Bison!

[gitano]

Along with the whitetail, a classic American game animal.

Paul

[gitano]

With the addition of this bison, I wuz thinking about "classic American game animals". I have been fortunate enough to collect most of them. One glaringly missing is the ELK!

Here's the list:
Bison - :D
Moose
Caribou
Black bear
Coastal Brown Bear
Grizzly Bear
Rocky Mountain Goat
Dall Sheep
Whitetail Deer
Mule Deer
Blacktail Deer
Pronghorned Antelope
Wolf (trapped)
Turkey
Wolverine (trapped)

"Missing"
Bighorn Sheep - Very unlikely that is going to happen.
ELK! - Can't say I haven't tried!
Polar Bear - Couldn't  happen since 1972. :frown
Musk Ox - Not likely
Alligator - Not likely, but possible.

The bison was a 'bucket list' sort of animal as it is so difficult to get access/permission. I suppose the only one left within reason is the elk. Gonna hafta get one of those one of these days.


Paul

[Jamie.270]

I will not shoot another bison unless it is in the processor's yard.

 Paul

Thinking more about this,....


It's almost epitaph worthy.
It would certainly make a good sig line.

[gitano]

I think the "right" way to take a wild, free-ranging bison is to have 'transportation' from the kill site worked out before the hunt. We were very fortunate to have had the front-loader available. Second, you should have 'disassembly' planned a priori. We were very rushed by the late hour and the need to be on the road early. Third, you need a place to butcher and process. I think we could have taken this bull straight to a meat processor in Delta Junction, but I shudder to think what the cost would have been, plus the requirement to return to DJ to get the meat.

Knowing what I know now is useless, (except the marginal value to another hunter), as I won't be able to even apply again for 10 years.

Paul

[Jamie.270]

I think the "right" way to take a wild, free-ranging bison is to have 'transportation' from the kill site worked out before the hunt. We were very fortunate to have had the front-loader available. Second, you should have 'disassembly' planned a priori. We were very rushed by the late hour and the need to be on the road early. Third, you need a place to butcher and process. I think we could have taken this bull straight to a meat processor in Delta Junction, but I shudder to think what the cost would have been, plus the requirement to return to DJ to get the meat.

Knowing what I know now is useless, (except the marginal value to another hunter), as I won't be able to even apply again for 10 years.

Paul

I'm really kind of surprised the ADF&G don't make a point of letting hunters know about this in the orientation process, so that tag holders would be a little more aware/prepared.

Would they have allowed you to leave the gutpile if you had wanted to process it in the field and dismember it there?

Or would the landowner have?

[gitano]

F&G does as good a job expressing the 'seriousness' of the task as one could expect. However, there are two wrinkles in that 'solution':
1) F&G exaggerates the severity of EVERYTHING. In fact, EVERY gov't agency does. The sky is going to fall; civilization as we know it is going to end; etc. So that when it's actually TRUE, few of us believe them.
2) Those of us that have killed and carried and processed 1200lb moose aren't 'impressed' with the thought of a 1200lb or so, bison. "Meh. I've done that." Trouble is, 1200lb and four guys isn't 1500 lb and one guy. (Once I got it home.)

The front-loader was a God-send. Having his shop to skin and de-head the beast was a God-send. The farmer's boys said we could have gutted it in his shop, but I REALLY didn't feel comfortable doing that. We took the head and both front quarters off in the shop so it would fit in the back of my truck. It was essentially 'live weight' when it got in my driveway. I had to "deal with it" at that point. Off and on, it poured rain. I had to work around the guts until I could get the weight down to something remotely manageable. When it would start raining, I had to cover with a tarp and wait for it to stop. I couldn't carry the front quarters more than about 10 feet. The hind quarters were too much to move without jerry-rigging something. The head and hide were immovable and required considerable machinations to move. Had he been gut-shot, I'd have lost a lot of meat.

