Buffalo hunting caliber

I’m not gonna hunt them or shoot one, but a guy down the road has a pretty big herd of them. I was driving by and looking at them and wondering what folks use on Buffalo. I suppose a 30-06 would do it. Indians used to use arrows, so they can’t be that hard to kill.

They also had unlimited time to follow up a kill and wait until it dropped, and weren't in any rush
to get it dressed out and toted back to camp.
They didn't have a deadline to punch in the following Monday

I have killed two. One with a 375 H&H Mag and one with a 300 Win Mag. You are correct they are not hard to kill.

most of the time they ran them off cliffs

I would use a Sharps rifle in some old school caliber like .45-70 if I were to ever hunt them. Just because…

from what i understand the .45-70 was not the preferred caliber. The 45-90 or .45-110 was much more common on the buffalo plains for the heavy work.

That would be fine too. But the .45-70 is plenty powerful since the advent of smokeless powders which occurred after bison were essentially extirpated.

oh, 100%

i know two guys that have killed buffalo. One took 7 rage tipped broadheads ( complete passthrus ) and the other 6 shots with a 28 Nosler. I think the common way to kill them way back was a heart shot and then let nature take its course.

I have a buddy who hunted Rulon Jones ranch in Idaho for elk, his dad came and video'd the entire hunt. After he got his elk they shadowed another hunter who took a buffalo. Shot it low in the pump house with a .416 Rigby, the buffalo stood stock still for over 2 min with a full stream of blood pouring out his side before he layed down.


They are tough suckers

No doubt. I’ve heard it said that they are like moose - they almost always die easily but they almost never die quickly.

A .308 and 300wsm will work fine. Shot placement is key .

.338 Win Mag pushing a 225 gr. Bullet in the neck would park one.

They are not so much 'tough' as they just have a LOT of blood.

I have shot 3 of them in WY for meat. I use a 450 Marlin. It untracks them right there.

It all depends on where you plan on shooting them.

I shot my bull with a T/C Contender pistol in .30-30. One shot to the center of the forehead did it.

You can use just about anything if you're prepared to trail them for a long time.

Neck or head shots?

No that's a 243. From experience

WOULD or WILL?

I used a 375 H&H and it still ran 90 yards into a huge ravine. It wasn’t s fun experience getting it out either

I'd use a bow. A guy I know killed one with a 55 pound compound. I reckon getting close wouldn't be an issue

I always wanted to shoot one while riding a galloping horse. Using a bow would be my ultimate way but using a gun would still be something to remember.

The thought of me on a galloping horse while trying to shoot a bow is not a good mental picture.

If I were to go after one, I'd have to stick to the more traditional hunt....with a 45/70 and my Sharps rifle....it just sounds more like it should be done like that. If I were to try anything else, it would be one of my traditional muzzleloaders.

Both
It would kill one
It will kill one

As in have you done it or seen it done?

Not doubting the 338 WM… mostly not sure about the neck shot haha

Have some Indian blood in me that made me want to try it their way.

Large buffalo ranch outside of Larime, Wyoming the owner wants the old bulls shot in the neck for quick dispatch and DRT. A friend of mine has shot one this way and it dropped like a sack of potatoes.

It's the what we had todo. Mom and my uncle bought one for my grandfather. 5 years later he got pretty rank. There ended up being no loading in to trailer as we had already popped a horn and lost that fight. After that, about 200yard was as close as we could get. Out came the 243 , boom flop and then dragged him in to trailer and off to processor

Interesting. Saw an elk get hit in the neck a few times with a 30-06 and it didn’t work that well.

last one
killed on our lease earlier during oct time frame was with a 270 winchester to the heart . true she was the small(900lb) cow with 3 large bulls but at the time was all that could be handled

Neck shot with the .308, right bak of the ear about 6 inches or so. That is the shot WG&F recc. for bison many years ago.
We have taken 3 cow bison on Wyoming stat tags.
Both myself and the spouse took cows with a 300wsm. My rounds were 165 gr bonded bullets nd the spouse used 180 gr accubonds.
My 1 st cow was a neck shot , along with 5 other hunters that happened onto a nice group of bison. We all used the neck shot and they dropped like a rock.
Spouse took a lung shot and his cow went about 150 yds before going down for good, one shot kill.
My last cow was a shoulder shot and I hit it right in the shoulder joint at the ball socket. The Swift A frame shattered the shoulder socket and then passed through the ribs and chest cavity to be found under the hide on opposite side. She never took 2 steps before she went down and died fairly quickly.

