Almost positive I have a bison hunt lined up in SD this winter and just have a couple of questions.
On average how much boned out meat should you expect from a mature bull? Any suggestions on what to do with the hide?

Plan to use my Heym 450/400 double as she needs a good work out.

I've killed 2 yearling cow bison. The 'hanging carcass' weight (minus hide, head, feet and guts)was 404 lbs on one of them, giving a meat yield of 250 lbs. A mature bull would probably go 2X to 3X that size.

Both hides were tanned hair-on and they're beautiful. Silky and soft, completely unlike what you'd expect. One of them is my winter bedspread. At the time (2001 and 2002) the tanning cost about $400. Figuring inflation and the hide being from a mature bull, the cost for good quality hair-on tanning would probably be over $1,000.

Thanks, any thoughts for transporting the meat?
I was thinking of putting a small chest type freezer in the bed of my truck and powering it with a Honda 2000 watt generator.

quote:

Originally posted by Snowwolfe:
Thanks, any thoughts for transporting the meat?

If you can make it to Cheyenne I have a freezer where you can store it.

quote:

Originally posted by Snowwolfe:
Thanks, any thoughts for transporting the meat?
I was thinking of putting a small chest type freezer in the bed of my truck and powering it with a Honda 2000 watt generator.

Just a thought, but if you are going from So. Dakota to Colorado "in the winter" I doubt you will need much in the way of generator power. Just let it all sit out one night to freeze, pack and you will be good for the ride home. Should be fun, good luck!

Good point, even if the temperature hits 60 a day or so in the truck will not hurt it. We used to hang moose for up to 8-9 days before they made it the processor. Sometimes I forget that it might actually get chilly down here in the lower 48

Even if it was a little warm, I have packed hogs I shot in Florida in July with dry ice and made the two day drive back to Kansas without an issue. If you take the freezer, you may not need the generator, just a bunch of dry ice.

quote:

Originally posted by Snowwolfe:
Almost positive I have a bison hunt lined up in SD this winter and just have a couple of questions.
On average how much boned out meat should you expect from a mature bull? Any suggestions on what to do with the hide?

Plan to use my Heym 450/400 double as she needs a good work out.

A bunch! I didnt weigh it but there was a lot of meat. I would get it boned and freeze it solid and you should have no trouble

RavenR should be able to give you a good estimation , he has taken a lot of hunters to kill buffalo

I killed a 2000# bull and put near 600#s of boned meat in my freezer, and my mothers freezer....and my friends freezer.

hi Drummond!

troy

Rather than worry about a generator or dry ice if you take that freezer you mentioned, just get an invertor that plugs into your truck dash and run a line off of it to the freezer. I took a small refrigerator out there with me last year and used it where we had current. Then the day before I headed home I turned it as cold as it would go and brought a bunch of frozen salami sticks from an antelope and part of a boned out deer home with it plugged into an inverter. With the cost of gas to run a generator and the noise/combustion problem it creates, the inverter is a much better way to go.

I actually think the generator and freezer is a good idea. You really want to cool the meat quickly, and frozen is even better than cool. It takes a lot of energy transfer to cool down that much meat. You will need to run the generator several hours (overnight?)Then you won't need the generator when driving, just start it at any extended stops. The frozen meat will travel well. The 600# number is in the ball park, depending on the bull. It is a lot of meat.
Bill

A processed and frozen three year old cow will completely fill a 17 cubic foot freezer.. Don't think you can use a bunch of ice chests and get it home.

my bull was 1003# total for both sides hanging at the meat house. would like to see old ROCKY work out on that side of bull.

Will have the ranch put the quarters into the freeze overnight before I leave. Just don't see an issue with transporting it in the truck bed in Jan or Feb from SD to CO.

Did a elk hunt and took some blue board and duct tape along and made our own ice box the size we needed.