Bison!

[Jamie.270]

Holeee Mackerel but that's a lotta animal!


Brisket for days!
Hmmmm, I wonder how good a Texas BBQed Bison brisket would be.

[gitano]

Since I have already chronicled the load development and other matters associated with this hunt in other threads (http://www.thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20372, and http://www.thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20287), I’ll spare you by not recapitulating that and instead, start with sakorick’s arrival in AK.

Rick came in at 1:05pm on Wednesday, October 2. I met him at the airport in Anchorage but we didn’t head straight back to my house in Wasilla. Instead, we stopped at a friend of mine’s house to look at a 4-wheeler (“you guys” call them ATVs), and a trailer (to tow it) that he was lending me. I hadn’t yet really decided that I needed a 4-wheeler. Ultimately, I decided that I wouldn’t take it. That proved to be a good decision. (Actually, the fellow offering me his 4-wheeler was a THL member – KnotHead.) After leaving KnotHead’s house, we went straight to my house across the valley. We got Rick settled in, shot the breeze for a few hours, then hit the sack.
 
 
 We were headed for Delta Junction the next morning, but there was one last task to attend to. It was early October in the Interior, and I would be driving my little 1986 Nissan 4-wheel-drive pick-up “off road”. Experience with Hunterbug hunting elk in northern Colorado lead me to believe I would be better off having chains for it and not needing them, than needing chains and not having them. (This little pick-up is a REAL 4-wheel drive vehicle, not the “all-wheel” type hyped today.)  It was a 7 hour drive but we didn’t need to get an early start as there was no pressing issue to attend to in Delta Junction  except check into the hotel we were staying.

The tire chains had been a small ‘issue’. First, CarQuest didn’t have any that fit the tires on the Nissan: second, then NAPA didn’t have any ‘in store’, but there were some in the store in Palmer. Since Palmer was on the way to Delta Junction, I just paid ($300) for the chains in Wasilla, and had them hold them for me so that I could pick them up in Palmer on our way to Delta. We got to the Palmer Napa a little after 9am as I recall. They had my chains. Sorta. They only had one pair. GRRRrrr, However, the NAPA store in Glennallen, half way to Delta, had a pair, so I had them tell the Glennallen store to hold them for me. We picked them up when we stopped in Glennallen for gas and a snack.

The road to Delta Junction is one of the prettiest drives in Alaska in my opinion. (I think Rick would agree.) Rick took ‘a ton’ of pictures on the way up, (and half a ton on the way back), so I’ll let him share those. I took a few, and I have attached the ones from Wasilla to Glennallen, below.










I don’t recall exactly when we got into Delta, but I think it was around 6pm. We saw a moose and a fox just on the outskirts of town.









We checked in to the hotel, and had dinner.

The next morning (Friday) bright and early, we drove out to the “hunting fields”. I had been told by the guy whose land I wanted to hunt that “the first guy that shows up with $400 get the first shot”. Since Rick and I only had two days to hunt – Saturday the 5th, and Sunday the 6th – we needed to be the first to show up with $400, and we were. We spoke with Steve Helkenn for a while to get a clear explanation of the boundaries to his propery, and to get clear instructions on what he wanted us TO do, and what he wanted us NOT to do. He was a pleasant fellow, that in conversation revealed that he had 5 sons. (I’ll come back to that.)

We took a look around his property to familiarize ourselves with the ‘lay of the land’ then went over to another land-owner that was pleasant on the phone, and allowed people to hunt his land FOR FREE. On the phone with him, he had already revealed that some of ‘his’ hunters had been successful. However, he ran his operation on a ‘first come, first served’ format, and while Rick and I were “on the list”, there were too many people ahead of us for us to have ANY chance to hunt his property while Rick was with me. Still, I wanted to ‘press the flesh’, and have a face-to-face conversation with him to ‘seal the deal’ of getting my name on his list for later. He was just as pleasant in person as he was on the phone, and Rick and I spent about an hour chatting with him. He assured me I was “on the list” and that he had my phone number.

