If all goes well, I will hunt and kill an ancient bull bison next month.

Because of the bull's age, I have been told that I should keep intact only the tenderloins, and turn the rest of the dressed carcass into ground venison.

Except, maybe, for the tongue, which I am told some people relish.

Yet, by the same token, I have learned from reading about the buffalo hunters of old that the meat of the hump was also prized, at least by some.

I will be unable to haul all of the meat back home.

I would appreciate some advice from those in the know about what I should keep, and what I should donate to charity.

Many thanks.

I killed a 7 YO bull bison in the distant past. I was a relatively new hunter at the time and did not understand proper aging of meat.

The outfit offered to cut my bull up and package it for me. I took them up on the offer and they did, within hours of it dying and being gutted. What an effing waste of meat that turned out to be.

None of it was any less in texture than an old shoe. I donated most of it to the church ladies wild game dinner fundraisers. So, I would say donate most of that meat to a food bank.

Yikes! I will have to have a talk with the meat processor!

Michael, I hope you can get this right. A bison is an iconic American ungulate with great dignity -- and wisdom, I believe. (And no, I have not been "into the gummmies.")
"Let us show you how we heal cattle ranches and create tall grass prairies ... "
See "Buffalo for the Broken Heart," by Dan O'Brien.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
I killed a 7 YO bull bison in the distant past. I was a relatively new hunter at the time and did not understand proper aging of meat.

The outfit offered to cut my bull up and package it for me. I took them up on the offer and they did, within hours of it dying and being gutted. What an effing waste of meat that turned out to be.

None of it was any less in texture than an old shoe. I donated most of it to the church ladies wild game dinner fundraisers. So, I would say donate most of that meat to a food bank.

I bet the church ladies never held a dinner after that one!


Hip

I shot a 6 year old bull years ago with my 54 Caliber Black Powder rifle in February of that year in extreme northeastern Utah. Had it quartered, along with the rest of it, and brought it all back in my covered truck. Had the head taxidermied by a good friend of mine; the rest of the hide tanned; a buffalo penis cane made out of the stretched out penis; had a buffalo scrotum bag tanned; the teeth preserved and made into a mountain man necklace with a silver buffalo as the centerpiece; and, some other things done, as I participated for years in Mountain Man Rendezvous. Hung the meat for a week or so, then cut it up and packaged it. Fed us and a number of families in the neighborhood for months. Buffalo steaks, roasts, hamburger, etc. etc. All was excellent! It's the 'german chocolate cake' (very rich) of red meat.

Ive killed 4 buffalo bulls and a cow, all were good, I let them hang quartered for a week or so and my butcher let them hang some more, and boned them out and all were good..Its a slight bit different than beef in that the meat is much sweeter and after eating it for several months I tire of it and go back to beef, and whitetail deer, a buffalo lasts a long time, but don't get me wrong its very good meat.

I remember the "Far Side" cartoon with this adult Indian in the village talking to 2 Indian children while holding a small piece of something + saying, "We don't know what this is, but it's the only part of the buffalo that we don't use."