I've been reading this forum for the last month and have found the info very useful. After reading several posts on bison hunting, I find myself having the urge to pursue this noble beast. However, I do not want to spend time on a "farm hunt"...this is not meant to be offensive to anyone, it's just that if I'm going to hunt a buffalo, I want it under as completely natural (ie, wild) conditions as possible...just my preference.

Most of the outfitters I find on the web are on Bison Meat ranches....are there any remaining wild buffalo that one can hunt? Anyone make any recommendations on this??

Thanks!!

Keith

Christina Falls Outfitters in BC has a true wild bison hunt, you can apply for a tag in Wy for a hunt near Jackson, Utah has permits for wild bison near salt lake on Antelope Island, Comstock Lodge in Nebraska has a close to wild hunt, and Table Moutain Outfitters in Cheyenne Wy, has a hunt.

Wyoming also has Buffalo Hunts but have no idea where they are in the state. For a non-resident if he does get picked/drawn then the tag is $2,100.00. It costs $17.00 to apply and this amount is not refundable. This is all on the back page of the 2004 Wyo. Applications Booklet.

As far as I know, there are two real bison hunts, Utah's Henry Mountains, and Arizona's House Rock hunts. Both require drawing a tag through the state draw, or getting an auction tag. You hunt free ranging bison on either hunt on your own, or can hire a guide. Both are tough hunts. B&C recognizes animals harvested on these.

Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and is offering Buffalo hunts for about $2,800. I understand they have the second largest free roaming herd in the US.

British Columbia has the largest free ranging herd of plains Bison in northern BC that number according to Ministry biologist at around 3500 to 5500 animals taking in incredible mountain country.

There are two outfitters that outfit wilderness style hunting of these free ranging buffalo in the majestic Halfway River Valley and Sikanni River Valley.

Sikanni River Outfitters is allocated tags for non-resident hunters who wish to pursue these big buffalo with rifle or bow. Check them out on their website. Just click on the buffalo for pictures and browse around if you want. I used their bed and breakfast services when I shot mine.

http://www.sikanniriver.com/SRO-TrophyRm.htm

Best times to hunt are late in the season when snow allows for snowmobile travel up the valleys in search of the bulls which can be in the valley bottoms or above treeline feeding along side elk and stone's sheep.

Happy hunting.

so did you do any whitetail hunting since you are in NC??
if you did where did you go??

You might also consider hunting Wood Bison in The Yukon or Northwest Territories. These critters arent't cheap to hunt now but they will be much more expensive once they are legal to import into the US which should happen soon. Further, the hunts take place in some of the wildest country on the planet.
I have heard mixed reviews of the Crow reservation hunts. Seems that the outfitter had/has some problems with the tribe and sometimes it's fair chase, sometimes it's not. hmmmmm? I know of an outfitter who has a single Utah Henry Mountain tag available if you are interested. He is looking to get $6500 for the tag and you must also pay a $2500 guide fee. OUCH! BC is less expensive than this for plains bison if I recall. Arizona doesn't have landowner tags for the house rock area. This AZ adventure is a pretty risky hunt anyway as the animals migrate in and out of grand canyon natl park. If they are in the park during the season, the hunters are simply out of luck. Guess I'll keep hoping to draw a tag in Utah. There is also the Delta Junction herd in Alaska which you should be putting in for.

I cant encourage you to undertake the Canadaian Wood Bison hunt strongly enough. If I can do anything to help you in your search, let me know.

Best,

JohnTheGreek

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Wow...great info and fast...thanks fellows....

Whtailtaker...yep, did a lot of chasing of deer this season. Predominantly hunted areas in Nash, Onslow and Halifax counties. Most deer seen were in Halifax, but the biggest were in Nash. Gotta love that long Eastern season...

ALF,

Given your unfortunate experience, I understand your aversion to the species. However, it can be done right. Try The Yukon Territory for the Wood Bison sub-species. Wary animals and difficult terrain made for an incredible experience. Bull hunts are about $6500 and cows are $4500 (got mine on a cancellation deal, THANK GOD!). Pricey, but money well spent in my opinion.

Best,

JohnTheGreek

Montana is going to have wild bison hunting again. We did in the past, as a lot of you know, and it turned into pretty much of a trainwreck and we caved under predictable bad publicity. I still sleep under a buffalo robe from that incarnation, though.
A bill authorizing another bison hunt made it through the last legislature. It's still not quite what any of the sportsmen's groups would like to see, though. The boundaries have arguably expanded a little, but the Department of Livestock is still calling the shots (pun intended). I was and am pretty involved with that issue, and not really as an advocate of the bill as written. Testified at the legislature last winter, & was the only civilian called back up for further grilling. I'm told I did OK.
Anyway, FWP is accepting public comment on that hunt, and I'd urge you to do so.
Comments should be mailed by March 12 to:
Attn. Bison Hunt Issues
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
1400 S. 19th Ave.
Bozeman, MT 59718, or via Email to: fwpbison@state.mt.us.

