bonecollector10
New member
Well as the title says bull down. I was very fortunate to draw a tag here in Alberta for one of the last remaining free range herds here in my home province. Because the number of the herd isnt substantially high tags are very limited and are based on a lottery system with chances of drawing below 1%. Needless to say I was very fortunate and lucky to be able to chase this great animal.
The amount of preperation that goes into this hunt is like none other. The zone where the bison call home is at the top left corner of Alberta bordering the NWT and BC. After months of preparation, tweaking and more preparation we were off to chase North Americas biggest land mammal. The season opened up January 1st and legal light was shortly after 9AM. We arrived a few days early and scouted religiously throughout the whole country side. Its very thick up there, huge trees with bush and muskeg but we found a small herd right away, 6 cows and 2 calves. Not what we were looking for but the sight of wild bison brought our spirits up. After talking with some locals we were given a tip of a rather big herd close to town. We later found the herd of about 30 bison with 3 good bulls within.
We put the herd to bed and scouted another area the following day to see if we couldnt find anything else. With no luck we decided we should head back to the big herd and see if we couldnt watch them until dark. Luckily they were still within the area so we spotted the bulls once more, examined the country side for any possible outcomes and came up with several plans depending on the scenario. Well that night was probably one of the worst sleeps of my life, the tossing and turning, all the emotions I was going through I was up for 5 AM. I woke up to find my two friends awake as well, the excitement in that room was like we were going to game 7. We drove off in the dark well before legal shooting light arrived at our take off point and got prepared. We stalked to our ambush sight and arrived about an hour early so we sat waiting for the sun to come up. You can imagine how long that hour took. As the time slowly approached I was constantly reminded from my friends 15 minutes, 13 minutes, 10 minutes.... I nearly vommited from excitement. Well the time was now, we eased into a good vantage point and for some reason my friend was infront of me and as he crested the hill he stopped dead in his tracks and my heart sank. I knew what that meant "Theyre there". Now remember January 1st in Alberta is no forgiving time, nevermind northern Alberta when theres 3' of snow. So I started sweating instantly. As I slowly peeped over the hill the opening was polluted with big brown shaggy animals. I found the bull instantly but his vitals were covered by a cow so wait some more. And anyone whos hunted knows how long these seconds last... Finally the whole herd decides to move towards a bush no man dare enter.
As the herd filed away one by one I was seeing my chance at a good bull slowly slipping away when for no apparent reason the last bison of the herd which luckily was the bull stopped walking turned broadside and starred in my direction as the last remaining cow filed passed him. After months and months of preparation, practicing and studying the bison anatomy the moment has come and the cool morning air is rudely interrupted by the sound of my 7mm. Yet no reaction? The words "give em another one" are ringing in my ears from the two spectators so off it goes, no reaction? "Give em another one" so there goes the final bullet in hopes of connecting. The bull rears up as much as a bison can and runs around a corner. "Good shot good shot!" my buddies are yelling. At this point adrenaline takes over and bulldoze my way through this thigh deep snow to round the bend of this bush and what a sight to see. A mature bison laying no more then 100 yards from where I hit him.
After a few hugs, high fives and numerous texts the real work began. We were up to the bull at 930AM and were completely done at quarter passed 4. After inspecting the carcass we found out all three shots hit the bison, one took out the top plumbing of his heart, one ripped through both lungs and the final one took out about half of his esophagus. What a powerful animal.The amount of work and preparation that goes into this hunt is well worth it. The only thing you must bring is 2 dumb friends willing to help.
Just to give you an idea of how big they are, the last picture shows his entire body and Im 6 feet 220
God Bless
The amount of preperation that goes into this hunt is like none other. The zone where the bison call home is at the top left corner of Alberta bordering the NWT and BC. After months of preparation, tweaking and more preparation we were off to chase North Americas biggest land mammal. The season opened up January 1st and legal light was shortly after 9AM. We arrived a few days early and scouted religiously throughout the whole country side. Its very thick up there, huge trees with bush and muskeg but we found a small herd right away, 6 cows and 2 calves. Not what we were looking for but the sight of wild bison brought our spirits up. After talking with some locals we were given a tip of a rather big herd close to town. We later found the herd of about 30 bison with 3 good bulls within.
We put the herd to bed and scouted another area the following day to see if we couldnt find anything else. With no luck we decided we should head back to the big herd and see if we couldnt watch them until dark. Luckily they were still within the area so we spotted the bulls once more, examined the country side for any possible outcomes and came up with several plans depending on the scenario. Well that night was probably one of the worst sleeps of my life, the tossing and turning, all the emotions I was going through I was up for 5 AM. I woke up to find my two friends awake as well, the excitement in that room was like we were going to game 7. We drove off in the dark well before legal shooting light arrived at our take off point and got prepared. We stalked to our ambush sight and arrived about an hour early so we sat waiting for the sun to come up. You can imagine how long that hour took. As the time slowly approached I was constantly reminded from my friends 15 minutes, 13 minutes, 10 minutes.... I nearly vommited from excitement. Well the time was now, we eased into a good vantage point and for some reason my friend was infront of me and as he crested the hill he stopped dead in his tracks and my heart sank. I knew what that meant "Theyre there". Now remember January 1st in Alberta is no forgiving time, nevermind northern Alberta when theres 3' of snow. So I started sweating instantly. As I slowly peeped over the hill the opening was polluted with big brown shaggy animals. I found the bull instantly but his vitals were covered by a cow so wait some more. And anyone whos hunted knows how long these seconds last... Finally the whole herd decides to move towards a bush no man dare enter.
As the herd filed away one by one I was seeing my chance at a good bull slowly slipping away when for no apparent reason the last bison of the herd which luckily was the bull stopped walking turned broadside and starred in my direction as the last remaining cow filed passed him. After months and months of preparation, practicing and studying the bison anatomy the moment has come and the cool morning air is rudely interrupted by the sound of my 7mm. Yet no reaction? The words "give em another one" are ringing in my ears from the two spectators so off it goes, no reaction? "Give em another one" so there goes the final bullet in hopes of connecting. The bull rears up as much as a bison can and runs around a corner. "Good shot good shot!" my buddies are yelling. At this point adrenaline takes over and bulldoze my way through this thigh deep snow to round the bend of this bush and what a sight to see. A mature bison laying no more then 100 yards from where I hit him.
After a few hugs, high fives and numerous texts the real work began. We were up to the bull at 930AM and were completely done at quarter passed 4. After inspecting the carcass we found out all three shots hit the bison, one took out the top plumbing of his heart, one ripped through both lungs and the final one took out about half of his esophagus. What a powerful animal.The amount of work and preparation that goes into this hunt is well worth it. The only thing you must bring is 2 dumb friends willing to help.
Just to give you an idea of how big they are, the last picture shows his entire body and Im 6 feet 220
God Bless
