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Author Topic: Anyone Kill a Bison?  (Read 4887 times)

Offline cohoho

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #15 on: October 06, 2009, 05:33:36 PM »
HornSeeker, Been on two myself wild Bison hunts, best darn fun you can have.  Been on another one for my kid and a couple others for friends that got drawn in Alaska.  They were more wild then any Moose or Elk I have ever seen...  I can personally tell you that your probably straight up with 45% to 50% for boned out meat.  If I remember right I got something is the ball park of 90-100lbs plus out of the neck alone.  Heck rib cages were 60 lbs each, hide qrts around 150-180 each, front qrts 100-120lbs, bringing the total up to around 600 something without the back straps and tenderlions and misc meat.  The back straps, oh my goodness are absolutely huge, tenderlions like footballs.  I did a full shoulder mount on one, but got a special deal through a taxi, that I brought alot of business too.  She gave me a serious discount of the mount for about 300 bucks, but normally charged in the realm of 1300-1500 for same mount...  One we rugged, a beast to handle it was like 10 X 8 stretched and heavy as all get up, two man lift recommended.  Around the shoulder areas the hide will be 1/4 to 1/2 thick.  Depending upon the weather the hide will be full of dirt, mud and everything else that they roll in to cool down, bringing the weight up drastically...  I will tell you what Alaska Department of Fish and Game recommends to anyone getting drawn, do not take the head or neck shots, the two two biologists that run the program in Delta Junction have years of experience and seen lots of animals go down, they have seen too many serious injured animals suffer long deaths from ill placed shots, unless your extremely close..  Heart shots with large caliber guns is the only way to go.  I hit one animal with a .338 250grain bullets from 70 yards three times in the boiler area (fully verified after harvesting meat, heart was exploded and all rounds never punched through the other side) and he still had the ability to get up and move away till it finally collapsed halfway across a 1/2 mile field.  Their instinct for survival and adrenaline is simply amazing for sure... But shot the other with .375 and it dropped in it's tracks with round passing through..  My son, although not recommend shot his with 243 but was backed up immediately with a .375 follow on shot.   The meat from the bigger bulls was tough for sure, but the tenderlions and backstraps steaks were perfect, most of the meat I split and gave alot away of course due to the shear size and amount, so alot got smoked and made into burger and roasts.   But my friend shot a smaller bull, yummy all the way around for sure...  Sounds like a great opportunity to go for what seems like great price, heck if you need a partner or additional hunts come out, I'd jump in heartbeat, I love those animals.....  Here is a picture of a old truck we hung one animal from for relative size of unboned meat you get out of a decent sized animals 1500-1700lbs.  The big old boys 2000lbs plus will be probably tougher for sure.  Most of our were in the age range of four to six years old...

Offline Kent Hunter

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #16 on: October 06, 2009, 05:45:59 PM »
Everything that Choho says. He is right on. I shot a pretty old bull (twelve year old). The meat was very tasty, but tough. Hell, he was 12 yeas old. Had a shoulder mount done and what was left of the hide I had tanned with the hair on. The mount was $1200. The tanned rear portion of the hide measured 4'10"X6'4". They are  BIG brother. 

Offline cohoho

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #17 on: October 06, 2009, 05:49:50 PM »
Here is a ten plus year old bull....  Monster one for sure...

Offline Hornseeker

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #18 on: October 06, 2009, 07:20:15 PM »
Good stuff... I will be awaiting an invite...but not holding my breath!! If anything, I probably will get to come along with my buddy that does have a tag...I'll try and get good pics if so... (and some meat!!!)

E
Chuck Norris puts the "Laughter" in "Manslaughter"

Offline Kent Hunter

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #19 on: October 08, 2009, 01:32:05 AM »
A couple of things that I left out in my post prior. We were able to load the bull into the back of my F-250 whole and take it to the local butcher up in Saskchewan. When we got him to the butcher and hoisted him up and weighed him (guts, feathers and all whole) he weighed just over 2,200 LBS!!. The shoulder mount is like having the front half of a Volkswagen on your wall!! Here is a picture of my wife standing next to the finished mount. She is 5'3" and 150 lbs. Most people tat come to our house and look at my trophy like my bison mount the best. They are a very majestic and impressive animal.

« Last Edit: October 08, 2009, 01:54:26 AM by Kent Hunter »

Offline huntnphool

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #20 on: October 08, 2009, 01:42:46 AM »
Quote
We were able to load the bull into the back of my F-259 whole

 Never heard of a 259, must be a custom? The right side of that bull looks to be a 3 point? :chuckle:
The things that come to those who wait, may be the things left by those who got there first!

Offline Kent Hunter

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #21 on: October 08, 2009, 01:53:35 AM »
I also wanted to thank Cohoho once again for all of his advice about different mount poses that I asked him about when I was getting ready to get this bull mounted. My buddy went with me to Saskachewan at the same time and shot a bull that was 16 years old. His bull was also 2,200 lbs plus. The thing is if you shoot one that big then there are only a couple and I mean only a couple of forms that you can choose from. Three and four year old bulls are a bit different. They have quite a few more forms to choose from when it comes to smaller bulls. We are out of bison meat now, but the meat is SO flavorful that we are deffinately going to get another one. This time it will be a younger bull (three years old or less) or a young cow. That being because these older bulls meat was TOUGH. We were told that it would be, but I wanted a huge bull for my trophy room. We had a large amount of the meat made into hamburger and of course the burger was GREAT!! But the few steaks that we had cut were pretty tough. We cooked them just about every way you could imangine and they were still pretty tough. But the flavor was still very, very good. The roasts we cooked low and slow for long periods and they were a bit better. That all being said, I would do it all over again to have the monster mount that I have on my wall. We are lining up a young bull or young cow hunt (shoot) for this winter and plan on letting the two oldest grandkids (both 11 yo) do the shooting. One will be for the wife and me and the other we will pay for and split the meat up between our three kids and their children for their Christmas present from us this year. We are going to have robes made out of the hides and give those to the kids also. Shoot your bison anywhere from late November until late February and you will have a hide (robe, bedspread) that is asolutely beautiful. Their winter hides are just unreal!!
« Last Edit: October 08, 2009, 02:00:02 AM by Kent Hunter »

Offline Kent Hunter

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #22 on: October 08, 2009, 01:56:10 AM »
I went back and modified my screw up Huntnphoo. You got me bro. LOL.

Offline provider

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #23 on: October 08, 2009, 08:39:01 AM »
Everything about a bison is big...  including all the associated costs!

I assume you are talking about Canada if there is opportunity (without draw) for truly free ranging wild bison.  A one day hunt for truly free range wild bison would concern me.  Be careful.
"A greater appreciation for the outdoors and the hunting experience."

Offline Hornseeker

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #24 on: October 08, 2009, 09:13:07 AM »
I am sitting back and letting things develop...asking questions and such... Yes...the herd is free range, wild, book eligible... the "1 day" deal...is reflected in the price...

Thanks for all the info!
Chuck Norris puts the "Laughter" in "Manslaughter"

Offline NWBREW

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #25 on: October 08, 2009, 11:14:26 AM »
  Sounds like you can get about 45% meat vs live weight... so a 2000#er would be yeah...900+#. Wow. Yep...new freezer or lots of sharing with friends!!!

 




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Just one more day

Offline buckhorn2

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #26 on: October 08, 2009, 11:39:47 AM »
If you do get to make the hunt will you do it with a bow. Hope you get to make the hunt.

Offline mossback91

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Re: Anyone Kill a Bison?
« Reply #27 on: October 08, 2009, 11:49:35 AM »
Full body mount is the way to go?

 


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