I do not think any hunt for bison an a ranch would qualify as a hard hunt. But I could be wrong.

A hunt for Bison anywhere would not be a hard hunt once you locate the herd. They are stupid, you can be stupid if you are big. I have sen 3 killed and in each case the herd cows will surround the shot animal and when it falls try to prod it back up again, you must chase them away so they don't damage the dead animal. The hardest part of hunting buffalo is picking out the one you want to take after you find the herd. In the days when the west had millions of buffalo, the hunters would sit on hill sides over looking the herd and just shoot one right after the other, their proclivity to protect injured her mates made them stand there and get killed. You don't kill millions of animals in a few years if they are hard to hunt.

This is true. It is a "shoot" not a hunt. The hardest part about it is getting it loaded into the truck and then skinning it. The hair has lots of sand and grit in it and it will dull a knife pretty quick. Not to mention the things are pretty big and hard to handle. But the meat sure is tasty!

Yep, when the bullet hits them you get a big puff of dust at the impact point.

Flags, did you do these hunts for ranchers you knew or just something you paid for? I did a little researching online and some places are $$$$$ and some aren't too bad. But for the cheaper ones, for the meat you get out of it, it's not a bad deal. Although not exactly hunting, it would be fun to do with a sharps rifle or something similar probably.
-Jake

The ranch I did my bison shooting on is the Twin Pines Ranch in WY. They raise bison for meat but it is a niche market so they can't flood it with meat. About every other year they reduced their herd and they did it by taking out the yearling heifers so they didn't produce too many calves. I got in on these and back then the cost was about $650 or so. They took you out, found the herd (this ranch is over 80,000 acres so sometimes it took some looking to find them) and showed you a heifer out of the herd and you popped it. They would field dress it and load it in the back of your truck with an "A" frame on an old wrecker. After that it was up to you to take care of the carcass.

My family used to go there and shoot a couple of bison about every 3rd year for meat. I shot 4 or 5, my brother shot 1 or 2 and my late father shot a couple. But I haven't done it in about 6 years so I don't know what the going rate is today. This is a good way to get some prime bison meat and you also get the hide and head but make no mistake about it, it isn't a hunt. This is a shoot. I considered it little more than grocery shopping with a rifle.

I shot a bison at Twin Pines a few years ago, they charged me $1,200 for a small bull (great eating!!), which is much cheaper than you will find anywhere else. I know there prices have gone up since, and to shoot one anywhere else is ridiculously priced. They have a waiting list, and getting in isn't easy. It was a shoot, not a hunt (not high fence, but cattle guards at all the gates). I combined it with a public land DIY antelope hunt while I was there.