James, I live in Alamogordo NM, about 90 miles North of El Paso Texas, retired from the Air Force here in 2006, a job and the weather kept me here. SRD, our Oryx were transplanted here in the early 70s onto the White Sands Missile Range, the herd started with a few animals which were offspring of the original animals brought from the Kalahari, the herd has grown to the point where they say there are more wild Oryx in New Mexico than there are in the Kalahari. They are truly wild, and due to the lack of a natural predator, they have really thrived here, in spite of the cold temps we can get in the winter. They have spread North towards Albuquerque, and South into Texas. There are hunts for them the year round, on range hunts (on the Missile Range and adjacent military lands) are once in a lifetime hunts, which enjoy a fairly high success rate, off range hunts are anywhere in the state that is not considered "on range". Resident fee is around $163, non resident runs $1610, due to the now rapid spread of this non-native species, they are selling more tags than ever. When they were first being released, it was promised that the herd would be contained to the missile range, now, there are far too many Oryx-Man interactions which costs the military money and time, so they have talked about eliminating them completely on the missile range, off range, there have been objections in the past that allege the Oryx are driving out the mule deer, I think an over population of our big cats, the Mt Lion, coupled with almost 20 years of drought has more to do with the depletion of the mule deer herd. In addition to the Oryx, we have wild Aoudad, or Barbary Sheep as they are called here, and we have Ibex from animals that were a gift of the late Shah of Iran. I am finding that getting back into shape after a few years of medical issues is the toughest part to hunting here. Our draw system is a true lottery, with no points, but if one has the financial means, Oryx may be pursued with Land Owner Tags.
