yotebuster

Truehunter, I hope you're right about it pushing the buffalo onto the kaibab if they do a hunt. My worry is that it will push them deeper into the park. That stuff is so thick that they can disappear into it like ghosts. I think lethal methods on the park will be the worst thing that could happen to a sport hunter. Maybe it will push them off but there's a whole lot of park in there for them to disappear to. The "hunt" itself on the park won't be that, they may even do a lottery of volunteers to shoot but it won't be a hunt. They'll shoot only young of year and you won't be allowed to even approach the downed animal. They will hire packers to come in and haul them out and donate the meat. This is how previous culls on national parks have gone and likely how this one will go. I was reallly hoping they would fence the water sources on the park and it would push them off. They were half done with the big one just inside the park in the meadow when my hunt ended, not sure if they got it done or not. Sorry to hear you didn't kill. I'm in the same boat. I'm debating about buying points again or not. I'm a sucker for preference points so I may in hopes things change someday but we'll see.

This is what I wish I had done. I invested some serious time and money in this hunt and although I'm glad I did it and I learn as much from unsuccessful hunts as I do successful ones I wish I woulda waited the situation out and saved my money on it. That being said I think the hunt that is currently going on is going to be the best one in years and will likely be the last good bull hunt as if they decide to cull them on the park it will make it that much harder to find a buffalo off the park when the total population is 80 buffalo instead of 800.

It seems that simple from a distance but there are more or less salts in every single saddle leading off the park. There are no trails or crossings that don't already have a salt. There is no fence left really. You can see the posts occasionally but there is nothing to funnel them. On top of that, they have absolutely no reason to leave the park except to salt, which brings us back around to the salts being in almost all natural areas that a bison may use. It's really a pretty small area where any and all bison activity occurs.

At first this would seem like a really good deal and it is depending on your perspective. Where it gets tough is that more or less in exchange for working with them, you give up some of your freedom to go wander the woods and truly "hunt". This is why all of us hunt, because we can go out and do our thing how we want and not listen to what anyone else says or does. That element is removed in this case. Does that suck? Yep. Is the current way the best and likely only way to kill bison. Most likely. I'm not arguing for or against it but I am a firm believer that this system is the best way to maximize tag success. It's definitely not for everyone and it sounds like the OP is in that boat, and so am I. I just wanted to make sure everyone saw both perspectives on it. The one thing that I will adamantly disagree with the OP on is that they are stupid animals. There are places all over the country where you can see 200" Muleys and 400" bulls eat out of bird feeders in back yards but that doesn't mean they are stupid. On the contrary it means they are smart as heck. It means they know where they are safe and where they aren't. It means that they are smart enough to overcome their innate fear of humans to live in an area swamped with them because they are smart enough to know they can't be hunted by those very humans. The buffalo are no different. They need salt, that is the one and only reason they ever cross that line, they also know that they're gonna run a good chance of getting killed while being over there or they would just stay there. A big lone old bison bull is the smartest animal I've ever had the chance to hunt. I've killed more bull elk then I can count on both hands, big muley bucks, more big eastern white tails then I can count and even some coues (the next smartest!) and the mind games and nocturnal nature of them really got the best of me. It sounds like the OP spent more time inside the park then inside the blind and the season is still going, it's dry, hot and the bulls are moving into the herds of "dumb" cows. If they were that stupid I would urge him to get up there and shoot a big old ten year old bull real quick while he's still got a few days of season left.

I hear you for sure. I don't think things will ever change up there. If they established a new population on the house rock maybe, but I have a feeling those buffalo would get smart quick and head up top as well. With the exception of Henry mountains, I don't think there's really any free range bison hunts that you don't have to wait on the them to come off some type of closed area. Kind of an oxymoron that the "free range" hunts require that and the fenced hunts are the only ones where you can actually pursue a buffalo!

