Buffalo Shooting

[alremkin]

Last Saturday I drove up to Rhyason's Ranch (RR) and came back Monday with buffalo quarters which I took to DiMassimo's for cutting. The trip went well from the time I left the bunkhouse until I returned from shootng the buffalo was less than 2 hours. I helped a bit with the skinning, but they have all the tools and equipment to quickly process an animal and are very experienced. For those who would worry about shooting from a vehicle I got out and shot the buffalo behind the ear from about 10 yards as she was walking away from me with a 275gr bullet @2650 fps and 4300 ft lb energy from ym 338 Win. The surprising thing is that the rest of the herd just stayed there and watched. They did'nt spook.

I was told that a person can come up to the ranch and stay in the bunkhouse, rustic, for up to two days at no cost when shooting a buffalo. There are several empty beds to put your sleeping bag on and cooking utensils, stove, refrigerator, cups, plates, knives and forks. It cost me $470 for gas to drive there from New West. I think the best deal would be to stop there after an unsuccessful hunting trip up north. Yearlings are $500 and 4 year olds are $800. the big bulls are a LOT more.

[CanAm500]

Sounds pretty cool. Were is RR located?

[bigwhiteys]

Hey Alremkin,

Cool. Glad to hear you had a good time. I have been to Rhyason ranch many, many times over the years. I am the one who recommended it. The meat is absolutely awesome. I'll be taking a buffalo or two myself this year.

Obviously Hans wasn't the rancher who took you out as he would have made you shoot from the truck... lol...

Good Stuff!

It gets really busy there into deer season... It's not uncommon to see trucks driving around town with a flatdeck trailer full of dead Buffalo.

Happy Hunting!
Carl

[Elkhound]

enjoy the meat. Glad the trip went well

[CanAm500]

Does the ranch have a website?

[alremkin]

There's no web site that I know of for the ranch. They arn't selling any more buffalo until the fall. Since they're on a satellite phone if you want to call them I'll give you the number in a PM.

Brad Martin is currently managing the ranch. I told him I prefer to shoot standing up. He told me that's ok but just don't make any quick movements which might spook the herd. So I got out of the truck clamly loaded my rifle, sighted behind her ear moving with her as she was walking and POW! Her head hit the ground first then her body followed like being hit by a big wave which is actually pretty close to how it is, the hydrostatic bullet wavefront. I noticed Brad's eyes went a bit big seeing how quick she hit the ground and the way her body followed he just said, "Good shot." No follow-up shots were needed.

[Fred]

You still havn't said where they are located. Fred

[CanAm500]

You still havn't said where they are located. Fred

Yeah, lol:???:

[alremkin]

The ranch is about 40 miles northwest of Fort St John.

[ryanb]

Have you figured what it comes out to per pound after all the gas money, fees to take the animal, and butchering?

thanks

[twoSevenO]

no offense but what fun is it stopping your truck in front of a herd and shooting an animal 10 yards away?

[BANG!]

it's probably no more fun than buying 2 pound packs of steak from Save On or Safeway ..... I'd see it as just another way to fill the freezer with presumably high quality, free range meet.

I also liked the idea that someone had of using this approach to fill the truck on the way home from a 'skunked' hunting trip.

I'd be interested in seeing what it's like to dress and quarter such a beast in the field. I'm sure there must be some special challenges that are unique to dressing a monster buffalo once it's down.

[bigwhiteys]

Actually...

It's a great way to make sure the freezer is full... Once the buffalo is down they usually hook it up to a winch and drag it onto the truck bed and then they bring down a front end loader and hang the buffalo from that while they skin, gut and quarter it...

They get'er done fast!

Happy Hunting!
Carl

[twoSevenO]

I also liked the idea that someone had of using this approach to fill the truck on the way home from a 'skunked' hunting trip.


I see .... fair enough :).

[Fred]

Ex and have done that 2 years in a row now. The ranch we dealt with is just north of Groundbirch. Fred

[Meatman]

From a butchers prospective the guys did a good job skinning and splitting it. It's nice looking meat.8)

[Johnnybear]

no offense but what fun is it stopping your truck in front of a herd and shooting an animal 10 yards away?

It's not about fun and it's makes alot more sense than going to the supermarket to buy your meat. It's good practice, the meat is way better for you than any you buy in the store, it's more humane than killing hundreds of them in a slaughter house, and your supporting a local rancher instead of a Jimmy Pattison type.

[CanAm500]

So when you go on one of these buffalo hunts, they do all the "gutting", skinning...etc?

[bwhnter]

I beleive that Hans was a butcher back in the "old" country. If you guys are interested in buffalo meat hunts there are actually quite a few farms around Fort St. John and area that are doing the same thing. As for the great butchering I can't say but I know that there is a ranch onthe Ferrel creek road that sells them to some of the hunters that come up with the outfitter in the area. I don't know if they have an exclusive deal or not though. The bigger bull that is in my photo gallery was shot in the valley to the West of the Rhayson ranch a couple of years before he bought that ranch as well.

[3kills]

i know one of the farms up there is owned by the same guy that owns one here in merritt...

[CanuckShooter]

It's not about fun and it's makes alot more sense than going to the supermarket to buy your meat. It's good practice, the meat is way better for you than any you buy in the store, it's more humane than killing hundreds of them in a slaughter house, and your supporting a local rancher instead of a Jimmy Pattison type.