Here's my 300wsm cow shot.

The bullet hole is just to the right of the clot. We used an axe to cut the ribs along the spine and that knife in the pic with 2 others for the field work. The A frame held together perfectly and had about 150 gr left of it. They have the nice yellow fat like grass fed beef.

The neck shot is straight back from the ear and it hits the spine at a spots that will put them right down. This is from the WG&F for shot placement.

This is a neat thread

I would add that the neck shot is a relatively close range shot, say 50-75 yds or so maybe longer with a good rest. My shoulder shot was from 300+ yds.

When WG&F gave out bison tags way back in the 90's you had to pass a shooting proficiency test before you could buy your license. Not a hard test, 3 shots in a 6 inch circle at 75 yds maybe, within a certain time frame. For my group only one gal was having issues and she was shooting a large caliber rifle that was not hers. Not sure if she ever passed or not. Couple of guys had 45-70s. My .308 was fine that year, they wanted 30 cal and larger.

Here is my 1st Wyoming cow. Took the shot from the ridge in the background.

Nice! I’d love to go on a free range bison hunt!

.243 is plenty of gun.

Unfortunately Tactical Cowboy the cow hunts are not what they used to be, but bulls can be taken with some certainty.
The price of the tag is what limits most from applying.
I believe for my last cow we had about $850 all in on that hunt, including tag and lodging with meals for a DIY hunt. We paid to have it drug down to the access road and gutted then we did the field work and took it home to hang and process ourselves.

i'd think any well fortified .30cal-ish bullet well placed would be fine. Of course i've never shot an animal that weight 1000+lbs. i'd think headshots don't really count for consideration because you can always go reasonably smaller on caliber than what's typically accepted when shooting at the head. i shoot 180grn nosler partitions thru my 3006, i have a hard time thinking much of anything in north america wouldn't reasonably succumb to a well placed one of those. probably not the weapon of choice for the big bears and such but even with them....i've heard people say that the most popular and available caliber back in the day in alaska was 3006 becuase its what they had.

I have personally shot 5 Bison (back when meat hunts were cheap)....so figured I could weigh-in my experience

- 1 middle aged bull, shot twice behind the shoulder with a .300 WSM using 180 gr. Barnes MRX factory ammo (died within 2-3 minutes)

- 1 mature cow, shot once behind the shoulder with a .45-70 using 325 gr. Hornady LeverEvolution ammo (died in less than one minute, heart shot)

- 3 mature cows, all shot between the eyes at 50-75 yards with a .300 WSM using 180 gr. Winchester XP3 ammo (all died instantly)

Any heavy 30 caliber (think 30-06 and up) with a 150+ gr. bonded or monometal bullet should do fine, if you hit them well in the heart/lungs. A second (or third) shot doesn't hurt either.

'Got a friend checking into a Bison hunt. I'm taking the .416 Rigby. It just sits in the safe anyways.

I know they're not the most challenging game animal out there, but I still would like to have a big ol' bull, from as "free range" as possible.

It all depends on how far you want them to go after you shoot them. And the above becomes a real issue when you’re talking about a 2000# bull.

I’ve owned as many as 250 +\- over the last 15 years. And I’ve probably witnessed more bison kills than anyone here. At least 80-90. I’ve seen many different mistakes. And try as I might to get outfitters to give their clients the best info, I find that most of the time they let the client make their own mistakes.

Anyone who thinks a buff is an easy kill is probably thinking about a head or spine shot, and if done right, yes, they drop like a bag of rocks. I have seen at least 7 botched head/neck shots. And I’m telling you that neck dot in that magazine pic is a couple of inches high.

