i]Many of you have asked for details of this years hunt including load used...I have tried to provide as much detail as possible in the write-up below...[/i]
Buffalo Hunt 8 Oct 2012 with Sandhills Outfitters Stuart NE
http://sandhillsoutfitters.com/
This was my 5th Buffalo and my 2nd with Sandhills Outfitters. Of the 4 outfitters I have used in 4 different states no one offers a better compete package at a very competitive price than Rick and Doris Hamilton at Sandhills Outfitters.
Rifle:
C Sharps 1874 Sharps 50-70. 28” Badger Barrel 1-26 twist, .500” Bore, .511” Groove, Chamber OAL 1.750” Chamber Mouth Diameter .537”. RHO Scope
Load:
Starline Brass. Case wall .010”. FL resized, Trimmed to 1.750”, Annealed. Case mouth just touched with .510” Expander Plug.
BR2 Primer
76.6grs KIK 2F, 36” Drop Tube, topped with .030 VFW @ .100” then seated to .260” for total powder compression of .160”.
Finger seat .125” SPG Lube Cookie topped with .030 VFW for final available Seating Depth of .110”
Accurate 547gr .495” Dia PP Bullet 1,149” long, patched with 100% cotton rag paper for final OD of .500” and seated .110”
http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.p...530P-D.png
Lyman Taper Crimp case OD .521” measured with sharp edge of caliper at case mouth
Loaded Round OAL 2.812”
Follow up shot rounds exactly the same except bullet cast @ .493” and patched to .498”.
Can fire one .500 patched followed by two .498 patched with no fouling control and keep all three rounds in 1.5” Group @ 150yds off shooting bench
I competed 8 separate practice sessions prior to hunt in various wind and light conditions at ranges between 100 and 200yds using rangefinder and shooting sticks. All groups were 2.5 MOA or smaller.
My hunt was a 4 night, 3 day Buffalo Hunt for a Yearling Bull. Arrived Sunday afternoon and unpacked at private cabin. Rick and Doris came by to welcome me and visit. Dinner that night at Rick and Doris’s Ranch House (all meals are taken at the Ranch House). Rick went over the hunt plan and review best shot placement with actual Buffalo pictures. Breakfast at 8am Monday morning, a quick sight-in verification at my request and then left the Ranch House at 8:45am CST in Rick’s Suburban. If weather is a bit warmer and/or winds are down, Rick will use the John Deer 4 wheeler Mule instead of the Suburban…but temp was 34 degrees F and winds were 15mph and gusting to 25mph so we opted for a place to get out of the elements later if required. A short drive to the west pasture and spotted the herd about a mile away on the southwest side of the pasture and drove to within a ½ mile of them using the sandhills to block our approach. We stalked the last ½ mile on foot again using the hills and draws to cover our approach. It took about 30 minutes to stalk our way to within 100yds of the whole herd and we took a stand that allowed me to use my shooting sticks in sitting position and have the rifle just over the top of the hill. Then it was just a waiting game until the young bull we wanted to shoot cleared the herd. That took about 20mins. Rick used his rangefinder and called it at 124yds…then he was able to get into a good position to video the shot and caught the 50-70 Sharps going off, the loud SMACK of the bullet hitting the Buffalo and even the explosion of dirt about 30yds behind the Buffalo where the bullet really tossed up a geyser of dirt and dust as it smacked the ground after going clean through. It was a clean heart shot and the Buffalo kicked his rear legs up and ran about 50yds away from the herd. The Buffalo walk and stumbled around for the next 5-6mins with several cows and a 3yr old bull surrounding him to keep him on his feet…the cows moved off a bit and my Buffalo finally went down. These brutes of the prairie are tough and carry 14+ gallons of blood so it can take awhile for one to go down for the count. The 3yr old bull refused to leave the downed Buffalo and kept pushing and hooking his hindquarters in an effort to get him up. See picture below) We were able to use hill cover to get within 40 yds or so of the downed Buffalo, but even when we partially showed ourselves (rifles ready) the 3yr old refused to leave…with half a dozen “interested” 3-4yr old cows within 50yds and the rest of the herd only 100-150yds away we decided it was best to backed down and get the Suburban and use it to block our recovery of the Buffalo. Positioning the Suburban between us and the herd we got a few pictures and then winched the Buff up on the flat bed for transport to the processor.
My Buffalo was a “yearling”...actually an Apr 2011 calf so it was 11/2 years old. The live weight of Buffalo was 900 lbs (I figured 800lbs in the field) and you can figure live weight for yearlings to be 3 times the hanging weight and your boneless packaged meat yield at about 20% of live weight. (For mature buffalo (3yrs+) you can figure hanging weight at 60% of live weight)
The hanging weight was 275lb (that's head, hide, guts and legs removed...just your pure meat hanging halves) and that is what Processors uses to figure your processing charge. Valentine Meat Locker charged $.49 lb on hanging weight plus $75 Butchering fee and $8 for tenderizing the round steak (they call minute steaks). So my processing bill was $217.00. I had all the meat processed as boneless, so I ended up with 180lbs of frozen packaged meat and that filled our 10 cu ft freezer a bit over 3/4 full. Adding together the cost of hunt and processing the price per pound of packaged meat came out to $11.50/lb. That cost included 4 nights stay in your own cabin and 3 meals a day for 3 days, dinner the day you arrive and breakfast the morning you depart. Given that Safeway and SAMs Club are getting $8/lb for Buffalo Burger right now, that is one heck of a hard to beat deal in my book.
Tues and Wednesday I spent shooting various BPCR rifles I took along at the Steel Gong Targets Rick has setup including a Quigley sized buffalo affectionately named “Ralphie” at 805yds. By next Spring Rick will have a complete set of matching Quigley steel targets set up at the Quigley yardages.
I was going to do some predator calling, but the wind just did not let up enough. Rick also offers a ½ day Pheasant Hunt and/or a Turkey Hunt in season if you might want to include them with your Buffalo Hunt…or just use the two days to kick back and catch up on some reading.
I packed up on Wednesday evening and hit the road early Thursday morning to arrive in Valentine at 8am when the processor opened for business. Loaded up my rock hard frozen packaged meat into a 2” Styrofoam lined plywood box I built that has a 9cuft internal capacity and headed home already looking forward to next years hunt.
Click on picture and then zoom in on it
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