Oryx Hunting New Mexico

Switching things up a bit with a hunting tag for Oryx, I eagerly left the January 3rd forty below temperatures of Alaska for the warm sunny days of south central New Mexico to an area bordering the famed White Sands Missile Range and National Park. The missile range itself grew famous for the Trinity Site which is where the first atomic bomb was tested by scientists working out of Los Alamos, New Mexico. An area boasting a uniqueness of terrain and history matched by no other.
         93 Oryx bred from a herd originating in the Kalahari Desert of Africa were relocated to the 3200 square mile White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico over the course of eight years starting in 1969. Since then, the population has grown conservatively, to at least 3000 animals. Some additional historical information about the introduction can be viewed at http://www.hcn.org/issues/213/10797 . We had obtained an "off-range" permit which essentially means we had to find Oryx that had crossed the fence line for whatever reason. This is, however, an easy task to accomplish since after all, it is the desert and water rules. Oryx routinely cross under the fence line at night onto ranches to drink water from the cattle troughs set up nearby and either quietly return back to the range during the morning hours or bed down in the area. The trick is to find the spots where the oryx go under the fences and which water troughs they are hitting. The range is a large area, and perimeter hunting is a game of patience

Jan 4th. I arrived in Albuquerque during the mid-morning hours and we were quickly on the road to Tijeras to hook up the Trailer and then south to camp near Bingham, New Mexico. Having Set up camp and a couple hours left of daylight, we loaded into the truck and went to a drive down the perimeter road of WSMR and then off onto a ranch, crossing several Arroyos which were a sandy mess making four wheel drive a necessity.  Only saw a single set of Oryx tracks but plenty of mule deer and Pronghorn antelope.  Ate a nice steak dinner with a couple beers and finally crashed. Hunting officially starts in the morning. 





Jan 5th. Up and about well before dawn, filling the Coffee thermos, getting some food together and warming up the truck (it was unusually cold for down in this area, below freezing, pushing close to single digits).  We piled into the truck as dawn approached and started to quickly drive the perimeter fence line scoping the terrain in hopes that some Oryx had crossed in during the night.  We must have covered twenty miles on the roads that weaved around the ranches to each cattle water trough and saw nothing but some large mule deer bucks and plenty a head of cattle. Eventually we meandered back to the trailer and cooked up some bacon and eggs before heading out again.  With no fresh sign in this area, it was pretty evident, we were in the wrong spot.   We hit the highway in the afternoon down the road to another ranch that borders WSMR. Access to the WSMR fence was nearly a 17 mile drive back on a dirt road but, we were pleased with the results. Tracks littered every water trough and the fence itself was partially torn on the bottom with heavily used Oryx trails in numerous places. We knew of this spot before hand since after all, it was the area my dad had shot a young Oryx on the last trip. We quietly drove around until dark scoping different crossings and water holes discussing the next mornings plan.   Back at camp that night over a green chili Oryx burger (from the last one shot in the previous year) we were confident we were getting onto the Oryx and would see one the next day.

Jan 6th In the pre-dawn hours, we drove the dirt up to the fence crossings and set my dad down in the dark where we thought they would be coming back in the next couple hours while we circled around up on another road in attempt to push animals down to him.  It wasn't long before I spotted an adult Oryx about 400 yards out making his way back towards the range.  They are here.   Its truly amazing how well they blend in and can disappear in a blink of an eye.  By 8:30 in the morning, all was quiet and I slowly made my way back down to the fence line to hear about how he had shot at a nice Oryx when three came trotting down the path we had scoped. Unfortunately in the heat of the moment, moving animals, frigid fingers ... he had missed the shot.  We had the right idea, we knew where the animals were going, where they were coming from, and most importantly when and where they would be the morning hours.

                       Three Oryx quickly making their way into the WSMR (if you can pick them out).

Jan 7th, 8th and 9th.  We repeated the same thing the next morning but to no avail. We spooked the ones that were regularly crossing there and they moved on.  It was a matter of waiting until they came back or another set of animals came over.  Mid-morning on the 8th we packed up shop and headed back to Los Alamos. I spend a day and half with family while slowly repacking gear and getting some more groceries and stuff together. I was pretty determined to get back down promptly considering I flew all the way down here. Motivating my dad to do the same didn't take much effort although I'm quite confident he would have been just as pleased not having to sleep in a tent when temperatures were down to single digits at night and highs into the 50's.  Such is life, it least it wasn't forty below!

