Buffalo Hunt

Share your tales (tall or otherwise) of hunting adventures.

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Michael Johnson

Re: Buffalo Hunt

Post by Michael Johnson »

Wildlifecreationsinternational.net is Stan's website. Going into his place is like going into a natural history museum. One of his better known clients is Craig Boddington. He is reasonable as well. - Mike
Marathonman
Posts: 1000
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2002 6:47 am

Re: Buffalo Hunt

Post by Marathonman »

Stan did a buffalo shoulder mount and a robe for me and I'm very pleased with the results. Highly recommended!
I had gotten possession of a big "50" gun early in the fight, and was making considerable noise with it.

~Billy Dixon~

Adobe Walls 1874
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holdinsteady
Posts: 112
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:24 pm
Location: Emmett, Idaho

Re: Buffalo Hunt

Post by holdinsteady »

Thanks to all who replied........sure is great to have access to all this experience......you guys are making this much easier for a first time Buff hunter. Yea, we're going to take 3 trophy bulls. It's a bucket list kind a thing for me and maybe a once in a lifetime thing for my son and son in law. We will have at least 2 pick up trucks, maybe three after reading this. My truck is a Ram dually and will carry most anything you can get into it. We are hoping to take the wives along to take pics and let them be part of the experience. We will be planning a late nov -early dec hunt to ensure good hides and cool temps to care for the meat. Do you think that's late enough in the year to be sure of a good hide? We have a local processor that will hang and butcher and no doubt we will find plenty of freezer space among friends. Gathering info now on bullet mould design for my 45/90 Sharps that will give me several follow up shots, if needed, with out having to wipe. I could only get 2 shots off with my current 530gr paper patch target load before I could no longer chamber a round. I'm meeting the boys this morning for breakfast to finalize the hunt details and will send a deposit to the outfitter to nail down the hunt dates. Thanks again gentlemen for your inputs and by all means, if you think of anything else I need to know.......I'm all ears
Happy New Year!!!


Jerry
#1 Shiloh 45/70
C Sharps Boss Grade II 45/70
C Sharps 1885 38/55
C Sharps 1874 44/90
Browning BPCR 40/65
Browning TH 45/70
Winchester TH 38/55
Marathonman
Posts: 1000
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2002 6:47 am

Re: Buffalo Hunt

Post by Marathonman »

holdinsteady wrote: We will be planning a late nov -early dec hunt to ensure good hides and cool temps to care for the meat. Do you think that's late enough in the year to be sure of a good hide?
The colder the better. I killed mine on New Years Day based on my research with ranchers and taxidermists. It's worth a phone call or two.
I had gotten possession of a big "50" gun early in the fight, and was making considerable noise with it.

~Billy Dixon~

Adobe Walls 1874
mannyspd1
Posts: 437
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2005 7:53 am

Re: Buffalo Hunt

Post by mannyspd1 »

Those big older bulls are...chewy. The hamburger tasted great and was fine, but the rest will grow on you if you cook it wrong. The yearling bull I took last year could be cut with a fork. I probably will never take a large bull again, due to the cost and really how many huge bison heads can you have hanging in your house? I did have the hide done on the yearling and it came out beautiful.

Lastly, I see your in Emmett. I'm down by Lake Lowell so we are practically neighbors. Give me a pm in the spring and we can meet up at Sand Hollow off the interstate and shoot steel plates with the Sharps. I've got a "range" set up and can shoot steel.to 700 yards. For taxidermy I use Dan Morrow at High Country Taxidermy in Meridian for everything now. I wish I knew about him when I shot my big bull. He is an artist, award winning, and does a great job on birds and big game. I don't think he does fish.

Manny
Speak softly and carry a big stick...the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis
TR
Michael Johnson

Re: Buffalo Hunt

Post by Michael Johnson »

Both of the dry cows I shot were excellent eating. I had burger, steaks, and roasts. It's very lean meat, so you have to pay attention cooking it. Very easy to overcook it and dry it out. It is very similar to cooking Elk. We did a peppered prime rib from Bison that my boys thought was better than the beef prime rib prepared two weeks earlier. I have two skulls on the wall in my shop. One was boiled out and one was cleaned out by beetle grubs. The one done by beetle grub larvae is a lot better to look at (the nasal architecture and fine details are better maintained). I have two nice hides, and may have a capote made some day. These hunts have gotten kind of expensive since I did mine. It was cool to do a couple of times with friends, but I much prefer to hunt deer, elk, and caribou on my own. Someday I would like to do a do-it-yourself hunt for moose with my son in Alaska. One moose, and he can shoot it! Happy New Year to all. - Mike
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holdinsteady
Posts: 112
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:24 pm
Location: Emmett, Idaho

Re: Buffalo Hunt

Post by holdinsteady »

