This year I won what is known as the hardest tag to draw in
Alaska… the Delta Bison hunt. The odds of drawing this tag are less than 0.3%!
It is known as a once in a lifetime tag. Needless to say, when the draw results
were announced in February, I was PSYCHED! Danielle immediately said that she
was going with, no matter what. Coincidently, a bison is Ashton’s favorite
animal, so obviously he was hoping to go too.
In order to make this happen, we had to get someone to watch
both Josie and Tundra… bring in Grandma! My mom gladly offered to fly up and
spoil Josie and Tundra while the three of us went after a bison. Then COVID
happened. This threw a wrench in our plans, but luckily it didn’t cancel them.
My mom got to Alaska after the required negative testing.
The Delta bison herd is located about 30 miles south east of
Delta Junction near the Gerstle River. Most of the land they roam on is private
and military land. Of the private land, many land owners charge an access fee up
to $3000 dollars. Some charge a trophy fee where the hunter only pays if they
drop a bison (I will never pay an access or trophy fee to put food in my
freezer). Most land owners don’t allow hunting and a select few landowners let
people hunt for free. Luckily I know a handful of people in Delta Junction and
I was able to secure access to hunt a good amount of farmland.
The plan was to take the truck, cab-over camper, ATV, meat
wagon, and trailer so we could be nomadic and prepared for anything. We packed
for 9 days of hunting and left after work on Thursday, October 15.
Day 1
It never fails… when I’m getting ready to leave somewhere,
major issues come up at work. A big regulatory matter surfaced the day we were
leaving. I had to call a meeting and establish a plan for a path forward. I got
enough work done to put everything else on the backburner for when I returned.
To make matters worse, apparently my backup to cover my COVID duties scheduled
vacation at the same time as my hunt and failed to tell me until the last
second. I would now have to work while I was hunting. No worries though, I had
someone monitor my inbox for emergency needs and I would address everything
after a day of hunting. This approach assumed I would have 4G service where I
was hunting (spoiler alert, I didn’t even have cell service in most areas).
We had a little packing to get done after work on Thursday.
Once the rig was loaded up, we hit the road around 6PM. After a few bathroom
breaks, refueling, slow driving through a blizzard, and wildlife viewing
(moose, caribou, and fox), we pulled into Delta Junction a little after 1AM. It
was 5 degrees out so it took a while to warm up the camper before we jumped in
and hit the hay.
Day 2
We slept in for a while since we really didn’t have anywhere
to be. The hunt didn’t start until the next day. Friday was meant to be a day
of familiarizing ourselves with the area and meeting the land owners of the places
we were going to hunt. We started with meeting Randy Speckles. He was busy
loading hay and wrapping up work before winter set in any further (Thursday was
the coldest day of the fall and a wakeup call for many farmers in the area). We
told him we would come back later and chat about the area. He invited us to
drop our trailer and drive the property to get familiar with it. We did just
that.
It snowed for the first time four days prior, so tracks were
easy to see at this point. We were excited to see that a small herd of bison
recently crossed right in front of the house in the fields to the east! We
didn’t want to spook anything so we didn’t explore the land too much.
We decided to head over to Kent and Marty Steele’s place,
about a 45-minute drive around and across the river. We met Marty and gave her
our thank you presents (a thank you note from Ashton, scatcharoos from me, and
puppy chow from Danielle). They loved the presents! The bison were nowhere to
be seen past couple days, but they let us know what to expect.
Marty told us a story about a bison hunter from the week
prior that supposedly was stuck on an island on the river. Someone called her
and asked for assistance. Apparently the hunter shot two bison, the boat broke,
the temperatures dropped below freezing, and they weren’t prepared to stay the
night. I later found out this hunter was a friend of mine who I knew was planning
to hunt his bison off the river on a boat. He later told me that he shot a bison
that looked fatally wounded after he shot his bison. He was slapped with a 4
digit fine and an order to appear in court, in addition to paying for all the
broken gear from the hunt and luckily escaping with his life. After sharing
stories and intel, we thanked the Steeles immensely for allowing us to hunt the
property and set off to check it out.
We drove and hiked the perimeter for many hours. We didn’t
see any bison but found many places they visited in the past four days. After
we explored every corner, we decided to head back across the river to Randy’s
place since it was getting late.
We pulled into Randy’s as the sun was setting. We got the
camper ready for the night and warmed up a sloppy joe dinner. As dinner was prepared,
Randy arrived. We offered him a sandwich and he gladly accepted it. We were
then invited in to his house to talk about hunting. At this time, we also gave
him the thank you picture Ashton drew and the goodies we made.
We spent close to an hour discussing bison hunting, life,
the Anabaptist religion, and the history of his family and farm. It turns out,
Randy actually saw bison on the farm around 4PM that day only 100 yards away
from the house! Obviously this got us excited and we were hopeful we could find
them the next morning. Since our dinner was in the camper getting cold, we told
Randy thank you for the conversation and we retreated for the night.
We downed our own dinner, put on a movie for Ashton, and
then went to bed dreaming of the possibilities that lied ahead for the next
week. A couple hours into the night, Ashton had to pee. I got up with him and
we were blessed with an amazing display of the northern lights. This was the
first time Ashton saw the lights and he loved them!
Day 3
We woke up early with a plan to walk the outside of Randy’s
property. It was 7 degrees but the wind was fierce, putting the wind-chill well
below 0. We immediately noticed a HUGE herd moved through the area at some
point between the time we were there yesterday and this morning. They appeared
to be headed south, beyond Randy’s property. Regardless, we continued our trek
around the farm.
The walk turned out to be a lot further than we thought it
would be. Ashton had a hard time keeping up since we were walking so far, snow was
slowing us down, and he had so many layers on. It also didn’t help that he was
playing in the snow the entire time zig zagging and rolling everywhere.
Danielle and I split time carrying Ashton on our backs when he was really
lagging behind.
