any info on bison

[trapman]

Heading up for last week of the season,and haven't heard much on the hunts this year .looking for any info on weather ,snow and how things are going . Hope to come back with a great story for you guys

[BiG Boar]

The weather looks warm at pink mountain this coming week! Above zero even! Enjoy the hunt. If anyone can kill one. It'll be you!

[Darksith]

We are here now, its good weather, about 1 foot of snow at the ranch and 3' at the back. Bison were hunkered down, reports are they are starting to appear.

Is it worth heading out before light or do peeps usually wait for light before going?

[monasheemountainman]

You guys zone a or b?

[SingleShot]

No use being out if you can't see . Darkness gives you no advantage as you won't be still hunting.

[trapman]

we are in zone A ,yes it is nice leaving before light if you are heading way in .But we have seen them from the ranch gate to the far back ,it would suck not seeing that big bull close to camp because of the lack of light

[Rob]

Be first out on the trail and look for fresh tracks on the trail, once its shooting light follow tracks into the timber.

[Sitkaspruce]

+ 12 on Friday here in John......and looks like it it will be around zero into next week.

Good luck

Cheers

SS

[BiG Boar]

This might be the first January hunt that you have to worry about the meat spoiling!

[Darksith]

Lol, not a ton of activity still, gotta find the beasts, some fresh tracks right on the trail according to some. Hopefully we will have good fortune. Only 3 groups now hunting the main trail, 6 sleds total.

[Darksith]

Who knew there was cell service up here, figured we'd be in the dark

[Mik]

hope you have better luck than us as we never connected with any :( we were there from Jan 18-24

[BiG Boar]

I wonder what the success rate is for bison up there? They give out so many tags with a lot of them going to people who have no idea what it takes to hunt them. Some don't even show up for the hunt it can be so daunting. Some do know how to get it done, and yet conditions, costs and access issues get in the way. They want the herd reduced so bad that it is the only species that they let you hand back in your tag and they will give it to someone else. I really look forward to the day that they make an open season on them. However I wonder if they know more people will hunt them if they leave it LEH. Until it goes to open season I think the herd might continue to grow and stay away from the little accessible trails that one can access with motor vehicles most of the season. By the sounds of it this year the bison are coming out ahead due to the strange winter we are having. Good luck to the guys still out there! Don't give up, and don't make excuses, find the bison and get it done!

[eaglesnester]

Have always wanted to hunt Bison. Where are U going to hunt them up at Pink Mountain?
If on a ranch, how big is the ranch and how much is the fee? Would like to take one with my 54 Caliber Hawken shooting a 120gr load of holy Black and a 460grain bullet. Failing that I have other firearms that would be appropriate for that hunt. Is there a season, or are U hunting on private land where there is no season? I do not have a snowmobile but I do have an ATV with chains. If necessary I would purchase the right snow machine to undertake that hunt. I know nothing about hunting this critter and I can just imagine that it can be pretty daunting.

Cheers & Tighter Groups: Eaglesnester

[BiG Boar]

Search bison hunting on this site.
Have you never applied for an LEH?
There are certain guns that you can use on the hunt, I'm not sure if your 54 cal would make the cut or not.
That being said, you can probably go shoot one on a farm if you just want the meat and not as much of a hunt.

[G I Doe]

