The Right Tool: Following up a Wounded Wood Bison bull with a Double Rifle (Article)

Ardent

Ardent

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Tracked and finished a wounded Wood Bison bull, likely the result of attempted poaching, for the Conservation Officers today. Not an everyday experience, and the double gained experience as well, very close up. Hope you enjoy the brief read, photos on my site below.

http://www.morrisonarms.com/2013/11/the-right-tool-for-an-unfortunate-job-a-double-rifle-a-wood-bison-bull/

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It's great that you had what you needed, rather than need what you didn't have.
Good job Ardent.
Poachers make me wish for an open season, no tags.
 
Dogleg said:
I don't think a lot of people realize just how big the bovines are. Even a .375 isn't a big gun, but more of a sensible minimum.
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Absolutely agree, and yet we get dozens of replies from folks who never been close to one in threads stating the .308 or .30-06 as "Good for anything in North America". :) To avoid a fight, I say 200gr .300 minimum, in reality a .338 Win Mag would be a sensible minimum, but I fear starting the "shot placement, not horsepower" argument; the best answer is shot placement and horsepower.

BigUglyMan said:
Damn, that was a nice one too. You get the hide as compensation?
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No, I suspect there may be a government trail cam on the kill to see what shows up, human or otherwise. Because of the possibility the hunters were native and other natives hunting the area yesterday (despite the three men in question clearly being Caucasian, you'd just be amazed by what some guys with status look like) they have to leave the carcass to rot incase they return as they said they would, to make dog food out of it. They'll never find it as they seemed to have no inclination to follow it far, and it went about a click through bush that makes the Amazon look pretty open and roomy (I know you live in the same stuff). Plus it snowed, tracks are fading fast. I was given permission for the meat initially, then information emerged they were returning (they had stated this to our boss when he confronted them), and the CO's while very frustrated were obliged to leave it and I presume set up a cam.

Runningfool said:
Anything happen with the 3 guys and their alleged native hunting partner?
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Unfortunately not yet, they jetted 3 hours or so before the CO's arrived (they moved fast, couldn't have responded quicker), and it takes 2 hours to clear the road in and out of the area from where they were.
 
Glad you had your Double along eh?? Nice write up and pics. I know a guy that shot a small cow half the size of that bull. Even though it was a close range shot the bullet deflected off twigs and hit the spine, the bison made it 60 yards with only its front legs by the time he worked the bolt and put another on in it, was a 30-06.


What bullet are you using in the 375??
 
Junk, unfortunately as only intended on punching paper, Federal blue box 300gr, but it worked.

There's been a very good development in the whole thing I'll detail once appropriate.

On a side and incredible note, saw it being skinned, and there was the throat shot and a perfect heart shot, both 7mm Mag. Literally perfect placement on the heart shot, and the 7mm Mag didn't even come close to putting him down, he was still walking strong an hour or two later. The throat shot didn't even go 12", stopped under the skin opposite.
 
On a side and incredible note, saw it being skinned, and there was the throat shot and a perfect heart shot, both 7mm Mag. Literally perfect placement on the heart shot, and the 7mm Mag didn't even come close to putting him down, he was still walking strong an hour or two later. The throat shot didn't even go 12", stopped under the skin opposite.
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Somewhere there's three hunters or poachers as the case may be. One of them is saying he hit it perfect but the bullet failed or that more gun would have made a difference, and the other two are calling bull#### and that he made a poor hit. All three believe that the animal running off is proof positive that they are right.

On an unrelated but hopefully interesting note here's a buffalo heart-shot with a .458 Win Mag that worked, even though the damage was more to the power-end than the fluid-end of the pump.



 
Ardent said:
Junk, unfortunately as only intended on punching paper, Federal blue box 300gr, but it worked.

There's been a very good development in the whole thing I'll detail once appropriate.

On a side and incredible note, saw it being skinned, and there was the throat shot and a perfect heart shot, both 7mm Mag. Literally perfect placement on the heart shot, and the 7mm Mag didn't even come close to putting him down, he was still walking strong an hour or two later. The throat shot didn't even go 12", stopped under the skin opposite.
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BACK-UP THE BUS!!! Are you saying that a 7mm bullet penetrated the heart fully and the bull was on its feet and moving two hours later??? That is unbelievable...
 
Never saw the heart, just saw the skin back, and the 7mm hole is literally on top of the heart. I would suspect the bullet simply failed to reach the heart, as it seems to have gone through the back bit of muscle on the front leg mid step, and they have massive ribs which get in the way too. A lot of guessing at that point, but given the other bullet didn't even pass through just his throat, highly likely.

This all said, buffalo can and will go hours with a small caliber heart shot (well documented in Africa), they are on a whole different level of big / amount of blood in circulatory system / tough.
 
Ardent said:
Never saw the heart, just saw the skin back, and the 7mm hole is literally on top of the heart. I would suspect the bullet simply failed to reach the heart, as it seems to have gone through the back bit of muscle on the front leg mid step, and they have massive ribs which get in the way too. A lot of guessing at that point, but given the other bullet didn't even pass through just his throat, highly likely.

This all said, buffalo can and will go hours with a small caliber heart shot (well documented in Africa), they are on a whole different level of big / amount of blood in circulatory system / tough.
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This is why no AIR is better than no BLOOD... I would think however that the heart was NOT reached by the bullet... If there was any angle to the shot at all after being destabilized by the leg meat, contact with a thick rib could have deflected the bullet anywhere. In skinning and dressing a 300 pound blackbear shot with a 154 grain bonded bullet from a 7mm Mag to the front shoulder, we found that despite the bonded construction the bullet had fragmented and went everywhere EXCEPT through the heart lungs, resulting in a long tracking job...
 
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Dogleg said:
I don't think a lot of people realize just how big the bovines are. Even a .375 isn't a big gun, but more of a sensible minimum.
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This is where all the 30-30 lovers to chime in and tell us they have been shooting buffalo for centuries and have never had a problem. For those that have never shot or butchered a Bison, half the meat is above the spine, and the spine is not where you think it is.
 
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