Custer State Park SD Bison Hunt

[MNHunter]

Wow they almost doubled the fee to $3250! I missed the deadline and my biggest gripe is they keep changing the application dates. in 2014 it was July-Aug, in 2015 it was Nov - Dec, in 2016 it was October and not they moved it to August.

 

[1_pointer]

Wow they almost doubled the fee to $3250! I missed the deadline and my biggest gripe is they keep changing the application dates. in 2014 it was July-Aug, in 2015 it was Nov - Dec, in 2016 it was October and not they moved it to August.

I didn't realize the fee had gotten that high. At that price, any future non-trophy bison hunts I do will be on a ranch.

 

[robie]

Unless things have changed since I went a few years back, the park doesn't have a "butcher" or "taxidermist". They will transport them to a nearby processor and/or taxidermist of your choosing for a fee, which varies depending on how far away it is. IIRC when I checked with the local processors, they were running about $3/pound for a cut/wrap of a skinned carcass with shipping on top of that. At least for me, it didn't pencil out especially once I found a guy to cut/grind/wrap the whole shebang for $150!

Ahh ok. So they recommend people to use but charge you to take it to them. Do they have a place for me to skin it and breakdown the meat? $150 seems like a hell of a deal to work on about 300 pounds of meat.

At $3 a pound that's $900 to cut and wrap then I'm curious what they charge to ship it. Driving is looking more and more like my only real option.

 

[robie]

I didn't realize the fee had gotten that high. At that price, any future non-trophy bison hunts I do will be on a ranch.

I was a little irritated to see they increased it that much. I won't be applying again for bison in SD.

 

[MNHunter]

Ahh ok. So they recommend people to use but charge you to take it to them. Do they have a place for me to skin it and breakdown the meat? $150 seems like a hell of a deal to work on about 300 pounds of meat.

At $3 a pound that's $900 to cut and wrap then I'm curious what they charge to ship it. Driving is looking more and more like my only real option.

Its going to be very expensive. I can't recall exactly what I paid to ship my elk meat home from AZ but it was many hundreds of dollars. Best bet is driving for sure.

 

[MNHunter]

I didn't realize the fee had gotten that high. At that price, any future non-trophy bison hunts I do will be on a ranch.

Yeah. At $3k I'm out. Pretty bummed about that too.

 

[1_pointer]

Ahh ok. So they recommend people to use but charge you to take it to them. Do they have a place for me to skin it and breakdown the meat? $150 seems like a hell of a deal to work on about 300 pounds of meat.

At $3 a pound that's $900 to cut and wrap then I'm curious what they charge to ship it. Driving is looking more and more like my only real option.

They do have a place to hang it for skinning, both inside and outside. IIRC, shipping was going to be about what it cost to process. Unless you are just totally adverse to the drive, I'd say drive. I guess you could fly up and rent a truck for the return trip. Probably wouldn't be any cheaper than driving both ways, but would be faster.

 

[robie]

They do have a place to hang it for skinning, both inside and outside. IIRC, shipping was going to be about what it cost to process. Unless you are just totally adverse to the drive, I'd say drive. I guess you could fly up and rent a truck for the return trip. Probably wouldn't be any cheaper than driving both ways, but would be faster.

I'm leaning towards flying up and driving home at this point. I asked for a Friday hunt so hopefully they are OK with that. I'll just have to hit walmart up for some coolers.

 

[1_pointer]

I have a covered bed in my fake truck, so I just threw the quarters on a tarp and drove. Temps were more than amendable to keeping the meat cool. You'll either need some really big coolers or have to bone the meat as I don't think the a quarter would fit in my 120qt cooler. They are big, even the cows.

Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr

 

[Garymc]

I have really enjoyed reading all of everybody's experiences. I too drew a non trophy bull for this year. I will be driving from WV about 22 hours each way. I'm hoping for a mid week date as my wife and I plan on making a week of it in the park and surrounding area minus two days each way for travel. I built a cooler a few years back for a western Colorado elk hunt and it worked great with 300lbs of cut/wrapped meat with dry ice for the two day 26 hour trip home.
For you guys that have been on the Custer hunt what are some things you did for the trip that worked well and what things would you do different if you went again?

 

[1_pointer]

Please note that for the non-trophy tags I personally put quotation marks around "hunt"...

Just make sure you can shoot to 150yds and I'd suggest a premium bullet and/or a heavy for caliber bullet. Take a tripod for the camera. Only thing I would have done different is have more time off to enjoy the surroundings more. Mine was pretty much of bomb there and bomb back kind of deal.

If you want the meat cut/wrapped before you leave please check with the processors early. One(s) I contacted wanted to hang/age them for 7 days before processing. I didn't have that kind of time and shipping was too expensive.

 

[Garymc]

Thank you for the information. It looks like I will be bringing my meat back to WV for processing as I won't have that kind of time either.

 

[SFC B]

Here is another option....and you can combine it with a WT hunt pretty reasonably too!!!

https://www.thebisonranch.com/book

 

[robie]

I have a covered bed in my fake truck, so I just threw the quarters on a tarp and drove. Temps were more than amendable to keeping the meat cool. You'll either need some really big coolers or have to bone the meat as I don't think the a quarter would fit in my 120qt cooler. They are big, even the cows.

Is this the facility the let you use to clean the animal? Looks like a nice place. I may buy a new knives for this job.

 

[Dakota79]

I do Buffalo hunts in Northwest South Dakota if anybody would like to pick my brain on how to get meat back home and whatnot. Feel free to give me a shout if you would like recommendations.

 

[1_pointer]

Is this the facility the let you use to clean the animal? Looks like a nice place. I may buy a new knives for this job.

Yes. It was WINDY that day, so we took it to the processing plant on the park. (They used to process and sell both bison and elk from the park!). We (the guide and I) skinned it and he halved it with that big a$$ saw. The next morning we cut it into 4 pieces and threw them in my truck.

 

[JohnCushman]

Here is another option....and you can combine it with a WT hunt pretty reasonably too!!!

https://www.thebisonranch.com/book

Thanks for the link. This seems like a more feasible option, especially combined with bird and deer hunting in a package.

 

[SFC B]

Thanks for the link. This seems like a more feasible option, especially combined with bird and deer hunting in a package.

Hey Cush, let me know if you consider this....I think they give group discounts and it would be something I would definitely think about

 

[JohnCushman]

Hey Cush, let me know if you consider this....I think they give group discounts and it would be something I would definitely think about

I'm not rich like you with E7 retirement pay....I'll have to save up towards it for a year or so

 

[SFC B]

I'm not rich like you with E7 retirement pay....I'll have to save up towards it for a year or so

I am still putting kids through college so it will be a savings thing for me too.....we should start planning though, maybe get a couple others to go with!!