I’ve seen heart shots with 375’s etc take 3 or 4 backup shots to drop them. I’ve also seen a well placed 308 heart shot drop them in a couple of steps. At my south Texas ranch I tell people now you shoot them where you want, but if it runs into that wall of brush you’re dragging it out. And then we talk about head and neck placement.

If you miss the heart and only get lungs you better have plenty of ammo. Ive seen as many as 8 rounds of 3006 taken to kill a cow with lung shots.

For bow hunters, you better not even think about mechanical blades. If you get lucky and slip it through the ribs before it deploys you’re ok, but I’ve only seen that happen once. Now, I won’t even let anyone shoot one with mechanical blades, I have a LOT of experience with disaster and mechanical blades.

Also, there is a HUGE difference between a cow and a mature bull. You can get by with mistakes on cows, but mature bulls will always make you pay.

I trust Wytex's advice on here.

This has been way more in depth and detail than I expected. Very interesting. If I ever do want to shoot a Buffalo, I pretty much have the info I need.

therancher is right about iffy shots. They can take forever to die but will die.
Watched a gal shoot a cow about 7 times just because it kept moving but not trying to get away, what a waste of ammo.

Between the eyes ruins the skull but is the best shot for putting them right down. The neck shot works great if you have a good rest and decent length shot.
Have not hunted bison behind a fence just wild free range so they may well have a different personality behind a fence.
Once you shoot one from a herd they will circle the downed animals some will attack it and some will circle to protect their downed herd member.
Hard to run off a herd of bulls and mature cows when you get one down.

Watched the guides take 2 guys up to a herd to shoot bulls with their compounds, They rode right up got off and took 2 bulls that never went 25 yds after the shots. Have no idea what they shot for broadheads but it worked.
My cow went right down and died quickly with a shoulder shot. Spouse's cow went about 150 yds on a lung shot and died quickly once down. Give them time to die. The haior can cause the bleeding out to take time.

Lots of folks take their Wyoming bulls from the NF and have to pack them out, it can be done with horses. I do not think either of us could pack a quarter off a mature cow even, they are stout. We tied her legs to the truck rack for processing and to turn her over.

You want some free range advise I can get you contact info for the Wyoming GW that deals with the bison hunts every year, he has seen it all on the NF and NER bison hunts near Jackson.


Wyoming gave out 25 NR bull bison tags last year and 413 folks applied for them at $4,402. Cows are $ 2,752. Some big bulls in the herd and they qualify for B&C .

Bulls are easier to fill and you get it all. Some guided hunts out there but not needed, just use the Tag N Drag service for gutting and retrieval. We brought out the hide, head and all the meat once dragged and gutted to the road on the refuge for our cows. The local processor will come out and pick them up in the field.

Wytex those skull holes are easy peazy to fix with a little caulk and some paint. I point that out to all my hunters. I don’t think behind fences matters with bison behavior. Some run, but most will let you drive up. I tell all my hunters that the hunt is in finding them, once you find them its a murder. And you are right about post kill behavior. They dang sure don’t run much when one goes down. Couple of things going on. One is trying to help the downed one. Other is they have a pecking order, you kill a bull of any age and the bulls get all disturbed about where they are in the new pecking order. I had two bulls that for six months would get into big fights when they smelled the blood spot where we killed another bull at. One of the most dangerous situations I ever had was when we shot a cow and the bull with that group wasn’t around. We were halfway through gutting when he showed up and evidently he thought that was his favorite cow. Man he was pissed and rank. Shot 8 rounds of buckshot at his feet before he finally backed off.

The fact that they don’t leave when one dies is why they were so easy to kill to near extinction.

Takes a brave man to raise those animals, my hats off to you sir.

Neighbor next to the ranch we work for had some, a few got loose one year but we missed the window to take one of them off the ranch, with their permission.
They had a high, hot wire around that ranch and still a few got loose occasionally.
The owners died in a boating accident and the rest of the herd is now just outside of Laramie, they sell bison meat.

The folks near us that have the Buffalo herd, they have a pipe fence.

90+% of bison are behind 5 strand barbed wire. The key is keeping them happy on their side.

So after these two pages, is the heart/lung shot, the Neck shot or the shoulder shot the best?

