Posted on 11/15/2005 12:16:35 PM PST by Flavius
GARDINER, Mont. - Montana's first bison hunt in 15 years opened at sunrise Tuesday, with a 17-year-old boy bagging the first buffalo within 90 minutes.
The hunt, aimed at thinning out the bison population near Yellowstone National Park, came after years of protests from animal rights activists.
State and federal officials say the hunt will help manage a population that has grown to an estimated 4,900 animals, more than some fear the area can support. Some ranchers are also worried some diseased bison could spread illness to cattle.
George Clement, a teenager who took the day off from school, killed the first bison near Gardiner.
Montana's last bison hunt was in 1990. Other hunts since then were canceled because of protests over the way wardens would lead each hunter to an animal, which was then shot at close range, often while peacefully grazing.
This year, there are new limits. For example, wildlife officials cannot tell hunters where bison have wandered outside the park, and no more than 50 bison overall can be killed during the three-month season.
Fifty hunting licenses — entitling hunters to kill one bison each — were made available.
would you prefer they push them out the windows
I think that I can hear the animal rights wacko's screams.
LOL! I would expect that a bison spends about 98% of its time grazing or sleeping.
Yotanka.
"Montana's last bison hunt was in 1990. Other hunts since then were canceled because of protests over the way wardens would lead each hunter to an animal, which was then shot at close range, often while peacefully grazing."
Perhaps the wardens should have started calling the bison nasty names, so then when the hunter shot the bison, he would be putting it out of its misery of being humiliated in public.
What morons.
These buffalo are used to people. It's not a "hunt" if your prey has no fear and is 10 feet away grazing.
I think they need to change the law. No more shooting while they are peacefully grazing. You can only shoot them when they are break-dancing or drinking a budlight.
Nope, this is a cull, also perfectly legit.
well I never.... I bet they knocked them over with the SUV's and then leaned out the window to shoot them,,the cowards
Then only dress out the best parts of the hide and meat; leave the rest to rot.
It's what the environmentally sensitive, totally in tune with Mother Nature, tree-hugging, earth worshipping, impeccable and infallible Native Americans did ...
< /sarcasm, for the idiots amongst us>
What they should do to thin the herds is hold a drawing to give the limited permits to full-blood Indians.
No environmental arguments would hold water then.
Personally, I think it would be a great thing to do, restoring some historical connection between the buffalo and the Indian.
Mmmmmmmmm..... Bison
They should do this the old fashioned way; stampede the whole herd over a cliff. If it was good enough for neolithic hunters, then it's good enough for you!
Bah, the indians are too busy building casinos these days to hunt buffalo / bison. I doubt they want to go back to the "good old days" where, for all their greatness, they never invented the wheel.
I used to live up there and I hate to tell you but most of the Indians in those parts are simply not the "outdoors" types. They prefer to obtain their hides at K-Mart and their food at Safeway.
BUFFALO PRIME RIB WITH ORANGE BALSAMIC GLAZE
Buffalo meat can be very red, even when cooked to medium-rare. Don't be alarmed — this is a naturally occurring phenomenon that has to do with the animal's diet and how little fat is marbled through the muscle. While testing this recipe, we learned that buffalo meat varies in quality; the purveyors whose meat we like best are Wild Idea Buffalo Company (866-658-6137; wildideabuffalo.com), Jackson Hole Buffalo Meat Company (800-543-6328; jhbuffalomeat.com), Arrowhead Buffalo Meats (877-283-2969; arrowheadsteaks.com), and D'Artagnan (800-327-8246; dartagnan.com).
Before you begin roasting your buffalo, roughly calculate the total roasting time: Plan on about 16 minutes per pound once the oven temperature is reduced to 350°F (20 minutes per pound for beef), but start checking the temperature of either type of roast about 30 minutes before you think it will be done.
Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 5 1/4 hr (4 3/4 hr for beef)
click photo to enlarge
1 (7- to 8-lb) bone-in buffalo prime rib roast or bone-in beef prime rib roast (sometimes called standing rib roast; 3 or 4 ribs), brought to room temperature (allow 1 hour)
4 1/2 to 5 cups water
Orange balsamic glaze
For jus
2/3 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup Madeira (preferably Sercial)
1 1/2 cups beef broth
Special equipment: a V-rack for roasting; a meat or instant-read thermometer
Cook roast:
Preheat oven to 450°F.
If using beef, trim all but a thin layer of fat from roast. Generously season buffalo or beef with salt and pepper. Roast buffalo, fat side up, on V-rack in a 17- by 12- by 2-inch flameproof roasting pan in middle of oven 15 minutes (use a 13- by 9- by 2-inch flameproof roasting pan for beef, which is taller and narrower than buffalo).
Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and add 1/2 cup water to roasting pan, then continue to roast meat 30 minutes more. Brush meat with some of glaze and add 1/2 cup water to pan, then continue to roast, brushing with glaze and adding 1/2 cup water to pan every 15 minutes, until thermometer inserted into center of roast (do not touch bone) registers 125°F, 2 to 2 1/4 hours more (115°F for beef, 1 3/4 to 2 hours more). Transfer meat to a large platter and let stand, uncovered, 25 minutes. (Meat will continue to cook as it stands, reaching about 135°F for medium-rare buffalo or 130°F for medium-rare beef.)
