Elkhunter
New member
Well I had the day off from work and decided to hit the hills and look for my bison. Went out and got the horse and headed out. After getting to where I was going to and saddled up it was about 11:30 in the morning and still relatively cool. Rode in about 1 1/2 miles and hit the Park Boundary and turned around and headed back just west of the way I went in, going from knob to knob and looking down the hillsides. Got up on the biggest hill and spotted a bison. Felt pretty certain it was a lone bull and rode on down by him. He got up and I knew it was a bull, and the horse wanted no part of this critter. He backed up, nostrils flared and wanted out of there really bad. There was no place to tie him up so I rode back up near the top of the hill I was on and tied him up. On the way back up I saw another one and this one was even bigger. After tying up the horse and grabbing my Marlin 45/70 out of the scabbard,headed down after the bigger of the two. He quickly got up and headed back into Teton park where he knew he was safe. I then proceeded over to the other one and was able to get within about 30 yards of him when he started to get nervous and wanted out of there. The Marlin let out a big bang and the SOB took off over the hillside. When I got to where he was I could easily see that he was hit good. I went over to the edge and saw him laying down, a couple hundred yards below me. As I started down, I came across some boundary markers and thought for sure he ended up in Teton park. I called and spoke the Teton Park dispatch who put me through to the ranger that would be coming up to verify that he was indeed shot in the forest. I had to ride out and meet him at my truck and describe where the animal was. He took the low way and I went back up on top of the hills so he could locate me. He saw where I was at and headed in on an old road which brought him to within 400-500 yards of my bison. He called me again to see where I was at and I could see his vehicle and told him which way to go and we met at the bison. The boundary took a sharp turn and actually went straight down from where I saw the other markers, so he was actually still in the NF when he went down. He did grant me permission to use the road that he was on to get it out of there though. In the meantime I was trying to locate help and Michele was calling everyone she could think of, a couple of outfitters, tag & drag, other friends and no luck at all.
After going through 3 knives skinning and boning one side of this beast and loading it in my saddle panniers, I made it out at 6:45, talking to Del all the way out while I was walking (note to Moosie, Del answers his phone). Well I went back in this morning and started the process all over again. A friend called me after I got up there and asked for directions so he could come and help me. What a relief that was. Four knives and 8 hrs later we were done. The head and hide were an absolute bitch to move and the horse refused to drag it as it pulled the saddle nearly off. We ended up getting another hunter who had an ATV to drag the head and hided out for me. I was able to back my truck up to a bank and lower the tailgate so we could roll it in. It took all the three of us had to move the head and hide. It was then time for a nice cold Bud which went down Oh So Smooth. There you have it and the pictures are below.
This is the bison when I first spotted him. I zoomed it in and cropped the picture on this one.
This is the same picture uncropped and not zoomed in at all.
This is where he ended up, couldn't get much closer to the Park Boundary which is right behind him. This is about 200 yards from where I shot him.
A little closer shot of him. Hors are 16" long and has 16" bases.
The trail of blood and meat behind my ass is from the chainsaw when I cut off the head. Cool hat and shirt I have on though.
Sure could have used your help Moosie.
After going through 3 knives skinning and boning one side of this beast and loading it in my saddle panniers, I made it out at 6:45, talking to Del all the way out while I was walking (note to Moosie, Del answers his phone). Well I went back in this morning and started the process all over again. A friend called me after I got up there and asked for directions so he could come and help me. What a relief that was. Four knives and 8 hrs later we were done. The head and hide were an absolute bitch to move and the horse refused to drag it as it pulled the saddle nearly off. We ended up getting another hunter who had an ATV to drag the head and hided out for me. I was able to back my truck up to a bank and lower the tailgate so we could roll it in. It took all the three of us had to move the head and hide. It was then time for a nice cold Bud which went down Oh So Smooth. There you have it and the pictures are below.
This is the bison when I first spotted him. I zoomed it in and cropped the picture on this one.
This is the same picture uncropped and not zoomed in at all.
This is where he ended up, couldn't get much closer to the Park Boundary which is right behind him. This is about 200 yards from where I shot him.
A little closer shot of him. Hors are 16" long and has 16" bases.
The trail of blood and meat behind my ass is from the chainsaw when I cut off the head. Cool hat and shirt I have on though.
Sure could have used your help Moosie.
