buffalo...?

[californiacoyotes]

i was talking to a guy at work about hunting big game(elk, moose, buffalo, ect.)and he said that he thought that buffalo would be an easy hunt, "like shooting a cow" because they are so big and "every time you see them they are in a herd". it kind of makes sense but has anybody here hunted buffalo and actually how hard of a hunt is it? what size gun would you use? do you think a 30-06 is enough? i'm not concidering hunting them, i've really never even thought about it(except kidding with the wife...buffalo are her favorite and i tell her sometimes i'm going to get a buffalo head for the wall...aways goes over well!! ).

 

[Cutthroat]

CC...I think Danr55 could answer a few of those questions you have. In fact we were just talking about buffalo hunting South Dakota last night in the chat room. I'm seriously considering going if dan goes.
Chris

 

[danr55]

Hey CC, tell your friend that hunting buffalo is like hunting cows, that on a good day, will take great pleasure out of stomping you into a grease spot. As Del said, they are very jumpy and are just as likely to charge you as run away. Now shooting domesticated buff is probably like shooting cow, but free ranging buff can be an very dangerous critter.

The -06 is certainly enough gun to bring them down, but howitzer is a better choice. Seriously, they are tougher than Elk and a lot bigger. Figure a full grown bull at about 2200 pounds. That's about twice the size of a BIG Bull Elk. The hide is tougher and a lot thicker and the hair is like steel wool. It can be one very exciting hunt. Specially on foot.

 

[DaleT]

What does a hunt like that cost? I would be interested in doing the tougher version.

 

[Delw]

If you ever get a chance to hutn buffulo from house rock ranch in az, you will be in for the time of your life.. they are not that easy to find and are very spooky. YOu cannot drive a vechicle and look for them .. its by walking and or horse back only. house rock ranch is huge. its a very tough hunt i would say about as tough as a sheep hunt. lots of walking and the worse part after you shoot it and gut it you cannot go get it with your truck.. you have to pack it out with horse's and or your back....I went on a hunt one time.. we didnt see one till the last day i was there. the thing ran off like a bat out of hell.. never saw it or even got a shot at it... my friend did see about 5 more later on in the week and got one. he had to rent horse's to get it packed out of there.... it was a fun hunt....
If you goto ramond ranch in az you walk with and official he points out to you which one you can shoot ...you shoot it and bang your done..someone said they were going to close that hunt but i'm not sure if they did or not yet... most hunts at raymond ranch are finished in 3 hours.. then its just skinning time...

Delw

 

[danr55]

Dale, I've seen buff hunts priced from about $1600 on up. The cost is directly proportional to the quality of the hunt and the amount of meat you get to keep. There are several states, including Arizona that issue buff tags, but all of them that I know of are draw tags.