We were shocked to find there were predator tracks
everywhere on the farm. Coyote, fox, and wolf galore. The wolf tracks were
massive! There was one point where the wolf tracks were so thick it appeared to
be a pack of a dozen or so wolves. This made Danielle very nervous (she’s
scared of wolves) and she would check our backs every other minute.
After hiking three miles, Danielle and Ashton took a break
in a clearing. I decided to follow some bison tracks to figure out where they
came from. The bison were walking the perimeter of the property, and there were
tracks everywhere! I found many bedding areas, deep game trails, and feeding
spots. I couldn’t find any bison, so I returned to Danielle and Ashton. We then
headed back to the truck, about a mile away.
Once back at the truck, we decided to check out Bob Green’s
property. I called Bob and he let me know that the cattle lot had a few bison
in the fenced area last week. He said we should check it out to see if we could
find them. He also said we could check out his other lots although he didn’t
farm them this year (and he sold his most promising lot of land to a different
farmer). We drove allof his land, and although we scored on a ruffed grouse,
and saw many bison tracks, we still didn’t see a bison.
The driving took a long time and it was getting late. We
decided to head back to Randy’s for the night and try a different approach at
hunting his land the next morning. A couple minutes after we parked the truck,
Randy pulled in as well. We decided to share dinner with him again and gave him
the option of bear stroganoff or salmon pasta. He picked bear stroganoff and we
warmed him a large plate of it! I delivered it to Randy and he was very
thankful once again.
We then went through the nightly routine of dinner, junk
food, and a movie before going to bed.
Day 4
We woke up earlier than the day prior needing to start
before daylight. We got out to the fields and walked the start of each row
instead of the end. From our walk yesterday, I knew we could see a sufficient
amount of area using this approach without needing to be at the very end of the
property. This meant walking far less and covering pretty much the same amount
of land.
Shortly after sunrise, we heard the pack of wolves that
created the tracks we saw the day prior. They sounded like they were exactly
where we walked the day prior on the other side of the property… spooky. Other
than that, the morning was uneventful with no new tracks and no bison anywhere.
We did get a little excited at one point when we came around the corner and saw
two large brown spots. Unfortunately, these were a couple moose and not the
bison we were looking for. Content with covering a sufficient amount of Randy’s
property, we decided to head back to the truck.
On the way to the truck, we noticed a small mouse running in
the field. We then noticed a second, and a third mouse. Danielle was quick to
yell, Ashton, let’s catch it. They both dove into action to corner the rodent.
The mouse sprinted as fast as it could across the snowy field and into the
wooded wind break. It shot in and out of the pre-dug tunnels and stopped a
handful of times when it thought it was safe to do so. I jumped in on the
action as a spotter to watch where the mouse was going. Danielle had it cornered
and she said it kept peaking its head out of the hole. Well it peaked out one
too many times and Danielle scooped it up!
Danielle and Ashton took turns holding the mouse that Ashton
soon named Mousey. At one point, it squeaked at us, but I suspect Ashton may
have been holding it too tightly. After a while, we returned mousey back to his
tunnels and we went on our way to hunt for a larger animal.
We decided that we would drive the road system a little more
and check out areas we didn’t explore yet. I was armed with a notepad of
landowner names and their phone numbers in case we saw some bison; I could
possibly call and ask for permission.
We drove for four hours all over. We saw many bison, but
they were all domestic and farm raised (and behind tall fences). There were a
handful of places with bison tracks and poop everywhere, but that only showed
where they use to be, not where they were going. We did manage to stop and put
another ruffed grouse in the freezer though!
The plan at this point was to head back to Randy’s and walk
the start of the field’s again. We would then head across the river to check
out the Steele’s property before sunset. Since Ashton was dying to catch
another mouse, I would walk Randy’s property looking for bison while Danielle
and Ashton tried to catch another mouse. Both attempts were a bust. It wasn’t until I joined Danielle and Ashton
that we had enough man power to corner and catch another mouse.
This mouse was very tame and chill. It would sit in Ashton’s
hand and not run away. Ashton tried to feed it some food, but it wasn’t hungry
(or it was too scared to eat). Either way, Ashton loved every minute of it. We
let it go and returned to the truck.
We started to make our way to the Steele’s place. On our
way, Bob Green called us and said that he saw two large brown spots in his
field near the place he saw bison last week. He wasn’t sure if they were bison
or moose, but if I was in the area, it was worth checking out. I thanked him
and I quickly turned the truck around. We got to the place Bob described and
immediately found the brown spots. Unfortunately, it was a couple bull moose
and not bison! Around this same time, I had a couple friends from Delta Junction
messaging me on Facebook with suggestions on what to do. They both mentioned
checking out the public land south of the highway so we put that option in our
back pocket.
We turned back around and headed toward the Steele’s farm.
Once we got there, I parked the truck and got out to peek around the barn while
Ashton and Danielle were getting ready to hike. I saw bison! I estimate there
was about 15 or so, but I was excited to finally see wild bison! I went back to
Danielle to make a plan and we set off toward them. Once we put our eyes on
them, we could tell they were about a mile away and close to the trees. That’s
when I realized they were headed into the trees, near the road.
I told Danielle and Ashton to quickly get back in the truck.
We were going to try and cut them off. As we drove to the spot where I thought
they were going, we didn’t see them on the road. Once we got there, we saw a
small herd of bison among an opening of trees off to our left; they already crossed
and were now in the forested area. I quickly pulled over and walked toward
them. They were tucked around a corner very skittish since they just saw and
heard the truck. I got within 50 yards of the group, but I could only see one
bison sticking out from the rear of the herd. I was able to get my rifle on the
bison, but I wasn’t able to judge size or get a clear shot before it caught a
glimpse of me. It didn’t take long after that for the herd to start running
into the trees.
