Bison hunter becomes the hunted

Why not? said:
To put this all in perspective, Wood bison are the largest terrestrial animal in North America, considerably larger than their plains cousins down south. The males easily weigh over 2,000 lb. My lovely wife killed one in 1999 that put just under 1100 pound of boneless meat into freezers here. It measured just under seven 7 ft at the withers, and 10 ft 4 in from the nose to the root of the tail. Estimated live weight was 2300-2500 lbs. We skinned it out for a life-size mount, and the head, hide, and hooves weighed over 300 pounds green.

She killed it with two offhand shots from her 30-06 with 180 gr bonded cores at something over 100 yd. We have it on video.

The vertebrae from that animal had spinal processes that measure 27" long over the hump. They are presented during the bison hunting workshops here, so hunters can actually understand how low one must shoot to be in the vitals. That is what Eagleye is speaking about in his post above when he says the shots are often too high.

The head is huge, while the brain is small and surrounded by several inches of bone, in some places as much as six inches. There are many accounts up here of bison shaking off multiple hits to the head, and this is the second actual charge by a wounded bison I know of. The first was a fellow using Nosler partitions in a 300 Win Mag. I saw the two bullet holes in the skull of that animal, and the track of another one that skidded off. Three shots and his rifle was empty. Both the guy and the bison were running hard, seriously, when his buddy put the bison down with a 270 gr partition from something than 30 feet.

Personally have only ever hunted them with 375 H&H and 9.3X62. Both do very well.
Ted
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Ted, how many of misc calibers and rounds where used at the same time your wife took the bison for the team side to you to put one down?
they didnt believe it was down with two shots of 30-06 and by a woman ....
 
I was lucky enough to shoot one that escaped from a friends farm and was tearing up neighbors fences and crops. It was fairly tame and I was able to get pretty close. One 250gr Partition from a .338-06 to the base of the skull dropped it on the spot. My cousin shot the other escapee through the lungs and it went quite a way before dropping.
 
starvin said:
Eagleye nailed it. And don’t shoot them in the head.
Bison were one of the first ways to diversify an ailing ag economy. Besides farmers they attracted a lot of speculative investors as prices spiked. Had a neighbor jump on board and when the market collapsed he lost all interest in feeding,working etc and ultimately fencing. His herd went feral and were wild as deer, but a lot harder on my fence and hay stacks. Caught 4 cows going back to cover one winter morning and made a loop to where I had them 50 yards in front of me. Had my wife’s little Ruger ultralight .270 with 140 partitions. Smacked the lead cow between the lookers and WOW she didn’t like that. Was blowing blood all over and the little herd was tails straight up and on the hunt. I was concealed but suddenly very aware that I had 4 rounds left and an angry mob between me and my truck. Next 4 bullets went through lungs with the expected outcome.
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I laughed. A friend bought a "farm" in foreclosure that had failed. Unbeknownst to him there were actually the remainders of a herd wandering in the bush on the land. 5 or six young bulls and the same number of cows. He invited his two bowhunter friends over to take care of the problem. They promptly stuck a bunch of arrows in them and then had to call in another friend with a rifle.
 
The largest one I shot measured more than the 27" on the spine/feather bone area, it measured 32" and dressed 1187lbs. I shot it with an open sight single shot rifle in 7.62x39 with one shot behind the ear.
 
medvedqc said:
... “And then you know what I did? I threw my gun down on the ground and I went over and gave him a big hug,” he said. “Poor guy. He was only trying to defend himself. He knew I was going to kill him so he was going to let me have it. I deserved it.” ...

that sums up the story for who know the local guy and i wont say anything else even under torture. at least i had a good laugh ...
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;)

Ted
 
But a single shot rifle of adequate power loaded with the right type of bullet would force the hunter to focus on making a 1 shot DRT kill. Should be about the perfection of the shot. :cool:
 
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Slamfire said:
Here's what the Wyoming Game & Fish Commission recommends for shot placement on Bison -

"...the traditional shot in the heart/lung area. This shot
is used by most hunters and can be placed by locating the area slightly above the animal’s knee. The advantage to this shot
is the lethal area is larger and easier to hit. The disadvantage is a bison can often take several shots in this area before
going down, particularly bulls...

...The second recommended shot is in the neck vertebrae. This shot should be made
approximately six inches straight back from the bottom/base of the horn..."

https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/content/PDF/Hunting/Bison/BISON_KNOWDIFFERENCE.pdf

Circles are where WG&FC recommends. Broadside I favor taking out the shoulders and the spinal chord as shown, or a brain hit would work also - both locations shown in red. Frontal shot, aim for the brain. No issues.

Leave the poodle shooters at home. Go high speed double extra mojo .40+ caliber solids. :cool:

(Disclaimer: not a recommendation, individual results may vary :p ).

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That shot placement is similar to animals in Africa, lots of meat above the spine to help them fend off lions etc
 
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