Sandhills Buffalo Hunt

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Dakota Dick
Posts: 439
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:58 pm
Location: Black Hills, South Dakota

Sandhills Buffalo Hunt

Post by Dakota Dick »

Several of you had asked for hunt and load details...I have done my best to cover the details

Buffalo Hunt 8 Oct 2012 with Sandhills Outfitters Stuart NE
http://sandhillsoutfitters.com/
This was my 5th Buffalo and my 2nd with Sandhills Outfitters. Of the 4 outfitters I have used in 4 different states no one offers a better compete package at a very competitive price than Rick and Doris Hamilton at Sandhills Outfitters.
Rifle:
C Sharps 1874 Sharps 50-70. 28” Badger Barrel 1-26 twist, .500” Bore, .511” Groove, Chamber OAL 1.750” Chamber Mouth Diameter .537”. RHO Scope
Load:
Starline Brass. Case wall .010”. FL resized, Trimmed to 1.750”, Annealed. Case mouth just touched with .510” Expander Plug.
BR2 Primer
76.6grs KIK 2F, 36” Drop Tube, topped with .030 VFW @ .100” then seated to .260” for total powder compression of .160”.
Finger seat .125” SPG Lube Cookie topped with .030 VFW for final available Seating Depth of .110”
Accurate 547gr .495” Dia PP Bullet 1,149” long, patched with 100% cotton rag paper for final OD of .500” and seated .110”
http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail. ... 530P-D.png
Lyman Taper Crimp case OD .521” measured with sharp edge of caliper at case mouth
Loaded Round OAL 2.812”

Follow up shot rounds exactly the same except bullet cast @ .493” and patched to .498”.

Can fire one .500 patched followed by two .498 patched with no fouling control and keep all three rounds in 1.5” Group @ 150yds off shooting bench

I competed 8 separate practice sessions prior to hunt in various wind and light conditions at ranges between 100 and 200yds using rangefinder and shooting sticks. All groups were 2.5 MOA or smaller.

My hunt was a 4 night, 3 day Buffalo Hunt for a Yearling Bull. Arrived Sunday afternoon and unpacked at private cabin. Rick and Doris came by to welcome me and visit. Dinner that night at Rick and Doris’s Ranch House (all meals are taken at the Ranch House). Rick went over the hunt plan and review best shot placement with actual Buffalo pictures. Breakfast at 8am Monday morning, a quick sight-in verification at my request and then left the Ranch House at 8:45am CST in Rick’s Suburban. If weather is a bit warmer and/or winds are down, Rick will use the John Deer 4 wheeler Mule instead of the Suburban…but temp was 34 degrees F and winds were 15mph and gusting to 25mph so we opted for a place to get out of the elements later if required. A short drive to the west pasture and spotted the herd about a mile away on the southwest side of the pasture and drove to within a ½ mile of them using the sandhills to block our approach. We stalked the last ½ mile on foot again using the hills and draws to cover our approach. It took about 30 minutes to stalk our way to within 100yds of the whole herd and we took a stand that allowed me to use my shooting sticks in sitting position and have the rifle just over the top of the hill. Then it was just a waiting game until the young bull we wanted to shoot cleared the herd. That took about 20mins. Rick used his rangefinder and called it at 124yds…then he was able to get into a good position to video the shot and caught the 50-70 Sharps going off, the loud SMACK of the bullet hitting the Buffalo and even the explosion of dirt about 30yds behind the Buffalo where the bullet really tossed up a geyser of dirt and dust as it smacked the ground after going clean through. It was a clean heart shot and the Buffalo kicked his rear legs up and ran about 50yds away from the herd. The Buffalo walk and stumbled around for the next 5-6mins with several cows and a 3yr old bull surrounding him to keep him on his feet…the cows moved off a bit and my Buffalo finally went down. These brutes of the prairie are tough and carry 14+ gallons of blood so it can take awhile for one to go down for the count. The 3yr old bull refused to leave the downed Buffalo and kept pushing and hooking his hindquarters in an effort to get him up. See picture below. We were able to use hill cover to get within 40 yds or so of the downed Buffalo, but even when we partially showed ourselves (rifles ready) the 3yr old refused to leave…with half a dozen “interested” 3-4yr old cows within 50yds and the rest of the herd only 100-150yds away we decided it was best to backed down and get the Suburban and use it to block our recovery of the Buffalo. Positioning the Suburban between us and the herd we got a few pictures and then winched the Buff up on the flat bed for transport to the processor.