Not wanting to pressure or spook the bison too much, we
didn’t pursue them any further. Instead, we returned to the Steele’s property
to walk a little before dark and study the tracks. We could tell where the bison came from and
where they were going. This is also the time we realized that if we were here
only a couple minutes sooner, the outcome may have been different. Dang Bob and
his bad eyes for putting us on a detour prior to the Steele’s 😉. We decided the Steele’s property may be our
best bet to drop a bison, we just needed to be in the right place at the right
time. If only we didn’t delay getting to the Steele’s property from checking
out the moose on Bob’s land… or stalled while in service range to message on
Facebook about bison tactics… we would have arrived earlier and likely got a
shot off!
It was getting dark and difficult to see, so we returned to
the truck and found a camping spot for the night. I cleaned the grouse while
Danielle got our dinner ready… and you know the rest of the nightly routine.
Day 5
It snowed a couple inches overnight. After Danielle took
Ashton outside to go to bathroom, she asked me if I noticed bison tracks near
the truck last night. There weren’t any noticeable tracks last night, and apparently,
the truck was in the way of a small groups’ path, so they went around and continued
their way. Danielle said she heard a loud thud in the early morning hours, and
believes it may have been a bison bumping the truck.
We ate our breakfast and got ready for an early morning of
hunting. It was still dark out but it wasn’t too cold or windy. The plan for dawn
was to drive to the place the bison crossed the road last night, park about 100
yards from it, and then hike into the fields from their crossing path.
We parked the truck on the road just as daylight was starting
to appear enough to allow easy walking without a flashlight. We got out silently
and headed for the fields. It was a very quiet morning and we had to be extra stealthy
during out approach so we didn’t spook anything.
We go to the fields and immediately noticed brown spots
scattered among the snowy brush and grass. Unfortunately, eight moose were spread out among
the field and no bison were present. We then moved to an adjacent field where
the bison came from the night prior. Again, no bison were around, but we
spotted two more moose munching away. As we were looking at these moose, we
heard a gunshot from across the road, by the river. It came from the exact
direction where the bison were headed last night. We then heard another shot
about 20 seconds later, and a third 10 seconds after that. If this was night’s
bison getting shot at, this meant they likely would not be returning to the
same field tonight due to their pattern being interrupted… I hoped this was not
the case.
We decided to return to the truck and drive to the southern
end of the property to check out a hay field bison are sometimes in. After a
quiet hike in, we only saw two additional moose and no sign of bison. We
returned to the truck with a plan to head back across the river to check out
Randy’s place for fresh tracks or bison. Although Randy’s property is only a
couple miles from the Steele’s property (as the crow flies), it took more than
45 minutes to get there due to the road conditions and river that must be
navigated.
We got to Randy’s place and of course the first thing Ashton
wanted to do again was catch mice! We made a deal to walk half of the fields
together and Danielle and Ashton would stop at the mouse hotspot to try and
catch a mouse while I would walk the remainder of the fields solo as I circled
back toward the truck. It was still snowing fairly hard so it was difficult to
see the end of the fields. The snow was a little deeper (about 8 inches) but it
wasn’t too hard for Ashton to walk yet since it was still rather fluffy. We
completed the first half of the fields without seeing much. I left Danielle and
Ashton to try and catch mice while I continued to scout the remainder of the
fields. My hike turned up zero bison sign so I grabbed the truck and drove over
to the rodent hunters to pick them up. Their search also resulted in nothing productive…
we were striking out this morning.
It was almost noon by this time so we decided to prepare some
lunch and figure out what to do until our new goal of being at the Steele’s
place by 4PM to hunt until sunset. We contemplated grabbing the ATV and
checking out the public land south of the highway. A huge majority of the
property on the other side of the highway is accessible to the public to hunt. If
it isn’t owned by the state, the land is owned by the military (which can be hunted
by anyone simply by registering and checking in). We were interested in a
section called Gerstle Fields (as suggested by a couple friends to at least
check out).
The Gerstle Fields is an area maintained by the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game to promote big game habitat and allow hunting
opportunities for sportsman. The area is open to hunting trophy sized moose for
youth hunters in the fall, and bison after October (among other animals). The
fields are planted and rotated with grasses and hay, while many areas are
simply mowed or left wooded. The area is rather large, spanning approximately
2300 acres in size. I was a little hesitant to hunt the Gerstle Fields since I
heard stories of people trying to hunt it and other hunters driving their truck
or ATV into a field where bison are being stalked, only to result in a blown
hunt. BUT, it wasn’t the weekend anymore and we had some available time, so we
decided to head that direction.
The snow covered all prior tire tracks at this point. We
tried pulling down a couple roads we thought would get us into the fields, only
to find out the dirt roads weren’t meant for a 1-ton truck with cabover camper.
We eventually found the right road to get us into the fields and we were glad
to see that nobody had been there that day. Knowing the bison are spooked by
the sound of a truck, we parked at the edge and decided to walk a small part of
it in search of the animals.
We walked the edge of the fields for close to a mile and
didn’t see anything, not even a moose. We decided to check out the middle part
of the area where we couldn’t see the end/start of fields from the edge we were
currently at. We drove 1.5 miles and stopped at the outside edge of the fields,
hoping the truck didn’t spook any bison in the area.
It was passed Ashton’s typical nap time, and from getting up
early and hiking quite a bit in heavy snow, he was pooped. He was tired and
falling asleep so Danielle decided to stay in the truck with Ashton while I
check out this section of the fields by myself.
It was still snowing fairly hard at this point so seeing
long distances was difficult. It was that perfect Christmas type atmosphere
where it’s cloudy but light outside without seeing the sun, many large, dry,
fluffy snowflakes are slowly falling, the temperature feels inviting to be outside
although it’s slightly below freezing, there is no wind or discomfort, and the peacefulness
results in the ability to hear the snowflakes come to a rest on whatever they
land on.
