Someone over at Monstermuley.com said they saw
some bison hunts here for $500-700. I did a lot
of looking but could not find anything. Can
someone help me out.

thanks

I was sent something and it had $700 hunts for younger animals, the big old ones were $3,500.

DO you have any details? Where is the "hunt"?

I don't have the information anymore. I did a quick web search on Montana buffalo hunts and came up with many options.

Apparently, the market for buffalo meat has not met expectations and the ranchers are looking to recoup their money from hunters.

You might want to try Ray Atkinson. He had some actual bison hunts not shoots, they were mature bulls and seems like they were $2000 or so. Also first class accomdations.
Take care

bighorn hunting 1-has bison hunt for 600.00 for cow bison around Bandera, Texas (hill country).guide fee 100.00 for the (group).

There's a colony of Hutterites near Cutbank, MT that have Bison hunts at or around $500. A girl my wife works with shoots one up there every year or 2. No phone or contact info, and that's all I know right now.

Hudge

Try these folks: http://www.cowboyhvn.com/bison_hunts.htm They show a cow shoot for $675.

I did a search for "Dakota bison hunts" and found a lot of hunts!!! Ter

I searched the whole of the USA for a real sure enough Bison "hunt", not a pasture shoot....the only one I found was in Nebraska, I tried it out to satisfy myself it was fair chase...and it was a fantastic hunt for mature bulls that are wild as hell, smart and tough to hunt..All hunting is on foot in a Mountainous region of North Central Nebraska....I intend to go back every year....3 days and 4 nights, 5 star lodge, great food, great guides...You get hide, meat, head the works....Big bulls with good robes....$2750.00 all enclusive.

If you hunt elk or deer in conjunction with Buffalo then the Buffalo hunt is $1500 all enclusive....

They even have a US plainsgame hunt that includes a Trophy quality Buffalo, Elk, Whitetail, Muledeer, Turkey, upland bird hunts, antelope, coyotes for $12,000... A 10 day hunt...

Thanks for all the help guys. Yall are a great
bunch. Ray can you email me with some of the
places you have?
Tks

Hi,
Interesting reading about availability of bison hunts. Can somone give me some information on these animals please?
Apparently before the west was opened up bison occurred in their millions - fact or fiction? Then they were shot out to near extinction - true? What is the estimate of their current numbers and in which territories do they occur? Are they ranched like domestic stock for meat and hunting?
What are they like to hunt? Are they anywhere near as nasty as the Cape Buffalo? How do they compare in size and weight? What calibre size is suitable?
Would appreciate some information in order to satisfy my curiosity. Thanks & regards.

Springbok,

There are likely a few folks on this board who know more about this stuff than I (Canuck or Yukoner will post I suspect) but your assertion that there were millions of Bison is not fiction. There are stories about explorers witnessing herds that stretched to the horizon. While this was likely rare and probably over-states the population of the animals, it is still amazing.
The VAST majority of modern herds are private and ranched for hunting, commercial processing or both. There are, however, a few wild herds that are protected and sometimes huntable. There is a Custer State Park herd in South Dakota, the Henry Mountains herd in Utah, the Antelope Island herd in Utah (semi-domestic), and a supposedly free roaming herd on the Crow Indian Reservation in southern Montana. As for free roaming herds in the lower 48 states, that is about it. There are more free roaming bison in Canada. The McKenzie National Bison Range is free roaming and huntable as are the populations in Alberta roaming outside of Wood Buffalo National Park. The Yukon Territory population northwest of Haines Junction is free roaming and huntable and this is where I took mine last year. Alaska also has a free roaming herd.

While I say these populations are huntable, it is often quite difficult for residents to draw a tag in a lottery. My father, for instance, put in for The Henry Mountain hunt in Utah for 25 years and NEVER drew a tag. I said "screw it" and bought my tag in the Yukon Territory.

Bison are certainly not as nasty as your cape buffalo but can, of course, be dangerous. Every year it seems you hear about some idiot getting gored in Yellowstone National Park trying to get a great photo of one. One year I visited Yellowstone and a woman had just been gored in an attempt to put her child on top of one for a picture. Pure idiocy! While their temperment is not comparable to a cape buffalo, I think their tenacity is. I shot my bison three times with a .416 Rem Mag and 400 grain barnes X-bullets from a range of probably 30-40 feet. He had no idea we were there and exhibited NO reaction to the first shot (he just stood there) . . . slight flinch of the front leg at the second shot . . . third shot brought him down as I raised up the point of impact and hit the spine. Bison are notorious for just standing there after being hit. I cannot personally, in good conscience, recommend anything less than a .375 for bison if someone wants to do right by this noble animal. Sure, an animal will die if shot in the heart/lung with a 30-06 or .300 or 7mm but for a truly wild bison, it is best to get him down quickly to avoid having to retrieve him from any nasty brush he might find when wounded. Moving a literal ton of bison hide and meat is difficult enough on flat land without having to lift everything out of a ravine or from underneath some thick scrub-oak.

