Champlain Islander

You need one of those in your cabin. Can you imagine what Gordon would do with all that meat?

salukipv1

Tagged along with my father on his WY free range bison hunt maybe a decade ago?
It was his 1st year applying...

Even though it was "free range" it seemed like more of a "shoot"

The hunt was trying to find a legal bison on public ground...


They're an awesome animal, great table fare, and an awesome mount.

I've heard there are some high fence operations that will truly offer you a hunt... 10,000 plus acre type operations.

I don't doubt one could have more of a hunt on a high fence operation than a free range hunt, not saying that's always the case, but I believe one could find that if they look.

flags

Either you're not too bright or you don't know your history. The bison was slaughtered by the millions and they tanned the skins into leather and made the leather into drive belts to power the industrial revolution. Rubber didn't exist in a commercially usable form back then so leather belts were used.

May want to do some reading:
http://allaboutbison.com/bison-in-hi...ison-timeline/

By the way, those numbers were only for the region around Kansas. Maybe you don't understand it but if they were shipping hides to market and paying the freight on them they would have a pretty accurate count of the numbers being shipped right?

let me guess, you don't live in the west do you?

super_hunt54

Rob, don't get me wrong partner. I have taken a few Bison and enjoyed every last bite! I am in no way against regulated hunting of the Bison. But when uneducated people start trying to revise history to make the white man look better it kind of peeves my Native American heritage a bit.

flags

Mine too. My bloodline is Arapaho and my people know exactly what happened to the herds. After all, we were Plains Tribes in the region the slaughter happened. Even General William Tecumseh Sherman was quoted as saying the bison had to go so the farmers could have the prairies. When the bison went so did the Horse Culture of the Plains Tribes. Why do you think they had an Indian Head Nickle? Note the bison is on the reverse. That nickle was a celebration of slaughter and conquest.

Disease my butt!

super_hunt54

Disease was part of the problem Flags. A LARGE part given that an estimated 10-12 million Bison fell to various Bovine diseases brought over with the cattle. Brucellosis was a serious problem because it not only sickened and weakened the animal, but it also aborts fetuses. Putting stress on an already decimated group. But to say that the white man had very little to do with the demise of the Bison is ridiculous considering not only the all out slaughter of them but it was also the white man that brought all the diseases that aided in the almost extinction of the beloved animal. It's sheer stupidity and denial of reality to think anything other than the white man is pretty much the sole cause of the destruction of the Bison.

CalHunter

Here's another article about the decline of the buffalo. I don't know about hunters having the major part of the blame though. Like many things, it would seem logical that many factors caused the decline--hunters, cattle diseases, other diseases, lack of food from dry years, etc. IIRC, one of the reasons buffalo initially flourished was being able to continually roam to newer pastures so to speak with untouched food sources that hadn't been grazed down. It would seem logical that continuing development (settlements, cattle, etc. would cut into that seemingly unlimited supply of grass and food.


http://www.petersenshunting.com/feat...ar-extinction/

super_hunt54

And everything in that little statement, other than the dry years which were not uncommon and was natures way of thinning the herd, was all due to the invasion of the white man. Point blank and simple. And yes Cal, it is estimated among most historical experts that the hunting industry as well as the Army (slaughters to drive the Natives out) that between 40-45 million Bison were taken in a 30 year time span with the years between 1855-1870 being the main years of the destruction. Of course there are revisionist histories out there trying to discredit those numbers with complete fabrications to try to make the theft of our lands, through the decimation of a primary food and needs source, by the all mighty white man look better to the kiddies rather than the kiddies know the actual truth.

patchnball

Thanks Flags and Superhunt54 for proving my point better than I. 70 years 60 million bison....in a straight line chart you make a point. Forgot about reproduction and bison don't live to be 70 years old. First year of your 70 over 10 million bison would have had to been killed by hunters before a declining population ( 60 million...50/50 ratio bulls to cows and 33% birth rate of cows = 10 million calves) So as you can see Disease killed far more than arrows and bullets.......45 million as your number killed would take us to about the third or fourth year in 70.......Simple math and don't believe the liberal history books. By the way Rob in VT my father and brother did a South Dakota bison hunt years ago. The rancher killed bison with a 22 mag. so not a lot needed for take down with proper bullet placement. They were allowed the heads to take home and meat cost so much a pound over and above the HUNT price.

Oldtimr

Look, the bottom line is if it had not been for the white man slaughtering the Bison and the white man's cattle and the white man's farming and destroying the habitat of the American Bison there would still be millions of them instead of the pitiful numbers there are today. Great herds of Bison on the plains were incompatible with settling and so called civilizing the west, the Bison had to go because they were in the way and they were the major source of protein for the American Indian. The white man brought the disease with their cattle and the slaughter for their own devices, wealth and or freedom, to hurt the Indians, to further farming and other selfish reasons, no one has proved your point, your statement was simplistic and wrong and was not a point of any kind but an attempt to obscure the real reason and proximate cause for the the decimation of the American Bison and that was America's determination to move west and settle the west and they were not going to allow anyone or anything to stop the movement. .