Wyoming Cow Bison Hunt/Pics
Elk
I am going to try to post my Wyoming cow bison hunt story here. This is my first attempt at any sort of a story on here, so take it easy.
So, Wyoming draw results came out in in May. Checking on my phone at work, it showed successful for cow/calf bison, Unit 2. Since WY had changed the draw process for Bison, I thought I would have a decent chance at drawing a cow tag... It was actually 100% draw for non-residents this year for cow/calf.
Within a couple of days, I had made phone calls to different people, outfitters, Wyoming Fish and Game, anyone who I thought may know something about this hunt. After talking and researching, I got a couple different outfitter names. One was Ralph Greene at Tag N Drag.
I had debated doing this hunt on my own, but after hearing some stories of rifle guys shooting animals out from under another hunter, some of the boundaries of the elk refuge being next to Grand Teton National Park, and the possibility of having a public audience watching depending on where the bison were on the refuge, I decided to go with an outfitter, and heard good things about Tag N Drag's success, so after talking to Ralph initially, I called and booked with him for the first week of January.
I decided to drive out to Jackson with a buddy from work that likes to ski, so I figured we could split travel costs and he could help with the drive, which from home is approximately 23 hrs. We left on Jan 2nd at 4:30 AM and drove straight thru to WY, stopping only for gas and at the Cabela’s in Nebraska. Driving would allow me to bring all the meat home, and be more flexible if the bison weren’t cooperating.
We arrived in Jackson a day before my hunt started, just to look around, get acquainted with the area, meet Ralph at Tag ‘N Drag, take pictures, get my archery stamp/conservation stamp, etc.
We get into Jackson at 3:00 AM, with an almost full moon and snow on the ground, so we drove along the highway next to the Elk Refuge, and not for sure what we were going to see, started looking…Pictures hard to see, but with binoculars, you could see very well and we saw tons of elk, a couple moose at the north end of the refuge, then pulled into Flat Creek Inn where we were staying to get some sleep in the truck until it opened
Later that day after checking in and getting my stamps, we went driving around, just to see what we could see……
The first bighorn sheep I have ever seen….
Then a lot of bighorn sheep…..
This is already starting good! Keep it coming.....
Then a bighorn ram I reached out the window and touched his horns…… Amazing how calm animals are when they know they are pretty safe.
Then…..Bison!!!! At some point during the day they had moved down to the more southern end of the NER. This got me feeling pretty confident, knowing that the bison were on the refuge, as this is the biggest concern for cow bison hunters, they move in and out of the refuge and onto Grand Teton Park where you cannot hunt. Talking with Ralph, this was his concern, as normally, the herds move onto the refuge, get shot at, then run back to the Park, sometimes for days before returning to the NER.
However, this year appeared to be different, as the area had gotten a decent amount of snow early, then it warmed up, causing some of the snow to melt, the getting cold again, creating a crust on the snow. For some animals, this isn’t a huge issue, as they can paw thru the crust to feed. Bison, on the other hand, as pointed out in another thread, don’t paw thru the snow; they use their faces and push the snow out of the way with a side to side motion, which a decent snow crust prevents them from doing. So since the snow in the higher elevations had crusted over, the bison had moved onto the refuge earlier than normal and stayed almost continuously…..
Hunt Day 1 Ralph also had a rifle hunter hunting today, and the rifle guy went with Ralph’s other guide. Ralph and I went in thru the southern end of the Refuge, seeing elk everywhere, and dodging a few bison as we drove to the parking lot to unload the horses. As Ralph was getting the horses ready, I took some practice shots to make sure everything on my bow made the trip without any changes. The wind was blowing 20-25 MPH from the south, and I am trying to shoot making sure everything is on before we ride in to try to kill the biggest animal in North America. I’m betting Ralph was a bit nervous after watching me shoot, as a couple of my shots hit 7-10” right of my aim point with the left to right wind. This was at 50-70 yrds, so I moved up to 30 and 40 yrds and took a couple shots, everything seemed be on, even though I couldn’t hold well with all the wind.