A mature bull Plains Bison, as stated above, can weigh in excess of 2000 pounds. A Wood Bison from our canadian neighbors can weigh 10-15% more than that and have slightly different cosmetic characteristics. Research shows that Wood Bison are a genetically distinct sub-species from Plains Bison.

Trailblazer,

I have some information on "real deal" bison opportunities out there if you like. Feel free to email me.

BEst Regards,

JohnTheGreek

Springbrook,

I will try and answer some of your questions.

There are 2 subspecies. The eastern or forest bison and the plains bison. Daniel Boone moved to Kentucky to hunt bison, elk, grizzy, etc.

Yes, they occurred in the millions. There are countless stories of herds that took days to pass a given spot.

Yes, they were shot to near extinction. Certainly commercial hunters played a large role in this. It also became popular to ride the train and shot into the herds.

The native American cultures on the plains depended heavily on the bison. In part the US government encouraged the slaugther to starve the plains tribes.

I do not know the current numbers. Yes, they are farmed. They are farmed for the meat and for hunting. The market is currently depressed. So the meat farmers can't bring their stock to market without taking a loss. Many in Kansas, etc are allowing hunting at very cheap rates, just to break even.

As with any game, shot placement is everything. Many hunters prefer to use older large caliber guns, much as were used 100+ years ago.

I have no personal experience with Cape buffalo, but from what I have read, the American Bison is not nearly as dangerous.

Pete

Pete,

There exists . . .

Bison Bison - (plains Bison)
Bison Athabascae - (Wood Bison)
Bison Bonasus - (European Bison)

I doubt, if they were still around, that the eastern bison would be found to be genetically distinct from the plains bison. I cannot imagine the two being reproductively isolated.

JohnTheGreek

John,

I stand corrected.

Thanks,

Pete

/

Hi,
Thanks to JohnTheGreek & Quail Wing for the interesting information. Sorry about the late response but actually forgot I had requested the information!
The historical bison numbers sound like our springbok that also occurred in their millions and took days to pass a given point. Hard to imagine!
Who is the meat market aimed at? Surely the average refined Americans don't regularly eat bison?
Springbok

Springbok,

Eating Bison has, in the last few years, become a bit of a fad as the meat in suppoosed to be healthier than beef in a number of ways. Many restaurants serve bison. This market is slowly evaporating, however, and many ranchers have started selling "hunts" to try to get their money out of the animals. For example . . . every year Custer State Park rounds up their bison for various reasons and sells some . . . here are the auction results for 2001 and 2002 to illustrate the collapsing prices.

http://www.custerstatepark.info/BisSaleRe.htm

Here is a neat photo of their round-up.


Best Regards,

JohnTheGreek

[ 03-26-2003, 21:23: Message edited by: JohnTheGreek ]

Hi John,
Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions. See what you me about the fall in the prices. Glad i'm not a bison farmer. Must have a positive spin on hunting prices though.
Regards,
Springbok

Springbok,

No problem! Yes, "hunt" prices are falling but as the quotation marks indicate, some of them are dubious to say the least. Probably worse than hunting cape buffalo on some ranches in RSA. Many of the buffalo operations have little or no cover, just rolling plains. Finding the buffalo is therefore no huge trick. Of course, finding the buffalo on the great plains in 1870 was probably no huge trick either. I think that Custer State Park hunt on their web-site is the best TRUE Boone and Crockett eligible North American Bison hunt in the lower 48 states. Of course, the $4000 price tag reflects that.

Best Regards,

JohnTheGreek

Springbok,

I recently acquired an old weekly newspaper. I purchased it for an illustration of hunting dogs it had. On the back was a short article. I am going to quote a couple of sentences:

Harper's Weekly March 8, 1873

"The same wanton spirit of destruction... During the past season more than a quarter of a million of buffaloes were killed on the plains for their hides alone, and their carcasses left to decay. Unless our Legislatures take this matter in hand without delay,... we will soon have none left to protect..."

The above was written about 2 1/2 years before Custer's last stand.

Pete

Last year, in March, I hunted the plains buffalo in the Adam Ranch (Alberta) Is a great ranch of over 18.000 acres with 2.000 buffalo inside. The accomdation is confortable and the area is very interestign with plains and forest. Off course is a fenced ranch, but hunting during the winter with the snowmobile is a great experience. I got a wonderful old bull. The trophy cost is 1500 CAD.
If you need some information ask to Brian Olfert: sbolfert@telusplanet.net
Mario

Bump,

Bison is an animal I have benn interesed for a while.

This would be the first time I have paid for a game hunt. I am wanting the meat, and think the hide would look good on the wall.

Recomendations?
When?
Where?

I have them in Montana.

In Francis Parkman's book " The Oregon Trail" available free from Gutenburg.com there is reference to the two ways of hunting buffalo.

One is stalking in among big (and in those days wild) herds which sounds like it was quite tricky as the bulls were dangeous and the other was running them on horseback.

Its interesting to note that Kit Carson was already a legend in 1843 for hunting buffalo the latter way.

I have hunted both whitetail deer and wild pigs by shooting them from a running horse and it is very exciting. It seems to me the best way to do it would be to run buffalo on horse back with single shot rilfes the way they did in in 1843.