The three guys in the tracked Argo blasted by me hammer down and into the area we were hoping to quietly poke around on foot. This, BTW, is after they admitted the day before that they didn’t have permission from the owners to hunt any of the areas they were riding around in. I had half a mind to let the landowners know, especially since their presence was pretty certainly affecting our hunt chances, but that’s not my thing or my way. Shame on them, and if those guys got jammed up with some angry landowners or the F&G folks, so be it.
Since VernAK had warned us of the bison getting rather spooky pretty quickly when pressured, especially by consistent motorized incursions into the areas they’re in, we decided to bail from that area altogether and go have a look see at ‘Bob’s’ land, about a half hour ride away and tucked back in towards the far eastern end of the bison area, towards the Gerstle river. We got a hold of Rost495 and he said he’d meet us over at the place.
The three of us arrived at about the same time and we were just about to start headed into the property when VernAK came quietly creeping out of the access road in his trusty Tacoma. That guy's like a ghost and was all over the place! We learned from him that there was indeed some bison sign in there, but all he saw was old. He did say that there were tons of fresh wolf tracks in there and that someone needed to get in there and start trapping them. Since VernAK had already scoped the place out, we figured we’d not waste precious time with that spot, but try to keep casually scouting from the back roads for any herds or lone animals on land we could hunt. I also wanted to try to get in contact with some other landowners. Maybe we’d get lucky and be able to try to put a stalk on a bull we spotted on a landowner’s property. That was something of a trick, as I wrote earlier, being that there were lots of names on properties that potentially would allow hunting but had no addresses or contact numbers on the sheet.
I made another call to the DJ F&G folks soon after to try to find out how many bison had been taken on the first day of the third group’s hunt. I was told that they knew of four. Thing was, hunters have 48 hours to report following a bison kill. We were told by another hunter we spoke to that those who attended the bison hunt orientation (we did not) all had agreed to wait until the last legal hour to report, as that way, some of the group could continue to legally hunt until the 12th bison was reported as killed. Recall that the season for each group closed at midnight of the day after the 12th bull was down. So, in theory, our group could very well have already been halfway --or more—into the quota after day one of the hunt. Great for them, not so good for us. By the way, group 1’s season was closed after only 5 days. Group 2’s season was closed after 7 days. It was only day two for us but I admit I was getting increasingly concerned about the season getting closed before I was able to hopefully get a crack at one.
VernAK mentioned during our talk that he’d spoken to a couple friends who told him that one of the landowners had as many as three separate small bison herds on both his land and couple other adjacent properties that he managed for the other owners. This landowner was said to be very easy to deal with and a good man, but that he charged the most by far of any of the landowners in the DJ bison range area. Like 40 times more than the trespass fee I’d paid to be able to hunt on the Wrigley land.
It was my hope to kill my animal on public land, or on private land for a reasonable trespass fee. I’d come a very long way and I had a very special once in a lifetime tag, so I wasn’t opposed to at least talking to the landowner and learning about how he ran his operation and to see how much he charged. SD, Rost495 and I decided to head over to their homestead and hoped to have a chance to talk with the man. We found not him but his son soon after, and I introduced myself and explained that I was a bison tag holder and was interested in talking to his dad about hunting there . After a quick call, the landowner, RP, arrived on scene with a pile of dogs in a work van, and the four of us began chatting as the dogs barked their fool heads off in the van.
He was a pleasant fellow with a strong southern accent. He told us that not just a few but that about half of all the bison bulls taken in the season so far had come off of his land and the surrounding parcels he managed. At that time, 12 hunters had killed 11 bulls there. The one who didn’t kill, we were told, was because he was after a trophy bull only, and the ones he’d seen didn’t meet his requirements. To each his own, I guess.
The way that RP ran the hunts on his land was pretty simple. Each tag holder and his group would be allowed to trespass for 24 hours. If you got your animal, great. If you didn’t, you were out of luck. There was to be no bird or predator shooting, no small game shooting, no shooting at all unless it was at a bison. Further, he explained that under no circumstances were any of the hunters or any in that party allowed to drive any vehicle of any sort on his land. No trucks, no ATVs, no nothing. All hunters would go in strictly on foot, or not at all. RP also explained that he only allowed one team of bison hunters on the lands under his control at a time. He did explain that he did allow successful bison hunters to use their own vehicles to remove the animals after they were field processed.
Above all, he demanded that all trespassers respect his land. That needn’t have been stated to our group, but I totally understand it. We were strangers to him and while I’d not dream of conducting myself in any manner other than with respect to both him and myself, I’m guessing some have in the past. I knew the man wouldn’t regret granting us permission to hunt there, if in fact that’s what I chose to do.
RP went on to explain that a not insignificant portion of land is planted for and managed for the bison. He also remarked that his family had put out an incredible amount of hay bales for the bison last winter, as they were losing so many to starvation. As an aside to this, VernAK harbors considerable angst in the way the starving bison were handled last season by the authorities, and rightfully so, based upon my understanding of how things played out. The state should’ve done much more to help the herd, and had the resources to do so. Due to bureaucratic red tape, negligence, legal issues or a combination (I’m admittedly not really sure where any blame lies), many more bison died than should have. I’m not entirely sure on this but I believe VernAK has actually drawn up a detailed proposal to much better deal with any horrific future winters where the bison are concerned. The man is extremely passionate about the herds in any case and l applaud his many efforts on their behalf.
Back to our talk with RP. The man told of an awful sight seen during the spring thaw. One of the bales of hay that had been set out for the bison by his family had been completely covered by drifting snow-- like ten feet of it. The bison knew the hay was there under the snow and were so desperate, literally in the throes of starvation, that several endeavored to dig down into the deep snow covering the bale so as to be able to get some nourishment. Three of the animals managed to actually dig a hole so deep that they reached the hay. Problem was, once in the hole, the animals couldn’t get back out of the hole and piled up on top of one another. I can only imagine the panic they must have felt. Three of them died in there, stacked up on one another in that horrible frozen tomb. A terrible thing. Mother Nature can be a cruel and fickle bitch at times.
I had a decision to make, and it didn’t take me long. I asked RP to put me on his list. There was a pair of guys hunting bison on the land at the time, so he took my phone and name information and said that if and when the current hunters were successful, he’d text me and we’d talk more about details tomorrow. Sounded like a plan.
The bad part of this new development was that Rost495 had to go to Fairbanks that following day to grab his wife at the AP. Unfortunately, that meant he’d likely not be joining us if we ended up hunting RP’s land on day 3. If he was able, it’d only be for a couple hours. I felt badly about that, especially in light of all his efforts on my behalf. We left the RP land and decided to split back up and see about maybe finding a herd on public land, and agreed that we’d touch base later in the day with any new developments. SD and I decided to grab a hot drink somewhere after poking around some other hunting lands, and I thought I should maybe try to get a hold of some of the other landowners who allowed hunting and see what they had to say.
An hour or thereabouts after we left Rost495, I got a text. ‘Previous guys have their bull down. If you want to come in about an hour, you can get started looking for yours. If you want to wait until tomorrow, that’s OK too. Let me know’...
