Bison Hunt Young Bull or Cow

[CMP70306]

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.





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]

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.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

What state

 

[MTbowhunter36]

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!

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

 

[Tips n Tails]

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.