As sakorick would say.

It's Monday morning, and I'm in the SeaTac airport headed to Los Anchorage after visiting/babysitting the grandsons in Utah while Mom, Dad, and little sister attended a wedding in DC.

All the ammo is loaded, (.338 Win Mag and .416x.348  Win ( NOT Ackley'd)) rifles sighted in, hotel rooms reserved, and permits and authorizations in order. (Show me your papers!) Sakorick arrives on Wednesday, and we leave for Delta Junction Thursday morning. We should be meeting Grant in DJ for aerial recon Friday afternoon after the morning 'orientation' from ADF&G. I am authorized to start hunting Saturday morning.

Based on the aerial recon, hopefully we will be able to find out where the majority of the herd is. If on private land, then I will get out my wallet and cough up the $400 or more, ($500 is my personal limit). If they are on public land, then we'll see if all of the horror stories about "combat hunting" are true.

God willin' and the creek don't rise, we'll be on some animals pretty quick. This past week here in Utah, I was able to get "up close and personal" with about 200 or so of them free-ranging on Antelope Island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. Gave me a chance to watch how they move and get good visuals on picking the bulls out. It's not difficult if you are experienced in telling big males of ANY ungulate from the females. Nevertheless, it's always good to be observing the details you want from real animals as opposed to pictures. Fortunately, I have no legal obligation to shoot a bull as I have an "either secks" tag. However, as always, I'll be looking for the most meat, and in spite of all the BS to the contrary, males are bigger (and stronger and faster) than females, so I'll be looking for the biggest animal I can get a good, clean shot on.

Bison shoulder mounts don't particularly interest me. If you've seen one set of bull bison horns, you've pretty much seen them all. I will however be keeping every square inch of the hide, including the hooves. Getting that tanned will likely cost upwards of $1000. (So I've seen.) That will 'hurt', but I think the hide will be a better "trophy for posterity" than a shoulder mount would be.

Today is the first day of of the season for "group one". I'm in group two, and as I said, I can start hunting on Saturday the 5th. It's supposedly raining in DJ today and tomorrow, with highs in the high 30s (Fahrenheit). Wednesday the rain stops, but it remains cloudy and cold through Thursday. Friday is supposed to snow 2", and "trace amounts" on Saturday with daily highs still in the mid to upper 30s. Probably good tracking weather, but might preclude aerial recon on Friday.

That's about 'it' for the pre-hunt report. I'm gonna be pretty busy from here on out, so this may be the last report until Rick and I get back to Wasilla next week.

Paul

Wishing you fair winds and following seas my friend.
It's not often we get to anticipate the hunt of our lifetime, so I hope this one fulfills all your expectations.
I think we're all hoping for a great story recounting a successful endeavor.


"Go get 'em!"


PS: Have a safe trip, both of you.
(That means you too Rick)

Good luck brothers!

Good luck to you. Be safe travelling to & from. Looking forward to a success story after your endeavor. Hoping Rick has a safe trip & an enjoyable time.  .......Paul H

I've got a little time to kill, so I'll post some pictures of those buffalo I saw on Antelope Island.

 Here's a picture of a bull and cow side by side:

That's a mature bull AND cow. You can tell she's mature because her horns curve slightly rearward. Also notice the difference in the 'robe'.

Here's a couple more pics of the bull:

 



Here are some more pictures of a mature cow:









Here's a picture of a mature cow and an immature cow:





Here's a juvenile cow:



Paul

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/date-of-man-gored-by-bison-also-gored-by-bison