Anybody ever try to bowhunt bison? Seen some places that have bowhunting for them. The ranges they talk abouty are pretty long, though. Such as 50-100yds.

I know of a guide that manages Ted Turners herd for him. He said you can hunt/shoot them with whatever you want as long as you can kill them. It was basically a harvest that they do every year.

You lookin to do it or just asking if anyone has done it?

That is pretty old school. I'd keep yardages at 40 yds and under, 70# bow minimum. You have a lot of meat, bone, and organs to go through, and they don't just die where you hit them. A back-up gun would be wise, as 2,000 lbs of pissed off bison could get interesting in a hurry.

+100

I am interested in hunting them but want to know just how workable it is. I don't think it is ethical to hit it with an arrow or two and then finish it off with a gun.

Especially in the wings.

I was talking more about preserving your life, not going in planning on hitting it with an arrow AND a gun. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. When Tred Barta took a grizzly with a long bow and home made wooden arrows, he had a guide with a large caliber rifle there to back him up. He didn't need it, but he had it available.

I wouldn't suggest that you use a bison as your first animal with a bow, but if you do, remember aim small, so you miss small.

I've thought about doing that hunt too.
Can be like shooting cattle on those private herds.
Bowhunting a free roaming bull would be very cool.
A ranch hunt could fill the freezer and be a neat offseason roadtrip.

They can be difficult to hunt in wild country like the herd in Arizona or the wood river.
They can be downright ornery as well.

I have taken a few deer, but this would be a lot bigger. My big questions is just how effective a "good" shot, in the heart/lungs, with a 60# compound, would be. And, at what range.

Sounds like fun, with lots of meat and a good robe to boot.

No problem.

I put the smackdown on a nice six point bull elk with my 70# Bowtech @ 70 yards a few years back.
The arrow passed completley through that bull.
The secret is staying clear of the scapula and heavy shoulder bones.
You want a double lunger stabbed cleanly through the ribcage , the sweet spot behind the elbow being my favorite.
You can never practice too much with your bow.
I have a backyard range out to 80 yards.
When you spend a lot of time at 70 & 80, those 40 & 50 yard shots are chip shots.

+1 to Dogfish.

I took my truck thru Jellystone with the camper. It's an F-250 on 33"s.

Thanks to some fvcktard in a minivan in front of us wanting to block the >entire< road so he could videotape a bison taking a crap in the ditch on the right, we ended up with the biggest bull in the herd fogging my driverside window on the left. His snout was less than 12" from my window,

I was roughly eye-to-eye with him, if that gives you an idea of his size.

I ran over a Pica later that day to help shake the feeling.

Couple years ago we were in Yellowstone, out by Slough Creek. Had a herd walk by. As one of the cows walked by I rolled down the window of the 4-Runner and said "Hi". She turned her head and looked at me as if to say "Are you really that stupid to try and get my attention when I am THIS CLOSE to you?".

Damn, they're big.

Thanks for all the ideas. The best, is of course, practice.

Karlsruhe?

My parents are from there and we visited every summer while I was *growing* up.

Not much left in that town from what I hear. Once the bar came, everybody turned alchy and once the school closed that was the final blow.

My grandma is 100 years old and lives in Minot now.

A buddy of mine used to manage a ranch that had some buffalo on it and we whacked a few of them with a bow. They are pretty darn tough critters and we did have to shoot one twice which ended up with us scrambling for the trees only to watch him tip over in a full run. I would not shoot one past 40 yards if it was me. They die like everything else if you shoot them in the right spot. One thing....when a herd of them critters smell blood...they get pretty mily..running around snorting..acting all wierd and not so friendly...I have seen that more than once as well...

It can be done, and has been done by several bow hunters. I would try to use as heavy of a bow you can shoot, and heavier arrows also. Do some reaserch, I know Chuck Adams and a few pople like him have done it. And I know there used to be a free ranging huntable herd in the Henry Mountains of Utah, that was a draw hunt for the public. I think there may be a couple other places also? But in the end yes a bow will kill a bison just fine. I think I would want a partner with some sort of a back up weapon (if leagal?) for a just in case scenerio?
Good luck
Buck

So I'm reading this and then start laughing.

The indians didn't just run them off cliffs, they also used bow and arrows to kill them. Maybe riding a horse bareback wearing war paint is required to do so.

They also hunted in teams, peppering said bison with over a dozen arrows from quite a few mounted & camouflaged hunters working in tandem until it bled out & dropped. On the open flats, stampeding off of bluffs wasn't an option.

Doing so in these times isn't exactly legal or practical.

Even in the 1880's, when the Transcontinental Railroad passengers were using them as target practice from moving trains using .58 calibre rifles and leaving the carcasses to rot on the prairie for the sole purpose of denying the plains tribes of their primary food source as part of the manifest destiny genocide, those rubes never had to deal with a blood-panicked bull in close quarters.

Had 3 bulls escape from a neighboring ranch onto the ranch I worked on while growing up. I remember one day, cruising one of the back roads with a HS g/f, and as we round the corner, the 3 amigos blocked our progress. I tried to 'herd' them off the road with my dad's old '78 Ford, and the big bastard dropped his head, and laid one into the grill of the ol' mans ride. My g/f screamed, "what the F is that!"... In my best smart ass impersonation I raised a finger to each side of my head and said, "tatonka"... Not impressed, she yelled, "well let's get the hell out of here before he does it again!!!"

'Bout a week later, all three of'em come tearin' a$$ through the main headquarters, so myself and a couple of the Mexican hired hands used the ranch trucks to herd'em into an old corral, complete with loading chute.

Local newspaper got a bad-A shot of the smallest hired hand, Jaime (a.k.a., palomita) crouched down, fear of God on his face, as one of the bulls is jumping completely over him as it bashes it's way into the horse trailer we blocked the loading chute with...

Good times...thanks for the memories...