Bison Hunt Young Bull or Cow

CMP70306

WKR
Joined
Mar 3, 2023
Messages
348
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This was a roughly 7 year old bull that I got back in 2022, it filled a standing freezer with meat and I got the skull, shoulder mount and back half of the hide tanned.

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The meat was good but the meat was definitely tougher wherever there was fat. I found that cooking low and slow or roasting in the crock pot definitely helped the tougher roasts.
 

CMP70306

WKR
Joined
Mar 3, 2023
Messages
348
I appreciate all the feedback. I ended up going with a cow. I’ll try for a mature cow that’s 5 - 6 yrs old and call it a day. The other factor was the price difference. Basically, the difference was my NR Idaho elk tag therefore, a compromise since I have funds allocated to other hunts.

I spent sometime looking at bison pictures from bison ranches to get an idea on size in reference to cow vs. young bull. The below cows are 6 year olds. Pretty decent imo! View attachment 706925

Biggest distinction I saw was in the horns, the cows have thinner more curved horns and the bulls are thicker with larger bases that don’t curve in as much.
 
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
868
Location
NW MT
I would recommend the younger bull. I shot a very large older bull and cooked the ribs in a crackpot for Easter, and he was pretty tough. My buddy and I taped him out, and he exceeded B&C. I had 350 pounds of burger and had everything else into steak, roasts, ribs, etc. I should have buggered the whole dang thing!

I'm getting the skull euro'd and tanning the hide, which will probably end up to $1600 or so.

After he was gutted, skinned, and his head removed, we cut him in half lengthwise with a cordless Sawzall. Burned through 2 batteries and still had to cut a bunch, so I had to use a chainsaw. Thankfully, my buddy drove and has a 3/4 ton pickup. My tacoma would have struggled with this load!
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Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk
 
OP
Tips n Tails
Joined
Oct 20, 2019
Messages
1,346
I ended up harvesting a cow. Pretty fun free range hunt. There were 4 bison in the group. Very skittish. They definitely didn’t just stand there like in the movies.

After my bison hunt, I had success harvesting an elk and mule deer. Overall, a very great year.
 

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