The biologist told me they had about a hundred head that had crossed the Green River onto BLM land and they were giving out 5 tags. He said he would meet with me to give me my hunting license and tag and show me where to hunt. It was late Friday night when he met us on the side of the highway for the exchange. He also brought along a topo map and showed us exactly where he and a local rancher had been seeing animals.
Saturday morning had us lost but close to the point where we were to find animals so we unloaded the two snowmobiles and the quad bike with tracks.
Before we made it to the top of the first hill to glass Mark spotted a herd of 33 bison about 1 ½ - 2 miles away, awfully hard for bison to hide on relatively flat snow covered ground.
We spotted a second group of 5 that were closer but in more difficult terrain.
The combination of a fence line and a well placed rock cairn made the stock easy. We drove up the fence line to within a half mile, crossed the fence and climbed to the cairn. We spotted the bison before topping the hill. I set up to shoot off the cairn but it was a herd of cows and calves and I was thinking to take a bull.
They were 170 – 200 yards away.
We checked them out for a while and then backed away.
Glassing we spotted a third herd in the distance and drove off to check them out and hopefully find the other group of 5 we had seen earlier. We got close but when we found cattle we assumed we had mistaken them for bison. It was getting late so we drove back towards the rig but when we looked back could see the group of cattle a short distance from the bison herd we had been after – live and learn.
We were feeling good after seeing three different groups of animals the first day and having been somewhat lost the entire time – shouldn’t say lost, bewildered is a better word. Seemed we just couldn't locate the exact road into the precise area the biologist had shown us.
Sunday morning we were up early (stayed in a hotel in Roosevelt), the temperature was 7. We had studied the maps and felt we knew our mistake and sure enough we hit the right road this time. Upon dropping into the Sand Wash Canyon Mark again spotted a herd on the canyon wall. Some big animals in the group and the boys were ready to go after them but there was no way we were going to get a machine close to them.
I said, “Let’s see if we can find some easier ones.”
We drove down the road another mile or so and I spotted two out on the last bench to the south of Sand Wash prior to the Green River – pretty much to the place where the rafters put in to float (or maybe that’s take out). It didn’t take us long to realize these animals were in a good location and when two more appeared we decided to go after them.
We unloaded the quad bike with tracks and left the snowmobiles on the trailer figuring to approach them more quietly. We angled towards them and at 400+ yards they took off at a trot. The biologist had told us he had driven to 20 yards from a herd of bulls earlier. We waited and then putted closer and finally stopped when they were 250 yards away realizing they were trapped on a point with no escape route that didn’t pass within 50 yards of us.
A slight roll in the terrain prevented me from shooting immediately but knowing they couldn’t get away and weren’t overly concerned by our presences I took the time to pull out my glasses and give them a good going over. I figured we had a bachelor herd of four young bulls, one had a broken horn, another with short horns, the third had field goal post horns that came out and shot straight up, and the last one had nice long horns that turned in at the top.
They moved forward twice without providing an ideal shot so I waited and the third attempt, after we had waited at least ten minutes, placed the bison I wanted nearly broadside turned slightly towards me. Placing the crosshair on the leading edge of the onside I pulled the trigger and sent the 235 gr. TSX from my 375 H&H. The impact was more of a crack then a whoomp. A couple of hops and down he went, less than 10 yards.
We drove up and I was surprised to see how small it was, lifted a leg and he was a she. Guess I’m not so good at bison hunting but when we saw the four lone animals we assumed it was a bachelor herd of young bulls.
Driving out we saw another herd plus the one we originally sighted that morning. We also spoke with the rancher and he told us there was another herd below were we had shot mine. Can’t say this was a difficult hunt but it sure was fun and the eating is the best.
A special thanks to Gabe for all the wonderful pictures and an apology to him for not having an image of him to add to this post but hopefully Mark has some images he will share.
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