Colorado Buffalo Hunt: Part II
Here's part 2 of the buffalo saga. Enjoy!
If you missed it, you can find part one HERE
__________________________________________________ __________
Not 10 yards into my crawl, the oldest cow in the bunch knew exactly what was going down and started to make her way down the hillside away from us. In case you didn’t know, bison can cover more ground walking than you or I can running.
This trend of me trying to get within range and them walking or trotting off continued all morning. It finally got to the point where if we even got within 100 yards, they would all run off. I don’t know if you’ve ever gotten to see a buffalo run at top speed that is a sight to see. It’s almost like a wrecking ball with legs moving at 60+ mph. They finally had enough of us moving them around and went up and over a hill.
We stopped for a break then as we had been chasing these guys for the last 3 hours.
After a quick rest and a new game plan we tackled the hill. 10 minutes later we crested it and on the other side there was…..nothing. Not one buffalo. No tracks. Nothing. How can 17 animals that big just disappear without a trace? I was dumbfounded. We made our way to the opposite hillside to the one that they had been feeding on and starting walking to the top. As soon as we rounded the hill where we had found them at first, we found them! They had hugged the hill and made their way to the backside. Best news of all was they were bedded down right in front of an old, dry creek bottom! At last, a lucky break!
We put a little jump in our steps and made it down to within about 100 yards of the creek bed. So far, so good. I left Alison and Travis and did the duck walk through the snow down to the creek bed. As I slowly and painstakingly made my way up it, I heard the worst possible noise, a loud snort. Yup, that one old ornery cow that had buggered this morning had me spotted no problems and was bound and determined to make sure I knew it. One more snort and the others were up and moving again. Not fast, but still faster than I could cover ground. That cow was really beginning to annoy me and I wondered how Travis would feel about dropping an old cow instead…..
As we watched the buffalo trot off, I couldn’t help but think about what Debbie had said earlier about how not a lot of bowhunters actually get shots. I was determined not to be one of them. The buffalo trekked about a mile and holed up again. Again, I got a lucky break, they had effectively done the hard part of getting close for me as they were behind a small rise and an old fence line. Travis said they wouldn’t cross the fence line even when they spooked so this would be the best chance of getting a bow shot that I was going to have.
We crawled up over the rise so we didn’t silhouette ourselves and suddenly, not 40 yards out, there they are! These creatures keep getting bigger the closer I get. They look like small cars with legs. After some glassing, we finally found our bull. Of course he’s in the middle of the bunch and doesn’t look like he’s planning on moving anytime soon. After about 20 minutes of hoping he’ll step out, I decide to see if I can get a little closer just in case he does step out. I inch my way down the other side and who busts me, yup…that old cow again. I was not happy by this point with her and hoped that she met her end soon.
While they walked off again, I was certainly not enjoying the view of 17 bison butts facing me for the hundredth time. We slowly hiked back to the truck, while all the while I had a new found respect for the Native Americans that hunted these animals….and that’s when it hit me. I suddenly knew how we were going to get a shot at these wily buffalo. We were going to do this the way we hunt antelope. Decoys.
I hopped on the flat bed of the truck while Travis and Alison get inside. We started driving right at the buffalo. No hiding, no trying to be quiet, no scent control. As we got to within about 80 yards, which was about as close as they’d let us get all morning, I slid off the back of truck and hit the ground. Perfect, they were still watching the truck. I crawled and slid like a inebriated snake toward the buffalo all while the truck kept their attention at a distance. I closed the gap to 30 yards and that’s when she saw me. That old @#$%&^# old cow had done it again. I quickly stood up and came to full draw. I saw my bull start walking off, quartering away. The sight picture looked good. I touched off the cobra release and watched as my GT Hunter and Rage 2 Blade slammed into the side of the bull. He hunched and kicked up and then they all took off, my arrow still hanging on. I was kicking myself as I thought the shot looked too far back. I was not looking forward to trying to put down a gut shot buffalo. However, my fears never materialized as the guide came flying back telling me what a great shot I made. He said I had punched both lungs as he could see the steam coming out of both side of him. The blood trail that we followed to him was nothing short of epic.
We watched as they ran off and then one buffalo peeled off of the group, stumbled a bit and lay down. My bull was down within 25 yards! We exchanged high fives and cheers as we approached the bull. He gave one last wheeze and a shudder and it was over. The Rage had done a great job of opening him up like a tuna can. Upon inspection, I had indeed punched through both lungs and the tip of the Rage was sticking out the other side. My arrow was unbroken, but as I removed it, I saw that his lungs and ribs had claimed both of the blades.
