American Bison
By Randall Bush

I have always been enamored over a mounted bison head. It is so traditionally “western” and so majestic looking. The first club member I ever talked to about hunting bison was Toney Daly. He had taken his bison at Triple U Enterprises in Ft. Pierre, South Dakota with Mr. Hauck. Several years passed, as did many hunts with little further thought being given to bison hunting.

In 1994 I was hunting pheasant in Cavour, South Dakota. Before the end of my vacation time we had taken the limit of pheasant that we could leave the state with. Not wanting to head back home I decided to make the drive over to Ft. Pierre since it was only a couple of hours away. I soon located Triple U Enterprises and entered onto the property. I had to drive for several miles before seeing any signs of civilization.

Topping a ridge I spotted a large barn with a much smaller house, but no sign of life outside. As I parked the car near the barn a rather large lady came to the door of the house and hollered, “drag it on in here”. As I entered the house she says, “belly up, we’re fixin’ to eat”. As I am not famous for turning down the offer of food, I followed her instructions. There were a couple of hunters as well as the family setting around the table. It looked like Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house. As we ate I introduced myself and told them that I was there out of curiosity about a bison ranch. After lunch, Raymond Tibbs, Mr. Hauck’s son-in-law, asked if I would like to go with him to take 3 younger bulls that they had orders for. I jumped at the opportunity.

The ranch operates much like any beef cattle ranch with slaughtering and packing facilities on the farm. For sale to the stores they take mostly 2 year olds. They keep a few old bulls in a separate area to be taken by hunters for trophies. The price of the hunt entitles you to the hide, head and horns. The meat is processed for sale. You are welcome to purchase meat from them for your own consumption, but it is usually from the younger bison.

Raymond and I head out in his truck for some high ground where we could locate the herds. We spotted a herd of about 30 animals and Raymond said that was the ones we were after. They were mostly 2 year olds. We drove the truck up to within 40 or 50 yards of the animals and parked. Raymond was using a .243, shooting from the cab of the truck. He said he would shoot them just behind the ear in order to make a spine shot. This put the animal down immediately. He said a wounded buffalo could start a stampede and no fence on the property would stop them. He would wait until an animal had his head turned just right and then make the shot. At the shot the animal hit the ground and the others appeared to be unconcerned. This is how the old buffalo hunters were able to wipe out an entire herd. After the third animal was down we had to drive up to the herd in order to run them away from the downed animals. At the ranch the 3 shots were heard and a tractor and trailer was on its way to pick up the animals.

I have now seen how a bison (buffalo) ranch operates. I am still thinking of how much I would like to have a mounted bison head, but I am not overly impressed with this method of taking one. This is the method used by the vast majority of the people wishing to take a bison as it offers the most availability.

Years passed with little thought being given to bison hunting. While reading J.Y. Jones’book “One Man, One Rifle, One Land”, I read where he had taken a free-ranging
American Bison in Custer State Park in South Dakota. This sparked my interest again.
Shortly thereafter in gathering hunt reports for the “Newsletter” I listened to Dr. Morgan Silvers tell of his hunt of the same bison herd in Custer State Park. That did it. I wanted to go. This is one of only two free-ranging, wild herds of American Bison where the animals will qualify for Boone & Crockett Record Book. The state of South Dakota issues only 10 permits per year by a lottery system. Each year you apply qualifies you for preference points if you are not drawn that year. Morgan advised me to put in an application in order to start getting my preference points, as it is unusual to be drawn on your first attempt. Deadline for the application was September 2, with drawings to be held on September 9. Returning from Zimbabwe on August 30, 1 barely got my application in on time.

Early in the day on September 9, I receive a call from Ron Walker at the Custer State Park headquarters informing me that I am one of the lucky 10 to be drawn for the Trophy Bison Harvest. I am given a list of the dates available to hunt and choose to start hunting on December 8.
Janice and I fly into Rapid City and rent a car. We have decided to stay in Keystone, the town closest to Mount Rushmore. It is about a 45 minutes drive to the Custer State Park Headquarters from Keystone. We have allowed a few extra days to take in the sights such as Mount Rushmore, Deadwood and the Crazy Horse monument.

On the morning of December 8, I meet with Chad Kremer at the Park headquarters. Chad will be my guide on this hunt. The first day out you do not carry a firearm. We leave the Park headquarters in a four wheel drive vehicle and within 15 minutes we are off the road headed into the hills. The rut is over and the cow and calves are in the open plains in large herds with the bulls in the heavier timber in the hills. We saw from 1 to 5 bulls together at a time, with most groups consisting of 2 bulls together. The purpose of this first day out is to find a bull that the hunter likes and one that meets the Park’s criteria for being harvested. They try to take only the oldest most mature bulls from the herd. The youngest they like to take being a 9 year old. About 90% of the bulls taken will qualify for Boone & Crockett.

In the 9 hours we were off-road in the hills on this first day we were treated to some spectacular wildlife sightings as well as some light snow. Along with bison we saw herds of 40 or 50 elk, mule deer, big horn sheep, coyotes, Merriams turkeys and whitetail deer. The rut was over for the deer, but the sheep were in full rut and we got to observe some head banging among some very mature rams. They seemed to care less that we were there. We got to closely observe and photograph 5 extremely nice 10 point whitetail deer. Chad said it was very unusual to see that many good whitetail in a days time. We felt lucky to see the quantity of game we did. During the day we saw probably 7 or 8 bison bulls that would qualify to be taken. One 10 year old bull particularly impressed me, not so much for his horns, but for his coat and large mop of hair on the upper part of his face.

The idea is to try to see where the animal is just before dark and hope he will be in the same general vicinity early the next morning.

The next morning Chad and I left the Park Headquarters before daylight. Just at good light we spot our bull within about 1/2 mile of where he had been the night before. He is with another bull of about the same age. They are grazing in a fairly open area with a deep ravine and steep hill behind them. Chad tells me that we will have to go around the bulls to cut them off from the ravine. If they get down there we wouldn’t be able to get the animal out once it was down. As I load my rifle the bulls start to move, luckily in the right direction to keep them from getting in the ravine. They pick up the pace after about 150 yards then start into a run. They are headed for higher ground and heavier timber.

Chad and I start a course that we hope will intersect the bulls. In a short time we spot the bulls again grazing peacefully in the timber. We ease our way to within about 65 yards of the bull I want. He has his head down grazing and Chad has told me to wait until he lifts his head before trying a spine shot. Since the bull’s hair was so long it was impossible to see the ears. Chad said to come back 6 inches from the base of the horn when the bulls head was up. I am using a 7mm Remington Magnum with 160 grain Swift A Frame bullets. The rifle has a Harris Bipod making for a rock steady rest in the prone position. I lay in the snow for several minutes waiting for the bull to raise his head. As he grazes along I have to keep moving my position. Finally he lifts his head and with the shot the bull hits the ground hard.
When we get up to the bull he looks even better than he did before. At 1900 pounds he looks like a mountain lying there. Although this was not a hard hunt, it was a very enjoyable experience and pretty soon I will have my mounted bison head.