I've gone twice to a place in North Dakota - see www.TheBisonRanch.com. The rancher (Oren) is a great guy. The ranch is something like 4,000 acres and has several herds roaming it.

I went for the cows and they weigh 900-1000 lbs, and yield about 250 lbs of meat: Steaks, roasts, ground beef and jerky. The bulls are twice as big. The meat processing plant they use does a great job of preparing the meat. They freeze it rock hard, pack it in Coleman coolers with dry ice and UPS it 2-day. The hunts are year round, and very hassle-free.

If you're interested in having the hide turned into a rug (it's surprisingly soft), then go in Jan/Feb when it's cold. The hides will be thick and complete (in the summer, the fur is patchy). It costs something like $20/sq foot for the hide. It's cold in N Dakota in Jan/Feb, but that'll make the hunt more challenging. Good luck.

Hunter308

There is a ranch in South Dakota that has cows for $400 and bulls for $1200. First Stop Gun in Rapid City found the information for me this year, but I found a ranch here in Michigan that I am going to use.

My dad killed a big dry cow in Wyoming in 2003. The meat was tasty but tough, but I bet money it would be better on a 2 year old heifer.

I bet that cow was probably 8-12 years old. She weighed about 900 pounds, I think. He shot her in the head with a 35 Whelan and she dropped like a rock (obviously).

Even the tenderloins were tough. I recommend a crock pot and a younger heifer.

I really want a trophy bull for the wall, but I don't want to eat one.

I took a cow in Utah's Henry Mountains about 15 years ago. That herd is truly wild, not a private herd, no fences. The previous group before mine only scored 30%. In our orientation, we were warned that there we people in our group that would not get their Buffalo. As luck would have it, I spotted mine first thing in the morning, and had it in the truck by 10. It was a old cow that actually had grey hair on its mane. It was the toughest animal I ever chewed on, but it made one of the nicest mounts I have ever seen.
If your after the meat though, shoot a younger animal.

What Ranch in Mi and how much do they charge for the whole animal ?