I was blessed to kill a huge cow with a Companion tag on the west side in 2008. Those buffalo are so spooky that there's no way any buffalo Guide would push for 4 straight months of nonstop buffalo hunting pressure. I killed mine on the first day and as soon as my gun went off, the herd bee-lined it for the park. The next year, we had another friend draw the tag and the night before the hunt, my dad accidentally got winded by the herd and they did the exact same thing. 2 miles in a straight line over night.
This new set-up is a bummer. I don't think It's a money deal as far as game and fish. I think It's the park service pressuring g&f to do this. And It's actually pushing the buffalo even further into the park due to the pressure. And what they really need to focus their efforts on is the wild burros ruining sheep habitat, and not a neat little herd of truely wild Buffalo. Something that is extremely rare today, and a cool story of conservation.