>My daughter drew a Nov.2019 Book
>cliffs bison cow hunt for
>this year. Hoping they will
>be reasonable to find before
>snow comes. Anyone out there
>have experience with this area
>and bison? Will be an
>adventure for us, she is
>excited.
Bison Hunt Update: Nov. 6 2019
Bison Down!! Success for my 16 yr old daughter! Many thanks to all who gave advice and comments. Its always exciting to have a new experience and learn more about wild critters. Bison are big and definitely a true once in a lifetime trophy for free-range hunt opportunity on the Book Cliffs of Utah.
After many months of anticipation and one scouting trip to a place I had never been, my eyes were open to a whole new place with many wonders. My daughter was excited, but I think I was even more excited, being the guide and mentor.
We decided to hunt low near the Woods Canyon road. We showed up four days before opening of hunt to try locate bison, since reports found they were wary and hard to find with all the extra hunt pressure. That, they were. This was no road hunt! Some get lucky driving the roads, but we decided that was not our way. We wanted to get into the bison hideouts, and the thick pinion/juniper is where they were hiding.
Bison hunt eve, we spotted a small herd for a fleeting couple of minutes and decided to track them opening morning.
This is bison chip turd and circular track
Bison move, alot. After 8 hours of tracking them hill over hill, through the thick trees, the tracks were lost and we were exausted. Probably 5-6 miles later. After deciding to hike back to camp, which was closer than the truck, we saw some goofy horned, bearded critters staring at us through the trees at 50 yrds. Realizing it was bison, we were too late as they disappeared into the thick trees. Desperate for a shot, maybe through an opening in the trees, we came running into a hidden open valley and to our surprise, a herd of bison feeding about 400 yrds. Falling to the ground we waited 20 minutes for them to feed close enough for a perfect 109 yard shot!
My daughter, the one-shot-wonder, dropped a perfect cow bison! The coolest thing was sitting still after the shot and watching the bison's herd instinct, as they surrounded the dead cow and watched over her, nudging, licking, and pawing her for 10 minutes before we stood up, the last one to leave, turning back and checking its buddy one last time! My daughter was way excited, as the long day seemed over and as if we would never find the bison, it all changed just like that, and she killed a free-range Book Cliffs Bison!
You definitely want help cutting one of these beasts up. We skinned hide for a rug, quartered and butchered meat off of carcass, taking liver, tounge.
Get the bison skinned soon as possible so that meat will cool down!
We finished just as the sun went down, about 300 lbs of meat plus hide and head at 150 lbs!
We enjoyed tenderloin roasted on the grill and stayed a few days after exploring the surrounding canyons, watching rutting deer, wildhorses and enjoying company of few family and friends who helped out. Was an awesome hunt with my daughter who is becoming an accomplished huntress!
Fleshing the hide took me 8 hours, skull two hours to clean. Butchered meat my self took 12 hours from start to cleanup!
Cheers, JW