A jimmy pattison type???

[416]

A jimmy pattison type???

versus a smaller business enterprise........kinda like the way some members suggest we should support our smaller guns shops instead of the wholesale sized operations.:smile:

[3kills]

i think what he means is that the fact that jimmy owns save one foods, coopers foods, and overwaitea...and he is sayin buy from a rancher rahter then go to on of the supermarkets and put more money in jimmy's hand....but on the other hand u guys going to the supermarket pays my wages lol...

[huntwriter]

... it's more humane than killing hundreds of them in a slaughter house, and your supporting a local rancher instead of a Jimmy Pattison type.

Just curious. Have you been actually to a slaughterhouse and seen the production process? I have grown up in a slaughterhouse. I am aslo a certiefied Master Butcher, amongst other professions involving animals, but I could not honestly say that killing an animal with a rifle or bow is more humane than in a slaughterhouse. The methods differ but it is certainly not that one is more humane than the other.
Granted, for some people the idea of the sheer mass of animals processed in a meat production plant can be a bit unnerving to watch but definitely cannot be considered inhumane.

In reading the postings here I became interested to try a buffalo hunt too. But as a special challenge I would like to use my bow.

[Johnnybear]

I was just commenting on a post that pushed a button. It was a spur of the moment rant and I had no intention to insult your profession Huntwriter but I guess it did come across that way. You have your opinions and I respect that. As for the Jimmy thing, I just have some feelings in regards to these mega food companies, mega feed lots, etc.. I think harvesting a buffalo from one of these ranches is a sound alternative and that fun has nothing to do with it.

Oh yeah, by the way I have been to a slaughter house.

[Johnnybear]

no offense but what fun is it stopping your truck in front of a herd and shooting an animal 10 yards away?

Let's try this one again.

IT WOULD BE A REAL BLAST!!!:-D .

[huntwriter]

I was just commenting on a post that pushed a button. It was a spur of the moment rant and I had no intention to insult your profession Huntwriter but I guess it did come across that way. You have your opinions and I respect that. As for the Jimmy thing, I just have some feelings in regards to these mega food companies, mega feed lots, etc.. I think harvesting a buffalo from one of these ranches is a sound alternative and that fun has nothing to do with it.

Oh yeah, by the way I have been to a slaughter house.

You did not insult me or one of my many professions. I just was wondering.:grin:

As for feed lots I share a lot of the concerns others have too. Harvesting a buffalo, or any game, is more expensive than buying the meat in the store, but also a whole lot better, quality wise.

No offence taken, carry on my friend.:biggrin:

[.270]

I've never had bison steak, how's the taste?

[3kills]

bison is good...much leaner then beef

[huntwriter]

I've never had bison steak, how's the taste?

It's more flavour full than the average beef and free of growth hormones and pre-medicated food.

[alremkin]

I'll be able to tell you more about the taste of the meat very soon. I just put a couple of buffalo burgers in the oven to cook for dinner. The meat looks good I think Mike @ DiMassimo's has done a good job.

The buffalo @ RR are fed mostly hay through the winter with some oats from time to time. Everything is raised without pesticides and no hormones or antibiotics are used in the buffalo. So the meat is close to organic, but the farm isn't certified organic and they raise beef in some of the valleys.

What really surprised me was that when I shot the buffalo the rest of the herd didn't run or seem overly disturbed about a member being shot. It was a quick kill. The other buffalo nearby just looked at me reminding me of the old Bill Moyers and Joseph Cambell series about myths and how the Native American were connected with the buffalo. There was a type of recognition from the herd and they wern't disturbed. I guess there's a type of agreement between the rancher and herd that herd members have an easier life than being in the wild in that they are winter fed and could probably knock down the fences that enclose them. The slaughtering was well done at the ranch, but still not as quick and clean as commercial slaughter houses. The question I have about the commercial slaughter houses is: Do the animals know they are about to be killed as they move into the plant and do they have to be proded with cattle prods to keep them moving? Other than the the way commercial anilmals are riased in factory farms the other question I have is this one about how they are killed and whether they have to be proded against their fear of death.

[3kills]

i have never been to a plant but i have been told about them lots during school and i was told that they dont use cattle prods any more and the animals are kept as calm as they can cuz if they get pss (preslaughter stress syndrom) it can cause dfd (dark firm and dry)..

[huntwriter]

i have never been to a plant but i have been told about them lots during school and i was told that they dont use cattle prods any more and the animals are kept as calm as they can cuz if they get pss (preslaughter stress syndrom) it can cause dfd (dark firm and dry)..
You got it. The worst condition for meat quality is a streesed animal. A calm animal is so important to meat quality that back home we use to turn the cattle loose on a big pasture where they could rest for 24 hours before they walked to the kill floor.

If my father would see someone stressing a beef or pork he would fire that worker on the spot. That's how important a relaxed animal to meat quality was to him. We where the first and for a long time the only meat processing plant that offerd animals food in the stun box and had a runway designed that facilitated natuarl movement of livestock. Yours truly was involved in designing that system. That was 20 years ago, so it's nothing new as some claim. Should have put my patent on it, I would be a very rich man by now.:wink: