wyogoob
Member
Here's my story:
Finally, after a jillion years of applying I drew a Wyoming Wild Bison tag and killed a wild bull bison!! wow
And to top it all off when I turned my bison in at the Wyoming Game & Fish station they told me it was the biggest bison killed by a blind man with a handgun this month!!
It was December 17. I had eye surgery December 12, a nasty cataract in my right eye. My left eye was a mess, not playing well with my "new eye" The lens in the left eye is scheduled for replacement December 30. My eyesight had been giving me fits for the last couple of years; so bad I had given up on using a rifle, open sights or a scope. I could shoot a handgun, arms stretched all the way out, using my left eye to aim.
Two guys in our party, about a mile apart, filled their cow/calf tags in a herd of about 200 bison. I didn't see any decent bulls with these cows but it was hard to tell, the herd took off running and ran over 1.5 miles, up and over some hills and out of sight. I think bison love to run; just amazing:
Shot (twice) with a 375 H&H at 150 yards this cow, guts and all, was drug to the road laying on a piece of rubber conveyer belting and was gutted and loaded into a pickup:
After the cows were all taken care of we went over to the Gros Ventre River and rode along the river bottom, a great place to put a sneak on a bison:
Seen a lone wolf, a few moose, a lot of bull elk, and even Whitetail Deer in the old cottonwoods along the way:
We found 4 mature bull bison resting in a patch of spruce trees. I got off of my horse and snuck off after them with my .460 S&W revolver, 5 bullets, a shooting stick and a knife. Hiding behind a spruce tree I set my shooting stick up. The biggest bison of the bunch disappeared. The 2nd biggest bison was broadside about 80 yards away. I aimed for his neck and fired. I could hear the bullet "thump" the buffalo and the animal spun 180°, obviously hit. He took off after the other 3 bison but stopped, broadside again, about 100 yards away. I shot, but I think I missed, shot over the top of the bull. It trotted away following the others and I shot again, a quartering away shot. I couldn't tell if I hit it or not, but "it felt good".
I got out of the trees and watched the 4 bulls as they ran down the river bottom. 3 of the bulls were close together and one of them was lagging behind, like he couldn't keep up. I looked for blood in the fresh snow and found none....not good, not good at all. At this point the bison were about 400 yards away and had run into 2 mature bull elk out in the meadow. The 3 bison paused, stood there and stared at the elk for awhile. This gave me a little time to catch up to them as I ran from tree to tree along the river. I spooked the elk and when they ran off the 3 lead bison went with them out of sight into another patch of trees. The 4th bison was obviously hurt and didn't follow the rest. It turned 90° and headed for the river, the bison hunt boundary, and disappeared in the trees. Sure that the bull bison had tipped over, I walked along the river towards it. To my surprise the bull popped out of the trees and stopped on the bank of the river, staring at me. I ducked behind a cottonwood tree 150 yards away (my guess), set up, shot, and knocked the bull down. The bull's body appeared limp; no legs were moving, but the head was thrashing around violently. With my last bullet I put the animal to sleep.
The bison died just a few yards from the Gros Ventre River, the boundary of the Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). If it made it across the river wounded I had to get a GTNP ranger to assist with any further pursuit or the recovery:
The head is massive and in mid-winter they have quite a "fro" on top:
They have beautiful coats this time of year. I'm having a blanket made.
The diaphragm was cut away, the windpipe severed, and the rectum ringed. A rope was pulled tight around the stomach and then a horse pulled the bison's guts out. The gut pile is enormous and it takes a long time to pick through it:
We rolled the beast over onto a conveyer belt sled thingie and tied him down. The 10' x 4' piece of rubber was hooked to a single-tree and a horse collar and then a stout horse pulled the bull out to the nearest road:
Once at the road a winch truck lifted the bull up and loaded it into a 1-ton truck:
The owner of the locker plant guessed the bull would weigh around 850 pounds dressed out:
Looking at the teeth they figure it's 6 1/2 yrs old, minimum. Two teeth were removed and will be aged by the Wyoming Game & Fish Dept
About 1/2 of the "petals" opened up (and peeled off) these 275 gr solid copper projectiles:
I found the liver to be relatively small and the pancreas huge. The heart weighs 7.5 lbs, good grief:
We performed an amateur autopsy on the 4 quarters at the butcher shop. There was a bullet wound in the hump and a wound around the brisket, both about 10" away from the spine, my target. Another shot clipped the diaphragm, went thru the stomach and the bullet was found embedded up against the hide at the hind leg about 8" above the knee.
At this point we have no idea what knocked the bison down.
I have all the guts with the exception of the tongue. So if the locker plant screws up, I'm good to go.