Jan 10th We hit the road by mid-afternoon and met up with a friend of mine who joined in and the three of us headed back onto the ranch. We arrived with about an hour of light to spare and spent it scoping out the water troughs again. The Oryx were still drinking nightly, we just had to catch a good one on the right side of that silly fence!

Jan 11th, 12th and 13th. Three absolutely frustrating days of staring at Yucca's trying to find bedded down animals. Pretty well convinced at dawn, all the animals turn back into cactus. Oryx tracks 400 yards from camp fresh from overnight. Highly annoying!   They have been hunted pretty strong so the animals have become quite used to coming in during the night hours and being gone by morning. My friend had to get back to Albuquerque so it was back to just my dad and I.  The 12th ended much as it started, cold, dark, and no oryx while the 13th rolled through much like all the other days, checking water troughs, glassing for bedded down Oryx.

Jan 14th.   Well we finally got what we wanted around 8:30 in the morning with 200 yard shot using a commemorative single-shot 1976 7mm magnum.



Finally after being patient and putting in a fair amount of time. You can hunt all you want but in the end, an off-range hunt for Oryx is all about waiting at the arbitrary line (fence) in the early morning hours for a straggler headed back to the range.  It was an interesting hunt, I'm so used to wide open terrain in Alaska that it was difficult to confine myself to this side or that of a silly fence.  It was nice to hang with my dad for week or so and I'm glad we were finally successful cause I won't lie, I was getting tired of staring at Yucca's through the binoculars.  Of course--- I've already applied to go back though.

Hittin' Up Valdez for some Silvers

Well after the quick trip up north, we heard the Silver's were hitting good in Valdez so we turned around and went south a day after getting back from the Sag River. It turned out to be a rumor, there were Silver's but not in the number I am used to. We did manage to get a dozen or so in 15-18 pound range and had a black bear come into camp which I couldn't shoot cause it was a day before the season opened.. Go figure! We spent two nights in Valdez and then meandered back half way and camped for a third night before finally pushing back into Fairbanks. Today is Moose opener so I'm sure we will be driving around half assed looking for an easy Bull but I'm not too worried seeing that I got a freezer full of salmon and caribou. As always, Valdez was a blast. Makes me wonder why I turned down the job offer there... Such is life I suppose, decisions, decisions. Maybe next time...