It’s hard to describe the feeling of approaching an animal that you’ve only been able to dream of hunting. Now that the hunt was over, here was my buffalo, one that I was able to harvest with my bow, right in front of me. He was a big 2 year old, weighing right about 700 – 800 pounds. Not record book by any means, but big enough for me. As I knelt next to his still form and put my hands on him, it became real. All I could do was stare in quiet and silently thank God for the opportunity to harvest this amazing animal.
We took some LDPs and then the work began. These guys have this part down to a science. One quick call and here came the skinners. I gotta say, this was a treat having someone else do the dirty work for me. I felt kind of useless and in the way as they backed the boom truck and strung up my bull. After they had him hung, it was 30 minutes before they had him skinned, quartered, and in the back of the truck. Truly one of the most amazing feats I’ve ever seen.
The drive home was actually a fairly quiet one. I’m sure Alison was doing her own reflecting on the events of the past couple of hours as was I. It was good to have her along and be able to share that harvest with her.
After a quick trip to the taxidermist, we brought the beast home to start on what is probably the single most insane thing I’ve ever attempted: processing an entire buffalo. I don’t trust processors anymore and have seen how much more meat I have and how less money I spend when we do it ourselves. I’ve done deer, hogs, rams, etc, but this was the biggest animal I’ve attempted to do yet.
I’m sure that somewhere back in my family there had to be a bushman or some other kind of indigenous people that butchered their own game because it wasn’t but a couple of hours before my brother and I had one entire quarter of the buffalo broken down and awaiting the grinder or the vacuum sealer. However, the fun stopped there. After 7.5 hours of cutting, grinding, packaging, and having finger cut, we called it a night at 1 am with only 1/3 of the whole buffalo done.
The only one who enjoyed himself throughout the entire thing was my lab Hank who took it upon himself to finish cleaning up the skeleton.
The second night was more of the same with cutting both meat and fingers, packaging, sealing, labeling, and grinding. Another 8 hours, another 2 am bedtime and there was only 1 quarter left!
We were finally able to finish the job the third night by recruiting more help and after 5 more hours, the buffalo was all in the freezer ready to be enjoyed by all.
Through the whole thing, I’ve learned a few things about buffalo and buffalo hunting.
1. Buffalo aren’t stupid
2. Cow buffalo are especially annoying and smart
3. 22 degrees isn’t all that cold when you are running for miles trying to catch buffalo
4. Processing an 800 pound animal can be fun, but you’ll end up with about 1200 pounds of meat.
5. I can’t wait to go back for a bigger bull next year.
Thanks for following along and joining in on a great hunt.
If you missed it, you can find part one HERE
__________________________________________________ __________
Not 10 yards into my crawl, the oldest cow in the bunch knew exactly what was going down and started to make her way down the hillside away from us. In case you didn’t know, bison can cover more ground walking than you or I can running.
This trend of me trying to get within range and them walking or trotting off continued all morning. It finally got to the point where if we even got within 100 yards, they would all run off. I don’t know if you’ve ever gotten to see a buffalo run at top speed that is a sight to see. It’s almost like a wrecking ball with legs moving at 60+ mph. They finally had enough of us moving them around and went up and over a hill.
We stopped for a break then as we had been chasing these guys for the last 3 hours.
After a quick rest and a new game plan we tackled the hill. 10 minutes later we crested it and on the other side there was…..nothing. Not one buffalo. No tracks. Nothing. How can 17 animals that big just disappear without a trace? I was dumbfounded. We made our way to the opposite hillside to the one that they had been feeding on and starting walking to the top. As soon as we rounded the hill where we had found them at first, we found them! They had hugged the hill and made their way to the backside. Best news of all was they were bedded down right in front of an old, dry creek bottom! At last, a lucky break!
We put a little jump in our steps and made it down to within about 100 yards of the creek bed. So far, so good. I left Alison and Travis and did the duck walk through the snow down to the creek bed. As I slowly and painstakingly made my way up it, I heard the worst possible noise, a loud snort. Yup, that one old ornery cow that had buggered this morning had me spotted no problems and was bound and determined to make sure I knew it. One more snort and the others were up and moving again. Not fast, but still faster than I could cover ground. That cow was really beginning to annoy me and I wondered how Travis would feel about dropping an old cow instead…..
As we watched the buffalo trot off, I couldn’t help but think about what Debbie had said earlier about how not a lot of bowhunters actually get shots. I was determined not to be one of them. The buffalo trekked about a mile and holed up again. Again, I got a lucky break, they had effectively done the hard part of getting close for me as they were behind a small rise and an old fence line. Travis said they wouldn’t cross the fence line even when they spooked so this would be the best chance of getting a bow shot that I was going to have.
