I was completely dumbfounded when my dad told me I drew a bison tag for the Absaroka Wilderness in Montana. Here I was, an 11-year-old with another great tag in my pocket! All I can say is that I am so thankful that my dad knows about these opportunities for youth hunts and that I get to benefit from his knowledge.
My dad told me that he was super excited about my tag but that he was also nervous about the logistics of the hunt itself. We would be going into the wilderness just north of Yellowstone Park, which is grizzly country. Since we would be going in about 15+ miles, my dad rented horses to help us. His good friends, Tyler and Shane, came to help out, and his friend and co-worker at Huntin’ Fool, Brady, filmed the hunt.
On the 12th of September, my dad and I left for Wyoming to rent three riding horses and two pack horses. Shane was coming from Idaho with his two horses and two mules. Everyone met up at the trailhead on the evening of the 13th. The next day, we woke up early and started getting the horses and mules ready for our trip into the wilderness.
We arrived at camp at about 4:30 p.m. We set up camp, and while we were doing so, we saw another camp across the valley from us. My dad and I went to check it out and see if it was another bison hunter as we were told there was another one in the area. On our way over, my dad walked right past a moose shed. It was lying in the grass next to a grizzly bear rub tree. He was so busy looking and telling me about the bear rub tree that he failed to see it laying on the ground. I said, “Dad, can I take this shed?” as I lifted it off the ground. He was shocked at the size of the shed and told me that it was a Boone and Crockett moose. We spent about 15 minutes looking for the other side but had no luck.
When we went back to camp, I showed the guys the moose paddle and Tyler said, “Let’s go find that thing!” We went out and searched some more and split up to look around, which was definitely not a great idea in grizzly country because after a few minutes, Tyler found himself within 20 feet of six bison without knowing because of the thick willows blocking his view. Tyler started calling my name, and I went over to him. I didn’t know why he was calling, but I was quick to learn when I rounded the corner and saw six big old bison standing there looking at us. We watched them go back into the willows and then we headed back to camp. As soon as we got there, we saw the bison in a wide open field right in front of our camp.
Opening day found us glassing the field the bison were in the night before. We spotted a nice bull elk on the far side of the meadow. Shane had an elk tag and took off in the direction the bull was going. We decided to hold tight and see if the bison came back out. About an hour later, Shane came back saying he had found a big bull bison. We headed down the valley to where Shane had seen it. After sneaking through the timber, we found the bull still feeding. We were able to make our way to 123 yards, and I set up behind a log with a backpack as my rest. After some discussion on where to shoot, I slowly squeezed the trigger and the bull instantly collapsed. He was super old, and I did him a favor as his teeth were worn down to nothing. It took about five hours to skin him and pack him out. Once we got back to camp, everyone was exhausted but me, so I was put in charge of gathering sticks and making a fire. We cooked some hot dogs over the fire and crawled into bed for some much-needed rest.
The next morning, Shane, Dad, and I got up early to hunt while Tyler and Brady slept in. We split up, and Shane went up high looking for elk and we hunted our way back to my bison carcass in case a wolf or black bear had found it. We did not see anything on my bison carcass, but we heard Shane shoot. We headed back to camp to wait for him. He came back with blood on his hands and a smile on his face. He had killed that big bull elk he had gone after yesterday morning. We saddled up two pack horses and headed up the mountain. It was a beautiful bull. We got back to camp early in the afternoon, so Tyler and I went looking for the other moose paddle.
Sadly, the next day was the last day in camp. As we were packing up, there were elk bugling all around us. After some great horse packing skills, we had our string of nine horses and mules loaded down with a bison, elk, and all of camp. On the ride out, we saw two more bison along the trail. The ride out was very fun, and some great memories were made with my dad and his friends.
I am really glad Brady filmed the hunt as it truly was an amazing experience and now I get to share it with others and relive the memory forever.
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