Oryx Management

All Photographs are from the 2000-2001 NM Big Game Proclamation

The New Mexico State Game Commission, hoping to fill “unused habitat niches” throughout the state with huntable game species, introduced several nonnative species to the state during the 1960s. The most successful was the Kalahari Desert oryx, also known as gemsbok.

At least 91 oryx, Oryx gazella, were released into the wild in small increments at White Sands Missile Range between 1969 and 1974. The missile range is the largest government weapons-testing facility in the western world, encompassing more than 2.2 million acres. Most of the acreage is Chihuahuan desert scrub and grasslands, not too dissimilar from the Kalahari Desert in Africa.

The release of oryx at White Sands was achieved by cooperative agreement between the Department of Game and Fish and the range, with input from the Bureau of Land Management. The agreement was that the animals would be controlled within the range and not permitted to expand off the property, but achieving that will require more hunting than originally thought. The oryx population has grown to about 10 times the number originally projected, today estimated between 2,500 to 3000 animals.

Since the first public oryx hunt was instigated in 1974, nearly 4,000 animals have been harvested. Permit levels for the 2000-2001 hunt seasons are slated for 700 “once-in-a-lifetime” permits and up to 300 population-reduction permits. Traditionally, hunts for oryx have been conducted within four major hunt areas of White Sands, Rhodes Canyon, Small Missile Range, Red Canyon, and Stallion Range. In addition, the Department conducts population-reduction hunts throughout the year, within and outside of range boundaries. Oryx population reduction hunts are conducted when the animals’ presence conflicts with missile testing activities and/or to reduce the number of oryx outside White Sands. Reduc-tion hunts now are coordinated so that animals cannot leave public lands and find refuge on private lands.

In a new cooperative effort between the White Sands Missile Range and the Department of Game and Fish, a draft Comprehensive Oryx Management Plan was produced in March 1999 by Douglas Burkett of Mevatec Corporation, environmental services contractor for the range, with significant input from the Department and White Sands.

Although the period for providing public comment about the management plan has officially concluded, the Department continues to welcome input for future implementation and plan modification. For more information, contact the Division of Wildlife at the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, (505) 827-7885.

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