Alberta Bison Hunt

[CrisPbacon]

Not on relm yet, just checked.

[GrandSlam]

It’s on RELM now.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by GrandSlam

It’s on RELM now.

You are correct, Sir!

[CBintheNorth]

Originally Posted by alder

Whooohooo. This is great news. How many tags?

Looks like 40.
Guessing odds of being drawn will be 0.2 - 0.3%

Good luck to everyone!!

[DirtShooter]

entered!

[HyperMOA]

Being drawn for the 2012 hunt was the greatest adventure ever. Good luck to you all.

[Pasc43]

Very cool. What are the logistics around a hunt like this. Seems like very little road or even trail access. Snowmobiles?

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by Pasc43

Very cool. What are the logistics around a hunt like this. Seems like very little road or even trail access. Snowmobiles?

Really good question.

Need to be prepared for extremely cold weather and deep snow.

...and when you get one of those beasts down, well, then you get a real appreciation for how big and heavy those things are!

[alder]

Originally Posted by CBintheNorth

Looks like 40.
Guessing odds of being drawn will be 0.2 - 0.3%

Good luck to everyone!!

It’s great. I’m happy for whomever gets it. I never thought we’d see it again.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by alder

It’s great. I’m happy for whomever gets it. I never thought we’d see it again.

[HyperMOA]

Originally Posted by Stinky Buffalo

Really good question.

Need to be prepared for extremely cold weather and deep snow.

...and when you get one of those beasts down, well, then you get a real appreciation for how big and heavy those things are!

With very few resources closer than High Level.

[Big Grey Wolf]

The around dozen Major fires in NW Alberta have probably scattered bison. May be a tough hunt trying to locate them this year. Some fires are still 'Out of control' and over 50 miles long.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Good point, BGW. That will likely be a significant factor this year.

[leeelmer]

Went with a buddy a few years back.
Besides the drive it was the easiest hunt I have ever been on.
We were prepared for stupid cold, and deep snow, brought two sleds.
Day one, driving in, found the herd beside the road.
Got out, walked into the ditch, he shot a nice younger bull.
The herd took off, we went the 20 yards out in the snow were about to start the big job of gutting him.
Picker truck came along, stopped and asked us, if we wanted them to pick it up with the picker to gut and load him.
Yup we said.
35 min later it was loaded up in the truck, and we were on the long road home.
Sent the guy a emt for $500 for the help(he didn;t know we were going to do that)
He rejected the emt, and said he was happy to do it, and was super cool to see one that close.
Though I believe this was a one off experience, and not the norm. It was the way this went down for us.

[HyperMOA]

Originally Posted by leeelmer

Went with a buddy a few years back.
Besides the drive it was the easiest hunt I have ever been on.
We were prepared for stupid cold, and deep snow, brought two sleds.
Day one, driving in, found the herd beside the road.
Got out, walked into the ditch, he shot a nice younger bull.
The herd took off, we went the 20 yards out in the snow were about to start the big job of gutting him.
Picker truck came along, stopped and asked us, if we wanted them to pick it up with the picker to gut and load him.
Yup we said.
35 min later it was loaded up in the truck, and we were on the long road home.
Sent the guy a emt for $500 for the help(he didn;t know we were going to do that)
He rejected the emt, and said he was happy to do it, and was super cool to see one that close.
Though I believe this was a one off experience, and not the norm. It was the way this went down for us.

Imagine to complete polar opposite, then make it a few degrees harder; that was what it was to get my bison in 2012. Never worked so hard for an animal.

My brother and I still regard it as our greatest adventure together. A tale that is fondly told.

[Lunkerhunter]

Originally Posted by HyperMOA

Imagine to complete polar opposite, then make it a few degrees harder; that was what it was to get my bison in 2012. Never worked so hard for an animal.

My brother and I still regard it as our greatest adventure together. A tale that is fondly told.

Well now I’m captivated. Please elaborate!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lunkerhunter]

Originally Posted by leeelmer

Went with a buddy a few years back.
Besides the drive it was the easiest hunt I have ever been on.
We were prepared for stupid cold, and deep snow, brought two sleds.
Day one, driving in, found the herd beside the road.
Got out, walked into the ditch, he shot a nice younger bull.
The herd took off, we went the 20 yards out in the snow were about to start the big job of gutting him.
Picker truck came along, stopped and asked us, if we wanted them to pick it up with the picker to gut and load him.
Yup we said.
35 min later it was loaded up in the truck, and we were on the long road home.
Sent the guy a emt for $500 for the help(he didn;t know we were going to do that)
He rejected the emt, and said he was happy to do it, and was super cool to see one that close.
Though I believe this was a one off experience, and not the norm. It was the way this went down for us.