There was a path that went directly into the heart of the
fields next to where I parked the truck. It wasn’t a straight path, so Danielle
couldn’t see down it from where she sat. I threw on my pack and gear and headed
down the path. I didn’t get 50 yards from the truck when I noticed a large brown
object laying on the path about 500 yards in front of me. The snow made it
difficult to know what it was initially, but after looking through my
binoculars, I could tell it was a resting bison. Luckily the snow was so thick
it kept me from exposing myself to the bison while I was walking on the path. I
quickly dove into the trees next to the path to hide myself better.
I sat in the trees thinking about how I could possibly get
closer to this bison without it seeing or hearing me. The path I was walking
(and the one the bison was laying on) had fields on both sides of it. The
fields were about 25 yards wide and stretched as far as you could see. At the
edge of the fields were about five yards of trees acting as a wind break. This
pattern of 25 yards of field, followed by five yards of trees repeated numerous
times along the path before the bison’s location. I thought about hiking a
couple hundred yards down the field I was closest to, and then cutting through
the many fields and windbreaks to hopefully poke out within shooting distance.
I decided to not pursue this option because I had no way of knowing how many
bison this one was with, and where they were all bedding. Also, it was very quiet
and I had snow pants on. The combination of me walking and trying to break
through thick windbreak trees would likely result in the bison hearing me before
I got there.
Instead, I decided to wait. I only knew about this single
bison laying in the middle of the path. The best way for me to get to it would
be down the path… I wouldn’t be able to get there until the bison moved. So, I
waited. I returned to the truck to let Danielle know what I saw and that I
could see the truck from the spot I would be waiting at. I let her know that if
she can’t see me anymore, that means the bison moved and I was pursuing it.
I ended up waiting for a little over an hour when the bison
finally decided to stand up. It hooved at the ground and slowly walked to the
right and out of sight off the path toward the nearest field. I soon saw five
more bison slowly walk from the left side of the path to the field on the other
side. Unhappy with my current vantage point, I crossed the path and closed
about ten yards of distance. I sat here hesitant to go any closer due to my unfamiliarity
with the area and unpredictability of what the bison were doing. One thing I did
learn during this hunt was that bison don’t seem to retrace the steps where
they came from, and bison love to take the path of least resistance. Knowing
the bison did not come from my direction and end up where they currently were,
combined with the super easy path in front of them meant there was a possibility
they would head my way.
I sat in my new location for about ten minutes before the
bison reappeared on the path. There was a lead bison that the small group was
following, and this guy was big! They seemed indecisive on where they wanted to
go as they scattered and circled near the path. Then, the big bison made up his
mind and he started walking on the path, directly at me; the rest of the herd began
to follow as well. This got my heart racing; they were headed directly at me!
The only bad thing about their path is that I had no shot since they were facing
me head on.
No matter how close the bison got, if I stayed on the side
of the path, I would never get a shot off before they got too close and noticed
I was there. As they crept closer, I made a decision to get out of the tree
break I was in, and retreat about 30 yards into the field behind me. This way,
the path that crosses perpendicular to the fields would allow for a perfect
broadside shot as the bison cleared the wind break.
I got myself into position and the shooting sticks setup. I
could see the dark outlines of the bison through the wind break of the field I
was in. They were slowly continuing their route and would soon be in the
opening. This was it; everything was lining up perfectly. Then… a gunshot went
off. It wasn’t anther hunter after these bison, it was a loud rifle shot about
a mile north of us. Even though there were no other hunters around, the bison
know the sound of gunshot and immediately decided that wasn’t the direction
they wanted to walk anymore. They turned around mere feet away from clearing
the wind break and being in my crosshairs. I was so upset! Everything was lining up perfectly.
Why did this gunshot go off at the absolute worse time?
The bison disappeared, however, I waited in my shooting position
for about 15 more minutes in case they decided to resume their route. They didn’t.
I decided it was now time to aggressively pursue them and see if I could
possibly get a shot off as they retreated somewhere.
I picked up my gear and set off to track the bison. I slowly
crept down the path as quiet as I could, peering intently down each subsequent
field I came across as I struggled to see through the falling snow. I got to
the spot where the bison were laying and tried to find their fresh tracks, but
the snow was falling too hard that their new tracks looked too similar to old
filled in tracks. I tried my hardest, but I absolutely could not figure out which
direction this small group went.
I gave up on locating the small group and turned my
attention to the field the bison were laying in. This field was different. It
was massive (about 100 yards wide) and bare. There were bison tracks, beds, and
scat EVERYWHERE. All droppings were still wet and steaming too. I then realized
there was way more bison sign in the head of this field than the five bison I
was pursing could make. There must have been more bison in this field recently.
I decided to continue walking the path and follow the outside
of this huge field to peer down alternating grass fields and wind breaks some
more. I soon came across even more bison tracks, beds, and steaming scat. It
appeared there were bison everywhere at some point recently. There were so many
bison, the fluffy snow was packed hard, nearly to ice, from the numerous bison
walking around in the area. I couldn’t figure out where they went, but I knew
it wasn’t far.
Suddenly, I walked past a windbreak and looked down a field to
barely see through the falling snow what appeared to be a large mound of dirt
in the middle of the field, about a mile away. I quickly realized that this wasn’t
dirt, it was likely bison. I looked through my binoculars and sure enough, it
was an enormous herd of bison. They spanned the entire width of the 25-yard-wide
field and I could not see a single gap between any of them, which told me they
were very deep too. I instantly hit the ground and crawled back behind the
trees. They likely didn’t see me since I had to use my binoculars to even identify
them.
THIS is the herd of bison that was just at the head of the
large open field. The tracks showed they left the large open field and were
walking away down this narrow, 25 yard strip of snow covered grass. I grabbed
my walkie talkie and radioed Danielle. I let her know I found the motherload
herd. From where I was, it would be a great spot for her and Ashton to sit,
undetected and be able to get a good glimpse of the large herd. I let Danielle
know where I was and how to get to where I was at.
