Not running related, but hopefully somewhat interesting.  There are a few opportunities to hunt bison, but very few that offer a total backcountry experience with it.  My buddy Dave drew one of only five permits for this hunt and needed several folks to help out; I eagerly volunteered.  Three others volunteered as well, making five.

We knew going in this would be a really tough hunt as the country is remote and without horses/mules, harvesting a bison and hauling it out on foot challenging.  The permit area is directly north of Yellowstone NP in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.  It's an extremely large area with very few points of entry.  Dave's scouting led us to the east side, near Cooke City going in at Daisy Pass.

We left Helena Saturday morning.  It's a long drive, made longer as you have to go through Yellowstone to get there.  We arrived late afternoon at the trailhead.  The "road" to the trailhead (up and over Daisy Pass) was beautiful, but it ranks as one of top five tough roads- you would destroy a Subaru or like vehicle- full size 4x4 needed on this road.

This is out the window, near the trailhead.

Our plan was to hike to Slough Creek, about 8 miles and make camp, get up early and hunt the meadows of Slough Ck towards the park boundary.  About 7 miles in, in a small meadow, stood a really big bull bison.  We considered backing off, camping nearby and hunt this bull in the morning as we didn't have much daylight left and we knew we were in for several hours of skinning/processing meat.  It was decided it would be best not to pass on this opportunity as no guarantee the bull would be around come morning.

Dave made a solid hit and followed it up with one more; bison are big (this bull was north of a ton!) and best to not take any chances.

The celebration was exuberant, but short- we had a lot of work ahead us.

As there is no place in the lower 48 that has a higher concentration of grizzlies, we were very concerned with a grizzly getting wind of the kill site and making it his own.  While Dave and I skinned, two people gathered firewood for a large fire and another acting as lookout with a rifle.  Elk hide/hair is really tough on knives, dulling them quickly.  We soon found out that bison hide/hair is much worse.  For skinning we were using knives that utilized disposable blades and we were changing them rapidly, rapidly enough that we thought we may have not brought enough.

After skinning one side, we were able to start removing quarters.  This is the front shoulder, it weighed well over a 100 lbs.

As soon as we removed a quarter, we starting boning it out- removing all the meat and leaving just bone.  This was a very slow and laborious process.  It wasn't long and we were donning headlamps to see.  The dark also increased our concern for an unwanted visitor.  Save the headlamps, this was a scene that could have easily been from the mid 1800's.  A large fire with someone over watch, an almost full moon rising, a 2000 lb bison on the ground- surreal for sure.

It was past midnight before we were finishing processing the bison.  This included hauling all the meat in game bags a little over a 1/4 mile from the kill site.  For safety's sake, we made camp another half mile past the hang trees (almost a mile from the kill site).  No one fired up their stoves for a meal, a few bars quickly eaten and off to bed.

We slept in until 8 the next morning.  While yesterday's night work was tough, hauling the meat out 7-ish miles (with about a 1500' gain) was going to be tougher yet.  We ate big breakfasts and drank copious amounts of cowboy coffee that Dave brewed.  We decided to move our camp upstream about a 1/2 mile as our hasty choice of camp sites in the dark was less than perfect, our second camp was much nicer with water very handy.  After setting up camp two, we left and carried packs and frames that only held some food, water, rain gear and a few emergency bits.  We were able to load up roughly half the meat between the five of us, our packs very heavy and the going very slow.

We finally made it to the trailhead and put up the meat in coolers, we were beat, but half the battle was complete.

We didn't linger to long and headed back for camp.  After a very short rest in camp we decided we shouldn't waste and daylight and decided to bump the remaining meat up the trail roughly half way.  Even though this load was only hauled half the distance, it felt tougher- no doubt fatigue setting in.  We got to approximately half way and looked for suitable to trees to hang the meat.  It was dark before we were done and had us donning headlamps for the trip back.

Everyone was tired and hungry, so we broke our stoves out for a highly anticipated hot supper.  Unfortunately it started to rain and rain hard.  Everyone retreated to their shelters and were forced to cook inside and eat alone.  That dehydrated meal still tasted good though

We woke around 7-ish to find our tents covered in a sheet of ice; that was OK though as it helped keep the meat cool.  Some breakfast, Dave's cowboy coffee and thought that we would be done that day left us in relatively high spirits.

