Custer State Park Trophy Bison Hunt

Date of Hunt:: December 29-31, 2008

Location: Custer State Park, Black Hills, South Dakota

Animals Harvested: Plains Bison (Bison bison)

Animals seen but not hunted: Rocky Mountain Elk, Mule Deer, White-tailed Deer, Pronghorn Antelope, Bighorn Sheep, Coyote, Merriam's Turkey, Prairie Dog

Outfitter: Custer State Park
Email: CSPBISONHUNTS@state.sd.us
Phone Number: 605-255-4515
Website w/ Application:http://www.sdgfp.info/Parks/Re.../Custer/bullhunt.htm

Guide: Chad Kremer

Hunt Cost: $5,000 + hotel + meat processing + taxidermy

Commercial Flights: I'm from South Dakota so we just drove, but closest airpot is Rapid City.



Obtaining a Permit:
In 2008 there were 63 total applicants of which 19 had preference and only 10 trophy bull permits were allocated. The lottery is run so that only applicants with preference points are eligible to be awarded a tag, so on average it takes two to three years to draw successfully. When one applies they have to send a check for the full price of the tag and only if you are successful will CSP cash the check. The two years I did not draw I received my check back in the mail. Custer State Park is one of the few places in North America to hunt a bison that is considered to be free ranging and eligible for the B&C book. Which is a draw for some people. The application to enter the 2009 lottery is currently posted on the website provided above. The staff at the park HQ is very friendly and will happily answer any questions left unanswered about this process.

The Hunt:
If you are successfully drawn, the park will work around your schedule to pick three days during Nov, Dec or Jan that work best for you. I recommend staying at one of the lodges located inside the park, they have recently remodeled one of the lodges and it is very impressive. Anyway, the first morning of your hunt you will meet your guide, Chad Kremer (bison herd manager), at HQ and begin driving around the park locating bulls. This was a great experience and advantage for me if I ever draw the CSP deer or elk tag because Chad is able to drive on all the roads not open to the public and even go cross country if he wants to! I was able to see the parts of the park that most people never make it to by hoofing it in. That first day we actually had a difficult time locating the older bulls as they had moved away from where they had been a few days before he explained to us. We did stumble upon a large 5x6 bull that was bedded not too far off the road and also fresh mountain lion tracks in the snow. At the end of the first day we had seen a few bulls but none that we really thought were shooters. Also of importance for any hunter thinking about giving this a try is to know that every year the herd is rounded up and given vaccinations and also the calves are branded with the a number that indicates the year they were born. So bulls that had a 7 branded on them are actually 12 years old this year.

Day 2: We began the day looking for some shooter bulls and found a herd of 5 large bulls that were all 8 to 11 years old. There were two nice bulls in the group, but decided that if we couldn't find another one that we would come back to look for these guys again. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking and found several large herds of cows and young bulls on the "fisherman's flats" part of the park.


By about 2 in the afternoon, I discussed with my dad that we better take that bull that we saw earlier that morning because I thought it would be nice to be home for New Year's. He agreed that we should go after that bull. When we found them again they hadn't moved very far. Now something you have to understand about bison hunting is that it is not truly hunting here, but more of a selective harvest. These big bison bulls are not afraid of anything and would rather just ignore you then run away. The stalk was about 100 yards around a small hill where we got into shooting position about 50 yards away. I was using my .300 Weatherby Mag Alaskan model with 180 gr. bearclaws. I put two quick shots into the neck breaking the spine with the second bullet. It was over in a matter of seconds but it was a great experience and I am very happy that I had the opportunity to fulfill this dream of mine.





After the 60 day drying period, I had the horns officially scored for Boone & Crockett at 120 6/8". The minimum score is 115" so my bull easily makes the book, as do a great percentage of the bulls taken at CSP. Chad said that you can expect about 9 out of 10 bulls to make the book on a good year. I would highly recommend this hunt to anyone interested in adding a bison mount to their trophy room.


Chad loaded the bison and delivered it to Western Meat Co. in Rapid City who specialize in bison meat. I was able to sell all 920 pounds of fleshed hanging carcass (which means my bull weighed close to a ton!) to the locker plant for a good chunk of change that will go towards the taxidermy bill. If you want a really good eating bison, CSP offers several non-trophy bison hunts for this exact purpose. My dad went on one of these hunts a few years ago and the meat was very delicious and supposedly better for you than beef. I'm not saying that a 10 year old bull would taste horrible though.

