Anyone Kill a Bison?

[Hornseeker]

I have a possible opportunity to go on a free range, wild bison hunt...for what I believe is a steal of a deal ($1200). I am himming and hawing over it....

Has anyone ever eaten "mature" bull bison meat?

What might it cost to get a big bison hide tanned?

Any other thoughts? I haven't formally been offered the hunt yet, but am pretty much expecting it....

[superdown]

I would love to be able to get a hunt like that . that seems like a great deal so many good steaks

[Woodchuck]

brother a mature bull, is HUGE. the meat i ate was wonderful stuff, very tasty. i dont know what it would cost to tan the hide but i am sure it wont be cheap, and man they are about the toughest thing i have seen take a chunk of lead

[gramps]

Check this outfit in southern Idaho...best prices around for tanning.  Must be clean, dry and properly prepared, however.

www.moytown.com

[Buckmark]

Lots good meat, neighbor raised bison for awhile.
The tanning can be pricey
the tannery i use charges 4.75 per sqft for leather tanning
and charges 23.50 for hair on tanning.
figure about 40sqft for a mature bull, so thats $190.00 for leather and $940.00 for hair on.
then you have the taxidermy cost of the head, or even the cost of a european mount and then meat processing...
Sounds like fun though, the neighbor and i used to talk about letting guys come and bow "hunt" his bison come butchering time..He never understood the wanting to hunt them and paying for it..

[pendoreilleadventures]

I killed a bison when I was 15 it was a high fence hunt was real a hunt i won it in a raffle and they said I could shot it was much fun but man are they big. Mine was a 4 1/2 year old bull there was 907 pounds of meat I would have most of the steaks cubed kinda tough but very good. I was quoted 10 years ago at around $1200 to have a rug made. 1200 is a hell of a deal. might have to buy another freezer lol.

[NRA4LIFE]

What Pendorielle said.  Buy another freezer.  A BIG one.  A butcher I know out in S. Dakota showed me the remnants of one he had just finished butchering and he said there was 1100 lbs of meat off of this monster.  10 big boxes.  The head and hide I bet weighed well over 100 lbs.   That seems like a real steal if you ask me.

[Hornseeker]

Holy Chit! Even bigger than I thought... i thought maybe 600# of meat!!! Wow.

[jackelope]

E-
Kent Hunter, a member on here, did a bison hunt last year i think, and had a shoulder mount done. you might pm him for some info.

[Hornseeker]

If anyone is interested, this outfit (not the one I'm looking at) is really a dang good deal and is on the prettiest ranch in Montana!!
http://www.cowboyhvn.com/bison_hunts.htm

[LongTatLaw]

Kent hunter will tell ya...its tasty meat!

1200 for a mature bull??  where?  and do ya have room for me to go with ya?

[popeshawnpaul]

Provider is going this fall...

[Hornseeker]

I'm not even sure I am going to get in yet... I have to be quiet about it for now. If there is any "open" opportunity, I'll let you guys know...

Thanks much though for any info! I think my biggest question is whether an old bull is good meat or not and how much there is. 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!!!

Its also a 1 day deal and the bison aren't fenced at all... so if I dont get it done in one day I am OUT the $$... dont like that!! But heck...they are bison....

[NRA4LIFE]

The one I seen in S. Dakota was cut up like a steer so there would have been quite a bit of bone mass included in that total.  I guess if had been deboned it would have been more like 900 lbs.  Still a crap load of meat.

[runningboard]

I have shot quite a few on our ranch, they're not that tough if you hit 'em right. mostly used "deer" rifles and a bow a couple of times. good meat if prepared slowly, too much heat too quick seems to toughen it up. mature bull can be just as tasty if killed quick before they get too much adrenaline pumping, just line up his eye and ear and put the bullet right behind his ear and you'll break his neck and he won't go anywhere.

[cohoho]

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...

[Kent Hunter]

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. 

[cohoho]

Here is a ten plus year old bull....  Monster one for sure...

[Hornseeker]

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

[Kent Hunter]

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.

[huntnphool]

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?

[Kent Hunter]

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!!

[Kent Hunter]

I went back and modified my screw up Huntnphoo. You got me bro. LOL.

[provider]

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.

[Hornseeker]

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!

[NWBREW]

  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!!!

 

Never met you but always liked you

[buckhorn2]

If you do get to make the hunt will you do it with a bow. Hope you get to make the hunt.

[mossback91]

Full body mount is the way to go?