After jumping on the horses, we ride back the way we drove in, since we drove past 150+ bison on the way in. They had crossed one of the refuge roads since we had gotten there, now they were on the archery only area, kind of ironic. By the way, the archery and short range weapon areas are the most flat open area you can just about imagine, zero cover and zero terrain other than Miller’s Butte, but the bison were not near the butte, so imagine hunting pronghorn, add snow, and add about 800+ pounds to the animal.
Ralph has a very good relationship with the WY Game and Fish guys as well as the US Fish and Wildlife officer that oversees this hunt. So since those guys knew Ralph had a bowhunter, and supposedly only 1 other cow had ever been killed with a bow in WY, I was going to have an audience for this hunt. As we rode towards the herd, the “audience” was parked along the Refuge road, watching us and the bison, about 200 yrds away.
When we get to about 100 yrds on the horses, the bison seem to be a bit nervous and started angling back to go back across the road, somewhat towards us, but also trying swing wide of us. We had road down the road headed south, with the bison to our left. As we get about parallel to them, Ralph turns the horses towards the bison, and we ride off the road about 30 yrds. As we are doing this, the herd begins their march back towards the road, keeping their distance from us. Ralph leads the horses in, a few steps at a time, trying to keep the bison from becoming to spooky and running off. Finally, they get a little impatient and start walking straight parallel with us, bring some of the herd with in 25yrds.
I dismount my horse, keep it between me and the majority of the herd. As Ralph and I quietly discuss which cow looks the biggest, and making sure it isn’t a bull, a single cow breaks away from the herd towards us…..
More to come tomorrow.....
Not fair to to leave us hanging!!!!!
How much does does the outfitter charge ?
Patiently waiting for the rest of the pictures and story.
Good luck! It is FUNNY the archery only area truly is crazy flat - by for the most open flat area on the refuge.
I am sure he will get one!
Some great pics so far. You are one of the very few people in this world who can say they pet a wild bighorn sheep!
Following this one for sure. Was just looking at this draw process last night. Wild cow bison would be FINE with me......and my freezer.
Thanks for sharing
Nice tease!
Were those sheep licking salt off the fenders?
CHARGE!!!!!!! She pulls her front legs up a bit, does some kind of mule like kick/gallop, and shes coming our way in a hurry!!!!! And hurry is an understatement when she was only 25 yrds away to begin with. Ralph turns his horse towards her. This stops her, at around 12 yrds from us, and she turns and trots back to the herd…..I’m not sure if this would be similar to a grizzly encounter, but at that range, there is absolutely zero time to pull out spray or a firearm. It literally would have been 2-3 seconds MAX from time she charged till she would have been on us. It happened so fast, I wasn’t even really sure what happened until Ralph said he hadn’t had that happen before. I remember seeing it, and knowing it really happened but in the back of my mind I was questioning what I just saw, it happened that quick.
Most of the bison, seeing the cow charge us, have stopped to watch. Ralph and I regroup, and we find a cow on the edge of the herd that has good horns, good fur/hide, and looks to be pretty decent in size. She is at 25 yrds when I draw, and I as settled the sight pin on her, she begins to walk, at first, going past us, then angling slightly away from us.......
And walk...............
And walks..............
And finally stops again, slightly quartering away, looking back at us, now at about 33-34 yrds as she has walked quite a ways around us. The 30 yrd pin settles a touch high, right behind the line created by the shoulder and color change on her hide, and just above the elbow joint visible on her side……
I had issues with target panic a few years ago, and in 2012 switched to a thumb activated Carter release that I used for 3D shoots, activated by back tension, to produce a surprise release for hunting. Using my index finger releases in the past, all I could do was get the pin on the chest somewhere then I would yank the trigger in hunting/pressure situations. Since switching, I can tell you exactly where the pin was when the bow went off, and am 100% confident the arrow is going where it is supposed to when shot goes off and feels correct.........