After radioing Danielle, I got to thinking… there is no way
these bison will turn around and come back this direction. The only way to get
a shot on one of them would be to get in front of them. They were a mile away, it
would be nearly impossible for all three of us to cover that ground and get in
front of them undetected. I also couldn’t tell how fast they were moving. I
realized I had to make a move as soon as possible. Not only would making that
move not work with all three of us, but waiting on Danielle and Ashton to get here
to start it would also be a bad idea. I radioed Danielle back and explained the
situation to her. I let her know I’m going after them now but I had a good
amount of ground to cover, sneakiness to execute, and waiting until I had a
clean shot. She understood and wished me luck. (I later found out Ashton was actually
sleeping when I told Danielle and Ashton to come meet me. She woke him up and
got him ready, only for me to cancel… oops).
This was it, my time to make something happen. I decided I
would back track two fields (and two wind breaks) over, and use that opening to
walk in their direction. I was planning to walk about 500 or more yards passed
them, cut over through the fields and trees to the windbreak bordering the field
they were in, and then wait for an unobstructed bison to get within 100 yards
or so before taking a shot. I set off with that in mind.
It was fairly warm out (mid 20s) with no wind, and I had a
full set of base layers, mid layers, insulation layers, and shells on. I was in
a hurry to get to the bison so I was moving at a jogging pace. BUT, because my
pants were very loud when the thighs rubbed or legs touched anything, I had to
move with my legs spread and knees bent the whole time, like a guy who just got
off the saddle of a horse after riding many miles for the first time… except I
wasn’t waddle walking… I was waddle bouncing off my toes with each step to move
quickly and prevent my pants from touching the other leg or snow/ brush on the
ground. Well, the combination of all this resulted in an internal overheating. I
was sweating like crazy after a couple hundred yards. This worried me because I
wasn’t too familiar with a bison’s sense of smell, and I obviously was kicking
off some serious body odor. I wouldn’t be able to unzip and cool off when I got
there because I would need to contain my musk.
I maintained this awkward pace and movement for a long time.
It felt like I walked far enough that I passed the bison, so I slowed to a walk.
The field I was walking paralleled the path the bison were in two fields over.
I could clearly see through the first tree break to know what was in the
adjacent field, but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to see into the second field
through two rows of windbreak trees. This question was immediately answered when
I made out a couple of dark outlines just beyond the second row of trees… I
made it to the heard.
I immediately got nervous because I was closer than I
thought. If I could see their outline, they likely could see mine. Granted, I
was looking hard to find them and they had no idea I was two fields over. Also,
I’m not as wide as a bison and my outline would look more like a moving tree if
a bison focused hard enough through the trees and fields. Regardless, the bison
were only 50 yards away now and there were a couple hundred eyes I had to worry
about. Unfortunately for me, I was in the first of the consecutive fields and
windbreaks. There was no field on the other side of me to put more distance and
another row of windbreak between me and the bison; it was merely the start of thick
trees on the other side of me. I was committed to my plan, so I took the
remaining movement stealthy and slow.
I hiked about 500 yards beyond where I saw the first outline
of bison. During that distance, there were many openings between the trees that
I had to be extra careful about not showing myself. To my surprise, the field
of bison was thick with body outlines that entire 500 yards! I thought at that
point, I would be far enough ahead of them to cut over, but the herd was so
deep, I didn’t even get out in front of them yet.
I figured I was pretty much at the head of the herd, so I
only had a little over 500 yards more to go before I could start cutting over
to get ready to intercept them. As I prepared to close out the final leg, I
heard snorts and scuffs coming from the herd, and then quick hoof stomps. It
sounded like something made them nervous and they were huddling up. This got me
worried. Did they know I was there? Did they see, hear, or smell me? What was
making them anxious?
The bison didn’t calm down. I heard tree branches breaking as
a few of them moved a little closer toward me by escaping their field and running
into the trees. This resulted in others following, and eventually the whole
herd. As the bison in the back pushed into the trees, the ones in the front
were forced out into the neighboring field. I now had a single row of 5-yard-thick,
wind break trees separating me from bison merely 30 yards away. I made a quick
decision to retreat into the trees on the other side of my field to hide in case
they decided to continue their current direction. I had just enough time to disappear
and setup my shooting tripod before the herd continued their nervous trot into
the last remaining trees that separated us.
The first bison that came through the trees was a monster! I
had my rifle ready and was quick enough to get the crosshair on him
immediately, however, only two seconds after he came out, another bison came out
behind him. I couldn’t take a shot with a second bison in the line of fire.
Immediately after that second bison appeared, the entire heard spooked. Every bison
began busting through the windbreak trees as the same time. Here I was, hidden
in a row of trees, with 25 yards of snow-covered grass field between me and the
next row of trees, when suddenly it was impossible to see the trunks of the
trees across from me for 50 yards down field to 100 yards up field because a
wall of bison suddenly appeared like opening flood gates. These bison weren’t
casually walking through the trees, they were running!
I instantly knew I was likely in trouble. It may have been
me that spooked them, but they had no idea where I was. As far as they knew, I
was just another small twig in their path to safety as they headed for the
thick trees behind me. Fearing for my safety and having flashes of Mufasa on
the Lion King, I made the decision to show myself.
I stepped out into the field, directly in front of hundreds
of bison, literally 15 yards away. This sent the bison into a frenzy. They didn’t
turn around, they didn’t run up or down the field, they continued on their quest
to seek shelter in the thick trees. As a result, they started to split and go
around me, similar to a school of bait fish when something threatening finds
its way in the middle of them. I now had bison running within 15 yards of me,
both up field and downfield as they disappeared into the trees behind me.
