Montana Wilderness Bison and Elk Hunt | THE ADVISORS: Dinosaur

Where are we at this morning? We are in Montana and we are not too far from Yellowstone Park and Colter, my 11 year old, drew a buffalo tag. So we've put together a pretty good team and we've got what, nine horses? Nine horses and mules and we're going in super light. We're gonna get saddled up here in the next hour and we've probably got a four or five hour ride, maybe 12 to 15 miles and then we'll scout for buffalo tonight with Colter and then tomorrow morning is opening day. 66. When our kids were born, my wife and I agreed that we would give them every opportunity we could to hunt with them. We've always known that memories made on our family hunts will stay with us forever. True to our promise, we've managed to hunt all over the west under all types of circumstances. However, of all my family hunts I had planned in the past, my 11 year old son Colter's bison hunt made me the most nervous. We were about to embark on a 15 mile hunting trip into Montana's wilderness that was filled with risks, from renting additional pack horses to grizzly bears and everything in between. I knew that being prepared with good gear, good horses, and good friends were going to be the key to having a fun, safe, and successful hunt with my son. As we left the trailhead and started into the wilderness, the rhythm of the horse's hooves and the squeaking of the saddles fueled my excitement for this true once-in-a-lifetime hunt with my son. Well, we made it. It took a lot longer than we thought. That's always the way it is, but buffalo sign all over camp. Hopefully we wake up and shoot one right here in the morning. Hey dad, I'm gonna go wash my hands in the creek. Look at what he found. Where were you guys? We walked over there to try to find those other people and he's like, dad can I take this? Dude, right on. That's a big one. Look at the fronts on that. Wow. That's a Boone and Crockett moose. Flip it around on the other side. I marked it for you. Yeah, Colter, let's go find that thing. I could have sworn I just heard a bison go over there. What the heck? You were not joking. Yeah, buddy. There's five or six of them. Shane just spotted a bunch of buffalo there. So, there's a bison right next to camp. Tabana, you gonna go find one? I hope. No, that's a yes. You got a good team here assembled. Borderline A team. I'd bring it down a little bit. Apologies. Let's kind of wait here for a little bit and then maybe hunt our way down the valley. See anything else that's out there. Saddling the horses or just walking it out? I don't know yet. I haven't decided. Kind of waiting to see if they just poked their heads up. I mean, they could be like right here still. Well, that's the thing. Are they bedding in the willows? Are they bedding up in the timber? Right. No way. He could actually come in here shooting elk on the 15th of September. The elk is right there. Yeah, there's a bull right over here. There's a couple bulls over here. Don't tell anyone that. There's a cow running right there. You can see her out in the meadow. Oh yeah, look at that. Is that a bull running across? No, it was a cow. Really? I figured there was a bull with her but she's running like she's spooked. Or a bull's chasing her. If I was a big old nasty bull though, I'd be right up in that thing. Nasty big old hole. I can see everybody coming. There's the bull. He's a nice bull. You can see him right now. He's that white patch right there. Gosh, he's so bright. I could just see the elk just a second ago. He's right on the elk. Yeah, he's right on the elk. He's got right in there on him. There's a big single bull buffalo down there right now. He's right there. We better go get him. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, there's two bull elk down there. They just was in too tall of willows to get a shot at them but it's fun. Good time. I saw you running around down there. It looked like you were having fun. Yeah. He's down there but it's a nasty spot and he's just feeding right there. So let's go take a look at it. How far? Two miles. Oh, that's not bad. You want me to stay and load pack the horses? I mean going down there without horses. I'm thinking if right now if we just grab some gear. Let's just go down there and come back and get horses. Yeah, two miles. Because honestly if we get down there and start breaking them apart, a couple guys work on that. Come back and get horses and pack them up closer. You want me to zoom and scope it out more? Okay. He's going to clear that bridge. You ready, Walter? Yep. Slow squeeze. Slow squeeze. Guys, slow squeeze. Good job, buddy. Nice job. We just watched him. Good job, buddy. That's where you wanted to hit him. Dad, I broke the... I already broke it. Good job, son. Is he dead? That bull is way better than the bulls over there. He looks like a dinosaur. He looks like he's older than you. Thanks for coming. Thanks for the invite. If you didn't get that on camera. How far in are we? 15 miles? I'll be closer to 20. Hey, Mom. I just shot a giant buffalo