The only requirement by the farmer was that we leave no bones in the field. We could have gutted the beast in the field BUT... At the time of the kill, I wasn't absolutely certain it wasn't shot in the gut at least once, and 1) I wanted the bullets if they were in there, and 2) I wanted the liver. (I didn't get the liver anyway because it stayed with the guts for too long.) My job would have been considerably easier had we gotten one earlier than the last night at dark. Also, I assume those that are willing to pay $2000 for a trespass fee aren't too concerned about forking over the cash to drop the animal off at the meat processor in DJ. (Also not concerned with the waste those guys perpetrate!)

So.... I would not accuse F&G of failing to attempt to impress people with the magnitude of the job. I would greatly thank the farmer for all he DID do! We had no agreement with him beyond trespass. (He did get $400 for his efforts though.) F&G has no requirements regarding gutpiles unless you are cleaning up a road-kill in which you have to remove the carcass and all remnants of it "from public view". None of which applies to any hunt.

I haven't had a chance to 'wand' the shoulder or the lungs for bullets. Those 500-grainers expanded, but they also 'plowed'. The only one I'm expecting to find is the one in the shoulder. It will be great if I find one in the lungs. As I said, no shots behind the diaphragm so I don't need to wand the guts.

In the end, a bison just isn't an animal a single person should take on without a plan for obtaining some form of help including taking it to a processor.

Paul

[Jamie.270]

Hmmm, okay.
Not gutting it ASAP after the kill is something I wouldn't have thought of.
That was always rule #1 among the "hard and fast" rules I was taught from Day1.


Get the animal gutted and the meat cooling as quickly as possible, and salvage the heart & liver immediately.



I know gutting an elk makes a huge difference in one's ability to move the animal, as does skinning it.  But they're only about half that weight, or a little more.

Fortunately my elk have always been in the snow, so I had that going for me as far as moving them after the kill.
But an elk, gutted, skinned and sectioned will fit back in the hide and the bundle can be dragged/towed over snow more easily than most would believe.  Especially downhill. (Just try and keep up!)

The hide isn't as pristine when it's over with, but the hide isn't what I was after.

[gitano]

In my opinion, people worry way too much about "getting the guts out". The guts are in the animal for its whole life and yet they don't 'stink up the meat'. A few more hours won't matter. As soon as I say that, people say "it's about the heat". OK. The body has been "hot" all the animal's life too, and yet... If the ambient temperature is above 50F, getting the guts out fairly quickly is my goal too.

Gut shot is another matter. There isn't "fast enough" if the animal is gutshot. Also, we hung the beast from the front-loader from 0230 until we dropped it in the back of the truck the next morning. Then it was in the back of the truck 'til it got to my place, and you saw the road we drove. My driveway  has been freezing or near-freezing since we returned from DJ.

People care for their meat in myriad ways. If you can eat it, it's 'OK'. It is my opinion, that most meat is ruined in the kitchen, (and wasted at the butcher), not in the field.

Paul

[gitano]

I got my daughter to take a picture of me holding the skull.



Paul

[Jamie.270]

I got my daughter to take a picture of me holding the skull.



Paul

There ya go.
That's just awesome!

[gitano]

Thanks!

Paul

[Jamie.270]

So, are you having the skull beetled?
Or boiled/bleached?

[gitano]

I will be boiling and bleaching it for a wall mount. But... It will be one that can/will come off the wall to be handled.

Paul

[j0e_bl0ggs (deceased)]

hmmm, can feel an Anglo-Alaskan self levelling easy detach mount coming on...

[Bill Thibeault]

Paul, GREAT story and pics!  Pulling the trigger is the easy part!  I can't imagine trying to handle an animal that big after it is down.  A New Mexico Oryx (shot on the US Army's White Sands Missile Range) is the largest animal I ever shot. Its live weight was estimated at 300-350 pounds.  I took it straight to a processor, as I've never butchered a large animal.

Again, WELL DONE!!!