Day 5
I was up at 5:30, Grant and I got packed up and out by 7:30 headed to meet Al. The roads were iced over, but we took it slow driving in four wheel high the entire way. We got to the area a little before 9 and Al met us shortly after.
We glassed to locate the buffalo herd then set off in pursuit. The windswept, snow covered hills made it easy to spot the Bison. After 24 hours of terrible weather, they were all up busy feeding.
The wind was gusty today but out of the West/Southwest so it was warming up a bit. By time we got into the field it was in the upper 30’s and partly cloudy.
Al stopped several times as we moved across the ridge glassing the immense herd. There had to be more than 600 Bison (Bulls, Cows and Calves) all spread out for about 3/4 of a mile.
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We finally located a group of four mature bulls, off to the side by themselves. As I glassed them, I immediately knew which one was the biggest. After a few minutes, Al said “see that bull in front of the three on the right, walking towards us?”. I replied “yes, I spotted him right away when we started glassing”. An old bull with a massive skull and huge head of hair. Al said “thats him”.
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We made a plan to get into position for a shot and by the time I was set the bulls had stopped walking at 107 yards. I was set with my Christensen 300 RUM, waiting for the bull to turn broadside.
When he did, I confirmed with Al once more and asked him where to shoot. He said “can you make a brain shot from here?” I said, “yes, where do you want me to put the bullet?”. He said “in line with the eye and under the horn”.
I settled in and let the shot go and the bull dropped in his tracks.
As we approached the bull, we realized how big the body was on this Bison. He is the classic example of an old, North American Plains Bison with a massive dark head and rusty colored wool like shoulders with dark legs.
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Al brought in his truck and loaded the bull with a hydraulic loading arm and we made our way out of the pasture. After tagging and field dressing, we said our goodbyes and drove an hour to Pine Bluff to a meat processor that would bone the bull out for us.
We finally hit the road at 3:40 and drove straight through back to San Antonio as my son starts finals this week and cannot miss any classes.
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500lbs of meat and my trophy about to leave Pine Ridge
It took about 17 1/2 hours and we switched off driving through the night. Sunset this time of year is 4:15PM so it was dark in no time. We encountered several Mule Deer, Whitetail Deer and Coyotes along the highway through the night. The temperatures ranged from the mid 20’s to upper 30’s so the ice in the ice chests barely melted and the head and hide were still cold when I got to the taxidermist.
In retrospect the time with my son, sitting out the blizzard in a motel room just watching football and visiting made the hunt.
The North American Plains Bison is not necessarily a difficult or physically challenging hunt, other than the weather conditions we had to endure.
Making the road trip, hunting on the reservation where the Bison have roamed for generations, taking an old mature bull and coming home with neatly 500lbs of boneless meat all contributed to the experience of my Bison hunt.
This takes me to number 18 on my quest for the North American 29 and I feel very Blessed to have hunted this iconic North American Trophy on the Oglala Sioux Reservation.
