It all started back in October of 2022. Arizona draw results were approaching for 2023 spring javelina, turkey, and bison. Like everyone who applies, I eagerly checked my credit card for charges ahead of the posted results. I put in for bison every year and had become used to seeing “Unsuccessful,” so it wasn’t even something I was anticipating. I had 12 points but figured I would be adding to it this year and waiting another five or six years to have a decent chance to draw bull bison.
I stared at my credit card statement for a few seconds before it sank in. I was drawn for an Arizona once-in-a-lifetime tag, bull bison! In Arizona, you can only harvest one bison in your lifetime. This hunt has 20 tags, and I was fortunate enough to say one was mine.
I contacted Russ and Laura Jacoby with Adapt Adventures. I knew he was the go-to guy for this hunt. The hunt was scheduled to start at the end of April and go through June 8th. In the following months, the snowpack piled up. It was over 15 feet on the Kaibab Plateau, and it seemed it would never stop with back-to-back snowstorms. I kept wondering what this was going to do for my spring hunt. Would we even be able to get to the hunting area in May?
As the hunt neared, Russ kept me updated on the conditions. None of the updates from his scouting trips sounded promising of getting out soon. Russ had several ATVs on tracks he used to check for bison sign and haul in camp. The Kaibab Plateau sits at 9,000 feet in elevation, and with the Grand Canyon just to the south, the weather is unpredictable and can change quickly. This hunt area just had way too much snow to effectively hunt the area safely in the very beginning. Days turned into weeks as we waited for any movement from the bison, sitting at home with my bags packed, anxiously waiting for warmer weather and the green light from Russ to get up there.
In this hunt, you are sitting over water or salt just on the outside of the Grand Canyon Park border. You wait for the bison to travel out of the park to the water or salt. You need to be very patient; the average number of days to harvest is 14 sitting in a blind. I wasn’t exactly excited about this type of hunting, but this was the primary method.
I finally got a call from Russ to come up for the weekend or stay longer if things looked promising. It wasn’t prime time, but there could be opportunities. Camp was close to the hunting area but far enough that it was not covered in snow. Russ and Laura had a camper with internet, great home-cooked meals, and every imaginable tool needed to process a bison. This was going to be our base camp until the primary winter hunting camp was needed. Then we would be hunting out of wall tents with wood stoves for heat and Starlink communication for internet and phones. We would travel by truck and then use the tracked vehicles to travel over the snow to the hunting areas. It was a slow process, but we were finally in the hunting area, hopeful the bison would start moving.
My multiple weekend trips were unsuccessful, with a lot of late- night drives to get home six hours one way. Some of the other hunters had been successful in getting bison while I was away. It just wasn’t my time.
The end of May came around, leaving just a few weeks in the hunt as it ended June 8th. I was getting a bit concerned, but Russ kept telling everyone to stay persistent. I headed back up, and this time I was going to stay for 10 days. The weather had improved, and there were a few bison moving.
The bison hunting routine is a grind. You need to prepare yourself mentally. Be up at 3:20 a.m. and not back to camp until 9 p.m., eat dinner, and go to bed. Some of the hunters in camp jokingly referred to it as “Bison Prison” because you only get early release if you get a bison. We used satellite messengers to communicate with home, Russ, and the other hunters. This helped with coordinating hunters, morale, and passing the time.
The saying around camp was if you found a horny toad (lizard) in your blind, it was good luck. The first few days of the trip, I had found three horny toads. I was a bit hopeful.
That Friday, Russ was out checking for bison sign in surrounding locations and sent me a message saying, “Bull tracks. Two big bulls at this location.” He sent me the coordinates and set up a blind for me. I headed over to the location. Nothing came in that day, but I kept hunting the same spot for eight more days, seeing my precious time off dwindle away. From camp, I would take the ATV to a location about half a mile from the blind and then walk in at first light. Over the eight days of sitting, bison had been come in at night, moving the salt, which made it a bit frustrating. I just had to wait until one slipped up.
I was wondering if was going this to happen. Eight days in, it was just the same, sitting in the blind. Evening was approaching on Saturday. I was thinking I had just one more day and then I must decide next steps, stay or go home and back to work.
I started to gather up my pack, getting ready to walk back to the ATV as it was now approaching evening. I stood outside the blind and listened for a few minutes. I froze as I heard a few sticks breaking. It sounded bigger than deer. Then I saw him. The big, round pumpkin headed bison was heading in. I ducked behind the blind and moved to opposite side. I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him on the rocks. He came out on the other side of the blind and looked right at me 35 yards away. I was crouched down alongside the blind and was able to make a shot. He ran and then stopped about 40 yards away. I made a follow-up shot to finish him.
I messaged Russ and my family, “I got one!” Russ arrived with a big group of camp guests and future hunters. We had the bison winched up in a tree and quartered out, finishing just after midnight. I was back at camp by 1:30. The other hunters in Russ’ camp were up at 3:30 a.m. to go out to their blinds. We exchanged a few high fives, and off they went.
Sunday morning, June 4th, we packed up the meat in the truck for the ride home. We used the snowpack to keep it cool until I got to the butcher shop in Flagstaff.
The hunt spanned over a month and a half with 20 days of hunting and travel, four trips to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and over 2,500 miles on the truck. It was the hunt-of-a-lifetime! Thanks to Russ, Laura, and the team. Without their help with logistics, equipment, and knowledge of the area, it wouldn’t have been possible.
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