I hadn't mentioned the hide yet (Dave hauled out the skull cap and horns the first day) and neither did anyone else that morning.  We found out that a wet bison hide, from a big bull weighs about 300 lbs.  We found that out when three us could barely inch the hide a 100 yards to drape it over a fallen lodgepole.

Dave and Jack said they were going to look at the hide.  With over 300 lbs of remaining meat to be hauled we packed up camp and headed for the meat tree up the trail.

camp packed

Our plan was to hike all the way to the trailhead, unload all camp gear and go back for the meat with light packs.  We made pretty good time as 35 lb packs felt pretty good 

We lingered at the meat tree and decided it would be best to load some meat onto our packs, which would allow a lighter final load.

Take a good look at this tree- you'll see it's a tree a grizzly(ies) used to mark.  Now look higher up the tree, just about on par with one of the meat bags- that is a big f#cking grizzly that left those marks!!! 

About that time Dave and Jack showed up, Dave hauling what was the middle third of the hide (nose to tail)- close to a 100 lbs.

We strategized for awhile and decided to hell with it, we were going to get the rest of the meat out in one trip.

This is my friend Craig with his 100 lb pack

this is me faking a smile with my 100 lb pack 

you'll also notice on closer inspection, a .44 magnum revolver on a harness- it didn't leave my side the entire trip (nor did the bear spray on the other side)

this was a slow go, but the knowledge that once we made it back to the trailhead, the suffering would end

Dave (with buffalo hide) and Jack leading the way- what doesn't show up is we were getting pelted with gropple- a hard, pellet like snow

Once we reached the upper end of Lake Abundance, it was only a 1/2 mile and one good climb to the trucks.  While this certainly was a tough hunt, views like this from the lake definitely took some of the sting out.

We hit the trailhead around 1 pm, drank a celebratory beer and started our long drive home (with one short stop in Cooke City for a 1/2 lb bacon cheeseburger!!!).

We got back to Helena around 9-ish and met at Dave's house.  We laid all the meat out and did our best to divy it up equally- anyway you shake it, it was a lot of meat (no bone).

I've got my meat aging now and will butcher it up on Saturday.  I'm guessing nothing will taste as good as a well earned steak.

Thanks for reading.

That's an awful lot of work as well as a lot of meat even split five ways. Did you get the entire hide out eventually? The numbers are overwhelming, not just the amount of meat, but I can't imagine a 300 lb hide.

Wow! 

Wow! 

agreed

Yeah we’ve had several maulings in that general neck of the woods this year, very sad- the guide had a wife and five young kids 

DW’s mom used to can venison and elk, we never have. I wrap tightly with a plastic wrap and then butcher paper- I’ve inadvertently missed meat at the bottom of the freezer from several years earlier and it’s been fine- typically everything is consumed before the next hunting season 

Danke

Wow, that was quite the adventure!  Thanks for the write-up and sharing the photos.  That's an experience not too many people get to have anymore.  I had to look closely, but that was a good placement for your holster... quick access and didn't look like it impeded movement much, or cause chafing (something I have a good bit of experience with... only the chafing part).  Still, I couldn't fathom lugging that much weight for that distance on that terrain. Definitely need to be in shape!  What rifle did Dave use to take the bison?  Looking forward the post-report when you start grilling the steaks!

Sandy- unfortunately there are some of those style of hunts around- definitely not for me

 

he used a .308 (180 grain Partition I think), definitely on the light side for bison, but in the end it’s really shot placement

 

as a side, the wardens in Region Three (Bozeman/SW Montana) had to deal with bison a lot and they had a .375 H&H rifle that used- that’s a lot of gun!

Initially, a .308 would have been one of my last guesses.  But thinking about it, it does make sense.  The "hunt" isn't just the shot.  As in your response to Sandy, you're not just sitting on your asses drinking cowboy coffee and waiting for something to pass by at 300 yards.  Finding a nice bull was probably 90% of the hunt.  From my experience with Yellowstone bison, they're definitely not skittish like deer, so you don't really need a long of a shot if you can get to them.  Also, a well placed shot with a .308 won't damage more meat like one of those shoulder-busters do.... not like you needed more meat to haul.