Archery Buffalo, story and vid

[Rock Doctor]

I’m trying to keep this short, please bare with me:

Saturday Morning, bright and early I’m out in the shop getting a few last things ready to go. My bow is sighted in, but I can’t resist one last practice shot in the shop, before I finally head out. Bow is cranked up to 78 lbs pull, and the practice target is still against the back wall. I make the draw, and something goes CRACK………. pain explodes up through my neck and into the base of my skull………..when I can see again, my bow is still in my left hand (pointed at the ground), and my right hand is gripping the Argo backrest beside me, supporting most of my weight. I carefully look up, and see my arrow stuck in the back wall, a good 9 ft from the target, my razor sharp Broad head buried in the plywood…………I could hardly move.
I carefully made my way to my truck, the Chiropractor is only in town 2 days a week, and this is one of those days. I make my way to his office bld and get there before he does. Now, I don’t particularly like “Bone Benders” they kinda scare me actually, and now that I got myself there, and have a little spare time, I find myself reflecting on this particular ones name……..Dr. Mangel…………This is not the best way to start the day.

Mangel arrives, and after only one glance in my direction gets a gleam in his eye. He knows he’s about to make some money. He guides me into the torture chamber, and helps me to lie on the “rack”. After some poking, prodding, and a few creaks and cracks he gently grabs my head and violently tries to rip it off, resulting in a teeth grating CRUNCH that turns my bones to water (not only did I feel it, but I could also “hear” it, INSIDE my head). If I hadn’t already been laying down at that point, I would have been after that…………When I could breath again, I faintly heard him ask………”Will that be cash or charge?”.
Feeling much better, if a little sore, I head back home to finish getting ready to go. I grab the rest of my gear, get the Argo loaded, and away I go.
Arriving at my destination, I take the Argo and make my way back into the area that I think will present me with a shot. I stash the machine a little way off the trail and walk into the bush. The area I chose is a little on the swampy side most of the time, but since everything is frozen right now, that was not a problem. The going was actually pretty easy, but it was really hard to be “sneaky” with the thin layer of crunchy snow underfoot. The area was “kind of” open, but not really, very “willowy”, you’ll see in the vid. I crossed some very good tracks, and managed to creep in on a herd, but had to back off a couple times. These Buffalo were pretty wary and it’s hard to sneak up on that many eyes. I finally managed to get around them and work into a position where they were coming to me. Now all I had to do was sit tight and hope neither they nor the wind changed direction.

Continued,

[Rock Doctor]

They did work there way in to me, but they were pretty skittish, they suspected something was up and I had very little cover (just a clump of willows at my back to break up my outline). I had a nice clear shooting lane that part of the herd worked through. Patiently I waited for a clean shot, I had my eye on the last one in this little group. Looked to be about a 3yr old, I didn’t want anything too big, as I was hunting solo. Finally, I was rewarded with a clean look at my target, I had to move a bit, if only to draw the bow and I knew that the motion would be seen, but now was the time. My arrow was ready, I just had to draw the bow…………Again with the fiery, explosive pain, up my neck into the skull (not as bad, but bad enough)……….Nausea broils up from my stomach steeling my breath…..

I made the draw, but now I have to shoot before the tears in my eyes blur my vision (Not to mention, if I didn’t shoot I would have to letdown a 78lb pull…..I don’t think I would have survived doing that). Right here in the vid, I had to edit out the hesitation while I waited for the dancing stars to clear from my eyeballs (also wanted to edit out the whimpers and curses). I have to shoot. I have to shoot NOW, before the Buffalo clears the shooting lane…………WHACK……….Clean hit, nice shot too. A little bit higher than I wanted and about 2 ribs back from what I would have considered ideal, but a double lung shot for sure. Pretty damn good under the circumstances. The pain subsides as I kick back and wait for the arrow to do it’s work.

The river of red running out of that Buffalo made tracking a snap, he only made it about 60 yrds anyway. Died about 25 yrds off an old logging road/skidder trail that I didn’t even know was there. Now, I had some work to do…….Normally I like to do the “no jut” method and bone out as much as I can, but that is very hard to do alone, not to mention with a injured neck, so I opted to just gut it and drag it with the Argo to a stand of large trees.
By now it’s dark out, and I seem to be missing both of my flashlights. Once I get to the trees I make a plan. I have strong rope and a pulley block, I string the rope across between two large trees, with the pulley block hanging in the middle. Now, Argo lights only point in one direction, and that direction is NOT up. I had to do this in the dark. I run my winch line up through the pulley and back down behind the machine, to the Buffalo’s head. With a little trial and error, I manage to hoist the Buffalo up high enough that I can back the Argo under it and lower the whole animal into the back. Time to head home.
Nothing of much interest happened on the way out, and this is already pretty long, so I will end it here for now.
Enjoy the Vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6qrFDpRiZk

[gitnadoix]

Was that an LEH hunt or one of the Ranch hunts/???

[FreshTracks]

Great vid RD ... I hope there's more to come.

[Rock Doctor]

gitnadoix;
Was that an LEH hunt or one of the Ranch hunts/???

I did not get a draw for Buffalo, so yes this was sort of a "Ranch Hunt".
The animals came with the land that a friend of mine bought a few yrs ago. The land is huge, and the animals are pretty much ignored. It took me about 2 hrs to Argo to the point where I started hunting, and I was nowhere near the back of the property. I would say that, for all intents and purposes, they are as wild as they get. This is my 4th Buffalo, and I can tell you that I have never worked so hard to find a "true wild" Buffalo.
It was alot of fun, and even more work.

[solocam]

The best part of that video was when you grab your bow and the ONE arrow and head off into woods to kill a buffalo Awsome
Thanks Doc
Solo

[SHACK]

Love it bud! Makes my want to do an eye burner up there to shoot one of them biggies again! Love the "one arrow" hunt!

[BCHunter]

that video was awsome! Rock Doctor where is this? I'd be interested in taking my daughter out to shoot one

[Rock Doctor]

BCHunter;
that video was awsome! Rock Doctor where is this? I'd be interested in taking my daughter out to shoot one

Just outside FN, There is a different friend just down the road from me that looks after a "Ranch" type operation (Northern Rockies Bison Ranch). Animals go for $1.00 per pound. It would not be quite as "REAL" as what I did, but it would still be a good time. I can PM you the guys info if you like.

[jaeger]

Congrats on your success RD, I know exactly the pain you went through!
That is very impressive.
Cheers Jaeger