Make jus while meat stands:
If using buffalo, straddle roasting pan across 2 burners, then add red wine and Madeira and deglaze pan by boiling over moderately high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, 2 minutes. Add broth and boil until reduced to about 1 1/2 cups, about 3 minutes. (If using beef, pour pan juices into a 1-quart fat-separator pitcher or glass measure and skim off fat, then pour juices back into pan. Straddle roasting pan across 2 burners and deglaze pan by boiling juices over moderately high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, until reduced to about 2/3 cup, about 8 minutes. Add red wine and Madeira and boil until reduced to about 2/3 cup, 3 to 4 minutes. Add broth and boil until reduced to about 2 cups, about 6 minutes.)
Stir in any buffalo or beef juices accumulated on platter and season jus with salt, if necessary. Pour jus through a fine-mesh sieve into a gravy boat and keep warm, covered.
Carve roast and serve with jus.
Makes 8 servings.
Gourmet
Gourmet Entertains
December 2002
"historical connection"
Do you mean a pointed rock tied onto a stick?
"would you prefer they push them out the windows?" LOL, that was one of the many memorable lines from Archie.
Similar to "hunting" a cow. I am not anti-hunting but I wouldn't call it a sport. If shooting an animal with a high powered rifle using a telescopic sight is a sport, so is ambushing anything a sport. If a hunter were to chase down a deer and kill it in hand to hand combat I would call that a sport. Otherwise it is just thrill killing.
""... which was then shot at close range, often while peacefully grazing."
lol...that reminds me of a story of when my pastor (who's also a fanatical upland bird hunter), went into Wally World to pick up some shotgun shells. He get's to talking with the gal behind the counter about quail hunting (Gambel's Quail here in AZ), and after describing for her a recent hunt we had been on she made a comment to the effect "You mean you shoot at those quail when their running on the ground?" whereupon my pastor/friend replied. "Well yes, but I prefer to shoot them when they're just standing still."
"... which was then shot at close range, often while peacefully grazing."
Personally, I would rather chase it around for awhile--stressing it out a little bit, thereby pumping tasty adrenalin into the muscles.
I'm much more modern then that. I tie a cheeto on one end of a string and tie the other end to my rifle. Then I just drive near the herd of what ever I'm 'hunting', hang the rifle/bait out the window and wait.
I've never understood the need to pack out an animal.
4,900 animals... Sad.
Have you ever hunted? Judging by your post I would think not. You really have no clue as to what has to happen for a hunt to be succesfull. Especially here in the West.
Out here you have to spend time and sweat, countless hours glassing, and tracking. Then once you actually come across that big Bull Elk, you need to make the perfect stalk to get within range for a humane kill. If your shot was perfect he may drop in his tracks, but 9 out of 10 times something was a little off and now you have to follow a blood trail, usually in low light conditions. And then once you have located your kill the fun really begins. Now you have to gut and quarter your elk so you can pack his big a$$ out over the same rough rough terrain you came in on.
Yeah it's nothing more than shooting some poor animal with a high powered rifle and scope. Oh did I mention your freezing your butt off the whole time too?
And with all this I can't wait untill next year, I will be hoping and praying I get drawn for that Elk tag!!
I did do that - sort of. A few years ago I spined a deer with an arrow. I approached him and wrestled him and pulled the arrow out and reshot him with the same arrow. Blast away. I'm ready. Oh and the deer was peacefully browsing when I ambushed him.
I wonder. Are cows peacefully doing something when they're slaughtered? Or are they all riled up about something?
The sporting way to finish him off would have been to tear out his jugular with your teeth. :)
I considered it, but with chronic wasting disease and all, I reconsidered. I prefer my venison properly cooked.
Taking 50 animals out of 4900 is essentially a 1% cull. These are the animals that have wandered outside the park if I read it right. In proper culling, the rangers "should" have taken hunters to pre-selected individuals scheduled for removal. Exceptionally old animals, or crippled animals are the ones normally selected for removal.
Under the present system, the hunters will select the ones that they wish, and there will be some healthy breeders taken instead of the culls. The old and the crippled will starve to death this winter. The wisdom of the environmentalists rears its ugly head again.
Most indians don't own any more land then you do. What the heck would ayour basic guy from India do with a stupid buffalo? They don't even eat them for the most part.
Good thing we killed them all. If cattle are bad, imagine the global warming they caused with all those buffalo chips.
The Shoshone-Bannock tribes in the area have their own domestic bison herd. They raise them commercially at Fort Hall Reservation. At least they did 10 or so years ago.
I have to agree with'ya. I heard that recently, Indians were allowed to 'count coup' on the 'wasichu' headstones at the Little Bighorn Battlefield.
Pathetic...
Now that was a good newspaper report, one that calls a spade a spade (most of the AP writers call the AR wackos "conservationists, environmentalists").
Sorta like referring to terrorists as "insurgents, freedom fighters."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't most of the Bison in the U.S. actually "Beefalo" ie a mixture of cows and buffalo?
...mmmmm...buffalo fajitas...
EXACTLY!!!!
I had a coworker once who tried to tell me Indians were non-violent, in tune with nature, types and I had to "enlighten" her.
I stayed a week in Gardiner last June. Lots of local tame buffalo.
Buffalo is good eatin.
Uh, HELLO.
There used to be a lot more animals and a lot less people, housing developments, concrete parking lots, etc.
What do you propose -- exterminating people so the animals can roam the earth in their former glory again?
And how do you obtain your beef and chicken?
Leather furniture, car seats, briefcase? Shoes?
Read the headline again, then read my comment.
That is already done on the National Bison Range in NW Montana. But then why should we descriminate?
Sorry,
Maybe I do this hit and run (in a hurry) posting too fast, don't read the posts carefully.
Not good.
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