Gotta love when it goes down like that!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ghfalls]

Pretty awesome to hear two polar opposites of how the hunt could go.
Cheers and best of luck to the lottery winners

[Patchrat]

I'm not putting in for it, but I was daydreaming the minute I finished reading the email. I'm thinking at a bare minimum you would want an enclosed trailer you wouldn't mind sleeping in, a generator, a snowmobile with a good sled behind, a solid supply of fuel, and enough cold weather gear to make it difficult to move. Then drive through Zama and offload the sled any where you found fresh tracks and get after it. Years ago I was sledding for work up in the Chinchaga at -40, and it was an excercise in suffering.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by leeelmer

Went with a buddy a few years back.
Besides the drive it was the easiest hunt I have ever been on.
We were prepared for stupid cold, and deep snow, brought two sleds.
Day one, driving in, found the herd beside the road.
Got out, walked into the ditch, he shot a nice younger bull.
The herd took off, we went the 20 yards out in the snow were about to start the big job of gutting him.
Picker truck came along, stopped and asked us, if we wanted them to pick it up with the picker to gut and load him.
Yup we said.
35 min later it was loaded up in the truck, and we were on the long road home.
Sent the guy a emt for $500 for the help(he didn;t know we were going to do that)
He rejected the emt, and said he was happy to do it, and was super cool to see one that close.
Though I believe this was a one off experience, and not the norm. It was the way this went down for us.

Wow, our hunt was a slog, super cold, deep snow, and windy, got two down at 4pm or so and had both animals back to the road 3:30 am.

Ran into a guide who had a client and a sled, even with his sled and expertise it was no easy tasking, my father in laws bull went B&C....huge!

The skull sits proudly on one of his gun safes and the hide lays on the floor in front of the fire place.

Good luck hope it comes easy for those drawn but be prepared for the worse.

[Dewey Cox]

How many hides do you think you'd need to make a long coat?

[Pikes"R"us]

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

How many hides do you think you'd need to make a long coat?

It all depends on the size of the animals. Most of the time it would take 2 good skins. When you get into making garments you also have to start taking into account colour matching of the skins.

[Hunter3006]

Anyone give any thought to what calibre you will use if drawn for a bison tag?

[Dubious]

338 lapua from Alberta tactical latest sticker sale should do the trick. Just have to wind both draws now.

[dave99]

Originally Posted by Hunter3006

Anyone give any thought to what calibre you will use if drawn for a bison tag?

As I recall, it was .308 caliber or larger, although my memory is a bit fuzzy. Anything in the 308, 30.06, .300 win mag etc. or greater was allowed.

I would use my 30.06 with a stout 180gr bullet like a partition and not worry.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by dave99

As I recall, it was .308 caliber or larger, although my memory is a bit fuzzy. Anything in the 308, 30.06, .300 win mag etc. or greater was allowed.

I would use my 30.06 with a stout 180gr bullet like a partition and not worry.

It's total stupidity, but you can use a 30-06, but not 28 Nosler, or 7mmRUM with a monometal bullet.

[Patchrat]

Originally Posted by Hunter3006

Anyone give any thought to what calibre you will use if drawn for a bison tag?

From my experience of culling our domestics, 7 rem mag will work just fine, but 35 Whelan works better. Either way, they're kinda like moose where they take quite a while to bleed out regardless of how good your shot placement is with anything but a perfect brain shot.

[walking buffalo]

While it would not be my first choice for this hunt as I have options, I've killed dozens of Buffalo with a 257 Bob.
They are not hard to kill, but they certainly are more likely to stay on their feet longer than most hunters have the nerves for.

Most important is shot placement, and then patience to give the beast time to die.
Multiple quick shots are more likely to make the animal or herd run than just one.
Be patient if you are confident with the shot.

Know the skeletal structure.
That spine runs much lower on the front half than most think.
Aim for the heart, watch for the electrified shake, and wait for it to fall in place.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

Know the skeletal structure.
That spine runs much lower on the front half than most think.
Aim for the heart, watch for the electrified shake, and wait for it to fall in place.

The point about the spine position is a really good one, WB!

From https://wildlife.utah.gov/bisonhunting.html:

Aim for the heart/lung area, which is slightly above and behind the bison's front leg. It gives you the best chance at a clean kill because the organs are large and easier to hit. (The photo illustrates where the heart and lungs are positioned within a bison.) The most common mistake in shot placement is shooting above the heart or lungs. Don't aim too high. In comparison to other big game animals, that area is much larger on a bison and results in an increased likelihood of wounding loss.

[bobjoe]

I got drawn in 2014 and harvested a 5-6 yo bull. Weight 2200lbs. We had two trucks, bumper pull camper, flat deck and snowmobile with lots of propane and extra fuel. Camper burned 20-30lbs a day to keep us from freezing, had to heat the tanks to have them work. Fortunately we ended up finding them right beside the road. Still took me 8 hours to cape it for a shoulder mount and gut, load.

Day time temp was -40. Still hard to work in gloves. I didn’t use them when I could stand it. Several times I put my hands in the cavity to warm up, worked well.

We we got the tag it came with a booklet about identifying the males as they are the primary group they want harvested. Book said 180gr .30 cal at 2800-3000fps range aka 30-06 as the minimum. Took my .338 wm. And a backup of a .375 h&h just incase we were in thicker bush but never needed it.

Round trip of close to 18 hours of driving. Best hunting experience of my life. I would do it again in a heart beat. But I would need to buy another snowmobile again just incase.

Pic in this thread http://outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=238270

A picker truck sure would have been nice…..