From Randy Speckles house, we went to the “Delta Bison Range”. A large area on the south side of the Alaska Highway developed by the Department of Fish and Game for the purpose of attracting bison off of the agricultural fields on the north side of the highway. Within the larger area were two fields that were roughly 2 miles by 5-6 miles. They had been cleared like barley fields, and various grains and forage crops planted. (Much like Rick’s forage plots on his farm.) The idea was to attract the bison off of the farmers fields and prevent or reduce the harm they did to the farmer’s crops. Good idea, but they didn’t get the bison’s input before implementing it. The bison just decided to have their cake (the farmer’s barley and hay), and eat it too (the Delta Bison Range). They ate what they wanted from the farmer’s fields, THEN went over to the Bison Range. Nevertheless, it was a great place for bison. Of course, it was FREE, and therefore, competition between hunters was significant. I paid the $400 to avoid that competition/conflict as well as be able to hunt a place KNOWN to have bison on it.

That afternoon at 2pm, (Friday, the day before I was legal to hunt), the Department was offering an “Orientation” briefing. This briefing was mandatory, but you could take it on-line OR in person. I had already taken it on-line and had the certificate, but felt that “being there” in person, in Delta might help with the hunt. Both Rick and I attended. It was a good presentation, and while there was nothing ‘new’ presented, the questions asked by the other hunters in Group 2 (the group I was in and that could start hunting on Saturday the 5th), helped clarify some things. I asked the biologist giving the briefing if there were any “Annual Reports” for this project. He said “yes”, but they weren’t “annual”. The reporting requirements were “every 5 years, and I’m working on the latest one”. I said “Fine. Could I have a copy of the most recent one?” Before he could answer, I asked, “Is it available on-line?” To which he replied “Yes”. He had mentioned Delta Bison Management Plan in his briefing. I asked if I could read that on-line too. He said “Yes”, and then offered to print out a copy for me right then. I said “Please”, and he did so. Rick and I took the Management Plan and headed back to the hotel where we had prime rib for dinner. We discussed The Plan for the next morning, and then hit the sack.

Finally! It was ‘Opening Day’! (For Group 2 hunters.) Only 30+ years in the making. We got our war-suits on, and headed for the Helkenn's place. We got ‘on scene’ at 0701. It was an elevated place between some of his barns overlooking a field right in front of his house. I shut the engine off and Rick stepped out of the truck to relieve himself. I turned my head to the field. YIKES! There were 5 buffalo about half way down the field! (A mile off.) I hissed to Rick “BUFFALO!” and motioned for him to get in the truck. He motioned back that he couldn’t do that right at that moment. :D I grabbed my binos and had a closer look. Every one was a bull! Rick climbed back in the truck and had a look with his binos. There were two more! YEE HAA! First day. First light. Buffalo in sight!

We watched them for a few minutes, then came up with a Plan based on the cover we had. The buffalo were about a mile away and right in the middle of the field. On the right was a windbreak of trees about  20 or so yards deep. On the left was a similar windbreak a little narrower and not as thick. (See the picture below.)


There was essentially no wind. The Plan was for Rick to get behind the windbreak on the right and head up the field toward the buffalo. I would get behind the windbreak to the left and do the same. Rick went on the right in case he spooked them I would get a shot as they broke out of the woods in front of me. If they didn’t spook, I would break out of the woods into the field and start blazing. “The best laid plans of mice and men, oft go astray”. About half way down the field I hear a vehicle. Hmm… Pretty soon, I can see it through the trees. It’s driving right down the road on the side of the field the buffalo are on! It comes to the top of the field near the Helkenn’s house, turns right, and drives across the tops of all of Helkenn’s fields. I have no idea what the status of the buffalo are. I creep out to the edge of the field they were in. They’re gone. “Drat!” Is sort of what I said. I walked back to the top of the field, across it, and over to the field Rick was walking up. I cut his tracks in the VERY crunchy snow. (I forgot to mention that it snowed a very wet snow over-night, and then froze. It was VERY LOUD walking.) I followed his tracks for a bit, then cut back across the woods to the in-field road. I found him in a couple of hundred yards. He hadn’t heard or seen the truck that spooked the animals.

We got back in the truck and started scouting the other fields that belonged to Helkenn. No more bison, but we saw several fresh sets of tracks. All of them crossing the fields about a mile to a mile-and-a-half down the field. We decided to come back that evening and see what might show up in the first field. The bison hadn’t been shot at and we figured they might come back in the evening.

We got back to Helkenn’s place about 7pm. Right out there about a mile and a half were the bulls! And there were a couple more. (I forgot to mention that Fish and Game had said that the bull:cow ratio was about 90:100! So the odds of seeing a bull were very good.) We watched them for a few minutes weighing two strategies: 1) Get after them. Go now and try to get within shooting range before 7:30 (dark). Or 2) Leave them and come back in the morning hoping they are there over night and we can put a stalk on them. After consulting Steve, we chose option 2.