This shot felt absolutely perfect and the arrow hit right below where my 30 yrd pin was when the bow went off, and then disappeared.
The herd splits, and about half, including the cow I shot, runs across the road. I’m scrambling for another arrow, hearing stories from Ralph and other hunters about how bison can take forever to go down. Ralph says there is already blood pouring from her nose/mouth and not worry about another arrow yet. So I then scramble to get my phone out to take pictures. As I get my phone out of my pocket, my cow goes down, head up briefly, then down for good. This is the first picture I could get with my phone, cow already down. From the shot to done in about 35 seconds. Distance after shot was about 80 yrds or so. One of the fastest kills I have had……
You can see her laying just to the left of the leftmost sign post in this picture.....
A few bison surround my cow to lick the blood and Ralph lets them for a few minutes, then rides over and pushes them off..... This is what is on the ground as I walk towards her, all spray from nose/mouth, the fur absorbs most of what actually comes out of the arrow holes
Even a cow bison is a very big animal...
I'm 6'2, and just on one knee, so you can see how big even a cow is....
The other hunter also killed one, so we took both bison to the meat processor at the same time......
Congrats and good shooting!
Atta boy. Great country, great experience and great eating for at least a year.
Envy coming at your from Kansas!
Nice! How were you able to get them in the truck? come-along winch?
Awesome job, enjoy the meat!
I spent the next 3 days going out with Ralph or his other guide, (I think Tyler? but I'm not 100% sure, I am awful with names) to do retrieval, or with hunters. Over those 3 days, they retrieved a rifle killed bull, a rifle killed cow, and guided another hunter to kill a cow with a shotgun. I will post some of those pics, as well as some a bunch of other pics I took.
Warning for the elkaholics, there are a couple bull elk that will get your heart rate up that I got some pictures of......
Cityhunter-Google Double Diamond Tag 'N Drag and it will take you to his website. Since he isn't a sponsor here, I don't want to post links, but all that info is there. I can PM you more info as well.
SDHUNTR- Yes they were licking salt off of the entire truck, not just fenders. One of the lambs actually was halfway under the truck licking salt off of the axle or A-arms.
wildwilderness- I will post a few pics next that show Tag N Drag's entire setup for bison retrieval.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing.
Right on man! Great hunt and pics! I really appreciate you sharing this with us. I am getting the itch to try to take a bison someday with my bow in Arizona. Just have to draw a tag! LOL! Great Job!
Awesome hunt and story....thanks for sharing. I shot a cow in AZ last year and they are big. The best meat I've ever had!! I love elk meat but the bison is much better. Congrats on a great trophy!
What a cool place to be in January...congrats on the bison and thanks for the story and pics!
Very cool! I hunted the Jackson area this September and it truly is a special place.
nice going its so interesting how them big bull elk find there way to this spot then disappear into the mountains !!
Yea they are big critters even the cows , they can haul when they want 2. Congrats
awesome! thanks for sharing!
Wow, congrats! I was at the zoo looking at some bison with my daughter not an hour ago, they are seriously big animals!
Congrats and thanks for sharing!
What was your set-up poundage arrow weight etc?
Wow. That's awesome. Congratulations!
My setup was: Elite Answer @ 80# with 29" speed mods, Easton Axis 260's with 50 grain brass inserts,and 100 gr RazorTricks. Total arrow weight of 508 grains doing about 294 fps. Result was a complete pass-thru.
Good job on the bison good eating for sure, I raise buffalo for a few years awesome meat sure miss it. Congrats thanks for sharing.
Awesome. I used to love catching big trout on my fly rod in Flat creek on the refuge. The photos bring back some good memories of living there!
Awesome read. Thanks for sharing.
Great story and photos. Congrats!
I'm am envious of your freezer's contents! congratulations.
Happy for ya Bryan!
I love that South unit NER for my short range weapon Cow elk when/if I get the tag.
Them elk do not stand around like those Buff do though-
Ya done great with your bow and arrow my friend.
Good luck, Robb
