Anyone ever successfully hunt a Bison? What caliber did you use?

Why not? said:
Have woods bison up here, and in my experience a single hit into the lethal area from a 375 H&H is always enough. Loaned a 375 rifle to friend of mine for his first hunt with same result.

My still lovely wife of 56 years, killed a true monster several years ago using her 30-06. She is a very good shot, and two shots into the lungs at around 150 with a 200 gr bonded core put just under 1100 pounds of boneless meat in the freezer from that one animal.

Hcf5TmWl.png


The correct hit for the lungs is in the lower one quarter of the observable body. The spinal processes above the heart are over two feet in length, and any higher there are no vital organs. You can see how high the hump is on the animal.

Needless to say, the 9.3X62 with 285 gr or heavier bullets is also a very adequate bison outfit.

Ted
Click to expand...

It was quite some time back when I first saw that photo. Very nice. It was then and still is now, one of my favorites. Don't know if I'll get to it, but,:) Bison is on my 'bucket list'. I'd likely go with the 9.3x62, aka,;) 366 Wagner. All the best to you & Marg.
 
I got in a little dust up with some feral bison a few years ago. Found out shooting them in the head with your deer gun is no bueno.
Their skull is massively thick and curved outwards, moose elk etc skull dished in in front of brain.

IMG_0588.jpg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0589.jpg
    IMG_0589.jpg
    90.2 KB · Views: 369
  • IMG_0588.jpg
    IMG_0588.jpg
    102.3 KB · Views: 372
medvedqc said:
ah ah that story is the best to hear and i wont tell the name of those involved highly known in our community and bragging a lot about their skills ... they used: a 375 hh, a 350 remington magnum and a 300 magnum and if i do remember it was 8 shots ... i witnessed on another day one bison big bull that needed 5 shots of 375hh and 260 grains accubond (that some nicknamed accubomb) the bullets were in the right part of placement but did not work properly: lack of penetration.
Click to expand...

formula getting weak with only .264 sd on the 260 gr 375, a 180 gr 30 cal is .271 and a 160 in 7mm is .284 , they will both go deeper with similar impact velocity and construction, the head stamp of 375 doesn't mean jack, now the 300 gr in the .375 gets up there in the sd department with a .305 but it's still a long ways from keeping up to a 6.5 mm 160 grain at .328 lol, the 30-06 with 220 is .331, about the only thing that can run with a 160 in a 6.5, you can kill elephants with all 3 of those last options...headstamps don't mean anything, if you wanna run the line on sd and construction and hit the tough parts you're going to have issues, this thread is pointing it all out nicely, seems the stuff that's not working for the less than perfect placements is in the .25 sd range and squishy construction for impact velocity range, gotta stop discussing and viewing this stuff from the headstamp view point, bring in the more objective data at the same time
 
blakeyboy said:
formula getting weak with only .264 sd on the 260 gr 375, a 180 gr 30 cal is .271 and a 160 in 7mm is .284 , they will both go deeper with similar impact velocity and construction, the head stamp of 375 doesn't mean jack, now the 300 gr in the .375 gets up there in the sd department with a .305 but it's still a long ways from keeping up to a 6.5 mm 160 grain at .328 lol, the 30-06 with 220 is .331, about the only thing that can run with a 160 in a 6.5, you can kill elephants with all 3 of those last options...headstamps don't mean anything, if you wanna run the line on sd and construction and hit the tough parts you're going to have issues, this thread is pointing it all out nicely, seems the stuff that's not working for the less than perfect placements is in the .25 sd range and squishy construction for impact velocity range, gotta stop discussing and viewing this stuff from the headstamp view point, bring in the more objective data at the same time
Click to expand...

stop mathematic but maybe there is a conspiration there as well... 250 gr ttsx with barnes works great on them in .375 or tsx in 9.3 despite a low sd ... penetration is related to bullet construction not sd with modern bullets.
 
medvedqc said:
ah ah that story is the best to hear and i wont tell the name of those involved highly known in our community and bragging a lot about their skills ... they used: a 375 hh, a 350 remington magnum and a 300 magnum and if i do remember it was 8 shots .…..
Click to expand...

You remember correctly. It was eight shots before the bison was down for keeps.

Ardent said:
…… If shot like a moose, it could become be a very long day. They’re tough but can’t withstand a .30-06 in the right place, even the biggest of them. Vitals are in a very different location than you are used to.
Click to expand...

Ardent, I know of two very long days started by two very experienced moose hunters shooting too high. One was using a 358 Norma Magnum, and that kept everyone in their party very excited and on their toes for over an hour. The other was using a 45-70, and ended up in a charted helicopter the next day to try and find the animal.

You almost cannot shoot one of these beasts too low.
Ted
 
medvedqc said:
stop mathematic but maybe there is a conspiration there as well... 250 gr ttsx with barnes works great on them in .375 or tsx in 9.3 despite a low sd ... penetration is related to bullet construction not sd with modern bullets.
Click to expand...

apparently 30-30 with 170's works fine too, .256 sd at low enough velocities you know it kept a good bunch of it so made it far enough with appropriate placement, was the lowest end of the hp and sd spectrum brought up in this thread, the 260 gr 375 isn't that much more on the penetration potential of bullet but likely moving quicker so adds some depth there if bullet holds together well, and the 7mm 140 gr at .248 sd and warp speed by comparison wasn't placed well enough for its formula and that velocity with partition that loses half of itself means weak penetration, if it was a 140 mono likely no issues with that hyper speed, bullet would have kept most of it's sd and driven deeper

just nice to see the objectives of all these stated choices beside the head stamps as the discussion rambles along, not trying to argue, just show the spectrum a little more objectively along the way
 
The bull from the previously mentioned feral group was on my cousins lawn one day between the house and the school bus. Dad went over and sorted it out with his 30-30 without a fuss.
 
Why not? said:
You remember correctly. It was eight shots before the bison was down for keeps.



Ardent, I know of two very long days started by two very experienced moose hunters shooting too high. One was using a 358 Norma Magnum, and that kept everyone in their party very excited and on their toes for over an hour. The other was using a 45-70, and ended up in a charted helicopter the next day to try and find the animal.

You almost cannot shoot one of these beasts too low.
Ted
Click to expand...

Very true Ted, vitals are incredibly low. Best meat in the bush in my opinion, worth the work.

Angus
 
dan belisle said:
Agree. But man, it's a lot of wo4k once they're down. - dan
Click to expand...

work lol insane especially when you start at -20 and finish at -35 and not talking about wind ... i learn from a gentleman from here that is promoting as well the 9.3x62 to start a fire before any works and it was helpful. thank you again Ted for that trick.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom