Bob Carnes had never encountered the striking white and black blazed antelope galloping across the trail, a welcome surprise to him and his hunting guide Steve as they drove the gravel roads of the Champion Ranch in Brady Texas.
“What are those?” asked Carnes.
“Arabian Oryx,” Steve replied.
“Beautiful,”
“Yep and there’s a unicorn in there too,” Steve replied.
“Unicorn?” Carnes asked.
“The one in the back has a broke horn.”
After dismounting from the high rack jeep, they both sprinted through the brush in an attempt to quickly get downwind of the herd. With only a small patch of prickly pear for cover, the shot would need to be quick as the lead Oryx was maintaining a hurried walk until it eventually reached a small opening in the brush. “About 300 yards. Get ready the broke horn will be the last one in the back,” hissed Steve, as he quickly unfolded the shooting tripod for Carnes. Within seconds the small group began crossing the clearing and Carnes took aim. Boom! The 28 Nosler roared dropping the last antelope to appear. “What a shot! Said Steve, as he and Carnes celebrated taking this incredible trophy
A Wildlife Success Story
The creature that gave rise to the unicorn myth had, in fact, became that of a myth itself by the mid-1970’s. Classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List after roaming the 
deserts of the Arabian Peninsula for centuries, the Arabian Oryx were driven to near extinction as a result of regional poisoning programs intended to eradicate locusts as well as severe over-hunting and poaching for their meat and horns. The unicorn myth was probably born from the side profile of the Oryx, where from a distance the two slim curved horns can appear as one. One of four Oryx species, the Arabian is the smallest member standing just over three feet high at the shoulder while the African gemsbok is the largest. While their legs are white and dark brown, the face and throat have a black blaze that continues down the chest. Both males and females have long straight black horns reaching over 30 inches in length with adult males weighing around 150 to 200 pounds. Arabian Oryx tend to stay in small herds with no more than eight to ten members.
Uniquely adapted to living in the extremely dry arid conditions of their native habitat in the Middle East, they’ve easily assimilated to the warm hill country region of Texas. While surviving long periods of drought without drinking, their diet consists of grasses, tubers, shoots of trees and bushes. It’s been documented that the moisture from succulents, tubers and morning dew provides enough fluids for them to survive.
By the 1970s, the Arabian Oryx was considered extinct in the wild. The few remaining animals were captured for royal collections within the Arabian Peninsula. This stock would later be used for reintroduction programs within the region under a program called Operation Oryx that in 1962 began with three animals brought to the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona. The herd grew to around 100 by 1977 and in June of 1982, the first 10 were released back into the wild in Oman. Decades later an estimated 1000 plus head of Oryx are now surviving in the wild within the Arabian Peninsula. In 2011 The IUCN downgraded the Arabian Oryx threatened status from ‘extinct in the wild’ to ‘vulnerable’ becoming the first animal to revert to vulnerable status after being listed as extinct in the wild. The present wild populations of Arabian Oryx cannot be hunted in the wild, except on game ranches primarily in South Africa and North America.
In fact, large populations numbering in the thousands throughout the state of Texas can be found roaming on permitted ranches like the Champion Ranch near Brady.
For more information on Champion Ranch visit their website listed below:
Sportsman and outdoor writer, Dustin Catrett
Dustin spent his childhood exploring the bass-rich ponds that once blanketed the Central Florida landscape. At age 16 he headed east to hone his skills on redfish and sea trout in the famous Mosquito Lagoon. After high school he graduated with a degree in Environmental Science and began his career as a Senior Environmental Engineer while also traveling the U.S. as a freelance outdoor writer in search of fishing and hunting adventures. Over the past decade, hundreds of Dustin’s works have been published in numerous well-known travel, fishing, hunting, and outdoor publications throughout Florida, Georgia, Texas, California, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