We crawled up over the rise so we didn’t silhouette ourselves and suddenly, not 40 yards out, there they are! These creatures keep getting bigger the closer I get. They look like small cars with legs. After some glassing, we finally found our bull. Of course he’s in the middle of the bunch and doesn’t look like he’s planning on moving anytime soon. After about 20 minutes of hoping he’ll step out, I decide to see if I can get a little closer just in case he does step out. I inch my way down the other side and who busts me, yup…that old cow again. I was not happy by this point with her and hoped that she met her end soon.
While they walked off again, I was certainly not enjoying the view of 17 bison butts facing me for the hundredth time. We slowly hiked back to the truck, while all the while I had a new found respect for the Native Americans that hunted these animals….and that’s when it hit me. I suddenly knew how we were going to get a shot at these wily buffalo. We were going to do this the way we hunt antelope. Decoys.
I hopped on the flat bed of the truck while Travis and Alison get inside. We started driving right at the buffalo. No hiding, no trying to be quiet, no scent control. As we got to within about 80 yards, which was about as close as they’d let us get all morning, I slid off the back of truck and hit the ground. Perfect, they were still watching the truck. I crawled and slid like a inebriated snake toward the buffalo all while the truck kept their attention at a distance. I closed the gap to 30 yards and that’s when she saw me. That old @#$%&^# old cow had done it again. I quickly stood up and came to full draw. I saw my bull start walking off, quartering away. The sight picture looked good. I touched off the cobra release and watched as my GT Hunter and Rage 2 Blade slammed into the side of the bull. He hunched and kicked up and then they all took off, my arrow still hanging on. I was kicking myself as I thought the shot looked too far back. I was not looking forward to trying to put down a gut shot buffalo. However, my fears never materialized as the guide came flying back telling me what a great shot I made. He said I had punched both lungs as he could see the steam coming out of both side of him. The blood trail that we followed to him was nothing short of epic.
We watched as they ran off and then one buffalo peeled off of the group, stumbled a bit and lay down. My bull was down within 25 yards! We exchanged high fives and cheers as we approached the bull. He gave one last wheeze and a shudder and it was over. The Rage had done a great job of opening him up like a tuna can. Upon inspection, I had indeed punched through both lungs and the tip of the Rage was sticking out the other side. My arrow was unbroken, but as I removed it, I saw that his lungs and ribs had claimed both of the blades.
It’s hard to describe the feeling of approaching an animal that you’ve only been able to dream of hunting. Now that the hunt was over, here was my buffalo, one that I was able to harvest with my bow, right in front of me. He was a big 2 year old, weighing right about 700 – 800 pounds. Not record book by any means, but big enough for me. As I knelt next to his still form and put my hands on him, it became real. All I could do was stare in quiet and silently thank God for the opportunity to harvest this amazing animal.
We took some LDPs and then the work began. These guys have this part down to a science. One quick call and here came the skinners. I gotta say, this was a treat having someone else do the dirty work for me. I felt kind of useless and in the way as they backed the boom truck and strung up my bull. After they had him hung, it was 30 minutes before they had him skinned, quartered, and in the back of the truck. Truly one of the most amazing feats I’ve ever seen.
The drive home was actually a fairly quiet one. I’m sure Alison was doing her own reflecting on the events of the past couple of hours as was I. It was good to have her along and be able to share that harvest with her.
After a quick trip to the taxidermist, we brought the beast home to start on what is probably the single most insane thing I’ve ever attempted: processing an entire buffalo. I don’t trust processors anymore and have seen how much more meat I have and how less money I spend when we do it ourselves. I’ve done deer, hogs, rams, etc, but this was the biggest animal I’ve attempted to do yet.
I’m sure that somewhere back in my family there had to be a bushman or some other kind of indigenous people that butchered their own game because it wasn’t but a couple of hours before my brother and I had one entire quarter of the buffalo broken down and awaiting the grinder or the vacuum sealer. However, the fun stopped there. After 7.5 hours of cutting, grinding, packaging, and having finger cut, we called it a night at 1 am with only 1/3 of the whole buffalo done.
The only one who enjoyed himself throughout the entire thing was my lab Hank who took it upon himself to finish cleaning up the skeleton.
The second night was more of the same with cutting both meat and fingers, packaging, sealing, labeling, and grinding. Another 8 hours, another 2 am bedtime and there was only 1 quarter left!
We were finally able to finish the job the third night by recruiting more help and after 5 more hours, the buffalo was all in the freezer ready to be enjoyed by all.
Through the whole thing, I’ve learned a few things about buffalo and buffalo hunting.
1. Buffalo aren’t stupid
2. Cow buffalo are especially annoying and smart
3. 22 degrees isn’t all that cold when you are running for miles trying to catch buffalo
4. Processing an 800 pound animal can be fun, but you’ll end up with about 1200 pounds of meat.
5. I can’t wait to go back for a bigger bull next year.
Thanks for following along and joining in on a great hunt.
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