Do it yourself Alta. bison

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makid

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With not a lot of hunting going on at the moment, I've been thinking. I think a bison would be a cool thing to hunt and know there are a few taken every year outside of Wood Buffalo Nat. Park. where they remarkably don't have any sort of legal status. What would I have to know and start thinking about for a DIYS hunt?

Thanks,
Dean
 
Actually Bison in all of Alberta are not considered a game animal. A couple of things to remember if you do go 1, Make sure you are not on a reserve as you will be charged or worse. 2, TB many of the animals at Wood Buffalo are infected with it and when you are cleaning them you can get the disease.
If you do happen to shoot one remember they are very strong and can be difficult to put down. I had one take 5 shots 3 head and 2 body like nothing.
Your best bet would be to contact Fish and Wildlife in the area for more information.
 
A buddy of mine rented a helicopter to locate the herd and then went back the next couple of days hoping to find them. He had no luck.

Not that hard to stay off reserves up here, pretty easy to figure out.

I would be scared of eating it too. Plus, I don't like bison, too bland.

I don't know how else you could locate the herd without a guide or willing to put in a week on a snowmobile. It would be hit and miss and we are just starting to get enough snow, it has been a dry winter up north.

I keep hearing rumors the open season is going to end, don't know if it is true, but I heard at last year's public wildlife meeting that this is the last year.?????
 
Bison are in the same class as coyotes at least in this part of Alberta, can't say the whole province is the same.

Not sure about non-residents hunting yotes though.
 
The CO that takes care of that Northern Section of Alberta is Owen Sabistan. He lives in Fort Vermilion. He could answer any questions you have regarding Wood Buffalo Park Bison. Regards, Eagleye.
 
West of HWY 35 is a bison protection zone, not even the natives are allowed to shoot them in that area. They are growing in number, and when they start to scratching and rubbing on well heads the end result of sheard off valves is usually a dead(H2S poisoning) buffalo, and a expensive spill clean up. They have on a few occasions really beat the heck out of an operators pick up while he was in changing charts. I have personally almost hit a heard on the road a couple of times, they dont look at lights and being dark they really are tough to see until your "roller skating through a buffalo heard". I cant see them leaving this area closed forever, it will take one high profile death or disaster and the SRD will open it up.
 
Always shoot the first one in the herd never the last...;)

Couple of my studennts went chasing buffalo last year and got two. They had no problems with the meat.

What would you look for in tainted meat?
 
I think the only way you can test for TB or the other nastys that bison can carry, is most likely an expensive test by a labratory.
 
In bison, tuberculosis usually affects the lungs, sometimes you will see discharge from the mouth or nose.

If the animal is infected you will find small, pale rounded lumps in the lungs or on the lining of the ribcage (it looks like lumpy cheese), and sometimes in the liver, kidneys, spleen, windpipe and glands. There may be one or more lumps and they may vary in size. They may appear in only one or in many organs.

You can get tuberculosis by eating contaminated meat which has not been well cooked, or by inhaling bacteria from open wounds, droppings, or discharge from the nose and mouth of infected animals.

Here are some guidelines:

Lungs or other infected areas and lymph nodes should be handled with care, preferably with protective gloves.

Butcher the animal carefully and do not cut into infected parts.

Wash your hands, knives and clothes with hot soapy water after handling the animal.

Report any animals suspected of having tuberculosis.

Do not eat any affected parts.

If the disease is wide-spread within the body, the animal should not be used for human consumption.

Thorough cooking will kill the bacteria.

Freezing, smoking, drying and pickling will not kill the bacteria.

Do not feed infected parts to dogs.


I find Bison to be easy prey. Once you find them, they usually stand still long enough for you to choose a nice healthy one, set up, and shoot. I use a .338 Win Mag and 250 grainers, and one good shot to the neck will bring a Bison down for good. There are plenty of people that I know who use 30-06, .270 Win and other lighter calibres with great success. I find that winter hunting is easiest, because the animal is easier to turn in the snow and I am usually dressing the critter by myself. If you want better meat ignore the big bulls and pick out a nice two year old.

When choosing an animal to harvest make sure you inspect it well before shooting. Any swelling in the joints indicate brucellosis, sunken flanks usually mean the animal is not healthy, other signs will be obvious if you take your time and examine the herd. If you treat all Bison you harvest as a potentially infected animal and observe the guidelines above, you will be just fine.
 
