As many of you know Lon Paul is one of America's premier gun builders and I'm privileged to call him my friend. In one of our long winded conversation about a project I was thinking about Lon asked if I could find him a bison hunt. Lon did not want to a hunt were you drive out into the pasture an assassinate a bull but a hunt where he could do some walking and stalking with his Sharps.

Joe Robison ravenr on AR was one of the first people I met in Cody when Sadie and I moved down from Alaska in '04. He lived just down the Lane from me and we became friends. I sent Joe and his wife on their first safari and Joe and I have successfully collaborated on some projects in the West and Mexico so Joe was the first person I thought of for Lon's bison hunt. I knew Joe had a friend in New Mexico that had a buffalo herd that spent most of its time up on top of a 4,000 acre mesa. Joe and I talked about Lon's desire for the buffalo hunt and we agreed that the New Mexico hunt was just what he wanted and would allow the experience to be as much of a hunt as possible.

Joe contacted Lon and made a plan for Lon to meet Joe and I at the ranch in New Mexico. I was along as the designated kitchen bitch, skinner and to take a meat bull for myself. Lon showed up as planned and the next day we drove up onto the mesa. Lon an Joe bailed out on foot and about 3 hours later we heard a shot. Lon had his bull. One 500 gr hard cast bullet through the boiler room was all it took to bring down the big bull.

Lon was very happy with the whole experience. He had to wait a couple of days to allow the meat to be processed and was a big help in butchering my meat bull. He let us shoot his Sharps and it continues to surprise me what you can do with those old black powder rifles. Once his meat was processed Lon went home with literally a truck load of nice meat leaving his cape and horns with a local taxidermist to be mounted.

Mark

Details, my man, details. Where, when, caliber, load, distance? Where was the hit, did we have an exit?

Awesome photos.

Gees they are big.

Bison. It's what's for dinner.

I give up.. who the hell are the infamous characters?

I did a MT trophy bison hunt with a Sharps a few yrs back. I did it in the COLD Jan, though. Good eats & a nice bull on the wall to boot.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:

That guy on the right ain't no guide! LMAO!

Guys,

I wrote this up yesterday during the AR glitche and could not post the text. I just now did that. As for the infamous characters Lon Paul was recently mentioned as a maker of poorly operating guns even though the gun in question was not made by him. BTW I have a super nice rifle made by him and will soon have another. ravenr AKA Joe Robison is still being falsely
accused by some anonymous troll of conducting guided activities without the proper licensure. This is total BS.

Mark

Sharpesguy,

If my memory serves me correctly the Sharpes was 45-100 using a traditional 500gr paper patch bullet at about 1300 fps. Shot was a complete through and through lung shot and the bull piled up in about 30 feet. He actually was down before Lon could reload. Distance was about 65 yards. It appeared to me that the bullet did not flatten to any degree as the entrance and exit holes were basically the same size. Quite a contrast between the Sharpes shot carcass and the smaller bull I shot with my Lon Paul 375 WBY that gave 1" entrance and 2" exit holes with huge tissue damage between.

Mark

Thanks.. Had no idea who either one was.

Not up to speed with the bullshit posts you speak of.

Anyhow, nice buff.

That's good to know. The Sharps shoots through and through and puts animals down quickly without a lot of meat destruction in most cases, in my experience. Thanks for the update.

Very cool.

Very impressive animal!

Are they free range?

I thought Lon might have used the Rigby take-down he talked me out of while restoring it for me :-)

He's one of the best out there, particularly for those who like the lines of the old pre-war British rifles.

Caracal,

The buffalo are not free range but they are not fenced up on the mesa.

Biebs,

I don't know the Rigby story but the work Lon has done for me has been flawless.

Mark

Mark,

A big bison rug is on my list of wants, but it will have to join the queue of other animals!!

Is it me or is the head on that bull really dark, or is that just how they are?

K

Kiri,

The heads are that dark.

Mark

VERY INTERSTING HUNT A NICE SHARPS RIFLE .

What ranch did the hunt take place? And did they offer other game?

Those two look infamous for sure with their smiles.
Wouldn't wanna meet them down by OK Corral.
Looks like great buff and fine gun Mark.
Pretty cool