American Bison

[AkDan]

Alaska has a free ranging wild buffalo herd....actually a couple of them.  Goodluck drawing though!  No pref points so it could happen if you were born with a golden horse shoe  

[Brian Halbleib]

Thanks guys, we'll give you a full report when we get back.

John, Bob and I are heading out with Roger Garrett and Brian Boyd. I think you met Roger at Denton.

-Brian

[Brian Halbleib]

Well we're back from South Dakota. We were told that the bison were free ranging on 5000+ acres when we booked the "hunt". We found that the bison were "free" ranging on 5000+ acres but the property was broken down into smaller sections by barbed wire and access gates.

We did see 2 bison walk through the barbed wire into another part of the property but I would not consider them free ranging. We all killed bison and gathered our own meat but I would not do it that way again.

If you are looking for a way to gather your own meat with a weapon then this would be for you. If you are looking for a truly free ranging herd on a large piece of property, I suggest that you check out an outfit carefully to see if it meets your needs or try to draw a tag for one of the remaining wild herds in Arizona, Utah, Alaska, or Canada.

Overall, we had a good time. I just wanted to be clear on my perspective and not make it sound like something it wasn't. For $800, I got all the meat, the head and hide, and a unique experience. I saw more ringneck roosters during the trip than I have my whole life in Pennsylvania. Their whitetail deer herd was very impressive as well.

-Brian  

 

[Jock]

Brian.


Well done, pity the circumstances weren't up to your expectations but at least you all got a kill and all the meat, heads and hides. At the end of the day it's not bad value for money, I think so anyway. Here in Scotland, when we take on a Deer Hunting Lease, the deer are free ranging but there are always fences somewhere, it's part of the "Modern" way, difference is that deer can jump over while Buff seem to just plough on through. Would love to hear a little more detail, nice photo too.

[John/Alaska]

Lilhunter -

Alaska actually has four huntable herds and you are right they are truely free ranging on 100's of thousands of acres. A hunting partner of mine drew a couple of years ago and got one. My SIL hauls buffalo hunters each year on the Copper. So we get some of the meat. They are amazing critters. Fast moving, can disappear, and put the sneak on you. We have a fish camp (fishwheel)right in the middle of one of the herds that we also haul tourists out to. The buffalo come right through camp. I've watched them swim the Copper, climb extremely steep hillsides, and faced them off. We put in every year for 3 of the herds and have yet to draw.

[Brute killer]

Tatanka!
 

[Jock]

Martin,

That is excellent, how did you do that?

[Brute killer]

I found the pic while looking for another pic to post in   this thread.

[Doug Campbell]

Brian,

Kinda figured that's what you'd run into. There's many opperations around the country running the same way, including us. Certianly not fair chase but you can "harvest" your own meat. Lots better than harvesting it from your grocers freezer in my oppinion.

Enjoy all that meat, properly cared for and prepared it's good stuff  

[Doug Campbell]

Hey guys we killed an old bull (9yr, pushing 2000#) this week and I was amazed so thought I'd pass it along although he was shot with a 30-06.

I had a shooter wanting an old bull and this one has been out numerous times so decided to kill him. David has shot two bulls before so knows where to hit em. The first shot was at 60 yards into the neck behind the ear, the bull just shook his head and started running. He put two more into him while I was dragging my little 30-30 out with no effect. I slapped a couple at him in the head and neck area and stopped him but he was still standing. We circled and David put another one into the neck and the bull finally went down. We went and got teh truck and drove up to the bull and he got up again. We each jumped out and shot him again from 20 yards, this put him down for good.

I just stood there shaking my head at the toughness of this guy. I know an arrow thru the lungs would have worked quicker and probably a bullet too. When the bull was processed we found three of the slugs, two '06' and one 30-30. All were mushroomed beautifully, the '06s' were in the neck and hadn't even penetrated to the spine. The 30-30 was flattened against his forehead, again I just couldn't believe it.

The hide around his neck was close to an inch thick and even down on his belly was 1/2" thick. Just a little post to kinda show ya the tenacity of these critters, now time to go shopping for a bigger gun!!

[Rick McGowan]

Hey Doug, just so you don't feel to bad, my mate in Australia got flat out charged by an unwounded water buffalo COW this year and shot her point blank SEVEN times with a .416 Rem. Mag. before she gave up and walked away. The first five shots were all in the head neck area. He was guiding a bowhunter at the time. I have seen .375 H&H bullets flatten out doing no damage to skull behind the ear.

[Doug Campbell]

Dang Rick, think I'll stick to bison. An arrow thru the lungs will put one of these down pretty quick and ya don't have to use an 80# bow.

I'm sure hopin I don't have to go to that big of a gun either. Them big loud things are just plumb obnoxious!