I was up there November 7-14, I have never seen it that bad. Our party of 8 people with 3 tags got totally screwed over by the managers of Bison Inn and Sasquatch Inn. Don't stay there if you can avoid it. I booked 3 double rooms in September and had a follow up call in the beginning of November before we left. then we get there and there is nothing available, they were hot bunking oil patch guys, as I was complaining about our reservations Mel the manager/owner was still taking bookings with out having adequate room. A total sh*t show.
We pulled out one big bull the first day, saw two others later that day but ran out of daylight. I am not a beginner, I hunt very hard and I have a ton of experience. The bison were not there, one morning we had fresh snow on the road and I took my ATV 50KM to the back area, I never cut one bison track in that distance. Tell me again there are 5500 Bison in that valley and I will tell you they were not there, hunting pressure was immense, 30 tags up there every two weeks with 3 to 4 people per hunting party, you do the math. The main road was a friggin super highway of quads, guys everywhere and pushing the Bison out of that valley, I pulled three bison out of Zone A in the last 15 years and I know where to go and what to do, my honey hole has been discovered and the hidden trail has been cut out so well that anyone can drive down it now. I used to hike the mountain and hunt the ridge, that hike alone would deter most hunters but someone has taken it upon themselves to take a quad up the hillside and now anyone regardless of physical condition can drive up the mountain side and hunt that spot, its totally ruined now and what a shame.
Every one I talked to during that week said that they had not seen Bison, with only a couple young ones having been taken. I also know 4 guys that went in from the 15th to the 30th and they got skunked as well. BC Wildlife management has issued too many tags and is not regulating the hunters that are there, its the wild west with anything goes.
You might have a better time because there wasn't enough snow to push them down off the mountain, but you would think that If you climbed a mountain every day and sat there all day with binos that you would be able to spot something, especially when you have 8 people in your party doing the same thing. Good luck to you, take my advice and stay clear of the hotels, and find alternative accommodations. Let me know how you made out, and if you need info PM me.

[BiG Boar]

Well I think the number is 4500 animals, but that is inclusive of 2 major drainages, not just that one valley. Keep in mind that its there is 20 kilometers on either side of each of those rivers all the way to where the river starts. Obviously there is way too much pressure along the roads there. Everyone thinks you just need to drive the main road. Next thing you know there is 60 quads in there ripping up and down the only road you are allowed to access. This pushes the bison back 10 kilometers from the road, well out of foot distance of packing out a bison for the average man. Unless you have horses, this is impossible to access for most of the year.

The hunt has changed a lot in the last 15 years also. The bison have been educated to not be where they will be shot at for the most part. Its definitley not the turkey shoot it was back in 97. Unless they are willing to open up a few more trails to access, this will be the case going into the future IMO. Unless they open it up to open season where people who have horses can get to where the bison actually are living. The bison are definitely there in force. I have seen them myself very recently. The numbers are most definitely there, but the access issues stops the average road hunter from getting to where they are.

This area hasn't been hunted by the guide in a few years now if I recall. So you can't even say the guide is killing them all.

[yama49]

Well I think the number is 4500 animals, but that is inclusive of 2 major drainages, not just that one valley. Keep in mind that its there is 20 kilometers on either side of each of those rivers all the way to where the river starts. Obviously there is way too much pressure along the roads there. Everyone thinks you just need to drive the main road. Next thing you know there is 60 quads in there ripping up and down the only road you are allowed to access. This pushes the bison back 10 kilometers from the road, well out of foot distance of packing out a bison for the average man. Unless you have horses, this is impossible to access for most of the year.

The hunt has changed a lot in the last 15 years also. The bison have been educated to not be where they will be shot at for the most part. Its definitley not the turkey shoot it was back in 97. Unless they are willing to open up a few more trails to access, this will be the case going into the future IMO. Unless they open it up to open season where people who have horses can get to where the bison actually are living. The bison are definitely there in force. I have seen them myself very recently. The numbers are most definitely there, but the access issues stops the average road hunter from getting to where they are.

This area hasn't been hunted by the guide in a few years now if I recall. So you can't even say the guide is killing them all.

I agree, seen more bison this fall then i care to see.. Time to open it up. IMO

[G I Doe]

I don't think the numbers support an open season considering their concentration to a localized area. I do however support increasing the numbers and trying a relocation program so that we can establish more bison habitats and opportunity to hunt these animal. Perhaps our children will have the chance to hunt Bison with out the LEH, who knows.
I agree that the numbers are there the problem is that they have associated the sound of a quad with one of their buddies going missing, and as my teacher always told me "even slow learners can learn". They hear quads or gun shots and they move to heavy timber or better yet to an adjacent valley, and if you don't have snow to push them down off the mountains and into herds you will go home without one like I did.
I am the furthest thing from a road hunter, what I witnessed there this year was truly depressing. If the MOE doesn't get their act together and come up with a better system then the one that is there now it will continue to be a gong show and more and more hunters will leave there without one and at the same time that area is being turned inside out due to all the traffic and trail cutting that's going on there.
I did cut two big bull tracks and followed them for 2 1/2 hours, they stopped a couple of times to graze ever so slightly then kept on marching North into the next valley. I will keep on putting in my annual draw but the next time I will go about it in a totally new way, I won't rely on what used to be there realizing now that four or five years changes an area a lot. I will find a new honey hole and I will definitely fill my tag the next time out.

