Aoudads, Ibex, Nilgai and Oryx

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Why do Texas and New Mexico have drawn hunts for these critters?  I understand they probably got loose from a game farm someplace, but instead of having them trapped or shot out of an area, the state manages their killing.

Is it for the money?  Are they wanting to keep the population just in check enough to allow a few to be taken?  

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be picked for the Palo Duro aoudad hunt. I just don't see why, in this time where invasive and introduced species are so frowned upon, they consider these critters game animals.  

Heck a refuge in Texas even has drawn hog hunts now!  It confuses me...do they want them all dead or just a few taken?

Just something a few of us were pondering today at work when we should've been doing other things.

Cam

[FerretWYO]

There are a few places where aoudad in Texas is managed by the state.  The vast majority however is not. I just got one there.  NM found it hard to remove them and found a lot of money in them.

[stevem]

NM Game and Fish introduced Ibex (Florida Mtns just south of Deming) and Oryx (White Mtn Missile Range)about 40-50 years ago to give residents exotic game to hunt.  They are managed closely to sustain the populations, but not allow them to spread outside their assigned range.  Barbary Sheep seem to have escaped private property about 60 years ago, and have spread over a pretty large area.  They are managed to keep the population steady.  All three are great, free ranging hunts that are affordable for residents.  Some tags are available for non-residents. No, we don't want them all dead- we residents apply for the limited tags and relish drawing one.

[beendare]

IMO, you can drive your self crazy using logic when it comes to Gov policy.....grin

I think Tx and Nm have it right.
Take Ca for example; they would rather spend taxpayer dollars eradicating species- mostly hogs- than have hunters pay to control them. Examples; Angel Island in SF bay, Around many of the reservoirs, State parks, and on and on.

 Angel Isl is a particularly crazy example,many yrs ago they were relocating deer [by chopper] at something like $10,000. per deer and most died in the process.

...

[FarmerMarley]

I agree, it is hard to apply logic to Fish and Game laws from my limited experience.

That being said, all of those animals would be fun to hunt! (just saying)

[Mike Vines]

I will add this little bit to the thread...

I was stationed at WSMR (White Sands Missle Range), and was drawn for an Oryx hunt (I listened to everyone tell me how cool it would be to kill one, so why not give it a try.  I'm all about having a good time, and some jobs have some pretty good perks...Just need to find and use them to their fullest).  

The Game Warden accompanying me was an MP just like myself, and actually lived in our barracks with us, just in a different Platoon.

Day of the hunt, we spotted the Oryx, and set off on foot from the vehicle.  My buddy was torqued at me for not shooting at 100 yards (you see, us Army guys regularly clang steel at 300+ yds).  Refusing to listen, lifelong battle I inherited from my Dad, I kept "Sneaking" (yes I'm using that word loosely).  I got to within 30 yds, and said out loud "Seriously???".

My buddy (MP game warden) looked at me and I said "Dude, it's just like a farmer's cow (allbeit, the best looking farmer's cow I ever saw), and choose to end the "hunt" right there.  The Oryx were so tame, I got close enough to throw a rock at it, and all it did was walk off.  I took alot of crap for passing up that shot.  I don't think they understood me, hell, I hardly understand myself 1/2 the time.

To each their own, but that type of hunting just isn't for me.  I had much more fun spotting illegal aliens, stalking in on them, making the arrest only to turn them over to Border Patrol so that a couple days later we could arrest the same SOBs again, but that is a whole different story.

Thank you for jogging my memory about some pretty good times with this thread.  I'm going to look for some pictures of oryx I took while out on "Illegal Patrol/Range sweeps", and post them on here.

[Mike Vines]

please enjoy some of my memories of when I was stationed at White Sands Missle Range...

 

 

 
 

then for those of you that wonder how White Sands Missle Range got it's name...

   

[Bowmag]

Good call, Mike. That's ethics.

[Mike Vines]

Yes, I guess I have always been traditional, even when I didn't know it.

[Mike Vines]

Forgot to add, President Roosevelt saw the Oryx on Safari in Africa, and told his people to find a place in the USA that the Oryx could survive.  He had 15 of them brought over, and they have flourished.  The reason for the draw hunt (at the time-early 90's) was to keep the population under control.  Speaking of keeping populations under control, we did our darndest to rid the range of coyotes, and jack rabbits, but we couldn't even put a dent in them.  It seemed like for every 1 we shot, 2 more would come back.  If I had to do it all over again, I would just dissapear out there with a longbow, a couple dozen Surewood shafts and live on rabbit and rattlesnake the rest of my life.

I cannot speak about NM but in TX none of the animals you listed are game animals. TPWD has a few places that have exotics on them and have draw hunts to give people who cannot afford high dollar game ranches the chance to take a few of these animals. None of them are game animals and, as such, can be hunted by any means, day or night on private property.

It is the same for the hogs. They are not game animals in TX and can be hunted by any means (even from a helicopter) day or night. The draw hunts are, again, just opportunites for folks who do not have their own land or a lease to hunt on.

Bisch

[David lozzano]

New Mexico is all about getting money from hunters!
They love out of state hunters.

[agtex42]

Originally posted by Bisch:
The draw hunts are, again, just opportunites for folks who do not have their own land or a lease to hunt on.

Bisch

I can vouch for this as well, although I do want to add that these are far from "canned" hunts!The animals know you're after them and some of the terrain at the WMAs or State Parks really makes you work to get to where they are.  It's true that the populations were either introduced or "escaped" from a ranch at some point, but the majority of the free-range herds at these locations are well established and have been "wild" for decades.

I have a good friend that puts in for at least 15 hunts a year ranging from Sep-Jan, he usually draws for at least one hunt every year and normally makes the drive to get in on the standby list for several others.  Last year he and his wife drew an aoudad tag at Devil's River WMA, they wore their boots to the ground over three days and were rewarded with a nice mature ram on the last day of the hunt.  The mule deer hunts out west are also very challenging and the scenery is downright gorgeous to boot.

I guess the point of all this is that it's a great opportunity to hunt a variety of places and species for minimal cost, I haven't been lucky enough to be drawn yet but I'm hoping that'll change in the years to come!

[wasapt]

I understand in NM yo can't shoot the oryx with a bow, it is required you use a rifle

[Ray Hammond]

I guess they could do like California did on Catalina Island with elk that were introduced 100 years ago- exterminate em!

If they don't manage them then you won't have any to hunt very soon.  Controlled harvest is one of the best conservation tools at the DNR's disposal.  

The game species u name aren't like whitetail in that they live in habitat which controls their numbers as much or more than hunting, so recruitment or population increases are slow to occur- think desert bighorn as opposed to whitetails

You have the option to hunt them- that's a positive to look forward to