The day was a normal day. Scrutinizing and optimizing machine schedules to meet the needs of the customer base. Answering emails, even drafting a few to procure material for upcoming machine shop work. Checking the time clock to make sure everyone’s time was right. Processing new orders and invoicing completed ones. Getting the logistics scheduled for outgoing shipments and fielding a few phone calls in between… My mobile phone placed strategically to the left of my keyboard begins to buzz. “Brad Walters” from Hells Canyon Outfitters shows up on my iPhone!
Usually, I am the one ringing Brad to harass him for a good deal on a hunt for some acquaintance that is asking me where they should hunt in Idaho… What must he want from me? Surely, he is tying up his winter mountain lion hunts and preparing for the spring bear season. Why is he calling me?
Over the years that I have known Brad; I have always tried planting the seed that I would love to hunt Bison someday! Brad’s father Ken owns and operates Mountain View Elk Ranch. This ranch is nestled high atop the mountain outside of Riggins, Idaho. Boasting 6000 acres of some of the most beautiful and rigorous mountains and valleys overlooking the famed “River of No Return” Salmon River, Ken happens to have a thriving heard of American Bison traversing his property.
Brad’s voice begins, “Are you still interested in a Bison hunt? I think we have a spot open!” My heart must have seriously skipped a beat, my hands got clammy and as fast as I could reply, I said “When?” Brad responded calmly, “When are you available over the next few weeks?” And thus, the planning began!
I got home from work (needless to say, after that phone call my workday was shot) and went straight to my gun safe. As the heavy door of my safe swung slowly open, the decision of which firearm to take on this Bison venture didn’t even get past the front row. There it was! My Parkwest Savanna chambered in 375 H&H magnum. Such a beautiful piece. Almost too fine to take any further then a controlled gun range environment, and I was planning to hike some of the steepest country in north central Idaho with this Rolls Royce strapped to my shoulder.
The last time I had had this rifle out of the safe was the deep cleaning that I did to it after my last African safari in the Summer of 2024. I knew that I needed to get out and spend some range time with the beautiful Parkwest. The barrel needed to be fouled as it was shiny clean in the bore.
A few hours of firing and brushing, cooling and firing again would have me deciding to set the sights a touch low at 100 yards. I live in Lewiston, Idaho and the elevation is a mere 746 feet above sea level and I knew that we would be chasing the wily tatonka around the mountains above 4000 feet elevation. Banking on my bullet strikes being a bit higher due to the thinner air at the hunting elevation.
One thing is for sure, I love shooting this rifle! The Parkwest guarantee for accuracy is no joke and even in a heavy magnum caliber, it performs much better that I as a shooter can. The other part of the equation is that with such a beautiful piece of workmanship, I can’t help myself from taking pictures of my Parkwest Savanna in its element whether its on the range or on the mountain!
With my rifle sighted in where I wanted it to be, my confidence built in the performance of the gun, and a fair number of ammunition loaded to spec. I was ready for my trek to Mountain View Elk Ranch.
I met Brad and Ken along with Brad’s 12-year-old son Tanner and we made our way up the high ridge to look for the elusive American Bison. We spent a little while glassing some ridges and valleys. Looking over a plethora of Mule Deer, Elk and Turkeys. I even spotted a couple Whitetail deer in the mix. As Brad explained the property boundaries to me, the sheer number of spring wildlife inside and out of the ranch property was surprising. I was amazed at the number of elk on the public land. Most of this wildlife was still in their winter range and had not begun the accent to the high country for the summer.
Plastered to my Swarovski 10×42 EL Range binoculars, I spotted a few Bison feeding slowly around a ridge at 890 yards below us. Brad felt like there were more out of view and that we should begin our decent to get a better look. Keeping the wind in our favor we moved down the long ridgeline to a rock outcropping just shy of 300 yards from the brown, black and fuzzy bovine. By the time we made our way to this position a half dozen cows and young bulls had fed their way around the ridge. With the wind in our face, we made ourselves comfortable to wait and watch what might make its way out on the open face of the hillside. Brad and Ken educated me on what to look for and the difference between the visible features of cows and bulls. I’ve not been around many Bison, so I needed such education. One cow had us spotted and wasn’t really happy about the visiting humans on the hill. What seemed like an instant, the whole herd was down over the hill and out of sight. I could make out the back of one or two that had not been aware of our presence when the one cow blew this gig up. Brad told me that we would just hang tight and once they calmed down, we would see what they would do before making a move.