Even with my .300 win I would question a 180 grain bullet having enough constitution to be able to punch thru both sides.

IDK, Id think they'd be comparable to African game

And Id think a 300 wm would kill anything on our dirt humanly

My dad shot a buffalo with a 300wby. No problems dropped in its tracks. Nosler partition was the bullet he shot 180gr

I’ve inquired about hunting them and was told my pistol is plenty of gun. 460XVR with a 315 hard cast semi wad cutter. Said be ready for a follow up if placement wasn’t great. 45-70’s are used all the time, my pistol is faster, I have faith in it.

Anyone with any experience on shooting one with a bow?

I shot one a number of years ago just to help a landowner get rid of it. Just happened to be there. It was unplanned. Used a Marlin 30-30 and it was like shooting a cow in the head from about 50 yards. There wasn’t any sport to it in my personal experience. But I could see how the fur/hair could fool a person in shot placement.

I believe the old buffalo guns were for distance and economic insurance to take the animal down.

thats what they had back in the day....slow, heavy bullets pushed by black powder. the .30-30 came about long after the buffalo were gone from the plains

All those questions were answered in the 2 pages, you just didn’t read. All I’ll repeat is that if you bow shoot one, use 2 edge fixed blade.

Use a bonded bullet and your 300WM is more than enough, I would opt for a quartering away shot at the opposite shoulder, neck shot if it is close range with a good rest.
A bonded bullet out of a 300WM should almost pass through a bison unless hit every big bone in both shoulders.

Their winter hide will soak up blood and aid in clotting so that is why lung shots can be iffy, they will die but may go a long way before their huge chest cavity fills with blood. They have a huge chest area and relatively smaller back ends for a big animal.

This is the spouse's cow that he shot with a 300wsm and 180 gr Accubonds. He had a 150 yd shot or so and she went another 250 yds before piling up. You can see he made a good quartering away shot and knew it so he let her die without another shot or pushing her. He did follow her as he could on foot to watch and make sure she would not go forever, she staggered and went down so he just watched her die. She did not put out blood for several yds after the spot where he shot her, you can see she did where she went down for good.

These hunts in Wyoming are not just go and get some bison meat, they will test you but they are free range. For us they are affordable compared to a ranch hunt but for NR I think the free range part is what makes them desirable. The tags aren't cheap for NR.

What I gathered is that all will work, and all have their issues. Very inconsistent results save for the head/neck and even that can be botched.



And you never stated use a two blade fixed....all you said what you didn't recommend a mechanical.

My reading comprehension is just fine

There'll be this dude with a .416 Rigby close by.

your posts have been most helpful.

I guess the part i am struggling with is shooting a 1500-2000# animal with a .300 wm. It will crumple an elk but were are talking about a much larger animal.

Seems ya'll have shot alot of buffalo in WY.....are the tags fairly easy to draw there? I have a buddy who drew last year for the Henry Mountains, but that is a long, long shot draw odds wise

if that is the case i am gonna shank him with my recurve....i trust you in case things go south.


FYI I don't expect you to stop the buffalo. I want you to shoot me in the back before i get gored

I saw 2 guys with compounds take bulls , both went right down and did not travel away from the herd. It was pretty impressive.
I would echo what therancher says, fixed blade, stout broadheads.
They rode up on the herd on horseback, got off and shot within 30 yds.

Many get taken with recurves etc.. Native Americans didn't have compounds, lol.

Bull tags in Wyoming are harder to draw and Once in a Lifetime if you take a bull. Cows can be drawn now every 5 years or so with decent odds for residents. However the cows now move onto the National Elk Refuge much later and the hunt is no guarantee animals will be available. You can hunt them early on the NF but it is very hit or miss.
Bulls are usually 100% take as they move around more and can be found on the NF most of the season until snow gets deep. They move to the refuge earlier most years.

We've taken 3 cows and will apply for a bull one of these years, sooner than later. All of our hunts were on foot and we processed our own bison after they were gutted by the outfitter.
The largest cow was 6 1/2 years old and she was great eating too, spouse's cow. My cows were 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 yrs old.

Apparently between the eyes is best. Just fix with caulk.