2018 Montana Public Land Bison Hunt

Matt Cashell

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Last summer, I checked the Moose/Sheep/Goat results while at one of my daughter's many travelling fastpitch tournaments.

I was stunned to see the "Successful" next to the results for my moose permit. Pretty lucky. Only took twenty years of applying.

Stoked, I ran through the results for the kids and was even more shocked to see the "Successful" result next to my 12 year old son's bison results.

Looked like the freezers were going to be full, hopefully.

A little background on me and this area:

Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's I lived and worked seasonally for the USFS in West Yellowstone. It was a great job, and I got to know the surrounding country pretty well at the time. I also got to meet tons of tourists, and one pretty eclectic group of animal activists that went by the group name of Buffalo Field Campaign. Most of these folks were not form the area. Most came from urban areas of the West Coast and were pretty idealistic about protecting bison from all the screwing up that people did. At the time, most of their "operations" revolved around trying to interfere with the Department of Livestock's hazing efforts to keep buffalo away from cattle.

I ran into BFC people occasionally and they were pretty eager to let me know how I was messing things up for bison as a Park Service employee. I wasn't a Park Service employee, but that particular fact didn't seem to get through. Then, as now, I was a pretty adamant hunter, and I spoke to some of the BFC people, finding out some were also hunters. In particular, one activist spoke often of the excellent elk hunting he had found near their facility. Generally, my impression of the BFC was they were an idealistic group deadset on a misguided cause, and would end up doing little for bison, but helping out local bail bondsmen on occasion.

After I moved on to other endeavors, Montana decided to put out some tags in the area and let hunters take home some of the bison that would otherwise be herded up and shipped to slaughter as a method of population control. I understood the idea of using the public for population control was probably a good one, but I wasn't really interested in the hunt as it seemed kind of like a "fish in a barrel" situation. I didn't put in for the tags, and the BFC decided to make a stand against bison hunts, including harassing and following hunters on occasion, so I felt like it was the right choice.

Later, I got some wild bison meat from a friend, and after consuming said meat, my mind was changed, and I started putting in ... solely as a grocery-getting endeavor. When the kids came along, more names in the hat meant more chances to put some bison ribs in the freezer, so they got put in too.

With that history in mind, my mouth was watering at the thought of a moose and bison smorgasbord as I was looking at our MT FWP results in the summer of 2017.
 
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Matt Cashell

Matt Cashell

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So,

I started researching the hunt and discovered a few things:

1. Not every tag always gets filled.

2. The migration is highly dependent on weather.

3. Hunters much catch the bison out of the park boundary, away from the highway, and before they got to the private land "Refuge" out on Horse Butte.

4. Motorized access is difficult in that the roads close early in the season to all motor vehicles except snowmobiles, even if there isn't snow on the ground.
 
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Matt Cashell

Matt Cashell

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The season came along and opened to very little snow, but some bison already out of the park. Most made it to the refuge though, and in a few days of looking, we weren't able to find any on the public land.

Later in the season, we found some snowmobiles to use, and were able to get off the highway, although there were still areas off limits to snowmobiles. We snowmobiled around and glassed up plenty of fat bison on the "refuge". There were also quite a few that just lived on the lawns in the private subdivision in the area. Funny that these animals adapt quickly to find those types of areas.

My son (now 13) was getting discouraged, and felt like it wouldn't work out. We met the Game Warden in the area, who was friendly and helpful. We met other bison hunters having the same issues. We also saw a lot BFC activists. Getting in and out of their Subaru Foresters with Radio antennas and cross country skis. They glared at the kid in orange on the back of a snowmobile, but kept their distance, and didn't say anything to us.

Halfway through the season, my hunting buddy Kenny offered to come along for the weekend. The first morning we went up to a glassing point near the border, and discovered fresh tracks leaving the park. We got on the sleds and zipped toward the refuge to see if they were still on the Forest Service. They weren't. My son was crushed. I told him we will keep trying and it is a long season. We returned to the area the next morning, and found nothing. The Game Warden came up to where we were glassing and said, "You just have to get lucky. This isn't as easy as people seem to think it is." We headed to our usual areas, and struck out everywhere. As afternoon rolled on, we decided to head back to the truck and try again another weekend.

On our way back, the Game Warden came running up to us on his sled like the throttle was stuck open. He skidded to a halt, and told us he had just crossed some fresh bison pies on a snowmobile trail about a mile away. He said he didn't see any but they had to be somewhere nearby. We wasted no time and soon we were parked in the midst of a pile of bison tracks and steaming bison-pies. The tracks went, of course, directly into one of the non-motorized areas, so we parked the sleds and started post-holing in the settled snow beside the tracks. the hiking was slow and difficult with the snow conditions, and we kept going at a steady pace. I was really proud of the kid for taking it in stride, without a single whine or whimper.

About a third of a mile in, another hunter and companion caught up to us. With some handshakes everybody agreed to try to get my son a shot if possible. A good 1/2 mile in we came upon the herd. It was comprised of a number of cows and calves. As many know, bison are a herd defense animal. This herd bunched together, and the challenge presented was finding a good safe shot at one of the large cows that didn't have a calf. After some testing of my sons patience, one of the two largest bison separated out at 60 yards. I put my son resting on the back of my backpack with his Remington Model 7 7-08. He was shaking with excitement, and I told him not to shoot until he had a good view of the bare patch behind the front leg, and make sure he is steady.
 