We were back earlier next morning. On scene well before daylight. Right away, I saw two bulls MUCH closer! Lasered, they were about 450yd from the truck. Too far for my tastes, and no way to get closer by going directly at them. The Plan was for me to take off on foot and head due west toward the windbreak trees to the left (west) of the field and bison. Then, sheltered from view, I would descend to the level of the field and, using the trees for cover and try to get within range – 200 or less. Rick would stay in the truck and watch.

The Plan proceeded as planned. I stepped out of the windbreak at about where I thought the bulls would be about 200 yd away. No bulls. Dang! I headed back to the truck. When I got there, Rick was hopping mad! The SAME truck that had busted the stalk the day before HAD DONE IT AGAIN! It had driven up, spooked the bulls, and turned around and driven away. Now EYE was @#$%^&*ed. We took off after the interloper, and if we didn’t find him, we were going to visit Speckle and find out for certain if it was one of his hunters. If it was, Steve could file trespassing charges, and I could file hunter harassment charges. We didn’t find him, and it wasn’t one of Speckle’s. We chatted a bit with Steve, and put together another Plan. Since the bulls hadn’t been shot at, we figured that they might come back for an evening browse. We would come back in mid-afternoon, and I would set up on the west side of the field, midway down (about a mile), just inside the trees. If they came out ‘above’ me, Rick would honk the horn (from between a couple of Steve’s barns), twice. If they were ‘below’ me, he would honk once. (I forgot my walkie-talkies. )

We thought we might buy some walkie-talkies in Delta Junction, but we both forgot it was Sunday. Then Rick remembered that there was a military base nearby, and the Post Exchange might have some. It was closed too. We went back to the hotel and took a nap. :D

About 3pm, we got up, had some coffee, and headed for Helkenn’s. When we got there, we saw three people with rifles, walking on the road on the east side of the field we were hunting! AGAIN! I went and got Steve, and he said “Is it three people?” I said “Yes”. He said, “With a kid?” I said, “I don’t know. Why?” He said he had taken another $400 from a threesome and told them they could hunt, but not until tomorrow, as we would be gone by then. Grrr… We went out to meet them.

It was a little ‘dicey’ at first, but the damage was done, and after getting things cleared up, they left and said they wouldn’t come back until tomorrow after we had left. They weren’t much as ‘stalkers’, but… the wind had come up out of the west, and they had walked the full length of the field, TWICE. We were certain that the bison had winded them, and the chances of them coming out before dark were slim. Nevertheless, I told Rick “You can’t hit home runs if you don’t go to bat”, and decided to stay until it was too dark to shoot, in the off chance the bulls would come back. We sat for a couple of hours. Then, WAY down at the very end of the field, I see a bull come out of the trees on the east side of the field!



He’s two miles off.



It’s pretty late to get the two miles to him, and he seems to be walking with a ‘purpose’. Meaning he wasn’t stopping to graze. I figured he’d just keep on walking. However, when he got to the west side of the field, he started grazing. Hmm… We watched. Probably 10 or 15 minutes went by. It was VERY difficult to see him in the fading light. I decided we should get after him. We had nothing to lose.

The Plan was to drive about a mile down the west side of the windbreak located the west side of the field. I would get out, cut through the woods and head straight at him. There was a little ‘indentation’ in the treeline, and I could stay hidden until I was within 200yd. I told Rick that I could walk a mile in 20 minutes, so he would stay in the truck, give me 20 minutes to get to the bull and shoot him. If he didn’t hear any shots in 20 minutes, he was to come get me. We executed the Plan.

Once in the field, I hustled as fast as I could. Light was fading fast. As you can see in the pictures, there were many ‘ditches’ that crossed the field transversely. They were 3 to 5 feet deep and about 50 or so feet wide. I was coming up out of one of the deeper ones when I saw him. He was about 80 yards off, and looking right at me. However, in the very dim light, I could see NO details. I couldn’t see his head or his horns or any detail – just a bison-shaped black hulk. I threw the Ruger No.2 to my shoulder to see if I could see any more detail through the scope. Nope. I could have “center-massed” the point of aim and had it be a very good shot, but, I KNEW that if I did that the bullet would go straight to a horn as if laser-guided. I aimed slightly to the left and let fire.