This was a spectacular site to see. I was looking at and
studying as many of the bison as I could, as fast as I could. All but a few
yearling bison looked huge. I remember thinking to myself, that’s a monster
bull, there’s some young cows, those horns curve all the way in, that bison has
a collar on, when will this line of bison end, should I get my phone out and
record this, nah I don’t know how long it will last, those are odd looking
horns, man these guys are close, that’s a cute baby, there’s another massive
bull, and other things with explicit language mixed in. Obviously, I couldn’t
shoot anything since there was no way I was firing into a running herd of
bison.
The long line of bison also gave me time to think how I
could turn this craziness into opportunity. The herd had to end at some point,
and whenever that time would come, there had to be a caboose. I decided that no
matter what the caboose was (with the exception of a yearling), I would try to
harvest it if it wasn’t obstructed by another bison. Sure enough, as soon as I made
that decision and got the shooting sticks and rifle ready to line up with the
path of running bison, I started to see the field beyond the windbreak trees more
clearly. This meant the herd was thinning out and the last bison was sure to
pass through soon. When I could no longer see brown outlines in the fields or
trees, I knew the current bison in the field marked the end of the madness.
Luckily, there was an adult bison that was bringing up the rear, following
directly in line (and not side by side) with the third and second to last
bison. This meant the shooting path was clear to fire. I lined up my rifle for its
predicted path and when it consumed all viewable space within my scope, I sent
a bullet in its direction.
I have never shot at a running animal before. I have never
shot an animal this close before. Heck, I have never shot a bison before. These
were a lot of firsts. As for running, running shots are tough because the
animal is moving in a direction while the bullet is headed directly where you
were aiming, but doesn’t get there for a little while. If the bison were far away,
this would have been an absolute NO-NO. But because of their proximity, firing meant
hitting exactly where it was aimed.
As for the 15 yard shot, I quickly realized I didn’t
compensate for the raising trajectory of the bullet at that range. Since my
rifle was zeroed in at 200 yards, that means anything close range has the
bullet raising and or above the bullseye. This meant I shot higher than I was
aiming. On a bison, the heart is lower in the chest than other Alaska animals.
Since I was likely aiming high on the heart, with the added overshoot, I likely
punctured the lungs instead… also a good shot.
Then comes the fact that these animals are extremely tough.
It often takes multiple shots to bring down a bison, but that isn’t possible in
a situation where they are sprinting into thick cover. As soon as I shot it, I
realized I may have a very difficult time tracking the bison because it ran
into the brush and trees behind the other bison and disappeared. If I double
lunged him, he would eventually drop, but not after getting deep into the
trees. Bison often don’t have good blood trails. Combine that with the fact
that it followed a whole herd of bison, and into thick cover… there may be no
way to track it individually. I immediately got nervous and worried that I would
not be able to find the bison.
I reflected on the craziness that just unfolded, collected
myself, and then proceeded to follow the trail of destruction and flattened
brush the bison left. I was looking at the ground and couldn’t see any blood.
The good thing about a possible blood trail is that this bison was in the back,
and no bison would be following it to cover its blood. Unfortunately, I never
found a blood trail.
I walked about 75 yards into the trees looking everywhere for
a clue to where the bison may have gone. I found nothing. At that point, I didn’t
want to get lost or lose track of where I searched already, so I decided to
turn around with the intent to call Danielle to come help me systematically scan
the area. When I went to turn around, there was a bison standing about 10 yards
away, not moving, staring directly at me. It couldn’t move and was hurting. I
quickly put a second, fatal bullet in the bison, ending my worries of losing
it.
I left the bison where it lay and returned to the field to
radio Danielle. I buzzed her and let her know a bison was on the ground. She hesitantly
congratulated me and didn’t sound too excited about it. I later found out that
she didn’t believe me since she didn’t hear the gun shots. She thought it was a
sick joke and wasn’t too amused, but wanted to believe me without getting her
hopes up to be dashed. (I would never joke about that type of thing). I asked
her to please drive the truck to me and I explained how to find me. Ten minutes
later, Ashton and Danielle pull up to the exact spot I shot the bison from. She
congratulated me again and after I told her the story, demonstrated where I
shot from, and showed her the tracks/ destruction path, she got excited and
started to believe it really did happen.
I grabbed the Action Packer full of heavy field dressing
items (Sawzall, thick gloves, lights, batteries, game bags, knives, sharpeners,
tarps, junk food, etc.). I gave Danielle the rifle while Ashton was in charge
of the snow shovel, and I led the way toward the bison. Danielle and Ashton
were tagging close behind, amazed with the broken vegetation from the storming
herd. We got close to the bison and I set my container down. I used this
opportunity to review with Ashton how we approach a downed animal safely. I
took the rifle and approached it slowly, quickly realizing it was expired. I
called them both over and we marveled at its beauty.
The bison wasn’t a mature bull, as evidenced by the thick
bases on the horns and slight upward slope coming off the head (It was later
aged at three years old). I was surprised it wasn’t an old animal because it
was the exact same size (if not bigger) as the others in the herd. Being the
last bison in the herd, I was expecting either an injured or old bison unable
to keep up with its running friends. Regardless, this guy was big… and round…
with the biggest belly I have ever seen on a big game animal.
We all kneeled down next to the bison, placed our hands on
him, and gave thanks to God for the opportunity and harvest. We also gave thanks
to the bison for providing needed sustenance while also promising to not waste anything.
This ritual is an absolute must with the Harris family. We will never kill for
fun and we will always honor the harvested animal before anything else is done
at the kill site.
It was finally time for pictures, to immortalize the moment
in still frame (I wish I had a Go Pro on during the herd stampede). We hurriedly
took a bunch of pictures because our immediate task at hand was to get the meat
cooled off. Bison are extremely well insulated animals and even if it was
negative 30 degrees outside, bison meat can spoil faster than most Alaska animals
after a kill due to their efficient heat retention. The only animal that rivals
a bison in this regard is the musk ox. The solution to heat relief is to either
skin or gut as soon as possible. We chose to gut.
Getting the bison on it’s back was difficult with its huge
hump and bulging gut. We had to leverage downed trees and branches to use as levers.