I guess there's two sides to every story so I'll throw mine in there. I had the June 1-15 hunt and hired Russ to guide me. I was coming from out of state and all of my buddies and family had commitments so I knew I needed help if not guiding then atleast physically taking care of a buffalo if I got one. It's extremely expensive for me to bring all my camp gear and food down from ND so the outfitted end of it was a no brainer. Long story short, I hunted the entire 10 days sitting the blind all day every day (140hrs total) and did not have a chance to harvest a buffalo. There were two guided hunters of the 12, one harvested and 1 did not. There were 12 total tags and 6 harvested. 50/50 no matter if you went guided or not. Brian Myers was my guide and was the hardest working guide I've ever seen. The guy truly cares about each and every hunter whether they're guided or not. When one of the non paying hunters would kill he was the first one there to show them the cuts to make on their capes and get them started on the meat. One hunter killed and Brian went in and made the cuts for them, packed a steak and a quarter out, then returned in a couple hours to see they were clearly struggling, and helped them with the rest and packed out another quarter and some neck meat. He packed out over half of their buffalo and didn't expect nor receive a nickel. People can flame Jacoby if they want, I for one did not get to spend a considerable amount of time with him so I guess I can't weigh in much on a personal level, but Brian Myers is one of the finest people I've ever had the chance of getting to know. In the 140 hours of sitting in the blind I began calculating the amount of gear that Russ supplies for all hunters, paying or not. They had atleast 15 radios so all hunters could stay in contact in case someone killed. I don't know much about those commercial radios but I'm sure they aren't less then $200 each. They have atleast 20 or more salts. Each has a camera (some with bear boxes) let's say $150 each. There's a primos blind at each with a chaise lounge chair (you sit AAAALLLL day). Another $250+$75. That's $12,500 worth of gear alone that is there for all hunters to use. Anyone who's run cams or put out blinds knows that the fuel,batteries, cards and time cost double every year then what the gear costs. Brian would get up at 3am each morning to go check the meadow near the gate for buffalo. If they are there he rounds everyone up to go after them. He then drops off hunters and spends the day hiking in to check cams. All day. If anyone gets lucky, he helps them out. It gets dark up there about 8:30 and he doesn't get back to the trailer till 9. Honestly not sure how the guy does it as it wiped me out after 10 days. He truly has a passion for buffalo and wants every hunter to be successful. Is the system perfect? Absolutely not. In a perfect world the buffalo would be spread out in the whole plateau and we could all hunt where we wanted. Unfortunately that's not how it works. Those buffalo are EXTREMELY smart. The salt I sat had two bulls hitting it at night every 4th or 5th day. I did have a run in one am at daylight sneaking in. Every morning there were deer on the salt and I was able to sneak in and could easily have killed every deer every morning. The morning the buff were on there, I had the slightest breeze hit my neck as I was trying to get a clear shot and they blew out. If they get any pressure they are gone. Those bulls never came back after that. I sat it until the last hour of the last night and never saw another. Am I bitter at the other hunters who killed? Absolutely not! Would I do the hunt again? Probably not, it's not my style of hunting and it's a bit tough realizing that you are powerless to the whims of those buffalo and the park boundary. Am I glad I did the hunt. Absolutely. I learned my limits not so much physically but mentally. Someday I'll draw another free range tag or shoot one on a big ranch somewhere and can atleast feel like I earned my buffalo! It is a completely different hunt then anyone will have ever been on but rewarding in it's own way. If you want a dead buffalo go to Raymond ranch. As far as Russ and how he runs things, in my opinion they are doing the best they can to kill the most buffalo they can. They aren't getting rich doing it, id doubt if they're much over breaking even to be honest but one thing I can assure you is if they just had a free for all and everyone drove up and down the boundary roads they would not shoot any buffalo, paid hunters or not. They definitely need to find a better way, but with the cards that are dealt right now I think it's the best that can be done. I don't know how the whole second hunt went down. I do know that the bulls were moving into the cows, the new moon was coming in and the park service was starting to fence the water so it should have been a dynamite hunt but that being said those things are unpredictable and a buffalo is gonna do what they're gonna do. I met most all of the hunters on the first hunt and I don't think there's a single one of the 12 that would have anything but good things to say about the whole operation but maybe they'll chime in?

I try not to.

Pulled off a 61 tag with only 7 points! Definitely not expecting it! Kaibab buffalo, Montana Shiras moose, NM unit 17 antelope, Montana limited entry mule deer, and now one of the best WY antelope tags! The drawing gods have smiled on me in 2017!!!

I see what you did there.

You part of the Reeder crew? I acquired an SW in 356 GNR second hand years ago. To this day it's my favorite pistol!!

18 points for me for elk and deer!! Wish I had that many in ANY other state then CO!!!

With inflation even a poor deal in 2006 would be a good one now!!

Dang. Just bought one off cabelas.

Thanks for pointing that out. I'd want the first one personally. It's not too hot up there that time of year and you'd have first crack at them.

Isn't it a late October or a late December hunt in there? The December hunt is obviously gonna be considerable better as they'll be starting to rut but also considerably harder to draw.

By the pictures yes they are, smoking deal Change the title to say HD and they'll be gone tomorrow.

That's where I got mine. Something about more then two axles and the price goes through the roof. No wonder I didn't see any semis on it!

I got one for $90 for pulling my boat on the toll road that goes around Denver just passing through one time.

Son. Of. A. Biscuit.

This is too cool! Kudos to you and him!! I'm in ND but would gladly ship my stuff down in the future if we can make it work. Nothing in the freezer as of now though.

Me and 8-10 of my buddies are looking for a good coues spot as well if anyone has one. Preferably in one of the leftover units and would like an area with no snakes and 110" bucks. Also looking for a good spot for OTC elk for myself and several of my friends. Not looking for huge bulls, 330+ would be good though.

This ^. It's a violation of federal law. In ND they killed off most of the elk in Theodore Roosevelt national park a few years back. They did use private hunters through a draw but they shot yearlings only and you couldn't touch them as they hired packers with horses to haul them out. I'm guessing this will go the same way. I'm hoping they fence off the water holes and haze them a bit first cuz I've got a tag in a couple weeks!!

Not quite 15 pounds but you could tie two together?

150's shot extremely well out of my 7mm STW. Killed probably 40-50 critters with them and they perform awesome. Twice the bullet as an accubond in my opinion if you can get them to shoot out of your gun, use them.

I still can't see the pic