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Wood Bison are the largest native North American land mammal and they
are 20% larger than Plains Bison. A Wood Bison bull can easily weigh
in excess of 2200 pounds. Although they are similar looking to a plains
bison there are some differences that makes them unique. They have
a larger, taller, more pronounced hump that is further forward than
the hump on a plains bison. (Plains bison have a comparatively rounded
back.) Wood Bison also have shorter hair on their brisket and a little
longer and more heavily haired tail than a plains bison.
In the winter the bison can not paw at the snow the
way that a horse can. Therefore they swing their huge head to the
move or nuzzle the snow away from the grass. This area
is not a deep snow area and therefore the bison are able to rustle
in the sedge meadows along the lakeshore or they will move and eat
the grass on the dry windswept slopes and ridges either above or
below timberline.
Our area is the only area in the Yukon that has Wild Wood Bison.
They are entirely free roaming and they are truly wild. A bison
hunt in the Yukon is not like shooting cows in a pasture! Our success
rates have been excellent but it is truly a hunt. We normally stay
in a cabin and we utilize snowmobiles during our bison hunts to
access the bison and to recover the meat and trophy. The season
starts in December for bulls or cows and continues through to the
end of March.
We have harvested some good bulls with our largest bulls scoring
well into the Boone & Crockett record book including the worlds
record bison (120 B&C) taken with a muzzleloader by Jim Shockey
and several bulls taken with a rifle, which scored 122 B&C,
or about #63 in the Boone and Crockett book.
updated
November 30, 2007
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