This is just my impression, and certainly nothing that any sensible FWP employee would admit to, as they're still operating in what could be considered a hostile regime for another few months yet. But I don't think they're all that keen on being drawn into another repeat of the prior scenario. The bill was almost completely the work of DOL, and FWP more or less got the word that they were to toe the line. Welcome to the Martz administration. So they're proposing sort of a token effort, IMO. None of this is written in stone yet, but about ten or so bull tags during the fall, and maybe up to 35 or so either-sex during the winter. Their efforts under the current political realities are going toward quarantining bison, and releasing them on Indian reservations and public land, yet to be determined. That's a 3-year program, though, and they're initially thinking about 50 bison per time, so that leaves about five or six hundred (at current population levels) a year that have to go somewhere.
We tried to amend that bill last winter to put control back with FWP, but came in behind the curve. We have an early start this time, though, with a draft bill ready and broad-based support for it. Basically, it puts management of the bison back under FWP, to be managed as wildlife. DOL retains management of cattle in the area. Brucellosis is the big concern here, as most of you know, and that is definitely a Big Deal, especially if you're in the cow business. In the areas around West Yellowstone, though, there are next to no cattle. Gardiner is slightly more problematic, mainly thanks to a grazing allotment on the Church Universal. They don't even own cows, though, and there are such easy solutions to this.... Graze yearlings, or if it's gotta be pairs don't turn them out until say, 6/1, when the bison calving is well over, and make sure they're vaccinated. Or graze horses! These are not insurmountable problems....
Then we could have free-ranging wild buffalo over a pretty good swath of Montana, including up into the Taylor Fork and Buffalo Horn, and could have a bona-fide hunt.
And I do have a fair bit of experience with hunting bison. We book a few hundred of those a year. The Henry Mountains hunts and a few others feature buffalo that are from all reports wild as really big March Hares, and it's a heck of an undertaking. Sort of a moot point for most, as the drawing odds are steep. With our Flying D ones, there's renegade bulls out there that haven't been gathered in who knows how long. That's on a 113,000+ acre ranch that's pretty rough country in a lot of places. The Henry ones must be wilder, but I'd wager not by much, and pretty much strictly a function of hunting pressure, I'd guess. With these, once you find 'em, it's generally not like closing in on a trophy whitetail in the brush or something. Which is not to say it's not big-time fun! I like to say "bison are the big-meal deal of the plains", which I think pretty well catches it. But you sneak up on a 2000# bull with a bow & arrow, and it'll have your full attention. And what better excuse to drag out the big bores? Folks love it....
And of course, most of 'em we sell are pasture blastings, but it is a meat deal (well, hide & skull too), but the concensus is still overwhelmingly positive. Yes, you could say I am a believer in buffalo....
So I'd be tickled pink to see a public hunt for free-ranging bison in parts of southwest Montana. This situation needs to be turned into an asset for the state, & that wouldn't take much.

The wild buffalo herd on the Henry Mountains in Utah is about as wild as they get. We spent 3 4day weekends down there hunting Buffalo. Those animals are like mountian goats. Many times we saw herds of buffalo on 12,000 ft mountain peaks, just like Goats. We had horses down there and followed a herd which covered over 26 miles in 1 day. Rough country to say the least. We had several in range on different occasions, but never tagged the right one. My Father-in-law had a tag on the Henries a couple years before we went down and they hunted for 5 days before they even saw a buff, which he shot (3 yr old bull).

As for an outfitter having a Buff tag on the Henries, I'd highly doubt that. The Utah DWR gives 2 tags a year to be auctioned by conservation groups for Henries buff and both tags have brought in excess of $7,000 for the last 4 years.

You are too late to apply for Utah Buff (apps in Jan), but you can still apply for Wyoming's migration herd out of Yellowstone or Arizona's House Rock herd. Good luck on your search.

The AZ hunt is very diffacult also. I thought AZ had 2 areas with wild bison though??

Ryan,

There is the house rock area around the grand canyon (which is a truly wild herd) and there is the publicly owned herd off buffalo range road. Both herds are in Northern Az but the buffalo range herd is confined and not really fair chase.

Best,

JohnTheGreek

JKeith ----- I hunted Moose in the Farewell Burn of Alaska and encountered a wild Bison herd that were indeed wild. I don't know how you would go about hunting them, but they were extremely skittish and would be a real challange to hunt from what I saw. We were stalking a Moose and had to pass through the herd at close quarters. When they got our scent they blew out of there like a freight train, leaving us glad they went the other way. You might check with the Alaska Fish and Game department for futher information. Good luck and good shooting.