New Mexico Oryx Hunt for Disabled Soldiers

Ridgewalker

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I received the monthly email from New Mexico. I found this article that I thought might interest someone here.
“Special oryx hunts available for injured service members
Every year, the Department of Game and Fish offers oryx hunts for injured veterans on White Sands Missile Range. Injured military service members are invited to apply online for the special drawing to award up to 10 special oryx authorizations for hunts on the missile range. In 2021, applications for this special hunt will be available starting June.
Applicants must be veterans of the U.S. military with a disability rating of 50 percent or greater in accordance with U.S. Veteran’s Administration guidelines for receiving disabled veteran benefits. Significantly injured, active-duty military members who do not have a VA disability rating also may apply.
The drawing is open to resident and non-resident eligible applicants who do not hold a current-year oryx license.
The hunts are typically held between Sept. 1 and March 31 every hunting season, with dates and areas to be determined by the successful applicants in coordination with White Sands Missile Range. These hunts will not be considered once-in-a-lifetime.
For more information, contact the Department’s Information Center at (888) 248-6866.”

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Cool animal and great opportunity
 
Fantastic opportunity for the most deserving guys around. More states should take the hint and do something for our vets.
 
I've been very close to this hunt twice with my young son, across a barbed wire fence directly adjacent to White Sands Missile Range. The oryx are very high quality and more importantly, they feel completely safe on WSMR as its very lightly hunted. A disabled soldier could surely get a quality animal in a one day hunt or a SCI record book animal in a three day hunt. The ONLY reason that an oryx would leave WSMR is to drink water from the grazing areas off range. There is no water on the range, but Oryx need little water. Once they drink, they immediately return to the range.

There is an estimated 6000-8000 free range wild Oryx in the State of New Mexico. Approximately 4000 of those are resident on the White Sands Missile Range. On any given day from a single vista at WSMR you'd surely see 15-20 Oryx if you never moved from that spot.

In conclusion, its a great hunt with high success, incredible quality meat, spectacular quality animals, fair chase, and is one of those special hunts that is especially favored-access to our best citizens, our wounded veterans.

If you're not a resident of New Mexico or a US Veteran, you can enter the drawing for an Oryx hunt on private land. The odds are 1600:1 (my 8 year old did it!) and the tag costs $1600 and the trespass fees to get to the private land next to WSMR and the land-locked public land will set you back another $2500.
 

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