make sure we were on the rite track. 1 low ridge crossed, turned into 2, and so on and so on, until i had to tell myself,, "these boys are here and bedded,, nothing spooked them, and i pulled out on the other side undetected!!" The distances were very decieving!!

The wind picked up again,, directly into my face,,a perfect wind, the sun was directly behind me, a perfect sun. Came to the next rise next to a land feature i'd seen from far far away,, and started grining like a little schoolgirl,,i was VERY close now. Peeked my head over the next rise behind a mesquete bush, and 2 bulls were standing there, both facing away from me,,the larger one quartering away to the left--neither of wich had a CLUE i was now staring at them through a mildot scope fitted ontop of one of the finest high power rifle rounds ever made,, the 30-06 with a 180grain barnes XXX bullet

The larger Bull took a hit on the shuolder while quarterin away,, dropped in his tracks. Heart in 2 pieces,,shoulder and lungs in many pieces,, with an exit hole on the opposite side the size of a 50cent piece! One happy Marine ;D After the shot, 3 other bulls stood up and ran, but my trophy of a lifetime was in the bag!

I do a He11 of a lot of shooting, and just have some general advise to give,, take it or leave it. Magnum cartrages are a waste of powder and money. Know your rifle, get to the range, and place your shot with a good bullet. Time to get back to my oryx fajitas hahaha :) Hope you enjoyed the story,,,sorry, i'm a Marine, not a writer.
Sgt.P.USMC (AirSupport,PMI,Triggerpuller)

[shaman]

Nice animal, is that the LRS-1, or just the Buck Gold?

[elgregoblanko]

good eye, it's the LRS-1.

it's been abused on top of the rifle for a long time,, never lost zero,,worth the money

[Hammer]

.

No, one cannot be taken with one shot.

Tried it once.

Took two shots.

That's my sample and I am sticking with my firm conclusions.

In your case, you just forgot to fire the second shot.




Nice trophy by the way.

.

[elgregoblanko]

rite on hammer,, they are extremly tough. the lack of a shoulder and a heart stopped mine.

[Hammer]

.

And besides, you were using the wrong gun -- a 30/06.

Can't learn anything from a 30/06. The 30/06 kills without even trying. Can't learn nuthin' that way.

On the other hand, I was using a 375 H&H with 300-grain Swift A-frame bonded-core partitions.

And it took two shots.

One bullet exited and one stopped in the elastic skin on the offside a couple of inches from the one that exited.

Don't know which one was the first shot.



Maybe next time you're in Africa you can fire the second shot.

Just aim into the air and shoot and hollar, "Take that you tough old Oryx !"

.

[Uncle Jack]

".....get to the range, and place your shot with a good bullet."

Pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

uj

[elgregoblanko]

placing your shot on these dam things is tricky,,their heart n lungs are directly between the front shoulders.. and their spine looks like the nastiest corkscrew rollercoaster you can find.
if you shoot behind the shoulder instead of on it,, you miss every vital, and it runs away and laughs at you. if you shoot in front of the shoulder,, your bullet goes through the front brisket,, and it runs away and laughs at you.

[elgregoblanko]

hammer--

hopefully you reload that howitzer yoursef (the 375HnH) dam thing drains the trust fund with every kaboom!!

[JReed]

Hey Greg nicely done ;D I know you have been dreaming of this hunt since you were first drawn for that White Sands tag. I am highly jealous me friend. ;D

[us920669]

Beautiful animal, and sounds like it was a great hunt. You are a fine writer. Excellent cartridge, too. I 30-06ed a lot of stuff in Africa. A bull Eland that is a high silver in the book - bullet either stopped in his heart or just made one hole. Cleaning an Eland is not conducive to finding bullets - the heart is about the size of a football, maybe bigger. PH said they had been informally urged to not let people shoot at Eland with anything under 7 Mag, but mine didn't go very far. He though it was BS, since he had taken many with 308. My warthog ran off with his heart in shreds, looked like an oil well gusher that hit hydraulic fluid. Best was a Sable - bullet went clean through. which PH said was somewhat unusual. Not worth measuring, but I like him so much I put him on a pedestal - the Sable, not the PH. I was using the 181gr RWS TUG, which I don't think you can get anymore - one tough hunting bullet. I liked that Kraut stuff and bough a whole bunch of them, but I bet you young guys are using better components today. Someday I'll figure out this hosting business and stick some pictures in. And congratulations again - I don't have an Oryx.

[elgregoblanko]

Thanks GnnyReed,, wish you could've made this hunt,, it would've been worth the long trip from the frozen tundra in the North. It's challenging shooting at things without turbins on their head,,,it's a lot harder to make wind calls hahaha semperfi.

[JReed]

Wish I could have been there as well. We will have to work something out maybe some southern hogs ;D.

[358Hammer]

Great story-Thank you for sharing.

Neal

[elgregoblanko]

reed--say when and where,, i've got black-locomotive-tuskmobile-feverBaby!!
got the winchester that's already thumped two,, threes not a crowd with the rite firepower haha

[elgregoblanko]

358-Hammer, thanks man.

So what happened to the Brown Bear at 50yds? i saw the pics on your post. don't think i could've stopped myself from putting one or two behind his shoulder.