Bison north of Jackson

[wysongdog]

I am number 77 on the bison priority list and went up last week and purchased my tag. I am not planning on hunting on the refuge, I am going to hunt the national forest with my kids and a couple friends and my mules. We are going to bow hunting. I've hunted north of Jackson quite a bit but never pursued a bison. Any helpful advice would be appreciated. I have a any bison tag.

 

[440sixpack]

What I know is pretty general information. I make several trips to Jackson a year in the winter snowmobiling up the Gros Ventre and hardly ever see any bison off the park. I run into a few hunters asking what I've seen and they say that's the case most of the time.

I don't know the rules, boundries or when you're going to be hunting . maybe earlier there are more animals off the park I can't say but you may want to do some research on that.








Stay thirsty my friends

 

[piper]

I don't think you realize how that hunt works, good luck.

 

[nfh]

Contact the local game warden since they watch the herds and could lead ya in the right direction

 

[wysongdog]

>I don't think you realize how
>that hunt works, good luck.
>So enlighten me please on what I am missing then please.

 

[wysongdog]

I spent a couple hours in the Jackson office with the game wardens going over different routes of access and places to go with the mules and what not.

 

[piper]

My wife had a cow tag a few years ago, I had the same idea, only I live close enough to leave the pack animals at home.

After spending a few days hiking,I came to the conclusion that its pretty rare to find bison off the park or refuge, The boundaries are confounding and confining.
That was a very dry year and basically the only huntable bison we saw were on the refuge a day before the season ended, along with all the other hunters, it was a joke.

Neat Animals, but the hunt we experienced was less than stellar, I hope yours is better, and the weather seems much more favorable this year.
good luck on the hunt.

 

[nontypical]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-17-13 AT 01:42PM (MST)[p]Good friend of mine had the tag a couple years ago. He killed a bull with his bow. He also was having a hard time with boundaries. Seems like when he killed his bull he ran into the Park. He notified Park authorities and they investigated the scene and determined that he killed his bull off of the Park(not by much, though). He was able to retrieve the animal with no problems from Park personnel. He is up elk hunting now, but should be back Saturday sometime. I'll let him know about your thread. He should be willing to help you out.

 

[elkchaser60]

I wouldn't write off hunting on the refuge. I think you could hike in to the north end of the refuge away from the roads and have a good hunt if the bison are in there and also have a challenging hunt.

 

[JRABQ]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-22-13 AT 04:57PM (MST)[p]^this^. There is a good bit of country on the refuge sufficiently far from the road(s), and 99% of the hunters are not going to go there. Only problem might be lack of cover for a bowhunt, but I would definitely not rule it out (unless they won't let you bowhunt on the refuge and that's your #1 priority).

For what it's worth, I did see a large bison bull on FS when I was moose hunting 10 years ago. Looking at the map I think it was west of Sagebrush Flats, down FS 30185, very close to the park boundary.

 

[wysongdog]

Thanks for the help guys. I wasn't planning on the refuge because when I was up there the government was shut down so the refuge wasn't open. My dates for the refuge are around Christmas and I don't think my kids will appreciate the cold as much as me lol. So hopefully we'll get up there this weekend and get some good riding in and maybe get lucky and find my a good bull

 

[elkchaser60]

You can hunt the refuge outside of your allotted dates. Just check with the WYGF office in Jackson and most of the time you can get on due to others not showing up for their alloted times.