I didn’t hear the “whack”, and that bothered me a bit, BUT, he didn’t run. If I had missed, he would have bolted like a bullet. He turned to his left, exposing his right side broadside. I shot him right in the heart. The “No.2” is a No. 3 that has been converted to ‘something else’. Being a falling block action, it was of course a single-shot. I had had the second shot in my hand ready for the follow-on, but all subsequent rounds would  have to be dug out of my pocket. By the time I had reloaded, he had gone about 40 yards due east, back towards the woods from whence he came. He was limping a bit, but not the typical leg-lifted limp of an animal with a broken leg/shoulder. He stopped, and I shot him again. Right in the heart. He started running in a circle. Not the one-leg-on-the-ground pivoting circle, but running around in a circle about 30 feet in diameter. When he stopped, I shot him AGAIN. Another shot in the chest. He STILL DIDN’T FALL! SUNNY BEACHES IN CALIFORNIA! I stopped shooting. He clearly was mortally wounded, and not running away, so shooting him some more would just waste meat. He stood for about A MINUTE! Then, he didn’t fall over, he LAID DOWN! With his HEAD UP! SHIITE MUSLIMS! I walked up  behind him and stopped about 10 yards away. I tried to see if he was blowing blood, and he wasn’t. That concerned me a bit, but still, he was certainly mortally wounded. After about another minute, he laid over and shortly thereafter expired. I approached VERY cautiously, and tried to poke him in the eye with the muzzle of the rifle. Trouble was, it was so dark, I couldn’t see where his eye was! Nevertheless, he was dead.



HE WAS A BEAST! And gorgeous. I can JUST get my index finger and middle finger of each hand ringed around his bases – barely. I measured his tip-to-tip distance at 21”. I haven’t yet made any other horn measurements. I took a couple of pictures with my cellphone, and began to look for Rick. In a couple of minutes, I could see the headlights of the truck heading slowly down the west side of the field next to the trees. In a minute, Rick stopped to call out. I said “Over here” as I walked toward him and pointed to The Beast.

As you can imagine, there were plenty of big smiles.

I’ll save the rest of the story for the next post.

Paul

[sakorick]

When Paul headed out, I remained in the truck for about 15 minutes and headed out to watch from the swale. There are about seven of these spread out down the field. It was about 7:40 and getting dark fast. I couldn't see much through my Zeiss binos as I knew Paul and the beastie were about 1200 yards down the field. Then I heard the first report and was smiling with joy until seconds later off went #2.......not good. Then a pause for 15 seconds or so and Ka Boom, #3. I could just picture a Buffalo running at 40 MPH and Paul trying to load the Alaskan one shot at a time in the dark! Then number four and waited for a minute or so and went back to the truck. I got to about what I thought was the spot and got out and hollered Paul...... He said over here about 2/3 of the way across the field and the reality set in....Bison Down!! As soon as I turned towards him, I could see the big black hump and it was a monster. There was no way that we could do anything with the animal so we went to get Steve and the 4WD John Deer. More later.

[Paul Hoskins]

Good story & good job. Congratulations again. I was right there with you guys while reading your story. I didn't even feel the cold. ......If some ignoramus had intruded while I was hunting bison, it would have been extremely difficult for me to be civil. .......Great  job & a great story. Thanks for taking me along on your bison hunt of s lifetime.   ......Paul H

[Paul Hoskins]

Paul, I'm curious about your 1986 Nissan PU. That's an old truck. I bought a new 1986 1/2 Nissan PU in 1986 called a HARDBODY. It didn't have 4WD but I never really needed it. It was a strange vehicle & was "bare" when I bought it. No bumpers, power steering, no AC , no radio, Nothing. It had the customary 4 cylinder engine  but looked "different." It had 8 spark plugs one distributor and two coils. The distributor had 8 lobes like an 8 cylinder distributor. A few months later the Nissan factory in Tennessee wanted it back. They claimed it was an expeirmental truck that wasn't supposed to be out of the factory & for sale to the public. Best vehicle I ever owned even after I put 409,000 miles on it. ......Just curious. Haven't seen one like it since.   ......Paul H

[gitano]

Thanks, Paul.