Later:
Big rug:
Finally, after a jillion years of applying I drew a Wyoming Wild Bison tag and killed a wild bull bison!! wow
And to top it all off when I turned my bison in at the Wyoming Game & Fish station they told me it was the biggest bison killed by a blind man with a handgun this month!!
It was December 17. I had eye surgery December 12, a nasty cataract in my right eye. My left eye was a mess, not playing well with my "new eye" The lens in the left eye is scheduled for replacement December 30. My eyesight had been giving me fits for the last couple of years; so bad I had given up on using a rifle, open sights or a scope. I could shoot a handgun, arms stretched all the way out, using my left eye to aim.
Two guys in our party, about a mile apart, filled their cow/calf tags in a herd of about 200 bison. I didn't see any decent bulls with these cows but it was hard to tell, the herd took off running and ran over 1.5 miles, up and over some hills and out of sight. I think bison love to run; just amazing:
Shot (twice) with a 375 H&H at 150 yards this cow, guts and all, was drug to the road laying on a piece of rubber conveyer belting and was gutted and loaded into a pickup:
After the cows were all taken care of we went over to the Gros Ventre River and rode along the river bottom, a great place to put a sneak on a bison:
Seen a lone wolf, a few moose, a lot of bull elk, and even Whitetail Deer in the old cottonwoods along the way:
We found 4 mature bull bison resting in a patch of spruce trees. I got off of my horse and snuck off after them with my .460 S&W revolver, 5 bullets, a shooting stick and a knife. Hiding behind a spruce tree I set my shooting stick up. The biggest bison of the bunch disappeared. The 2nd biggest bison was broadside about 80 yards away. I aimed for his neck and fired. I could hear the bullet "thump" the buffalo and the animal spun 180°, obviously hit. He took off after the other 3 bison but stopped, broadside again, about 100 yards away. I shot, but I think I missed, shot over the top of the bull. It trotted away following the others and I shot again, a quartering away shot. I couldn't tell if I hit it or not, but "it felt good".
I got out of the trees and watched the 4 bulls as they ran down the river bottom. 3 of the bulls were close together and one of them was lagging behind, like he couldn't keep up. I looked for blood in the fresh snow and found none....not good, not good at all. At this point the bison were about 400 yards away and had run into 2 mature bull elk out in the meadow. The 3 bison paused, stood there and stared at the elk for awhile. This gave me a little time to catch up to them as I ran from tree to tree along the river. I spooked the elk and when they ran off the 3 lead bison went with them out of sight into another patch of trees. The 4th bison was obviously hurt and didn't follow the rest. It turned 90° and headed for the river, the bison hunt boundary, and disappeared in the trees. Sure that the bull bison had tipped over, I walked along the river towards it. To my surprise the bull popped out of the trees and stopped on the bank of the river, staring at me. I ducked behind a cottonwood tree 150 yards away (my guess), set up, shot, and knocked the bull down. The bull's body appeared limp; no legs were moving, but the head was thrashing around violently. With my last bullet I put the animal to sleep.
The bison died just a few yards from the Gros Ventre River, the boundary of the Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). If it made it across the river wounded I had to get a GTNP ranger to assist with any further pursuit or the recovery:
The head is massive and in mid-winter they have quite a "fro" on top:
They have beautiful coats this time of year. I'm having a blanket made.
The diaphragm was cut away, the windpipe severed, and the rectum ringed. A rope was pulled tight around the stomach and then a horse pulled the bison's guts out. The gut pile is enormous and it takes a long time to pick through it:
We rolled the beast over onto a conveyer belt sled thingie and tied him down. The 10' x 4' piece of rubber was hooked to a single-tree and a horse collar and then a stout horse pulled the bull out to the nearest road:
Once at the road a winch truck lifted the bull up and loaded it into a 1-ton truck:
The owner of the locker plant guessed the bull would weigh around 850 pounds dressed out:
Looking at the teeth they figure it's 6 1/2 yrs old, minimum. Two teeth were removed and will be aged by the Wyoming Game & Fish Dept
About 1/2 of the "petals" opened up (and peeled off) these 275 gr solid copper projectiles:
I found the liver to be relatively small and the pancreas huge. The heart weighs 7.5 lbs, good grief:
We performed an amateur autopsy on the 4 quarters at the butcher shop. There was a bullet wound in the hump and a wound around the brisket, both about 10" away from the spine, my target. Another shot clipped the diaphragm, went thru the stomach and the bullet was found embedded up against the hide at the hind leg about 8" above the knee.
At this point we have no idea what knocked the bison down.
I have all the guts with the exception of the tongue. So if the locker plant screws up, I'm good to go.
Later:
Big rug:
