LoweBow
02-13-2003, 09:16 AM
Thought I'd share a great hunt I had Sunday.
I came home Sat. night late from Florida vacation. After doing some chores around the house on Sun. morning I decided to go for a ride around the farm on my ATV. While going though one of the thickets I start seeing cattle tracks and soon find the source....It's a HUGE 2500#-3000# Bison Bull standing there looking at me. I ease out of the woods and head for the house. I read about a loose bison in the local paper a few weeks ago and it was reported to be following the creek that borders my farm. Anyone from Shelby Co. may have read about it also. I call the sherrif's dept. to find out what can be done. After a 2 hour wait I get a call back..."He's a nuisence animal w/ no owner and is FAIR GAME" ...Took me 1 minute to grab my bow and camo and head outside for a few practice shots. I headed out for the downwind side of the cedar thicket. I still hunted the thicket for 1-1/2 hours w/ no luck. plenty of tracks, but no buffalo. I entered a cleared bottom and the wend was swirling bad so I decided to back track and make another pass. I no more than took 6 steps, when a doe comes off the ridge above me and stops at 10 yards w/ my wind hitting her in the face, but she's lookin over her shoulder. Now things got hairy..Real hairy! The cedars start snappin and somethings coming at me quick. This beast comes down that ridge like a freight train straight at me. I'm knocking a shaft and at the same time trying to figure out where I'm gonna run. I have nowhere to run, I'm caught at the edge of the field w/ no trees to climb. He charges ahead and stops at 35 yards, pawing the ground, shaking his head and snorting...My heart is pounding, I must say. I stand my ground hoping he step into an opening...He doesn't ...The wind swirls, he snorts, and I see him running towards the front of my farm. I made a circle and tried to cut him off, but never found him. I cut his tracks in the fresh snow and forllowed them to a new hole he put in the neighbors fence when he plowed through it. What a great hunt!! This bull has been loose for about 6 months and is very wild. He was as fast and wiley as any deer I have ever hunted...Maybe I'll get lucky and get another shot, but it sounds like he is pretty nomadic as he has covered about 40 miles since first reported to the sherrif's dept.
Mike
I came home Sat. night late from Florida vacation. After doing some chores around the house on Sun. morning I decided to go for a ride around the farm on my ATV. While going though one of the thickets I start seeing cattle tracks and soon find the source....It's a HUGE 2500#-3000# Bison Bull standing there looking at me. I ease out of the woods and head for the house. I read about a loose bison in the local paper a few weeks ago and it was reported to be following the creek that borders my farm. Anyone from Shelby Co. may have read about it also. I call the sherrif's dept. to find out what can be done. After a 2 hour wait I get a call back..."He's a nuisence animal w/ no owner and is FAIR GAME" ...Took me 1 minute to grab my bow and camo and head outside for a few practice shots. I headed out for the downwind side of the cedar thicket. I still hunted the thicket for 1-1/2 hours w/ no luck. plenty of tracks, but no buffalo. I entered a cleared bottom and the wend was swirling bad so I decided to back track and make another pass. I no more than took 6 steps, when a doe comes off the ridge above me and stops at 10 yards w/ my wind hitting her in the face, but she's lookin over her shoulder. Now things got hairy..Real hairy! The cedars start snappin and somethings coming at me quick. This beast comes down that ridge like a freight train straight at me. I'm knocking a shaft and at the same time trying to figure out where I'm gonna run. I have nowhere to run, I'm caught at the edge of the field w/ no trees to climb. He charges ahead and stops at 35 yards, pawing the ground, shaking his head and snorting...My heart is pounding, I must say. I stand my ground hoping he step into an opening...He doesn't ...The wind swirls, he snorts, and I see him running towards the front of my farm. I made a circle and tried to cut him off, but never found him. I cut his tracks in the fresh snow and forllowed them to a new hole he put in the neighbors fence when he plowed through it. What a great hunt!! This bull has been loose for about 6 months and is very wild. He was as fast and wiley as any deer I have ever hunted...Maybe I'll get lucky and get another shot, but it sounds like he is pretty nomadic as he has covered about 40 miles since first reported to the sherrif's dept.
Mike