First I would like to thank cynikaltracker for posting up about the $1000 Oryx hunts on this thread:

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3030554/all/Oryx_hunts_1_000

I had been looking for an Oryx hunt in the $700-$1000 range and this one certainly fit the bill. I of course figured I would mainly be looking at a cow for that price.

After checking out their website and inquiring about the hunting I booked with them thru Tater Shanks last week. He had reported last week they took a 38" cow on Monday. They took another oryx last Wednesday (not sure if it was a cow or bull). Then this past Monday TTU Deer Hunter on the forum here hunted with them and took a 36" bull. They had another hunter yesterday when it was very windy. Apparently he was setup using a tree as a rest shooting into the oryx as they were grouped together. The wind blew, the tree shook - and he made an oops and ended up with a 21" oryx behind the one he intended for.

I arrived at the ranch this morning outside Hamilton a little after 7:30am after driving there from Plano. Little Bear Creek Ranch sits on 1200 acres of river/creek bottom and rolling hills. I met George "Tater" Shanks and we headed out to get started.

It is a really beautiful place. There is a nice lodge with 2 bedrooms on either end that overlooks a 68 foot deep lake that is stocked with bass and strippers.

There is a variety of game on the ranch and we saw quite a few of them today - whitetail, elk (regular color and white), red deer, blackbuck, waterbuck, pere david, and of course my intended target - Oryx. I don't think he has any shooter axis bucks at the moment. He said once they started running the combo special on an Oryx and either blackbuck or Axis buck for $2000 the Axis magically all dropped their antlers. Guess the poor blackbuck don't have that luxury I did see alot of blackbuck including a really nice one with a nice wide V shape to his horns. I already have one of them on the wall though.

I may talk to my wife about booking the lodge for a weekend, fishing the lake and having my oldest take a doe or cow. He has really good prices on blackbuck doe ($100), Elk and Red Deer cows ($350). They also run specials and take the info of all the hunters that go there so that they can contact you to let you know of specials when they occur.

Back to the hunt...we came accross one small group of three Oryx and busted them bigtime. They didn't want nothing to do with us. I was thinking we may have a pretty challenging time with the hunt due to all the pressure that has been on them lately.

A while later we came accross a larger herd of them - there must have been 10 or so in the group. It all happened so quick. Tater had me get ready to shoot. They were skittish and about to book it out of there so I knew I didn't have alot of time to judge the heard. I asked him for his shoot recommendation. He pointed one out and at the time he did it was still in the group - I wasn't going to shoot into bunched up animals. Fortunately it kept walking and took the lead, heading the others out. We were 100-150yds away. He told me to shoot the one in the lead and I did.

I shoot a Remington 700 BDL .270 with 130gr Remington Core-Lokts. I put the cross hairs just behind the shoulder and the bullet did the rest. He turned around, headed towards the woodline and ran maybe 30-40 yards then dropped and expired quickly before reaching the cedars - he was heart shot.

It wasn't a cow but a bull. Not a really long one at 35" but still, not a bad one for the price I paid either ($1000). He's 35" on the left side, a tad shorter on the right where he broomed off an inch or so of his horn fighting or something. All things considered, seeing as I was looking for a similar sized to a bit longer cow - I am very happy with the hunt, the experience, and my trophy. Little Bear Creek Ranch is a beautiful place and Tater Shanks is both a great guide and full of knowlege and experience. He's a life time rancher/cowboy/guide and looks it. Great guy.

A few years ago I tore my right biceps tendon trying to move a red stag - so am much more careful these days about what I lift and how. Fortunately Tater has a tractor with a bucket. We went and retrieved that and used it to load and unload the bull.

I took it to Hoffman's in Waco for processing. I've used them before and have been very happy with them. Unfortunately he only makes the jerky and snack sticks during deer season (needs 100lbs to make them) but I'm still getting some of his good sausage.

I'm having Wesley Toten with Toten's Taxidermy in Waco do a right turn wall pedastal mount. I've not used Wesley before but have seen alot of posts about him on the forum here.

Sure beat going to work today!

Tater mentioned they are running Oryx hunts thru the weekend which are booked up. He has a list of a dozen or so people that are interested in hunting them. Their plan is to determine the status of the heard after this weekends hunt then go from there with those on the list. They originally had a heard of 30 or more Oryx. They are at about half that right now. Like others have said, real bittersweet. I never could have afforded an Oryx before. I am happy to have one now but sad the herds in Texas are paying the price for the stupidity of a few. Tater said there is already talk about them trying to permit other exotics even blackbuck and axis. I certainly hope that doesn't occur.

Earl

Congrats on the kill..I go by that place all the time and see lots of animals..May have to check it out since I live here..

Congrats!

Very nice congrats

Congrats!

Congrats! Good looking bull.

x2

Congrats man! Really enjoyed the story and the picture....thanks for sharing!!

Great mass, congrats!

Very nice, congrats.

awesome, wait till you taste that oryx meat its really good !

You need to go back and get one of the blackbucks, They have a couple that stay in the pasture along Hwy 36 that are realy good trophies.

Next time you go to Hoffmans, try some of their jalapeno/cheese sausage sticks! They are addicting!

LITTLE BEAR CREEK RANCH

Great story, Earl, and a great looking bull! They have some really nice animals out there and I definitely plan to head back someday to go after some meat hunts and stay a night in the lodge.

Great Oryx! Certainly one to be prod of! You in Plano? Me too! We should connect and have a beer sometime.

That's awesome! This is the results of the 3 species ruling: the addax, dama, and scimitar horned oryx are cheaper to hunt then ever before the harvest rate is going through the roof on these animals. COA Outfitters has already killed more oryx and addax this past year then in the 10 years we've been outfitting.

Yes John, I'm in Plano too.

I know Jdickey, I had some of those snack sticks made at Hoffmans with the blackbuck I took a couple of years ago. I think we ate them all in 2 or 3 days. Was going to have some made with the oryx but alas he doesn't make them except during hunting season.

Earl

Congrats!!! I am glad my post came in handy. I am not going to lie... I heard about the $1,000 oryx hunts and didnt post right away because I wanted to get myself one before they sold out. Wife cut that idea off so I figured I would help some other guys out.

Tell me about it cynikaltracker...I'm still trying to think of a way that I can breach the subject of dbhunting's $750 fallow bucks without my head ending up on the wall.. Earl

Very nice!!!

Hmm...I wonder if Imageshack is getting animal rights on my butt...the turdbuckets deleted my pics! Oh well, give them more work to do then..

Earl, how far drive was this place from Plano..btw thanks for story and pics

Never mind, I got it...lol