We would roll and lever at the same time and then stuff branches to prevent
losing ground. Of course, the hump threw us off and once he got on his back, he
quickly rolled to the other side ☹ If there was more snow, we could have dug a hole for
his back to impress into. Thankfully the ground was still somewhat soft and I
was able to dig a hole with my boots and branches. The second roll resulted in
the bison staying on his back.
I got my tools out and began opening up the bison. We were intimidated
by the size of this thing’s belly. I decided to use my gut hook as I often do,
however, I immediately regretted it. After slicing open the belly, the stomach
pushed up completely around the hook and ended up ripping a 3 inch hole in it,
instantly exploding air and recently digested grass at my chest and face so
hard it hurt when the grass hit me. Luckily, this was the first stomach chamber
and the contents were solid enough to not spew out… but man was that a gross, powerful,
and chunky blast of wind!
We started to remove the inner cavity and instantly realized
our normal method wouldn’t work on this beast. Everything was way too heavy to
pull out and down between the bison’s rear legs. We had to abandon the back
approach and lay it on the side. Even then we were unable to pull everything
using the esophagus as a handle. We were forced to get shoulder deep into the
cavity to separate tissue and slowly roll sections out the side. Removing the
guts from the bison was the lengthiest gut removal process I have ever experienced…
and the most frustrating.
Meanwhile, Ashton lost interest rather quickly in the gut
removal since we took forever. He was now free to be loud and destructive. After
more than three days of whispering, being quiet outside, and trying to not
scare bison that may be close by, he was finally released from his silence
handcuffs. He took the snow shovel and used it as an ax on anything in his path,
screaming and singing the entire time. He explored the area close by and
started to make a lean-to shelter with the downed branches he found. He would occasionally
come over to check on us, tell me that I shot good, and ask questions about the
bison. He was both happy to see the bison field dressing process and excited to
be able to act like a crazy kid again.
The weather was great for cutting up a bison. Again, there
was no wind, it never stopped snowing, and it was accompanied by that warm,
cozy feeling when a calm snow falls under heavy clouds. We had to setup tarps
to get our gear and meat under to keep the snow off, but the weather didn’t
bother me and I never put my coat on for warmth or shedding snow. We had rubber
gloves on and our hands did get cold occasionally, but holding the hide and
touching the meat kept them warm for the most part.
It got dark on us after we were done with one side of the
bison. I setup a couple lanterns and we all put on headlights to combat the
retreating light. At that time, Danielle’s nemesis was heard in the distance…
wolves. A small pack were heard howling and resulted in chills shooting down
our backs. Danielle and Ashton began singing more often and a little louder after
that 😉.
While we were skinning the second side of the bison, we
noticed something in the hide. After closer inspection, we determined it was buckshot.
Apparently, someone didn’t want this bison around and peppered it with a
shotgun shell full of metal. We didn’t think much of it because the bison hide
is thick and likely didn’t have many penetrate. We quickly realized how wrong
we were. We ended finding numerous pellets further into the meat. The odd thing
about these is there was neither any bruising from their presence or trace of
entry (which told me it wasn’t recently shot) nor was there an effort for the bison’s
body to reject or fight their presence with puss or encapsulation (which told
me it wasn’t shot a long time ago).
It took us about five hours to get the bison mostly cut up.
By this time it was around 8PM and we were starving. Ashton did amazing the
whole time, and even though he asked about being hungry a couple times, he kept
himself busy and didn’t complain once. There was a little burger meet still needing
to be removed on the second side, as well as neck meat and the need to separate
the hide and head. Danielle and Ashton headed back to the camper to get dinner
ready while I stayed to work on the final touches.
Once dinner was ready, Danielle hollered for me to join
them. Happily, I dropped what I was doing and made my way to the camper. I
found three massive, pulled moose BBQ sandwiches waiting for me and I instantly
started drooling. I refueled myself with the sandwiches and a liter of Powerade.
I was a little lethargic from the full belly, but I prepared myself to head out
and finish the job. Danielle was also dreading going back out, especially in
the dark with the possibility of wolves being around, but she was determined to
help get it done. Ashton wasn’t in the mood to come back outside, so we put a
movie on his tablet and told him to lay down in bed and don’t open the door.
We made our way back to the kill site ready to wrap up the
night. Separating the head, neck, and hide were the only things left to do. After
getting that done, we gathered everything together to prepare loads for
packing. We only had one frame pack to hike the heavy stuff out, so Danielle
opted to carry the lighter stuff. “Light” is the keyword here. Danielle started
with my hunting pack, gun, prime cuts, and other items, but she ended up being
a workhorse. She decided she would carry out the bison head by hand. She couldn’t
bend over to lift it, so I had to set it in her arms for a comfortable carry. This
thing easily weighed 75 pounds or more. She had it cradled against her body,
unable to see where she was walking while attempting to avoid all tripping hazards
and weave in and out of thick brush. She took a tumble once, but impressively
made it to the camper fairly quickly.
I was in charge of transporting the quarters and burger
bags. Although bison can get bigger than moose, the weight on my back felt the
same. I could tell a difference in how the weight was distributed though. A moose’s
legs are super long, and although it is awkward to have something protruding
out high above the pack, more weight is high on the back with a moose quarter,
allowing less stress on the hips but more side to side unstableness. With a
bison, the legs are a lot shorter, but the girth of the quarters is wider as
the weight is more compact in the short leg. This made weight distribution
lower on the back with more stress on the hips, but no side to side
stabilization issue. Of all my trips, I only fell once into some thick shrubs,
and it took a while to get unstuck and roll out.