My Buffalo was a “yearling”...actually an Apr 2011 calf so it was 11/2 years old. He weighed 275lb hanging weight (that's head, hide, guts and legs removed...just your pure meat hanging halves) and that is what Processors uses to figure your processing charge. Valentine Meat Locker charged $.49 lb on hanging weight plus $75 Butchering fee and $8 for tenderizing the round steak (they call minute steaks). So my processing bill was $217.00. I had all the meat processed as boneless, so I ended up with 180lbs of frozen packaged meat and that filled our 10 cu ft freezer a bit over 3/4 full. Adding together the cost of hunt and processing the price per pound of packaged meat came out to $10/lb. That cost included 4 nights stay in your own cabin and 3 meals a day for 3 days, dinner the day you arrive and breakfast the morning you depart. Given that Safeway and SAMs Club are getting $8/lb for Buffalo Burger right now, that is one heck of a hard to beat deal in my book.

Tues and Wednesday I spent shooting various BPCR rifles I took along at the Steel Gong Targets Rick has setup including a Quigley sized buffalo affectionately named “Ralphie” at 805yds. By next Spring Rick will have a complete set of matching Quigley steel targets set up at the Quigley yardages.

I was going to do some predator calling, but the wind just did not let up enough. Rick also offers a ½ day Pheasant Hunt and/or a Turkey Hunt in season if you might want to include them with your Buffalo Hunt…or just use the two days to kick back and catch up on some reading.

I packed up on Wednesday evening and hit the road early Thursday morning to arrive in Valentine at 8am when the processor opened for business. Loaded up my rock hard frozen packaged meat into a 2” Styrofoam lined plywood box I built that has a 9cuft internal capacity and headed home already looking forward to next years hunt.
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Dick Savage
aka
Dakota Dick
Keystone, SD
Stephen Borud
Posts: 1015
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:29 pm
Location: Casper Wyoming

Re: Sandhills Buffalo Hunt

Post by Stephen Borud »

Great shot Dick! Thanks for the detailed story! The 50-70 did a great job!

Stephen
Dakota Dick
Posts: 439
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:58 pm
Location: Black Hills, South Dakota

Re: Sandhills Buffalo Hunt

Post by Dakota Dick »

A question came up as to the live weight of my Buffalo. My Buffalo's live weight was 920 lbs. You can figure live weight at 3 to 3.5 times the hanging weigth and your boneless packaged meat yield at about 20% of live weight.
Correction on the hunts cost per lb...should be $11.50/lb
Dick Savage
aka
Dakota Dick
Keystone, SD
ironramrod
Posts: 1364
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2003 1:12 pm
Location: Dakota Territory

Re: Sandhills Buffalo Hunt

Post by ironramrod »

Dakota D., Thanks for a very detailed report of your hunt. You certainly answered any questions I had and some others I hadn't thought about. For some reason I couldn't see the photos; a forum comment indicated I didn't have the required permission to view them. Thanks again.