Sagavanirktok and Ivishak River Caribou

After getting off of work, I went home and we spent a couple hours getting loaded up and filling gas cans and whatnot. Finally hitting the road shortly after seven in the evening, I was in for a long night of driving. It was after midnight before I even hit Atigun Pass. I came across some hunters near Toolik Lake who were having some truck problems, and by that I mean, their tire came flying off, severing three lugs and bending the other three. There was no way they were going to get a spare on. I gave one of them a ride back to their camp near the UAF research center at Toolik Lake and pressed on… What else can you do? Two hours after that, a thick fogged dawn arrived and we were still driving. We finally arrived at the boat launch site north of Pump Station Two only to find the water in the Sagavanirktok was so low that only came half way up the tires.
Launching the boat was an interesting task. I backed the truck completely into the water and we had to dry launch the boat by lifting the front up enough that the boat finally slid down into the water. It was a rough job and I will try to avoid ever having to do that again. I spoke with a couple guys at the launch who had been up there before and they gave me some beta which I found to be valuable. He told me that the launch is actually in a channel off the main Sag River and it was pretty hairy for a mile or so to get up and out into the main channel. He also mentioned that to hit the Ivishak just keep an eye on the bluff about eight miles up and then head into the left channels once close and then offered an additional word of advice about coming back down… “Don’t miss the channel on the left cause you’ll just miss the launch and keep on going. It is easy to miss because it’s a little channel and when you are running down, you are focused on staying with the main current”. I’m glad I talked with him! So here we were, twelve hours since we left Fairbanks, getting into our boat topped off with gear about to buzz up some arctic river I had never been on in dense fog with an earful of beta and no map… Sounds good to me.
I ran the boat smoothly five miles up-river going full throttle weaving through channels barely deep enough for the tunnel jet flat bottom, gritting my teeth every time I tap a rock underneath going 20 mph. I finally cut a corner too close and hit a large rock with the impeller guard and it severed three bolts knocking the guard down into the river and leaving us high and dry. We managed to pull the boat ashore and I begun the task of wading up and down the river trying to find the guard (we could still run the motor at this point but the next rock I hit, we would be floating back). After ten minutes I got lucky and found the guard near a boulder in the river and we discovered that of the six bolts that hold it on, three must have jiggled loose on the drive up and fallen out while the other three were severed in place. So that was a relief, we took three screws out of the floor decking and screwed them up into the aluminum putting the guard back on but entirely ruining the fit (what other choice did we have). So yay, we are up and running again, just don’t hit anymore rocks! I tried to get on step and noticed we were dragging a lot so I pulled off the river again and turned the guard around (had it on backwards) and that helped! We ran another ten miles up-river with no problems, weaving in and out of channels. I eventually hit the Ivishak River and darted left to head up and around the first corner I saw fifty caribou wading across. I run up on shore and grabbed the rifle, but they were already a couple hundred yards off and running. Definitely didn’t like the boat. I could have shot one of the two large bulls that were bringing up the rear but I passed on the shot. We continued up the Ivishak for roughly six or seven miles and finally decided there that we weren’t going to run up the river any father because we could see several hundred caribou on the surrounding hills.  The caribou were here, why go further up-stream with an injured motor?
We set up camp pretty quick and my dad was ready to crash. He said if he heard a gun-shot then he would come out and help me but that he was going to stay in camp and sleep. That was fair, he was tired, I set off with my pack and rifle, and a hundred yards from camp, a small bull caribou popped up 50 feet in front of me all confused. He was by no means a trophy caribou, but heck, can you get any closer to camp? I shot him right there and my dad wondered over mumbling, “I just got into my sleeping bag”. Several hours later that small bou was hanging to dry in camp and my dad was snoring away. I decided to go up over the ridge and see if I can down a large bull. I wasn’t disappointed when I popped out over the bluff and saw well over a hundred caribou and several trophy bulls. I took my time and skirted around the group, flanking the bulls on the back side of a hill. By the time I got into shooting range, I was nearly a mile and a half from camp late evening. I shot the large bull and began the work of cleaning him up. I took my time and got all the meat packed but there was just no way I was going to carry all the meat plus the head and rack so I left it in the tundra and slowly made my way back to camp carrying the whole caribou strapped to my back. It was a long mile and by the time I curled up in my sleeping bag, we had two bull caribou hanging in camp on the first day. My dad awoke the next morning surprised to see another caribou but not energetic enough to walk out the mile and a half to get the rack. I wasn’t either. We broke camp and loaded up the two bulls into the boat and begun to head back to the truck by ten am after spending just one night on the Sag. There were so many caribou, I could have easily stalked and shot numerous trophy bulls that would have made any trophy hunter jealous like no other. the second bull I shot, would have done that jealous bit nicely and it was left in the field. what can you do, next time I'll bring it out!

I made a couple mistakes running down river, it is a lot harder to see. At one point I ended up in a channel that diverged from the main channel by nearly a quarter mile and then spread out so much that I got hung up trying to fly through, we spent a half hour dragging the boat down that channel until I could get back into the main channel. The second mistake was once we were near the launch, I ended up in the wrong channel again but I caught it pretty quick and was able to turn around and go back up and get into the right one. The final mistake was the worse and would've cost us the boat. There is a hairpin turn near the launch where you have to make a ninety degree turn in order to stay in the channel and not run aground. I unfortunately didn't see where the water was the deepest and cut the corner a little and hit a rock that forced the motor out of the water taking me off plane and unable to steer. I run straight into the river bank going almost full speed. We had just enough time to brace ourselves. the aft end of the boat sticking out up into the current was close to being pushed under by the current as our bow was up in the bank. We carefully maneuvered ourselves out of the boat and dug it out. and got it floating again and off we went. Smooth sailing the rest of the way. We loaded up and decided to start the drive south but to stop at Gailbraith Lake for the night and break up the drive. We found a herd of a dozen or so Muskox resting out in the sun along the Sag River and stopped to get some pictures and managed to stalk within about 25 yards or so. We spent the night at the lake and cooked up some beans with fresh diced caribou ribs and it was fantastic. Slept hard and finished the drive back to Fairbanks the next morning. All in all, we spent one night on the river, one at the lake (where I even managed to catch a couple smaller lake trout) and then back to town. A two night trip was quite a wham bam thank you mam trip for the arctic but it went well and I intend to do it again someday.