Within a period of about 45 minutes time the weary herd began moving back around the ridge into view. We backed up on the ridge a bit to stay out of direct view. Pretty soon a big black mature bull moved around the ridge followed by another bull who seemed a bit thicker in the shoulders and head, but shorter then the black beast. The ridgeline gradually sloped then gave way to a steep section just before a short bench. The Bison bulls and a few cows made there way to this bench as it seemed to have a bit more lush grasses to their liking. Once they made this bench all that we could see was their backs due to the steep shelf that fell off from the slope we were on to the bench. The shorter thicker bull made his way to our left and out of sight. A few young bulls fed their way off of the bench and out to a point on the ridge and bedded down. Brad felt like we needed to back up and move around the ridge out of sight and close the distance for a closer shot opportunity.
Keeping in mind the other mature bull that had wandered out of sight to our left. As we moved around the ridge we found the other bull bedded but could only see his back line. We found a nice little rock pillar that provided needed camouflage as well as a steady rest. Brad placed his backpack on the rock to offer a soft surface for my beloved Parkwest to rest on as to not scratch up any portion of the beautiful rifle.
From this vantage point we could see all the Bison on the bench, the young bulls on the point and the back of the one bull below and to our left. The big black bull at this point was the determined target animal. Now the waiting began for him to offer a shot opportunity. Brad had specifically asked that I take a neck shot for two reasons. One, to not ruin much meat. Two to anchor the huge beast where he was. The steep nature of this terrain is not a place to let a large animal like these Bison roll forever down the hill!. Taking this all into consideration and viewing the enormous shoulder and extremely large head of these beasts, there isn’t much of a neck to aim at which narrows the scope of opportunity for a shot.
The black bull was quite busy chasing other young bulls, running after cows and just moving around too much to give me shot options. So… We waited and waited and waited. Seconds seems to like minutes and minutes like hours. Then the big black bull for some reason thought it be in his best interest to harass the short and stalky bull bedded down to our left. The black bull began his laser focused banter toward the stalky bull. He moved quickly toward the other bull, head down in an aggressive posture and hooked the stalky bull in the rear end… All hell broke loose with a launch of two tons of hair and muscle and with a loud bellow the stalky bull lunged up and spun around with the agility of a cheetah and chassed the black bull away from his spot and back toward the small herd.
The Stalky bull stood broadside to us, his head extended with a fire-like stare in his eyes toward the black bull. The sun bounced off his blondish back creating a glowing halo and the black crown on his forehead appeared to glisten deep blue cause of the oily nature of this hair. Brad whispered to me, “There is your shot if you want that bull!” Seeing the breathtaking beauty of his multicolored cape and the large horns protruding from his head, I liked him. I reached up with ever so little movement of my right thumb to disengage the safety of the rifle. Peering through the Leupold 1-6x VX6 scope, I found the base of his right ear and moved the cross heir back about 4 inches. Burning the cross heirs into the dark brown almost black hair on his neck, the trigger broke and sent a 270 grain Barnes TSX bullet careening through the spine of the big stalky bull. Upon impact the bull Bison fell directly in his tracks! Tanners words rang in my ears as he said, “That rifle folded him like a
lawn chair!”
As we approached the dispatched bull Bison, the black bull didn’t take to kindly to us being on his mountain. He mock charged once and stood drooling, shaking his head and pawing the ground as if to challenge us to a game of king of the hill. Brad told me that I might want to load the rifle just in case! After he realized that I had the power of his life and death in my hands, the Parkwest Savanna 375 H&H, he chose to vacate with the rest of the small herd.
As Brad and Ken began working up the cape and quarters of this behemoth critter, Tanner filled me in on his taking of his very first big game animal the fall prior, a healthy cow elk that he harvested with a 308 Win. He asked me a few questions about my Parkwest 375 H&H and when I handed him a round from the rifle, his eyes danced with interest. I flippantly asked if he wanted to shoot it! Almost as fast as I had answered Brad about the Bison hunt, Tanner responded “YES!!!”
Tanner is a fairly small young man for the age of 12, but boy is he a work horse for grandpa’s ranch. He wasn’t afraid one bit about tripping the trigger on the large magnum! I had him set down with his knees up to rest his elbows on, coached him about holding the rifle tight to his shoulder. I turned the power selection of the scope down to 3x and he settled in. When Tanner touched off the shot, the Parkwest barked and pushed him back lifting both of his feet off the ground and standing the rifle barrel straight in the air! He jumped up, spun around with eyes the size of silver dollars and said, “That was SO cool!” I’m of the persuasion that his grandpa better be giving him a raise cause his piggy bank just changed names to “Parkwest Fund”!
Currently 98% of Bison hunts now days are estate hunts as there are not many free-range opportunities available. This hunt being an estate hunt was far from a pasture trip and shooting over the hood of a pickup truck. We spotted, stalked and hunted my American Bison and I will be proud to display his mount in my trophy room and tell the story of the unfailing performance of my trusty Parkwest Savanna 375 H&H Magnum!
