ACLakey

I made it back from Montana heavy some Bison meat and some great memories. The place we hunted has over 50,000 acres (64 square miles) of land with free range wild Bison on it. We worked our way through some fog and found the animals we were after. I had a cow tag, so I picked out the biggest one I could find and let her have it. She went down quickly and the work began. Here are some pics.






The hunting area was free range and very large with wild animals on it. The owner aslo raised animals for slaughter in a seperate area of about 100ac and keep them like cattle. The rancher was donating some meat to the anti-wolf collition and asked if I could take a "meat" animal for him because he was impressed with the effiency of the bow kill. Hell yes I can!!




Here is a pic of the "meat pin" as he called it wich was about 100 acres.





Part of the heard he raises for slaughter not the wild herd you can hunt.



That will do it!!




It was a great trip. Those bison are fun to hunt and I am looking forward to doing it again. I got complete pass throughs on my shots. Thanks for the equipment advice.

Andrew

CAMPFOURCORNERS

Awesome pics Andy I'm sure that had to be a hunt of a life time congratulations

john

Talondale

Thanks for sharing. Is that third bison the pen one? Did you get to keep the cape of the pen bison? How were the accomodations? How about a description of the hunt?

buckstalker1187

Those are some awsome pics brother. And you have quite a story behind them too. I appreciate how informative your photos were.

I must definately say that my favorite pic is the heart photo. Nice shot!!!!
Congtrats

Rob/PA Bowyer

Absolutely thank you for sharing, awesome pics as well. Very much appreciated.

121553

Good shot. I'm curious how you stalked up on them with no cover, looks like eastern montana flat land. How far of a shot did you take and if you don't mind me asking, what did something like that cost? Did you have to process it yourself? Again, nice job.

Bobby

ACLakey

The owner of the reserve gave me an idea of where to start looking and my cousin and I set out from there. After about a three mile hike we spotted the animals about 100 yards from the river wich has about 3' cut banks. We snuck down the river using the cut bank for cover and positioned ourselves between the river and the bison. They came in tword me and gave me a shot. The animals happened to be positioned near the edge of the property(that is why I got the only house for 20 mi in my pic dammit). The first shot was at 25yards broad side. The arrow zipped right through and took out a rib on the far side. She took a few steps with the herd, but didn't know what hit her. I had a clear second shot, so I put it through the lungs at just under 40 yards. Again the arrow went clean through and she didn't even react. Right after the second shot she sat down coughed and rolled on her side dead. The second animal I shot (the pen raised one) was quratering away from me. Again the arrow passed through. She didn't go anywhere, just stood there for about 20seconds and then layed down. I didn't have a clear second shot, but the first one did just fine. I believe a well placed shot through the chest will do the trick, but if you can put two in on any animal than even better.

To recover the animal I borrowed his tractor with a front bucket and some chain. We hoisted it up and brought it back to where he processes his animals for slaughter. It is a great setup. Here is a pic of the site, my uncle (5'10") and the owner helping me skin her out.




The price was extremely reasonable. $800 for a cow and you get all the meat, hide and head. You can use his facilities to skin your animal which is the best choice. He told me of a "trophy" hunt he allows. You can kill one of the massive bulls in the heard and he will give you a half a cow for meat for the same price. The big bulls are old and he said are only good for making 1500lb of hamburger, so he offers the half a cow for meat and donates the bull meat to the indian tribe. If you want names shoot me an email. As far as other accomidations, there wern't any. We stayed in a hotel about an hour and a half away. I gave the hides to my uncle who is going to make a wall covering out of them. My skull I am going to make a European mount out of it for the office. The meat cow had a busted up horn, so he gave my cousin a smaller skull he had in his shop. As much fun as we had I am making plans for next year.

wineguy

Andrew,

Awesome story, and excellent pics. Sounds like fun.

moosehunter21

That is quite the animal...I wanna hunt them one time.

HAZCON7

Great Story - sounds like a LOT of fun!!!