There is also a great deal of entertainment and attractions to see in the Black Hills while you are visiting. CSP is a short drive away from Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments, Jewel Cave National Park, Deadwood, Sturgis, Spearfish Canyon, the Mammoth Site and others.

If you have any questions please ask as this is the first hunt report I have ever did.



Erik H.

Great report Erik and a fabulous bull!! I took an old brute like yours up in northern MT in Jan. 2008..

Got anymore pics to share??

Eric,
Good job on the Bull,and on the hunt report

great hunt and pictures. Congratulations

Very good report.

As has been said, fantastic report, and excellent information as well. Thanks for posting it all up, and congrats; that's one on the list some day, for sure!

Curious as to how you are legally able to sell the meat. Special circumstance with the state, I assume? Also, I haven't checked the site you noted, but do you know offhand how much the 'non-trophy' meat bulls go for?

Thanks,

KG

From the website posted. I still don't understand the legality of it, but I'm not complaining.

______________________________________________

Meat
The meat, hide and head are all the property of the hunter. The park accommodates state field inspection at the hunter’s request, which allows a local locker to purchase the carcass from the hunter. Oftentimes, arrangements are made for complete or partial sale of the carcass, purchase or trade for younger bison meat, and shipping arrangements for the meat. These arrangements are strictly between the hunter and the locker.

Kamo Gari,

I guess I don't understand where you are coming from as far as the legality part?

For the non-trophy "meat" bison bull tags are $1500 and a cow is $1000.

Eholum

KG is talking about selling the meat.

The state says it's ok, so that's the legal thing to do.

quote:

Originally posted by edholum:
Kamo Gari,

I guess I don't understand where you are coming from as far as the legality part?

For the non-trophy "meat" bison bull tags are $1500 and a cow is $1000.

Eholum

All you needed to do is read; I think my post was pretty clear, and yes, I was asking about the selling the meat part. In any event, thanks for the info.

KG,

I realized you were talking about the topic of selling the meat when asking about how it is legal. I do know how to read. I just wanted to know how you don't understand how if the state tells you that the "meat is the property of the hunter" that it could be illegal for him to sell it? I thought that makes it pretty darn clear.

I grew up speaking Westerner and now thanks to the Navy I understand New Englander; cah, bahston, lobstah, dooryahd, and while I refuse to speak Southerner I can understand it if I have to.

great report! Love Bison meat, much better than beef in my book.

I like bison to eat, but only young ones. Dad shot a 9 year old cow and she was tougher than 2 dollar leather. She made amazing burgers though.

When I retire from the Navy I want to try an experement on grass fed bison steers. I would imagine they would be fantastic, only down side is waiting for the 30 month maturity instead of 18 in bos taurus beef cattle.

Great hunt and neat pictures. Sounds alot better than waiting 1-15 years to draw a Henry Mountain tag!!

Very nice and thanks for sharing your hunt and the hunt info. I thank they are a wonderful animal and will look great on the wall.

Thanks for the great report. I for one always appreciate when the hunt report includes costs. For me, it would be worth it to pay $1000 for the cow meat hunt, just to be in areas of the park that one normally can't access and to be in that fantastic environment. And I like that someone else dresses out the animal!


I am going to look at their site to see if you are in the same lottery/preference point game to take a non trophy meat only hunt.

Thanks!

Erik

In my quick look at the referenced site, I didn't see anything about the meat hunts. Can you pass on any info on those, specifically the cow meat hunt e.g. where to go for info, contacts etc.?

Thank you very much!

I just contacted Custer State Park via email and they sent me all the info and it includes the stuff about the Non-Trophy buffal hunts, they don't really refer to it as a Meat Hunt.

404WJJeffery,

Here is the link to the Non-trophy hunt. They already drew for this year's hunt, so 2010 applications most likely won't be available until next spring/summer sometime. I believe there is a phone number if you have any further questions, ask to speak with Chad Kremer. He is the guy to talk to and will be happy to answer any of your questions.

http://www.sdgfp.info/Parks/Re...r/NonTrophyBison.htm

Good Luck!

I really enjoyed the post and pictures, thanks a lot !!!

You have so many game and different species to hunt in USA compared with my country....

You live in a hunting&fishing paradise !!! you have tv hunting/fishing shows, magazines, gunshops, several big game animals, waterfowl, bird hunting, great fishing, Cabelas, Basspro, etc. etc

Sometimes I am not sure if you gringos realize how lucky you are to live in a country like that..

And everything so well organized.

PLEASE, INVIDE US !!

L