My Dad bought this truck at auction in Kalifornia. It originally belonged to the State of Kalifornia Department of Parks. I drove it to Alaska in January back in about 2005 while towing a Volkswagon Golf my Dad gave to my daughters for their first car. At the moment, it only has 114,000 miles reading on the odometer. I assume it has not 'rolled over', but it may have. It of course had all the Kalifornia 'smog' krap on it, but that has been disconnected as much as possible. It doesn't get great mileage - about 17 mpg when in 2WD on the highway doing 55 or so. We put 450 miles on it while in Delta Junction. (Plus 350 to DJ, then 350 back.) I haven't yet calculated the total trip mpg, but I suspect it will be less than 17, as we spent a lot of time in 4WD low range while in Delta. Also, we were doing around 65mph most of the way to and from DJ. It's been a workhorse for me. I don't use it a lot, but it's a REAL 4WD with both high and low range plus of course 2WD. I'm pretty sure I could climb a tree with it if I needed to.

Paul

[gitano]

Here's what the Richardson highway looked like between Delta Junction and Paxon, (about half way to Glennallen) as we drove back. Once we got past Paxon, the sky cleared and the road was dry. We were able to make good time from there back to Wasilla.

Paul

[sakorick]

Comms. Since we had our cell phones communications was not going to be a problem until I got off the plane and tried to call Paul. My phone said no service!!!! and I didn't bring any walkie talkies. Then in Glennallen it was working fine....whew! When we stopped at the summit, I tried my cell and ptoey, no service....my cell phone was useless. It was Sunday when the reality set in....we needed walkies but the sporting goods store was closed on Sunday. Ft Greely is just a few miles out of town and Army PX's are open on Sunday. The gate guard was admiring my 34 year old ID card and I asked him directions to the PX. He said the PX is closed on Sundays! So we came up with the horn plan. One toot close and 2 toots far. Thank God we didn't have to honk! 2 miles is a long walk in the snow with darkness fast approaching. Our plan worked and all's well that ends well. That truck was amazing with a fan belt screaming and a shot driveshaft hangar bearing! Paul is a good driver but does nor slow down in "Rocks on the Road" areas. Dodging cinder block rocks is not easy with  1500 pounds in the bed!!

Food: Our motel had an excellent restaurant which was very reasonable. Pictures to follow.

[sakorick]

Rick Day 1. For me the first leg involved getting the dogs to the Vet Clinic then switching cars and driving to Kansas City. I spent the night at Eric's and he drove me to the airport at 0400(day 2). Rick's, Eric's Plane, Paul's. Left on Tuesday arrived at Paul's on Thursday.

[gitano]

First shot broke shoulder and lodged against the outside of the chest.

Second shot center-punched the heart.
Entrance:



Exit
 

Third shot just barely scraped the heart, but hit it. I could trace the path from entrance to exit and across the heart.


Shot through the heart was approximately 4 minutes before he died.


They're beasts.

The trimmed heart weighed 7lb 6oz.

Paul

[gitano]

Backstraps ("prime rib") weighed 12 and 13 lbs.

Tenderloins weighed 4lb 14oz and 5lb 5oz.

I haven't weighed the quarters yet.

I haven't weighed the guts - lungs, liver, 4 stomachs, intestines, kidneys - but I am quite confident in saying that they were at least 200 lbs. The rumen had at least 100 lb of grass in it. The liver was, as you would expect, humongous. I could weigh it, but I probably won't.

I still have the ribs and neck to 'process'. I'll let you know what they weigh.

Paul

[Jamie.270]

First shot broke shoulder and went into chest.

Second shot center-punched the heart.
Entrance:



Exit
 

Third shot just barely scraped the heart, but hit it. I could trace the path from entrance to exit and across the heart.


Shot through the heart was approximately 4 minutes before he died.


They're beasts.

The trimmed heart weighed 7lb 6oz.

 Paul

OMG,...  That looks GOOD!


Nice shootin' too!

[gitano]

"Good" to eat, or "good" to die?

I just revisited the load development thread and the average muzzle velocity for the 500-grain bullet was 1812 f/s. So at 80 yards, the impact velocity should have been about 1730 f/s, and the impact energy should have been a little over 3300 ft-lb. At a hundred, the IV should have been about 1700 f/s and the IE just over 3200 ft-lb.

Paul

[Jamie.270]

"Good" to eat, or "good" to die?


Paul

Good to EAT!
7lbs of stuffed heart!
A little sage, a little crumbled sausage, some diced apple and chopped onion.
A bacon strip or two over the top, roasted with some broth in the bottom of a dutch oven at about 300* for a couple hours,...


7+ lbs of Heaven on a Plate!

[gitano]

Already pressure cooked. :D It will be sliced thin for sandwiches.

Paul