Regards,

IR
"So many liberals, and so little time to teach them how to balance a checkbook." (Unknown)
pete
Posts: 2258
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2002 10:16 pm
Location: Colorado

Re: Sandhills Buffalo Hunt

Post by pete »

Dick;
Good story, good experience and nice young buffalo. I've been to the Sandhills Ranch (The Turner ranch near Gordon Neb.) and I really like the Sandhills country. With all due respect I do question the 3 to 3.5 times hanging weight though. I killed 3 buffs at Sandhills, 2 mature cows and a mature bull. Their hanging weight was 400, 504 and 997 lbs. 3X the hanging weight would put their live weight at 1200, 1512 and 2991 lbs. These were good mature buffs but not that big. I've heard hanging weight is roughly 60% and at that ratio their weight would be somewhere around 666.5, 840 and 1662.5 lbs. which is more realistic I believe.

Ironramod;
I get that message if I'm not logged in but can see the photos if I'm logged in. Your situation may be different though.
Dakota Dick
Posts: 439
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:58 pm
Location: Black Hills, South Dakota

Re: Sandhills Buffalo Hunt

Post by Dakota Dick »

On the question of live weight vs hanging weight Pete is correct on the 60% +estimate for mature Buffalo and I should have made it clear that the 3x figure was for determining weight for "yearlings" . The yearlings (1 1/2yr) do not have the body mass of a mature (3yr+) animals so hide, head, legs and guts make up a larger percentage of the live weight. I had guessed this years buffalo live weight at 800 based on my previous 4 yearlings and the heaviest yearling hanging weight I have had was 325lbs that yielded 215lbs of packaged boneless meat and that all but filled my 10 cuft freezer.
Just trying to answer previous questions some have asked me about how much meat they can expect from a yearling and what kind of hauling and storage space they would need.

Thanks Pete for the clarification
Dick Savage
aka
Dakota Dick
Keystone, SD
sandhillcowboy1
Posts: 166
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2005 11:36 pm

Re: Sandhills Buffalo Hunt

Post by sandhillcowboy1 »

Being a newbie in BPCR I don't post much as I am just reading and learning. Having had more experience in buffalo I will chime in on live wts of buff vs carcass wts. An old rule of thumb is that carcass wt on cattle is roughly 50% of live wt and meat yield (bone in) is roughly 50% of that. Buffalo generally yield more efficiently than cattle. From Dakota Dick's carcass wt and yield wt I would guesstimate maybe an 825-840 live wt. so is he within the plus or minus guesstimation factor. Really tough to get those bison on a scale live to weight;) The 20% of live wt yield for boned out meat is probably reasonably close. One must also consider the variables with hunted animals such as time of year hunted, shot placement (a big one), geographic location , genetics, weather, season taken, etc. Buffalo meat like any animal is a reflection of the types of grass they eat, most in wt gain and meat flavor and quality. I have friends who have eaten buffalo from AZ, WY, AR, PA and some other states and have also had Sandhills grass fed buffalo, state unequivocally, that there is a better flavor from the Sandhills buffalo fwiw........maybe its the water:) Big cows can hit close to the 1500# mark 2000# is generally a big bull As with anything there are always the above and below averages. Dakota Dick mentioned $8.00 per # for bison burger. I would guarantee that is not grass fed bison meat which is quite a bit more expensive. There is such a shortage on the market for it (grass fed, organic buffalo meat) that the prices are prohibitive for most retail chain marketings. The largest franchise buffalo restaurants are selling corn fed bison. Here are a couple of links to articles that may interest those reading this thread:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23 ... .html?_r=0 and
http://www.kearneyhub.com/news/local/ar ... 23481.html Somewhere I have a scientific study done on bison wts from across the Midwest in the 1940's that has some great info, if I can find I will post. Whatever there weight buffalo are fun to hunt!

Rowdy Rick
SHCB1
pete
Posts: 2258
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2002 10:16 pm
Location: Colorado

Re: Sandhills Buffalo Hunt

Post by pete »

Dick;
Something I forgot to say was I like what I assume is a RHO scope on your rifle. I wish they were still made because the way my eyes are going one is looking more attractive and they are the most authentic. Maybe somebody will take the torch and make more. I'd like mill dots for elevation though.
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