Danielle decided her last load was going to be an attempt
hike the hide out in her hands. This thing was super awkward and weighed at
least 100 pounds. It was rolled and placed in a couple contractor bags so it
wouldn’t fall apart on her, but it was still rather loose inside the bags. I
picked it up and placed it in her arms and she was off. Shortly after she began
the trek, she let out a scream which was followed by the sound of breaking
bushes. She fell and wasn’t hurt. I put the hide back into her arms and she was
off again. About ten minutes later, I heard the same sounds. She yelled that
she was OK and would just take a break and wait there for me. I packed up the remainder
of the items and last burger bag before heading out to find Danielle. She almost
made it to the truck. Instead of having her finish, I told I would come back
and grab it after dropping my load off. She agreed and accompanied me back to
the camper.
Danielle jumped into the camper while I went back and
grabbed the hide. I then rearranged everything for a night under the falling
snow. I left the meat pole setup on the trailer, so the meat wouldn’t be hanging
overnight now. Instead, the camper awning was extended and a tarp was laid
under it. All meat was placed on the tarp and covered with a second tarp. This
didn’t promote airflow, but it was cold enough to prevent bacteria growth, so I
wasn’t worried. I left a couple lights on around the meat and jumped in the
camper.
A warm camper was the perfect place to end the night. It was
about 11PM at this point. I changed out of my bloody clothes, chugged some
water, destroyed a large bag of sour patch kids, and grabbed a beer before joining
Danielle and Ashton to watch a late-night movie.
I have said it multiple times in the past, but this cabover
camper continues to prove itself as the best addition to our outdoors
adventures. It proved to be the absolute best option for staying mobile and comfortable
on this hunt.
Day 6
It snowed all night. It wasn’t a hard snow, but it was consistent
and accumulated an additional foot. Danielle expressed concern with getting
stuck deep in the fields, where we had no cell service, but I assured her we
would be fine (while secretly having a sliver of concern). The stuck truck
removal items were also on the trailer that wasn’t with us, but if we had
issues we could shovel out and cut brush for traction. We had no problem at all
getting out since there was no real base to the snow yet.
Prior to leaving, we needed to think of a way to get the
meat home. The original plan was to put the meat on the trailer, but again, we
didn’t have the trailer with us. Instead, we decided to put a tarp on the floor
of the camper and put the meat on it, hoping it wouldn’t get blood anywhere
inside the camper. It was difficult lifting the quarters high into camper as
well as organizing them on the small amount of ground I had to work with. To
make sure the camper didn’t retain our heat from overnight, I opened a window
in the camper and shut the door.
Once we got in service range, we pulled over so I could
catch up on work email, review our texts/ calls, and let people know of our
success. I let the land owners of the land we were hunting know about our
harvest so they could allow another hunting group to access their property now.
I also let a buddy in Delta Junction know exactly where I killed the bison
because he wanted the gut pile for baiting predators.
We then made our way back to Randy’s place and shared the
great news. We also discovered some bad news… the camper door swung open while
driving home! The entire inside of the camper was covered in snow. (sigh) Well
at least the meat was staying cold.
The first couple nights we camped at Randy’s place, we
shared our dinner with him. Since we were leaving Delta Junction early, we had
plenty of food left over. We decided to leave three good sized meals for
heating up and some other perishable items. He was very appreciative.
We talked for quiet a while with much of the conversation
about Jesus Christ and the Word. Randy is an Anabaptist and shared is views on
things (look up Anabaptist, I had to). He uses access to his land to hunt bison
as a platform to share the teachings of Jesus Christ. This is one reason he
doesn’t charge for hunting access. That, and he’s old school where walking up
to a farmer’s house and politely asking permission was all that was needed. We
really liked his place; it reminded us of Iowa with the vast farmland and
living style, with the added bonus of huge animals and mountainous backdrops.
We soon hooked up the trailer and said our farewells. We had
a couple more stops in Delta Junction before we returned home. First up, the
Alaska Department of Fish and Game. I was required to report my harvest in person
and provide collected data from the hunt. This was also where they age the
bison by looking at the teeth. The stop took less than 20 minutes and we were back
on the road on our way to Larry Madosik’s.
Larry is the owner of Alaska Wildlife Taxidermy. The only
time I have used a taxidermist was for bear rugs. I do all my own Euro mounts,
but I decided I would let a professional handle this beast since I was a novice
and this was a once in a lifetime hunt. Larry is a friend of ours and we visited
him a couple years prior. He is also good friends with a handful of our friends
in addition to being a huge supporter of RHAK. He lives in Delta Junction so it
was an easy decision to use him. I left the head and hide with Larry to do his
magic.
Ashton absolutely loved Larry’s workshop. There were skulls,
hides, and mounts of every animal imaginable, and many we didn’t know existed. Ashton
asked many questions and kept commenting about how much he liked his shop. It was
a 20 x 20 square cabin with pictures of trophy animals everywhere too.
Larry is a great guy and easy to converse with. We chatted mostly
about hunting, but covered the gamut of other topics too. We spent well over an
hour there. Prior to departing, Ashton gave him a Thank You picture he drew of
him hunting bison, as well as containers of puppy chow and scatcharoos. We left
with a jar of canned pickles and a promise to have awesome taxidermy and a Delta
Meats ham delivered to us in the near future.
We finally turned our attention to the six hour drive ahead
of us. We would get home around midnight if the road conditions were good, which
they were. We pulled into the house exhausted. Our priority was to get the meat
hanging in the garage. Once that was done, we left everything in the truck and on
the trailer and went to bed for the night.
Day 7 and Beyond
Danielle had the rest of the week off work, but I unfortunately
couldn’t escape the mounting demands on my workload from COVID. I woke with the
intention of putting out small fires and then cutting up meat the rest of the
day, but unfortunately there were large fires to extinguish at work and I had
to put in 12 straight hours. This wasn’t a big deal since the meat was hanging
at a perfect temperature and aging at the same time. Eventually I got caught up
with work and we were able to concentrate on meat care for the next couple of
days.
Putting the bison in the freezer was a ton of work, but it
was well worth it (and very needed)! We are SUPER excited to add this meat to
our diet.
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