Earlier this year I found out I was successful in drawing a Bison tag in Wyoming. I’ve been putting in for about 5 years (random draw for residents). Once I drew the tag I started looking the hunting forums to see if I could find any pointers or tips. Read lots of stories. Listened to Randi’s podcast he did with a few bison hunters. Spoke to friends that drew the tag.
I live in Laramie and mostly hunt around the 1-2 hr driving radius of town. My biggest worry about where I hunt is other humans and the occasional black bear. Hunting up in Northwest Wyoming adds a few extra predators I’ve tried to avoid (we do see an occasional wolf in our Mtn Range). But I don’t know what to think about Grizzly bears. To be honest I was freaked out about them. So I bought a 10 mm and started practicing. Practiced so much my palm and trigger finger have a slight callus. Got some bear spray and did a few practice runs with it. Feel pretty good about heading into that country.
A few months later my wife says you should go once the bears are denned up. And have you thought about getting a guide. I hadn’t at that point. But looked up the different guiding Outfits that do Bison in Wyoming. One is the exclusive guide and drag out service for the National elk Refuge. The other hunts the forest north of Jackson up by Moran. After watching lots of YouTube videos with hunts on the refuge I knew it wasn’t the type of hunt I wanted. To me it was similar to a ranch hunt. So I went with Dan Martin at Martin Outfitters. Many people recommended him and spoke highly about the area. So I call him up book the hunt for November right before Thanksgiving. I chose that for multiple reasons. The biggest was get through elk and deer season with my kids and to avoid grizzly bears.
I practiced with my Weatherby 338 rpm in the back country model all summer. My rifle shot 200 accubonds at 2875 fps an was right at an MOA. I felt really good for ranges out to 400 with that rifle. I even shot my bull elk with that rifle. Our local range can get to around 1000 with steel if you want. Well a few days prior to leaving I went to shoot and verify my zero. To my dismay I was good left and right but a group of 5 shot 3” high. I was frustrated and confused. I rezero’d the rifle. My back up rifle was going to be a 300 weatherby shooting 208 Barnes lrx at 2880. The day before I leave I take both rifles to the range and they are both great.
So my son and me are meeting two of my brothers on Sunday in Jackson. We meet up get to the apartment and everyone is excited. We will be on Horseback and we are hunting bison.
Weather look like a few inches of snow on Monday and then clear and cold
The rest of the week. We get to the meet up spot, get on the horses and start moving into the country. We see probably close to 1000 elk on their migration down towards the refuge. No deer. No moose. No grizzly. It snows all day and visibility is 100-200 yds. We do get a break in the weather and see a single bull bison 1000 yds in the park feeding slowly towards forest. So the plan was to leave him for the night and hope he crosses in the forest and then we can hunt him the next day.
I live in Laramie and mostly hunt around the 1-2 hr driving radius of town. My biggest worry about where I hunt is other humans and the occasional black bear. Hunting up in Northwest Wyoming adds a few extra predators I’ve tried to avoid (we do see an occasional wolf in our Mtn Range). But I don’t know what to think about Grizzly bears. To be honest I was freaked out about them. So I bought a 10 mm and started practicing. Practiced so much my palm and trigger finger have a slight callus. Got some bear spray and did a few practice runs with it. Feel pretty good about heading into that country.
A few months later my wife says you should go once the bears are denned up. And have you thought about getting a guide. I hadn’t at that point. But looked up the different guiding Outfits that do Bison in Wyoming. One is the exclusive guide and drag out service for the National elk Refuge. The other hunts the forest north of Jackson up by Moran. After watching lots of YouTube videos with hunts on the refuge I knew it wasn’t the type of hunt I wanted. To me it was similar to a ranch hunt. So I went with Dan Martin at Martin Outfitters. Many people recommended him and spoke highly about the area. So I call him up book the hunt for November right before Thanksgiving. I chose that for multiple reasons. The biggest was get through elk and deer season with my kids and to avoid grizzly bears.
I practiced with my Weatherby 338 rpm in the back country model all summer. My rifle shot 200 accubonds at 2875 fps an was right at an MOA. I felt really good for ranges out to 400 with that rifle. I even shot my bull elk with that rifle. Our local range can get to around 1000 with steel if you want. Well a few days prior to leaving I went to shoot and verify my zero. To my dismay I was good left and right but a group of 5 shot 3” high. I was frustrated and confused. I rezero’d the rifle. My back up rifle was going to be a 300 weatherby shooting 208 Barnes lrx at 2880. The day before I leave I take both rifles to the range and they are both great.
So my son and me are meeting two of my brothers on Sunday in Jackson. We meet up get to the apartment and everyone is excited. We will be on Horseback and we are hunting bison.
Weather look like a few inches of snow on Monday and then clear and cold
The rest of the week. We get to the meet up spot, get on the horses and start moving into the country. We see probably close to 1000 elk on their migration down towards the refuge. No deer. No moose. No grizzly. It snows all day and visibility is 100-200 yds. We do get a break in the weather and see a single bull bison 1000 yds in the park feeding slowly towards forest. So the plan was to leave him for the night and hope he crosses in the forest and then we can hunt him the next day.
