Story by Craig Nyhus, Lone Star Outdoor News
This story originally appeared in the March 12 issue of Lone Star Outdoor News
Thanks to a gift from his boss, Michael Pinson got the chance to hunt a big bull scimitar-horned oryx.
The hunt, auctioned at the Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation Wild Game Supper in October of 2019, to raise money to create hunters for a lifetime, was purchased by Mark Little, the president of Dallas Safari Club.
Although a volunteer position, it requires more time than Little thought. While also busy running his company, Little offered the hunt to one of his best project managers.
“I had hunted some whitetail out of blinds, and some dove and duck,” he said. “I did shoot a blackbuck a few years ago.”
Other than that, Pinson’s hunting experience was limited.
He headed to Stonewall County on Thursday, Feb. 26, where the owners were busy checking water pipes after the freeze.
“They had some water trouble,” Pinson said. “Three of four buildings had broken pipes, but it turned out fine.”
That afternoon, Pinson got a tour of the property and spent some time in one of the blinds.
“We didn’t see the oryx, but we saw some whitetail and a fallow deer,” he said. “And some pigs came in.”
That’s when his guide, Lone Star Outdoor News’ David J. Sams, confirmed Pinson could shoot.
“He made a great shot on a hog at 185 yards,” Sams said.
On Friday morning, after a few hours in another blind, the party went searching for the herd of oryx and the lead bull.
“We spotted them but we couldn’t get close enough,” he said. “They were spooky.”
That afternoon, the herd was spotted in a wheat field.
“I had a shot, but a cow was behind the bull,” Pinson said. “Then, when they moved they just kept on moving. We got to the other side of a treeline and spotted the bull, but they started moving again.”
Saturday morning, the herd was on another side of the ranch in the brush.
“We tried to get ahead of them,” Pinson said. “We got within 65 yards of where they had laid down, but we didn’t see the bull. Then they moved off.”
After a break for lunch, the herd was spotted in a different wheat field.
“We were on the east side of the field, downwind from them, and there was a berm and cedar trees for cover,” Pinson said. “We stalked to the top of the berm about 225 yards from the herd. The whole herd was grazing except for the bull — he was lying down behind a tree.”
After a seemingly long wait of 20 minutes or more on the sticks, the bull got up and the 56-year-old Pinson was ready with his .270 WSM with a 150-grain bullet.
“He stepped out. I made a good shot on the right shoulder,” Pinson said. “He dropped to the ground, but he got up and went back behind the tree. When he came out, I took another shot and hit him in the neck. He went down on his side. Those are big, tough animals.”
With the hunt over, the work began, including gutting the bull and taking photos. After his boss saw the photo, he had some remorse.
“Mark (Little) joked if he’d known the animal was that big, he would have gone himself,” Pinson said.
Pinson’s favorite part was the on-the-move hunting.
“It was really exciting to spot-and-stalk hunt like that,” Pinson said. “There were a lot of different environments to hunt from. I was surprised at all of the tan, sandy soil — the truck almost got stuck three times.”
Before leaving, they went out and looked for the herd again.
“There had been a 3-year-old, narrow bull that had been outcast from the herd,” Pinson said. “He probably had fought with the older bull, but he was always about a half-mile away from the herd. After I shot the older bull, on Sunday morning the young bull was back with the herd.”
Pinson said he would like to pursue more spot-and-stalk hunting.
“I enjoy whitetail hunting, but it would be really cool to go to Africa,” he said.