Pre-Trip: Jet boating the Sagavanirktok River up into the Ivishak River

Well, I've slowly been gearing up to head up north once again. This time, I'm headed a little further than usual. The plan is to join the other Airboat hunters and launch into the Sag River just a couple miles downstream from the pump station off the Dalton Highway and then take the jet boat up the Sag, into the Ivishak River and out of the Dalton Corridor. Should be an intersting venture as per usual up there. Geared up for the long haul, taking six five gallon gas cans plus the 12 gallon boat tank which should split up to an extra 15 gallons for the truck to get back (otherwise I'd have to go another 40 or so miles further north to the gas station at Prudhoe Bay and then back -- an extra 80 miles by dirt road isn't all that appealing) and an extra 15 gallons for the 40 Hp Jet which would then total 27 Ga for the boat. I figure this should be more than enough for the 30 or so mile run up with some leeway to do some day trips. Hopefully we will have time on the way back to Launch into the Yukon River at the bridge and either run up the Yukon for a couple hours to reach the Dahl River and fish for some monster northern pike or perhaps even down river (although I'm not too keen on the idea of downriver running) to the Ray River for some Shee Fishing.

Getting geared up for the Dalton this time of year is really quite simple, spare tires and a bug suit. Be prepared for snow, sleet, fog, or 75 degrees. You never know what the weather will be. Been snowed on in July and suffered in near 80 degrees late August.

Our schedule is pretty open so It should be a relaxed week of heading up north on the Dalton once again.. Just got to wait until Wednesday the 25th.

Fishing Time

Fall is arriving and the fishing for Alaska's best is starting to pick up. We nailed this huge Arctic Char yesterday out on the lake after twenty minutes of fishing. That late evening Pike fishing was stellar, we were sight casting pike as they rolled up in the weeds, some were pretty damn big, we landed this mid ranged pike, lost a few big ones when they dove down or cut our lines. My dad is up visiting from New Mexico and got roughly a three pound trout the day before... yeah, cooler weather a little breeze, some bigger fish.

Blueberries!

Well it's quickly becoming the time of year where berries are everywhere. A friend and I decided to take full advantage of the blueberries and raspberries near the Chatinika River today for a couple hours and took home more than I was expected for a quick outing. Saw a moose calf, lost a pint of blood to mosquitos but it was a fun quick, tasty trip.

Moose Pee

So yeah, I was stalking a moose the other week early in the morning and got a little more than I bargained for... I'll admit, I felt like a voyeur after this.

Upper Paradise Lake and Russian River

Alright, last one from last summer... I'm going to attempt to stay up to date now... We hired a pilot to take us by Dehavilland from Moose Pass to Upper Paradise Lake near Seward for a long weekend where hiked, went fishing and generally relaxed. A neat place. Hiking is difficult due to the thick Alders and other undergrowth. We bushwhacked for two hours in the thicket until we got above tree line. After that, the hike was nice. Coming back down was another story as we found ourselves in salmon berries (tasted great)with steaming piles of bear crap. We didn't have much a choice except to keep on trudging down through the berries and alders until we got back to our boat and paddled back to the cabin. It was a nice little retreat up into the mountains. I'm sure I'll do something similar again. Afterwards we hit up the Russian River to see if we could find some Grizzly bears. It didn't disappoint!

McCarthy/Kennicott and Valdez

Well, here is yet another one that I'm behind on putting up... I'm about up to date I think with the bigger/more fun AK trips at least (aside from one more). Kennicott/McCarthy was on tap for this trip and a little Valdez Silver Salmon fishing to finish it off. A friend and I drove the Denali Highway from Anchorage to McCarthy and camped along the road. Spent the day hiking out at Root Glacier and exploring Kennicott. I've gone there several times now, I think I like it.. Maybe not the hippy pot smoking town of McCarthy, but Kennicott... The mine is just that, a mine. However, the area is awesome to go play around in and during the summer when all the tourists flock to Denali, the Wrangell St. Elias area is not only better than Denali, you don't have to fight the crowds. Its a well kept secret in the state during the summer months for sure.. Maybe it is just the 60 mile dirt road that keeps a lot of them out...