[Ambush]

I've never drawn the tag and put in every year since it started.

So I don't think anyone should bitch about the hunt being hard, at least you get to hunt.

[srupp]

only LEH species draw I have never won..damnit!

Great insights guys

steven

[Bear Chaser]

Pretty sure the bison get hunted all summer and early fall before the LEH even starts.

An open season on bison for white guys with horses wouldn't hurt the population one bit and might help keep the vermin out of the sheep ranges.

[Boner]

I just drove up to Ft Nelson, the roads were great all the way. Not much snow at the Sikanni, maybe a foot along the hwy.

[bridger]

For sure the bison season needs to be revisited. Beginning with an expansion of the october season for residents. Present regulations limit resident opportunity to specific time slots that do not apply to other residency groups. The end result being resident allocation shares are not achieved. The result of which should be more hunting opportunities for residents. Not to mention our guys are forced by regulation to hunt in less than favourable time and weather conditions. Presently there seems to be some movement towards shared bison hunts for residents. A better solution might be group hunts for residents or some out of the out of the box review of season changes. Thoughts?

[yama49]

I don't think the numbers support an open season considering their concentration to a localized area. I do however support increasing the numbers and trying a relocation program so that we can establish more bison habitats and opportunity to hunt these animal. Perhaps our children will have the chance to hunt Bison with out the LEH, who knows.
I agree that the numbers are there the problem is that they have associated the sound of a quad with one of their buddies going missing, and as my teacher always told me "even slow learners can learn". They hear quads or gun shots and they move to heavy timber or better yet to an adjacent valley, and if you don't have snow to push them down off the mountains and into herds you will go home without one like I did.
I am the furthest thing from a road hunter, what I witnessed there this year was truly depressing. If the MOE doesn't get their act together and come up with a better system then the one that is there now it will continue to be a gong show and more and more hunters will leave there without one and at the same time that area is being turned inside out due to all the traffic and trail cutting that's going on there.
I did cut two big bull tracks and followed them for 2 1/2 hours, they stopped a couple of times to graze ever so slightly then kept on marching North into the next valley. I will keep on putting in my annual draw but the next time I will go about it in a totally new way, I won't rely on what used to be there realizing now that four or five years changes an area a lot. I will find a new honey hole and I will definitely fill my tag the next time out.

I disagree, it can support an open season with the vehicle access restriction that are in place, a open season would not wipe them out.. I would rather see moose sheep than those stupid bison JMO

[G I Doe]

I disagree, it can support an open season with the vehicle access restriction that are in place, a open season would not wipe them out.. I would rather see moose sheep than those stupid bison JMO

You're referring to the vehicle restriction that everybody ignores? As previously mentioned I would also like to see an improved season for sure, the bison have few predators that's a given. Remember that there were millions of them before they had an open season back then as well and we all know how that went. Access is the issue here, there is basically only one road in and out and then there is the infamous ranch which milks you to cross the property, I was told that the natives get very upset if they catch you going around and will damage your vehicle if you park it outside the ranch which I find hard to believe as I have never heard of that happening in the past. if the Bison move out of that valley then they are out of reach. Maybe on to something with horse hunting tho. Regardless what they do the numbers will increase and will be slowed by availability of feed. I would also like to know what goes on there before the LEH season opens I would assume that everything gets hunted in there. All in all it has been a terrible season to hunt anything though, just too warm.

[BiG Boar]

I was told that the natives get very upset if they catch you going around and will damage your vehicle if you park it outside the ranch which I find hard to believe as I have never heard of that happening in the past.

I met a couple guys that didn't want to pay the fee and decided to go around. Sure they saved a couple hundred each. But there was nothing left in the truck when they got back. They said next time they would pay, even if just because it was super hard getting through early in the season.





Hows the hunt going for you dark sith? Big buff down or what? Trapman? Anything your way?

[fearnodeer]

Going around is not a great option, just pay the money and enjoy your hunt, we did.

[moosehunter1]

Have group hunt for zone A, is there any info you can share with us regarding phone numbers for cabin rentals, trespass fees etc?