Terrain along Spanish Creek
(bison in middle of photo)
This photo was taken of the same area,
but with a 600mm lens
Media mogul Ted Turner owns a lot of property around the country. He purchased the Flying D Ranch in 1989 and granted a conservation easement to the Nature Conservancy shortly thereafter. In 2001 the ranch encompassed 113,600 acres (over 175 square miles) between the Gallatin and Madison River Valleys southwest of Bozeman, Montana. Part of the eastern boundary adjoins the west edge of our Bear Creek Properties subdivision, so you could say that we're neighbors! Turner Enterprises manages the property for bison production and wildlife with an emphasis toward producing trophy class animals. As part of that management program, the bison herd is partially culled each year, and they coordinate with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on the elk and deer hunting that they allow through Arnaud Outfitting. Rob Arnaud is a wildlife biologist. (Click on any photo to see an enlarged version.)
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In 2001 the free-ranging bison herd on the Flying D consisted of about 2,500 head. Guided hunts are conducted on the full expanse of the ranch. Herd management harvests are conducted on specific animals rounded up and released into large pastures. The hunting guides also run that operation. By mid December they had culled roughly 200 adult cows, management bulls (non-trophy class) and yearling heifers and bulls from the herd. They hoped to double that harvest number before the hunts ended in January. The prices for bison in the 2001 season were as follows:
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We had an appointed time for our shoot. The guides met us at the gate, took our check and had us sign a liability waiver. There were about 70 bison in the enclosure. We were hunting for a fat, healthy cow and not for the horns or the prime hide, so the guides scanned the herd to pick out a suitable animal for us. Success is guaranteed. The guides back up the shooter. |
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Bison are potentially dangerous under any circumstance, so we all stayed close to the truck. A shot was not taken until the target animal was standing alone and broadside to us, offering a good, clear shot. We had already arranged to share the expenses and the meat with some of Ron's family, and his cousin volunteered to be the shooter. The optimum shots to avoid ruining any meat are through the ear or through the heart, but a bison is not always an easy animal to knock down. The guide couldn't be sure, but he estimated that this cow was 6 years old. |
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The rest of the herd does not seem alarmed by this process. The scent of blood elicits curiosity rather than fear. Gut piles from previous hunts can be seen in the background. Here the guide is checking the ear tag number for the ranch records. |
| The fee included field dressing and loading the bison into your vehicle. Both were accomplished with the aid of the hoist and electric winch assembly mounted on the back end of this truck. The guide was wearing rain pants and rubber gloves up to his elbows when he gutted the cow. |
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All we had to do was back our vehicle under the hoist and the bison was lowered into it. There's no way that this could have been done by sheer brute force. She was too heavy. The operation is handled very efficiently, and the ranch staff is courteous, friendly and helpful. The whole process took less than an hour. |
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Rob Arnaud gave us his recommendation for where to have our meat processed. She looked a lot bigger hanging up! The cleanliness and efficiency of this operation is impressive. By afternoon the bison was skinned and quartered. The steaks, roasts and sausages were ready for pickup a week later. |
If we don't manage to put an elk in the freezer next fall, we may want to do this again!
Updated by Aleen Kienholz on 20 March 2002
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