The stairwell glaicer there around the corner from the Kennicott Mine is the largest in the world and it doesn't dissapoint! Also one of the more amusing parts to walking on glaciers is the blue pools that are crystal clear. You can look probably a hundred feet down and still see no bottom. The hike to the actual mines is several hours long so most are content just walking to the glacier which is only about a half mile. I could spend weeks hiking up those valleys, high up into the mountains and glaciers... its a once a year area for me I think.

After hiking around, we hit the SIlver's off of Alison Point in Valdez. We hooked several nice Salmon right off the bat so that was fun. A foggy day in Valdez.. go figure!

Hitting The Snow

Yet another older trip, at least this one was from February of this year! A co-worker and I took off to the mountains near the Gulkana Glacier for a day of riding. It was a stunning day, crystal clear. We must have gone thirty or so miles up into the mountains, eventually leaving the other snow mobile tracks behind we found fresh powder waist deep. Couldn't beat the scenery and we played around the whole day going from one valley over the mountains to the next, burying ourselves in powder and sometimes getting some air going off of cornices on the down side. Super fun.

Minto Flats

Here is another catch up trip. A couple friends and I had flown from Fairbanks to Minto Flats for a weekend of pike fishing. Probably one of the most enjoyable fishing trips in a long time. The average pike we hooked was about 2 feet and we hooked into several that were much larger. Nearly one in three casts would have a pike on. I couldn't even tell you how many we hooked but, my arms were sore from reeling when we left! A little pricey to get there but, well worth it if the fishing is good! We stayed in a wall tent along a main channel and fished the heavy weeds for the big pike and then casted up and down the main channel as well but the pike there seemed to be the smaller ones. I was amazed at how many pike were in the water and even more curious to how many small critters actually manage to swim across the channel without being devoured. Those fish mangled every single thing we plopped into the water.

Dalton Highway

Here's a little catch up on a trip that happened last year but, I just never got around to getting some pictures up from it. I ended up driving the Dalton Highway on two occasions last year. Definitely a remote portion of the state with bugs so bad in the summer time that you just start humming the song of mosquitos after a while. A road where one definitely needs a couple extra spare tires and a good engine. 440 miles of dirt road and any sort of mechanical help is few and far between. As far as I'm concerned, it is top tier on the list of places I like to escape to in the AK. Few people and remote! I spent a total of 10 days up north, fishing and whatnot. I hunted Dall Sheep in 2004 up here as well. The caribou are seasonal visitors along the Dalton and are quite hit or miss but when they are there, they are there in the thousands. Sheep are plentiful but, the 5 miles corridor for rifles is pretty rough on foot but, we managed. An awesome road. Atigun pass is spectacular and the Lake Trout in Gailbraith Lake are hungry!

2010 Copper River Fishing

Well the 2010 Salmon is getting off to a decent start with a trip to the Copper River netting 48 salmon with 5 being kings. A couple fun trips ahead in the weeks to come... Looking up! The River was the lowest I've ever seen and fishing was slow but we did alright. Three days after returning to Fairbanks and having chartered down into the canyon, it was decided to go back down to the Copper for round two and some hiking out at Kennicott. I didn't bother going down into the canyon on this trip and went out to Salmon Point instead. Ironically, the water was worse at Salmon Point than the notoriously rough water in the canyon. Once it stopped raining and the water came up some, the fishing picked up and I ended up with 27 additional Sockeye to take home. With the permit filled, and rainy weather discouraging our hiking plans in Kennicott (which just made it entirely a fishing trip to Erin's discontent), I ended up heading back into Fairbanks. The hiking part was a bust but hey, we got fish. Enjoyed a few days around the river. We stopped at Liberty Falls and took a hike up to the water falls. Nothing spectacular but, definitely a nice little area. Erin's dad smoked some salmon up on Willow branches and lemon pepper and I enjoyed munching on it the during the ride home!

This is a quick little video of the scenery at Salmon Point including the Copper River which is enormous at 60,000 - 360,000 cubic feet per second depending on weather.

Another little video of the Charter Jet boat ride down in the canyon on the Copper River.

About time Erin gets a fish.