Book Cliffs Bison Advice

[Broadhead]

A buddy drew the nonresident cow only late season hunt in the Book Cliffs, 11/20-12/5. We spent all weekend driving and glassing over a combined 250+ miles across two trucks and turned up exactly 0 bison. There is little information on the web about these hunts and the calls to the biologist have been less than helpful since he hasn't responded. Does anyone have any insight into where the herds have been recently? We looked all over the ridges and areas you find online (winter ridge, moon ridge, Indian ridge, willow creek, etc.) to no avail. Do they migrate down to the Indian reservation? Are they generally found in the pinyons on the top of the canyons or in the bottom of the canyons? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. With a once in a lifetime tag, I want to make sure we're giving it a fair shake. We're headed back out this upcoming weekend for another few days of adventure!

 

[slvrslngr]

I can’t give any specific info, but keep at it and good luck! Hope it comes together for you and your friend.

 

[Beendare]

Delete

 

[wildwilderness]

Find a local pilot- go flying

 

[PathFinder]

Those things are absolutely everywhere. I've sworn off of giving any info on the web but if you've narrowed down that much area, that should start to paint a picture of where else they could be.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[Broadhead]

Apparently they've been everywhere we aren't! With a total herd of 400 bison across 1.2 million acres, I'd say they're not "absolutely everywhere" lol. But we're still giving it a go.

 

[Baddog]

I second the take a plane ride idea

 

[Broadhead]

Per Utah code 657-5-14, "(2) A person may not use any type of aircraft, drone, or other airborne vehicle or device from 48 hours before any big game hunt begins in the area where they are flying through 48 hours after any big game hunting season ends in the area where they are flying to locate, or attempt to observe or locate any protected wildlife."

While beneficial, flying an aircraft to locate animals is off the table.

 

[realunlucky]

Who's your buddy? Where have you looked so far? Have you talked to the biologist? I might head down Saturday to help someone out.

Bookcliffs Bison Cow Recap

As a resident of Utah each year I can choose a single once in lifetime species to apply and build points for. On my first deer hunt at 12 years old, we had a guy in camp that had returned from hunting Buffalo on the Henry mountains. Dang the stories that man told me still burn in my memory, but...

www.rokslide.com

 

[Broadhead]

@realunlucky I've saw your messages with Mike. We really appreciate your guidance and helping us out!

 

[Broadhead]

Headed back into the woods today. If anyone else has any guidance, that would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Like2hunt]

I’ll bet their up higher. Hunted in the lower stuff with my friend last year for deer and seen one calf during the rifle season. Haven’t been there this year at all yet so not much help though

 

[Broadhead]

As an update, we were unsuccessful in locating a herd. Spent a lot of time driving and looking down into the canyons and covered a lot of varying elevations. We ran into one guy that had saw a herd crossing seep ridge a few days before the season started, but that intel was 11 days old and we had covered that area thoroughly the weekend prior. I can only assume that they have migrated out of the areas people have discussed in various forums since it is later in the season.

 

[Dirtbag]

A buddy of mine guided a bison hunt and packed in with 18 horses/mules and found the bison in very deep. By the sounds of it there wasn't really much opportunity from the roads. Sorry, thats all the info I have.

 

[Broadhead]

Sounds like they may have had the Little Creek Roadless Area tag, which is part of the Book Cliffs. There are herds deep in those canyons and would be an awesome hunt! There are supposed to be herds elsewhere but it seems more and more like they're unicorns.