Bison
Hunting in Alberta
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| Free ranging wild bison
are one of North America’s most unique and impressive
trophies. One of the few places you can hunt wild, free-ranging
bison is in Alberta, Alberta offers one of the very few
opportunities to hunt these magnificent animals in a truly
fair chase situation. Alberta's population of buffalo
was an area of boreal forest, parkland and open wetlands
along the Peace, Athabasca and Slave Rivers in northern
Alberta. These bison were designated as a separate subspecies,
based on several perceived characteristics such as larger
size and darker coloration.
Bison utilize scattered
pockets of grass/sedge habitat along beaver ponds, sloughs
and bog lakes. Bison may be hunted anywhere they are
found in northern Alberta, except within the Wood Buffalo
National Park and within a new Bison Protection Area
in northwestern Alberta, where they have been recently
re-introduced. Contrary to the popular perception of
a bison hunt, this may be one of the toughest hunting
experiences on the continent! Most of this region can
only be travelled in winter when the creeks and muskegs
are frozen. A tent camp in temperatures as low as -30
is the norm. Hunters may travel up to 100 miles in a
day by snowmobile searching for fresh tracks, which
if found must be followed up on foot.
The rewards for the dedicated
hunter can be great however. Studies have shown that
many of the bulls in this area are positively ancient,
and trophy potential very high. As well, there is the
satisfaction of having hunted one of the rarest and
most awesome trophies, a true free ranging bison on
its northern range!
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