The plan calls for the hunts to be conducted over 15 weekends starting November 17/18 and continuing through May 4/5. The bad news is, the duration of the hunts will be shortened to one day from two days. The good news is, all hunters will be accompanied by an escort (either a range official or a fish and game official), who knows the range and is familiar with the movement of the animals. There will be two hunters in each escorted party.
The officials we spoke with asked us to point out that the escorts will be just that - escorts - not guides. They won't tell any hunter which animal to kill, or assist in the actual stalk. Their job will be to oversee the security of the range and help put hunters in the general vicinity of an oryx.
Hunters who don't want to go afield under these conditions will be offered the chance to cancel their hunts and go back in the drawing pool for a future hunt. Their $100 White Sands fee and their fish and game hunting fee ($1,506 for a nonresident; $106 for a resident) will be refunded. If you were drawn for a White Sands Missile Range oryx hunt, you will be receiving a letter shortly spelling all of this out in more detail.
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