NWTHunter said:
I find Bison to be easy prey. Once you find them, they usually stand still long enough for you to choose a nice healthy one, set up, and shoot. I use a .338 Win Mag and 250 grainers, and one good shot to the neck will bring a Bison down for good. There are plenty of people that I know who use 30-06, .270 Win and other lighter calibres with great success. I find that winter hunting is easiest, because the animal is easier to turn in the snow and I am usually dressing the critter by myself. If you want better meat ignore the big bulls and pick out a nice two year old.

QUOTE]


I thought you were required to use a rifle capable of 200 grain bullets in NWT??? Am I wrong, or is this a Yukon requirement??
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I know of some folks in Manning that like to go hunting Wood bison in the early spring when the snow is still deep enough for sleds, but the temperature is moderate. They employ home-built ultralight aircraft and have also used power-parachutes to locate a herd. After finding the bison, they use snow machines & skimmers to get to the herd and bring out the meat when successful (which isn't every year)...KF
 
riden said:
NWTHunter said:
I find Bison to be easy prey. Once you find them, they usually stand still long enough for you to choose a nice healthy one, set up, and shoot. I use a .338 Win Mag and 250 grainers, and one good shot to the neck will bring a Bison down for good. There are plenty of people that I know who use 30-06, .270 Win and other lighter calibres with great success. I find that winter hunting is easiest, because the animal is easier to turn in the snow and I am usually dressing the critter by myself. If you want better meat ignore the big bulls and pick out a nice two year old.

QUOTE]


I thought you were required to use a rifle capable of 200 grain bullets in NWT??? Am I wrong, or is this a Yukon requirement??
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That's what the rules state. From my 1 experience bison hunting last year, as long as you were reasonably close ie. 180 from a 30-06, 175 from a 7mag, no one really seemed too concerned.

*thread hyjack*

And really, the 200gr minimum rule is kinda silly. A 175 from a 7mm weatherby is no good, but a 200gr from a 308 is OK? If it were possible, some kind of energy minimum or energy/caliber minimum would be better.

Yes, I know. It's not as easy as it sounds.
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"riden" is correct, the NWT Regs state that there is a 200 grain minimum for Wood Bison.

I use a 338 and Federal High Energy 250 grain Nosler Partitions myself, but I know that many Bison have been taken by old-timers and trappers with 30-30, 303, 300 Savage, 308, 270 Win, 7RM, 30-06, and even 6.5x55.

I personally witnessed several clean, quick kills with a 30-06. I'm just letting you know that Bison have died without much fuss when the hunter has done their part.
 
BC Bigbore said:
I know of some folks in Manning that like to go hunting Wood bison in the early spring when the snow is still deep enough for sleds, but the temperature is moderate. They employ home-built ultralight aircraft and have also used power-parachutes to locate a herd. After finding the bison, they use snow machines & skimmers to get to the herd and bring out the meat when successful (which isn't every year)...KF
Click to expand...

Sounds like James Bond
 
NWTHunter said:
I personally witnessed several clean, quick kills with a 30-06. I'm just letting you know that Bison have died without much fuss when the hunter has done their part.
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Yes, and my wife killed a huge bull of well over 2000 pounds with two shots low into the lungs with her 30-06. 180 gr Kodiak Bonded Cores at 2600 fps. :cool:

I shot one with a single shot from my old 375 H&H, but both were equally dead. ;)

Ted
 
I shot a bison two years ago with one shot to the head. 30-06 165g Federal ammo. Dont remember what the "name" of the bullet was. Dropped on the spot. About 120 yds.

I treated the meat like it was bear meat, well cooked and wore gloves even tho the animal was not infected.....and it was great meat.

Guiding this year northeast of Ft. McMurray, I found lots of fresh bison sign but didnt pursue them. Might try this year tho.

Id have a "spare gutting knife" to actually gut the animal with then use a different knife to quarter it with. Might help from spreading any contaminants. Always pays to be safe. TB isnt really something to piddle around with. But not all of them have it.

If you wanna go and Im not guiding I might be interested in going. Its a ways off now but nothing like planning, eh. And I know the area.
 
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