Hello everyone, sorry this has take a bit to gather together. I thought I would post some thoughts about the upcoming draw. I did have a great hunt and out of the 3 areas available it worked for me. I partnered up with a friend, Mark Slone, and we did all right! I just wanted to thank everyone who took time and shared information. Your experiences were confirmed. I will be posting a story here and I have submitted pictures with a write up to Hunting Fool magazine.
Mark and I had a simple approach to avoid the drama and for the most part it worked. It took me 16 days and Mark, 30 days, to harvest. Dave's rifle did well on both! The hunt itself proved to be a different experience and like nothing I thought it would be. There was no forcing success. Bison are big of which I would have been terribly under resourced with out the help of Mark's brothers, Kevin Wilson and Dean Dunaway. Dean proved to be a consummate professional and remained helpful for over 30 days providing updated information and locations for us to use. Frankly, give Dean a call.
I am thankful I don't have to do it again, but I would if I could as I never wanted to shoot out of an enclosure. The GC NPS Enforcement was helpful each time they were called and like AZ GFD very aware of the previous issues during this hunt of which feed back was given. Per GC NPS biologist, another capture is coming up in September. It is my understanding that the goal is to manage the herd at 200 animals and current estimates are 330. Good news for bull hunters is that they are not good candidates for relocation due to size.