For the last seven years, I had been applying for bison tags in Utah, South Dakota, and the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. I work with Tribes as part of my job and occasionally hear of opportunities to apply. Fort Peck offered 30 two-yearold bull and 5 four to five-year-old bull tags for non-Tribal applicants and the same for Tribal members. It was possible to apply for up to five chances at $20 each. I applied for one chance. I was told that 286 people had applied for the non-Tribal tags, making for some long odds.
In the spring of 2018, I checked my application and found out that I had drawn at Fort Peck. I contacted Huntin’ Fool to see if anyone had hunted bison on Fort Peck. They hadn’t. However, it turned out that Robert Hanneman’s wife had drawn the four to five-year-old mature bull bison tag. Robert was energetic and excited to talk about this hunt. We shared information, and I found out his wife’s hunt was about a week before mine.
I talked to my buddies who had shown some interest in coming along and/or splitting the cost and meat. Their schedules were full for late November. I discussed the hunt with my buddy, Richard, and he immediately invited himself along, considering this to be an epic hunt. Richard is not a hunter and had been on a cow elk hunt with me in late August and had an opportunity to pack out elk. He planned to fly from Phoenix to Rapid City, South Dakota and I would pick him up.
I called Huntin’ Fool, and they connected me with Robert Hanneman. He and his family had a great hunt and raved about how helpful the Tribal Game and Fish had been. A couple days later, I picked up Richard at the Rapid City airport and we began our epic adventure. We drove to Wolf Point, Montana from South Dakota in about six hours. I contacted the Tribe and was informed that my guide was busy with harvesting bison for market at the business herd and I would be hunting the ceremonial herd that was pure 100% bison from Yellowstone. The business herd had some cattle genetics. This was exactly what I was hoping for, and this twist of fate lead me to my goal. The ceremonial herd is typically reserved for Tribal members only.
My new guide picked us up at 7 a.m., and we drove north to locate bison in the ceremonial herd. We first encountered a herd of about 60 cows with a few smaller bulls mixed in. I could see it was going to be a challenge to wait for a legal bull to separate and get a shot. The research I had completed to identify twoyear- old bulls from cows and older bulls was essential. We moved on and came on two separate herds of older bulls with about six to nine in each herd. They slowly moved off, and there were no two-year-old bulls. Older bulls are separate from the main herd in late November. We then came on another herd of cows with a couple younger bulls. It wasn’t possible to get them to separate and get a shot, and they quickly moved away and out of range.
Behind us, we noticed a herd of about 30 that was about a mile away and already on the run. We drove through low areas, out of sight, and around and in front of them. They kept coming. My guide indicated that there were three bulls in the middle coming right at us. I saw a dark bull in the middle and thought I might want to shoot him. The herd mingled with these three, making a shot impossible. I ranged them at about 200 yards, and my guide said there were a lot of twoyear- old bulls in the herd and one had separated to the far right as the herd turned at a good pace. I needed to shoot before they moved out of range. My guide encouraged me to shoot this one. I looked it over quickly, and he seemed to have nice color, horns, and size for a two-year-old. I aimed for behind the ear with my .338 Win Mag as it moved broadside to the right and shot. Down he went, and with a finishing shot, it was over, except for the hard work. I hit him just below the backbone at the second rib. It was a high shoulder shot and a bit further back than I had planned. The guide was pleased that the bull immediately dropped and a chase was not needed. Richard had filmed the whole event on his iPhone and said it was a truly epic hunt.
I ended up with about 325 pounds of meat, a skull, a soon-to-be tanned hide, and a great experience to remember. I will likely do it again if I can draw.
Montana Bison Hunting
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