The hunt was many months off, but naturally I started daydreaming and planning immediately. I’d won a coveted any sex tag, which was very nice, since I’d have the option of taking either a cow or bull if I had the chance. Having the option of a crack at a cow, should that be my only opportunity, was still a big deal. I’m not what anyone would consider to be ‘trophy’ hunter. To me, the prize is always the hunt itself. That said, given the choice, I’ll kill a bull any day over a cow.
A plan developed, but slowly. SD advised me that due to amongst other considerations, not the least of which included winter weather concerns and hunts he does every year in September, his call would be for us to wait until the end of the season, likely in March, to hunt. October/November were options but he liked the early spring time frame. Deep winter temps with wind chill can reach -50F in DJ, not to mention the fact that the hours of daylight are slim then. Made sense to me. The bison season was long; about six months long, actually, opening in early September and ending March 31. And so that was the loose plan. Up until I received notice from the AKDFG that major changes had been made to the Delta Junction bison hunt…
Due to a brutal previous winter, one with incredible snowfall and the worst part, a mid-winter thaw and subsequent freeze that saw a thick sheet of ice develop, wreaked havoc on the bison herd --and about all other game populations. More than 200 bison of the Delta Junction herd starved to death last year. As a result, the AKDFG decided that the six-month season would now be comprised of five separate groups of 24 hunters each, with each group’s start date to coincide with the order of selection in the lottery.
The groups would have the collective kill capped at 12 bulls, and the formerly ~6-month long season would now be only 12 days long for each group, with a predetermined start date for every group. The kicker was that with each group, if and when 12 bulls were reported as killed, the AKDFG would inform the rest of the group that the season would close the next day at midnight. Also, all tags were now bull-only.
Not only were we up against the short season and bull only requirements, we were up against the other hunters. Kill one of the 12 bulls allotted, or go home. For non-residents, this is a once in a lifetime tag.
I mentioned to the gal at the DJ AKDFG that I’d have gladly put off hunting this year, as long as my tag would be honored and I’d be able to hunt them in the next year or three. She explained that she and many others had advocated for exactly that, but had been snubbed by the powers that be, citing requirements for public hearings, legislative action, etc. A lousy deal for the bison, but I wasn’t going to sit it out and forego my one chance to do my all to try to hunt up a wild, free-ranging buffalo. And with that, the planning began in earnest.
I’ll not bore folks with the planning and gear lists and arrangements that were developed in the intervening couple of months before the hunt start date of 10/18.