Pretty small world.......i'm all over getting out on the desert and banging steel. I do it year round on a piece of blm land just sw of Emmett. Got a range set up for anything out to 1200yds right along side of a two track road so you can drive to the targets.......could not have designed it any better had I tried. I've got a bunch of steel to include sillywets and gongs up to 32". A plasma cutter and a mig welder keep me up to speed for targets. I've also got steel targets set up behind the shop for handgun and a 475yd target for precision rifle. Also have a 350yd off-hand Quigley "bucket" target set up behind the shop so I'm shooting at something at least 3-4 days a week. It's nice to have the targets right behind the shop when working up loads......my shooting bench is 75 feet from my reloading room. The Emmett R & G range is less than a mile from my back door. So.......since I retired I have been spending a lot of time with guns and reloading etc. This years events include the 1000yd bpcr 3 day event at the avery shooting center north of Phonix in Mar, then the Quigley shoot in Jun, then to Juneau in jul for a week to stock up on Halibut and salmon. Hopefully a little elk hunting in the fall and then get ready for the buff in late winter. Some where in the mix we will take the boat up to Cascade for some jumbo perch fishing and drag the grandkids around the lake for a while. I'm always looking for a reason to do a little shooting but bpcr shooters are scarce in this area for some reason. Though I participate in competitive shooting.....now days it's just for fun. I used to shoot competitively in my younger days but that's way too stressful for what's supposed to be fun. Alaskan hunting is a great experience. I lived in Eagle River just outside of Anchorage for six years.......my wife and I ran a Halibut charter out of Homer, AK on the weekends and we used to take the boat into Whittier Bay in the spring for black bear hunts. I was fortunate to be able to take 3 black bear, one bull and one cow moose, and a nice bull caribou while I was there in addition to a ton of halibut. I've taken several white tail, and muleys and one decent 5x5 elk here in Idaho. The buff hunt will be a nice addition to my hunting adventures and a great gift to my boys. I look forward to swapping buff hunt stories and banging some steel with you when ever you like.
#1 Shiloh 45/70
C Sharps Boss Grade II 45/70
C Sharps 1885 38/55
C Sharps 1874 44/90
Browning BPCR 40/65
Browning TH 45/70
Winchester TH 38/55
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holdinsteady
Posts: 112
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:24 pm
Location: Emmett, Idaho

Re: Buffalo Hunt

Post by holdinsteady »

Manny...... a gunsmith acquaintance referred me to Dan Marrow so I will look him up for a buff mount. Thanx again for all the info you have provided.
Jerry
#1 Shiloh 45/70
C Sharps Boss Grade II 45/70
C Sharps 1885 38/55
C Sharps 1874 44/90
Browning BPCR 40/65
Browning TH 45/70
Winchester TH 38/55
SFogler
Posts: 524
Joined: Tue May 19, 2015 9:19 am

Re: Buffalo Hunt

Post by SFogler »

It's very lean meat, so you have to pay attention cooking it. Very easy to overcook it and dry it out. It is very similar to cooking Elk.
Agreed. We have eaten game for years so we knew this and cook our buffalo accordingly. I shot a 3 1/2 old bull this last November and if it was any more tender it would be soup. It is by far the best meat I have ever eaten and I have shot my share of elk and deer. We have had slow cooked roasts, steaks, and hamburger casseroles and all of it will make you weep with joy. My wife does not care for beef because she can taste the fat marbled through it so we have eaten game or bought buffalo burger for years and seldom eat beef. The store prices for buffalo have gotten so high we decided to go get our own and we are both glad we did. It was a great trip for her and of course for me. Only problem is there is so much meat I will not be going after another one for awhile! We butchered it at the place we hunted and we brought home any and all scraps for the dog plus bones for marrow. Our dog is having some digestive problems and the vet said a lean meat like buffalo is good for him till he gets over it. I have never let an animal hang except to get it firm and hard for butchering and I have never had a tough animal. It certainly was not necessary for this bull. And this 3 1/2 year old has a nice enough head. Not a trophy bull but the meat couldn't be any better.
The kill mechanism for a LFN bullet is penetration not shock and awe like a high powered rifle. So your bull may not go down right away with a lung shot because he is bleeding out. But he did not run either so he did not get adrenaline pumped through his system and into the meat. Also meat loss due to the bullet was negligible, not at all like a high-powered rifle bullet.
Good luck on your hunt and you will not regret going; and using a Sharps just seems appropriate IMHO. Mine was a Shiloh Hartford 50-90 with 100 grains of Swiss 1.5 under a 540 grain LFN.
mannyspd1
Posts: 437
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2005 7:53 am

Re: Buffalo Hunt

Post by mannyspd1 »

Jerry,
That BLM you shoot at, is that behind the race track? Sounds like between us we will have enough steel to shoot. I'll get ahold of you in the Spring to set it up.
Manny
Speak softly and carry a big stick...the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis
TR
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holdinsteady
Posts: 112
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:24 pm
Location: Emmett, Idaho

Re: Buffalo Hunt

Post by holdinsteady »

Where I shoot is several miles west of the race track, just west of the Emmett/Middleton road. Lot of room to shoot out there. Looking forward to banging some steel with you......I've got a new Shiloh to break in for the buff hunt :D
#1 Shiloh 45/70
C Sharps Boss Grade II 45/70
C Sharps 1885 38/55
C Sharps 1874 44/90
Browning BPCR 40/65
Browning TH 45/70
Winchester TH 38/55
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