My Bison Hunting Trip
Well I've been home for six days now so figured I should post a quick note to let you know that the "bison hunt" was truly a hunt of a lifetime. My partner "antler hunter" and I headed off for High Level on Jan. 01st (had to work the day before). We stayed at the BCMI (wanted to stay at the Noralta but couldn't justify $320/night for 2 of us {$160/each})
First day we were accompanied by my wife's cousin who know a bit of the area. Found lots of promising area but didn't see the herd. Met Jackie (F&W) who checked our licences etc and was helpful in suggesting areas to try.
Second day we hunted hard or shall we say we looked - drove - looked - drove - looked until our heads hurt. Met lots of other groups hunting but no one was seeing anything.
Third day I just had a good feeling ... I think my partner thought I was overly optimistic. We had 4-8 inches of fresh snow that was still falling as we started the AM hunt. We went to an area we had been encouraged to check out by a local operator. We checked the area and found tracks ... we were 1-2 hours behind the herd. We started to work our way back south toward the top end of the no shooting area. We was working the lease roads when we met up with Ron and Joanne. They were doing the same so we left them and we continued to work the roads heading south. We continued until we suddenly say Ron heading out from his truck with his gun. My partner and I headed up to his truck and after catching up to Ron about 1 km from his truck, we together walked up on the herd. We both were able to harvest nice bulls and made for a very nice end to our hunting trip.
I would remiss if I didn't take a moment to thank a few folks. I would like to start by thanking mcreg, jessepaul, mooseslayer for getting me going in the right direction. (Your advice , directions , suggestions were very helpful.) I would like to thank Lyle, Jackie, Jeff & Luke with fish and wildlife. You were most helpful and supportive. I would like to also like to thank my hunting partner "antler hunter" for jumping in and going on this adventure with me. You made this trip AWESOME. Without your companionship with trip wouldn't have happened. I must not forget to thank Ron/Joanne for dragging my bull out of the bush.
My summary:
-APPLY ... it is worth it !!!!
-It is getting to be a harder hunt that the first few years(according to F&W) ... I suggest you plan for a week hunt.
- You will hear reports of it taking 5-7 hours to gut and 1/4 your animal - I would say 3 hours is reasonable if you know what you are doing.
-When you consider where to stay you must factor in fuel cost/cheap High Level hotel/motel prices vs. Noralta price where meals are included / less travel time.
- My experience was that the hide actually came off quite easy - I was very nervous as I was told the hide was next to impossible to work on and dulled knives very fast. We used 2 knives (one each) and had no issue.
- Driving is huge ... we but on approx. 400 km/day
- Hunting time is from approx. 9:30 AM --> 4:45 PM (no long days / just long nights)
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Beware of the man who legally hunts to feed his family. He may not always shoot the biggest game but when he pulls the trigger things quickly end up in the freezer.
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