Purchase hunting licenses ONLINE HERE   Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game Hunting Information   American Bison Information	Friday, November 26th rolled around and I found myself and 10 of my buddies and co-workers fueling two jeeps and 6 ATV's at 6:30 am getting ready to head out to Saltery Cove. After 16 miles down the trail and three hours later we were at the cove overlooking a large flat grassy area where the Bison usually graze, only to find no Bison!! We parked the Jeeps and sent out the ATV's in different directions on scouting trips to hopefully locate the herd. After 45 minutes one guy raced back to report he found a herd of about 100 grazing on the edge of the wood line about 2 miles away. We cruised down to the edge of the cove and parked the ATV's with the Bison in sight about 500 yards away. The 11 of us walked in a low depression out of the animals sight until we were 100 yards away. I broke out my spotting scope and began looking at different animals while everyone else called out which ones looked big to them. I found picking out one particular animal to be extremely difficult. They all looked big to me, and the one's that appeared to be bulls all looked similar in size, but not quite mature like we were looking for. About the time we were thinking about just picking one and making a plan for the stalk, a bull stepped out that definitely stood out from the others. He was larger, darker, and had a much bigger beard than any of the others. I watched him for about 15 minutes as he pushed around smaller bulls and displayed his dominance. Our group collectively decided this was the one to go after, and a plan was made for me to get within bow range of this 2000 pound animal and send an arrow flying! With a backup gunner and a guy videotaping in tow, I backtracked a few hundred yards to a river bed that ran through the woods behind the Bison. When we thought we had gone far enough we cut through the woods and slowly worked our way though the crispy leaves until we could see the herd though the trees. By this time the animals had moved around a bit and with our limited view though the woods we could not make out which Bison we were going after. I made my way to the edge and at one point had drawn my bow on the wrong Bison before I saw the dark one with the large beard step out from behind a small group of lesser bulls. After the shot the Bison ran 40 yards and collapsed with the entire herd grouping around their fallen leader. The remainder of our group who were watching the action from their spotting knob had retreived their ATV's and raced in to scare the herd back into the woods. We took our photos and made short work of quartering the animal and headed back to camp.
Saltery Cove Lodge PO Box 595  Kodiak, AK 99615 907-539-2325  Email: salterycovelodge@yahoo.com