Bison versus 618 grains of arrow!!!
One of the animals I dreamed about as a kid watching western flicks. It came together in middle of nowhere South Dakota in Sioux country two weeks ago, 8 inches of fresh snow, 30 degrees, 2+ hours of stalk/run/crawl/walk/etc to hopefully get within 40 yards! 
Well, plans don't tend to go as envisioned most of the time for me.
First, my outfitter could not back me up as planned as the "barely rolling" terrain would only support one person at best in the direction we needed to go to cut him off.
Running in snow for about 300 of the 450 yards was ugly.....
....and I guess funny at times......lol. The bison beat me to the 30 yard pre planned spot, so I had to come up with my own plan of attack as I was not dragging myself back to the starting point. I hunkered down for about 30 minutes, largely to catch my breath!!! (Did I mention I left my coat, vest and gloves behind so I could be stealthy....lol!!!)
The next 20 minutes was a attempt to figure out what he was going to do next........then next...........then next! After that thought process did not work I decided to sneak to an area he was sorta facing.........yea, not the best plan but that was all I had.
I got overly lucky I guess because shortly I could hear something breathing and it was not me!!! Yea, he went where he wanted to go......not where I thought he was going. Being scrunched down I was not sure of the distance but neither of what was going to be exposed........"him or me!" Deep breath, drew my bow and leaned out of the thin cover for a peak.........and maybe a shot.
Whoa, he is BIG! Double whoa, his right eye pegs me at somewhere between 12 & 14 yards......two seconds later I hit the Scott release and he wheels away from me in a lumbering fashion. I SEE BLOOD within two steps of his turn and feel really good about the shot placement. 30 yards later he is now blowing blood from his nose! At 40 yards he slows & releases about a gallon of blood through his mouth crashing into the ground and sliding on the fresh snow. It was over, everything was quiet, I spotted my arrow on the snow and realized it was a complete pass-through.............after a minute or so of reflection I finally raised my arms in THANKS!
Well, plans don't tend to go as envisioned most of the time for me.
First, my outfitter could not back me up as planned as the "barely rolling" terrain would only support one person at best in the direction we needed to go to cut him off. Running in snow for about 300 of the 450 yards was ugly.....
....and I guess funny at times......lol. The bison beat me to the 30 yard pre planned spot, so I had to come up with my own plan of attack as I was not dragging myself back to the starting point. I hunkered down for about 30 minutes, largely to catch my breath!!! (Did I mention I left my coat, vest and gloves behind so I could be stealthy....lol!!!) The next 20 minutes was a attempt to figure out what he was going to do next........then next...........then next! After that thought process did not work I decided to sneak to an area he was sorta facing.........yea, not the best plan but that was all I had.
I got overly lucky I guess because shortly I could hear something breathing and it was not me!!!
Yea, he went where he wanted to go......not where I thought he was going. Being scrunched down I was not sure of the distance but neither of what was going to be exposed........"him or me!" Deep breath, drew my bow and leaned out of the thin cover for a peak.........and maybe a shot. Whoa, he is BIG!
Double whoa, his right eye pegs me at somewhere between 12 & 14 yards......two seconds later I hit the Scott release and he wheels away from me in a lumbering fashion. I SEE BLOOD within two steps of his turn and feel really good about the shot placement. 30 yards later he is now blowing blood from his nose! At 40 yards he slows & releases about a gallon of blood through his mouth crashing into the ground and sliding on the fresh snow. It was over, everything was quiet, I spotted my arrow on the snow and realized it was a complete pass-through.............after a minute or so of reflection I finally raised my arms in THANKS!
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