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Matt Cashell

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The shot went off suddenly, and I didn't hear the hit. The bison look unhurt, but ran around and joined the herd. I told him to just wait. The herd moved off together a ways, and Kenny went to the site of the shot. Nothing. No hair, no blood, nothing. We did our best to follow that cow in the herd, and glassed for any sign of a hit. Nothing. After 40 minutes of due dilligence it was clear it was a miss.

We set up on the herd again, and again patiently waited for a shot oppotunity. Again one of the big two cows cleared and exposed the target area. This time the rifle was steady, and I could see him hold his breath. At the report I could visually see the bullet strike the target area, and blood began pouring out in a lawnhose-like stream. The old girl stood there for over a minute before finally tipping over and giving a kick. One of the other bison came over and stood on her, kicking her. When she didn't get up, the herd moved of about 50 yards.

My son was beaming as he approached. I have never seen him so proud and excited. He got down and felt the fur, and ran his hands on the horns, and talked about how he couldn't wait for his siblings to try a taste of her delicious meat. It was a great moment. A life moment for both of us, and I feel awesome recalling it now.

The butchering work was hard, and we owed a great deal of thanks to the other hunter for staying and helping. A half mile is along ways to get a bison out by hand, I assure you. We were done eventually long after dark, and dead tired.

The stalk may not have been challenging, but the hunt was for us. Our bison hunt experience was pretty great.
 
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Matt Cashell

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Matt Cashell

Matt Cashell

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Feel free to discuss ethics of bison hunting, the BFC, and Patagonia. Whatever is related, I just ask you keep it respectful.

 

gbflyer

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Great story and writing.

I’m going to win a raffle in a couple of days to go tip one over around Delta Junction this year. Hey, I bought 2 tickets so my odds are better than some.

I have no ethical conundrum with this. No laws are broken, the herd is managed. The anti - everything crowd preaches about science but won’t listen to the wildlife biologists when it comes to something they’d rather not agree with.

Hope that’s ok to say!
 

Hunter6

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Awesome experience for your son and you. Cherish those memories and the meals to come.




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Riverdog

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Well that is a great stroy. You obviously know a whole lot more about the situation up there than I do. My problem with the situation is Montana's refusal to allow the buff to migrate. I have no problem with people killing buffalo. I like that the BFC people have drawn attention to the situation.
 

JWP58

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I suspect the killing part of buffalo hunting has never been an extreme challenge; however i don't believe that takes anything away from hunting buffalo. Free range and fair chase, what more do you need? Experiences are what make hunting amazing.

Congratulations to you and your son.
 
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Matt Cashell

Matt Cashell

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Well that is a great stroy. You obviously know a whole lot more about the situation up there than I do. My problem with the situation is Montana's refusal to allow the buff to migrate. I have no problem with people killing buffalo. I like that the BFC people have drawn attention to the situation.

Thanks.

I agree that bison should be free roaming game managed like any other wild game. Many other hunters feel exactly the same way.

That is just the thing: the BFC made a huge tactical mistake in aligning against hunters. So instead of aligning with hunters against a powerful ranching lobby, they managed to make an enemy out of a potential ally. Then of course they use tactics of anthropomorphizing a wild animal and playing to the emotions of the animal rights segment. Animal rights activists hold very little sway in Montana. Hunters hold the big hammer.
 
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Matt Cashell

Matt Cashell

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I suspect the killing part of buffalo hunting has never been an extreme challenge

Well my son still managed to miss an entire buffalo at 60 yards. That is one thing I will always have in my pocket to remind him of whenever his head gets a little too big.

;)

In his defense though, when he gathered his wits, he ended up putting a perfect hole right through the heart. "Bison fever" can be debilitating, apparently.
 

JWP58

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Well my son still managed to miss an entire buffalo at 60 yards. That is one thing I will always have in my pocket to remind him of whenever his head gets a little too big.

;)

In his defense though, when he gathered his wits, he ended up putting a perfect hole right through the heart. "Bison fever" can be debilitating, apparently.

Well tell him it happens. Heck this year i missed a doe antelope at 94yds. Ended up killing one with one round at 380...go figure. Sometimes the sure thing aint a lock..especially when you think its a sure thing.

Good hunting lesson learned at a young age for your son. Failures happen, how you respond is what matters.
 
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frankrb3

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Awesome story and congratulations to your son. What a proud moment for both of you. So what about the moose tag? Got a story to go with that one as well?
 

Slim Jim

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Awesome write up Matt!! Felt like I was there except I’m warm here Congrats to you and your boy on a great year


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I suspect the killing part of buffalo hunting has never been an extreme challenge;

I suspect that relies entirely on where you are hunting Bison. Some hunts are extremely difficult and others (the Montana hunt) are not all that difficult from what I've watched, read and talked with hunters about.

Awesome work Matt! I bet you all are enjoying the meat as well as the memories made. Way to go!
 
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