Bison

[elkchaser60]

Got this nice buffalo on the north end of the elk refuge north of Jackson on Dec 11th. It wasn't a real challenging hunt other than getting bucked off, but it was a ton of fun. They are some unbelievably huge animals with tons of character. His horns are about 19" and we roughed him at 110" B&C. Hard to beat for a DIY free ranging buffalo. Tag N Drag runs a business for elk and bison retrieval that is well worth the cost. They were great to work with before the hunt and after I had my bison down.

 

[bucklover]

Very nice pictures. Could you tell us a little more about the hunt? Is this the Wy draw hunt? What did they charge to drag it out for you? Looks like you had a great day!

 

[elkchaser60]

It was the Wyoming draw. I was number 17 out of 720 non resident applicants.
PM sent on the cost of retrieval.

 

[rackman]

Congrats on a great trophy!

 

[PleaseDear]

Way nice!

I was #7 non-ressy and got mine in mid-Sept.

Me and the Mrs did the whole dang hunt/packout.

Really not that bad.

Tag-n-Drag are real nice folks but we didn't use them.

congrats

Robb

 

[elkchaser60]

Got any pictures of your bull?
You must be a butchering machine to get all that meat out in Sept by yourself without losing any!

 

[PleaseDear]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-10-11 AT 04:33AM (MST)[p]Totally simple to do like every other animal we have ever harvested.

A little bigger than the Shiras bull we did but just plug along and it went real fine.

Cape and skin one side first then....

Boned the meat off the bone and went in from behind the gut sack for the tenderlions while on the phone with 'predator' getting cut by cut info on the tenderlions.

Used only 1 knife each--that Swing Blade knife by Outdoor edge---very, very impressed with that knife!

Used the Mule Cart ---3 loads--- to get off the mountain to the retreival road.

239 lbs of meat came out of the butcher shop back here after we got home.

We didn't want the $1,200.00 in butchering and caping and shinning the skull off like every one else was getting stuck with after T-n-D took it whole to the butcher! haha

Mine is only 17 inch horns.....

Toss me an Email and I will send ya a few photo's.

Robb

 

[ARO]

Congrats! hunt of a lifetime...literaly.

I was #4 NR in 2009, and did it DIY also. Took me 2 trips from MD, but got it done the second trip, also used the Tag N Drag to get the bull out.

 

[PleaseDear]

Shane----

Your input and intel to me when I reached out to you was so very valuable.

I want to thank you again.

Robb

 

[ARO]

No problem Robb, glad to help out. Thats what its all, paying it foward!

Anybody know what the success rate was this year? Last year it was down like 46% from previous years. No snow to till late in the season.

 

[Chesterwyo]

I had the tag last year and never could get a bull in a place where he was legal to hunt. I sat watching a huge bull feed 75 yards on the wrong side of the park boundary for 6 hours one day and he never would cross that line to make him legal. I checked on that huge herd living in spread creek every day for a week and they never did come into a legal spot. Pretty hard pill to swallow but hopefully I will get another opportunity someday. Pleasedear glad to hear you were successful on your hunt you seem to always be willing to lend a hand to anybody who needs it on here and few people deserve success more than you.

 

[elkchaser60]

Not sure what the success was, but anyone that went on Dec 11th for sure got their buffalo. For whatever reason, they all decided they were not leaving the refuge tat day and just hung out and everyone filled their tags. When we went back and got the horses just before dark there were still buffalo less than 1/2 mile from the main road at the 2nd to the last parking lot.

 

[MNHunter]

>
>We didn't want the $1,200.00 in
>butchering and caping and shinning
>the skull off like every
>one else was getting stuck
>with after T-n-D took it
>whole to the butcher! haha
>
>Robb

Ouch! That's a pretty big price tag to get a buff cut up!

"Whatever you are, be a good one."
- Abraham Lincoln

 

[copple2]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-12-11 AT 10:05AM (MST)[p]Is this a totally random draw? I can't seem to find draw odds anywhere...do you build points up for this hunt? Also, how many tags to they give out?

Thanks,

copple2

 

[elkchaser60]

It is called a priority listing as there is no guarantee of a hunt taking place, even though they have had a hunt at least for the last 5 yrs that I know of.
There are no points.
You are assigned a random number and if that number is low (below about 20 for non-residents)then it is likely you will be given the option of purchasing a tag.
I don't know about other year's, but this year as I said I was number 17 of 720 non res applicants. I think they gave out 18 or 20 non res tags.
It cost $20 to apply and be put in the draw. If you are one of the lucky ones, they will let you know for sure in the summer if they are having a hunt or not. If I remember right, this happens in July. Then you have to decided if you want to cough up the cost of the tag.
The hunt goes from Sept 1 to just after Jan 1. It is open on national forest land basically between Jackson and Cody. They do assign you a 2 week period on the elk refuge and mine luckily was at the end of the season.

 

[diyidaho]

When is the deadline to put in?

 

[elkchaser60]

The end of Feb., here is the link. Can apply via paper or online.

 

[elkchaser60]

http://gf.state.wy.us/downloads/pdf/11appbooklet/11NR39.pdf

 

[Jeffpg]

"The hunt goes from Sept 1 to just after Jan 1. It is open on national forest land basically between Jackson and Cody. They do assign you a 2 week period on the elk refuge and mine luckily was at the end of the season."

Hey guys, does this mean that if I draw as a non-resident I can hunt anytime/all the time on the national forest land from Sept 1 thru Jan 1, and be assigned to the elk refuge for 2 weeks somewhere within that time frame?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[elkchaser60]

Yes - and you can also get some additional refuge time if there are extra openings other than your allotted time.

 

[Jeffpg]

Awesome.

Thanks a lot.

Jeff

 

[hornkiller]

If you killed that buff less than a half mile from the main road you didnt kill it on the north end of the refuge you still had around 5-6 miles to go! I was up there with my old man and he killed a really good one we also cut up and took out. But hey you did good and got a nice bull.

 

[JRABQ]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-01-11 AT 10:57AM (MST)[p]I shot mine in Dec 2007 on the refuge, I was #24 NR, one of the last ones called that year. I think 2007 was the first year they really started hammering the bison, with a big increase in tag numbers, I had no idea I was going to get called. I did not use T-n-D, had two geriatric friends help haul it out. Shot mine ~600 yards from the road, did the gutless method and boned out most of it, then used backpacks, sled, and cart (mostly useless because of the sage). The T-n-D guy thought we were nuts! It kicked our A$$es but we got it done just before dark with some nasty weather moving in. Like others have said, it certainly wasn't the most challenging "hunt", being on the Refuge (the haul out certainly was a challenge), but the whole experience was awesome.