We just returned from a trophy bull bison hunt in Montana booked with Arnoud Outfitters through Keith Atcheson of Jack Atcheson and Sons Hunting Consultants in Butte, MT. My wife and I had a great time and recommend the experience to anyone who wants a bison trophy and lots of great meat.

The hunt took place on Ted Turner's, Flying D Ranch outside of Bozeman, MT. I shot an 1800 pound bull with my Marlin 1895 .45/70 using the Garrett Hammerhead 530 grain hard cast, solid lead bullets at 1650 fps. The first shot was just behind the shoulder at about 150 yards; the bullet passed between two ribs entering and blasted through a rib on the way out the other side.

That shot would have been sufficient, but I shot him again in front of the shoulder where the bullet would encounter more resistance with bone, thicker hide and heavy muscle. Surprisingly, this shot did not exit, the bullet apparently remained in the off-side shoulder of the bull. I asked the meat processor to try to find it and send it to me along with the meat.

They offer trophy bulls for $1500 and cows and yearlings for lower prices. My cousin shot a yearling bull that weighed around 700 pounds for $600. Around 50 buffalo were in a several hundred acre alfalfa field. We drove to within 100 yards and looked them over with binoculars while deciding which one to shoot. Once we had picked a bull, we stepped out of the truck, set up shooting sticks and took the shot. It is not a fair-chase hunt, but it is an interesting experience.

I'm having a skull mount done with the head, and the entire hide is being tanned to use a bedspread. The hide from a big bull can measure 40-50 square feet! The meat is being processed into steaks, roasts, sausage, salami, pepperoni, bisonburger and jerky. It should yield 600-700 pounds of meat.

I'm heading out again tomorrow for two weeks of pheasant hunting in North Dakota, but I'll post some photos of the bison when I get back.

Give Keith a call and go shoot your winter meat supply!

Now don't get wrong....
But for $1500 they could at least make it look like a hunt. I'm sure there are ranchers out here that would let you blast one of his angus' for a fee with what ever caliber that you thought best, but is this hunting? Guy up the road from me has some pretty big pigs. Wonder if he would let me hunt them in their pigpen for a fee? Many pounds of pork chops, bacon etc. Not trying to be an a$$ hole but...

Mark,
Good for you. I am sure that you will enjoy some really good meat and, from what I here up in that area, you helped a rancher out.

Turner should have some of his beloved wolves on his buffalo ranch

over.40
you crack me up.
Jeff

I would be interested to know the cost of the mount and tanning.

Call it hunting or not, I would rather shoot my own food. Many a times growing up, I wanted to shoot most if not all of my Dad's cows.

It's a "shoot" not a "hunt" but Mark made that clear in his post. Actually, the 19th century buffalo hunters were doing "shoots" more than "hunts."

Dan....glad you weren't trying to be an a$$-hole 'cuz I bet the effect would be impressive if you were.

Got a question. You spend $2500+ for a "deer hunt" in Texas....guide drives you out to an elevated stand....you get out.....climb up the ladder to an enclosed, elevated tree-house....adjust the rifle rest, set up your spotting scope, pour some coffee from your thermos and wait for a nice buck to walk up. He does! You use your rangefinder...consult your drop table and make a nice shot....drops in his tracks 'cus you are "da man". Pick up the walkie-talkie and call the guide to pick you and your "trophy" up so you can get back in time to watch the Longhorns on TV.........QUESTION?

Was this a "hunt"?

There weren't any fences! No bait was set out! No one drove the animals your way! What do you say?

Mark,

Good to hear you have your winter meat put up.
Niki and I went down yesterday and shot a two year old cow bison and the meat looks superb.
Your right. It's not a hunt but rather an opportunity to shoot your own food and pickup an interesting skull, horns and hide. Period. And that's the way it's been represented from the beginning but some people appear to need an adjustment on thier focusing mechanism

Mark, I look forward to outfitting and guiding you and Holly on your mule deer hunt next November. The muley bucks are looking real good!
Have fun on the pheasant hunt in the Dakota's!

[ 10-11-2002, 22:02: Message edited by: Keith Atcheson ]

To put it somewhat in perspective, up until a couple years ago people were paying upward of $5000 US for breeding stock (bred heifers and prize bulls).

Even since the price crashed, you would be fairly lucky to find a 2 to 4 year old bull at auction for under $1000 US (I am using the canadian market as a base and roughly converting to USD). $1500 US is not all that uncommon for a decent bull.

I figure that $1500 USD is a pretty good deal for 600+ lbs of buffalo meat. If you just bought the meat you'd likely be paying in that ballpark, and the skull, horns and hide wouldn't come with it.

IMHO that price seems pretty decent all things considered.

And I don't think there is anything wrong with shooting your own food. I am all for taking resonsibility for the death of that which will nourish you.

Let's not confuse this with the unsavory practice of shooting something in a pen, then entering it in the record books and coming up with some BS "hunting story". Big difference.

My 2cents FWIW,
Canuck

Well said Canuck! :-)

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a good way to collect freezer meat and some interesting mementos. I plan on doing something similar in January except I'm going to presell my animal to someone that wants the meat. I could use it but it's impossibly expensive to ship that much meat into my rural village in interior Alaska. I will basically get the skull and hide for free and get to test a bullet on a tough target. Buffalo robes make great winter blankets in Alaska. I just have to figure out how to tan it cheaply.

I think Yukon Dleta has a gret idea. I'd love to shoot a bison for the skull and hide(primarily) and don't even care if its a cow. My family shoots so much elk and deer meat each year, however, that I don't really need the buffalo meat. If I could sell the meat for even close to the price of the "hunt", I'd be there in a flash. I may go later this year anyway and just give the meat to other family members. Any ideas on selling the buffalo meat?

Thanks,

Bill

And, yes, this isn't a hunt by any means. An unusual experience, perhaps, but all I really want is a nice buffalo rug. And whether I pull the trigger or the slaughter house does, the bison will still die.

Glad to hear you had a good time. Back when we used to have the bison drawings here in MT a few of my buddies drew tags. One used my .375 H&H and the other used a 7mm mag, what a joke that was! One hundred and forty grain standard bullets at 3100+ fps are NOT buffalo bullets.

Just wait until you get your "bedspread". It will weigh about a hundred pounds! The skull mount will be very nice too.

FN in MT