with one shot. Right after I shot, he dropped down and he still hasn't gotten up. No way. Nice job. They said he's like a dinosaur. What a crazy day. He better not be bigger than mine or I'll be jealous. He's way bigger. He is? The meat better be good too or else I'm going to kick you out of the house. It's old. Yeah, it's older than Colter is. Oh, well that's not tough to beat. If it was older than your dad, then it would definitely be a dinosaur. That is true. Oh my gosh. Dude, that's the coolest part. It's so big. Can I feel it? Oh my gosh, I can't even put both my hands around it. You need two teeth to age him. Or you can use only two teeth. And he only has one. The other is gone. That's how old he is. Alright, we better try to flip him before he stiffens up. Oh my gosh. Are you kidding? Dude, that's the biggest hump I've ever seen on a buffalo. Oh man, look at that. Oh my gosh. It's just awesome to watch him. Buffalo don't usually do that. No, never. And did him a favor. He was old. Dad, I think it's time for my Twix. You could have every tag in the country from now on. I don't know if you could kill one that was any bigger and coodler than this one. Now, we're going to put it with the back chunk. It's got the evidence of sex on it. Montana went to Montana went to paper tags this year and they get wet. They just fall apart. Hopefully this works. Let's flip it towards you. We'll spend this evening just paddle hunting. We're going to paddle down the river. There's two more big bull buffalo right here. Are you serious? So, we were sitting there and two of us were working. I think someone was skipping rocks. Was that you? We've seen a bunch of guys walking down the creek. There's only five buffalo tags in this unit. We knew there was another guy around here. We watched them kill their buffalo. How many times did they shoot? Eight. It was still standing. They take a lot of lead. Oh, that wasn't their pack string. That's ours. It's kind of a maze to get through there. What did these guys have to say? I said, it's kind of hard to get them down. The guy was like, I just can't get him. He turns and blood is running down his face. It was a rodeo. They were running all over. I was just coming through the trees and the shooting started. I was like, was it grizzly? It sounded like right here. I was like, what the heck? I could see the orange going through the trees. Then I said, they're after another one. Colter, he did a phenomenal job. One shot to just pile them up. You should have said that. An 11-year-old just rolled one shot. Right here. One, two, three, smile. It's like a fruit by the foot. Come here. You're going to pack this one. All right, bud. We'll see you in a little bit. Man, it's a good day to have horses. Yes, it is. Are you going to pack them back on your back? That's a horse job. Look at that. That's so crazy. That just came out. I bet his teeth hurt so bad. Let's try that. Pretty good. Didn't have to adjust it at all. He just died, man. What are you thinking? 80 pounds? I don't know. If you can't put the full effort into it, just don't try. What happened this morning? What? Oh, chimney crickets. God dang it. You forget I'm a camera guy. I know. This morning, we got left behind, I think. Woke up. Daylight out. Well, after daylight. To a gun shop just right behind camp where we heard the bulls beagling last night. We probably got it done. I guess we're the pack meals today. We'll see how it goes here shortly. I got left this morning. Do we have bulls down or what? 50-50. Shane went up the mountain and was going to hunt the band of cliffs down and drop back to camp. We had hunted down, made a big loop and were coming back and heard a gun shot below the cliffs. So Shane shot. The cool thing is, we got to drop these packs and I want to show you guys something. We skirted the timber on the way back and we found a Forest Service plaque in gravesite. In like 1915, there was a guy killed by a grizz. No way. It's a cool story. We got to walk over and look at it. Heck yeah. History man. A guy killed by a grizzly 400 yards from our camp. Lovely. Big shooter. You got blood on your hand. I walked right into them. Bedded at about 40 yards. They jumped up. I heard the shot. It was 40 yards. It was in the thick trees. I seen them going and they all stopped because the wind was good. They didn't know exactly what it was. So they stopped. I was just, boom. He just took off. He ran about 50-60 yards and tipped over. It was that bull from yesterday that was in the spot scope. The one from yesterday? Nice. It's so pretty in there. Is he up on the mountain or on the flat? I couldn't tell where you're at. You see where the black timber turns to looks like tundra. Sorry guys. I don't think we're getting out today. Good. That's a pretty good one. He passed on that bull yesterday to let us kill that bull buffalo with the boy. Worked out for him. Got to kill him this morning. I would have used a lot bigger chain. No doubt. Amazing. What did you find in the mountains? Man. He had a journey and a half. Could you imagine that? Coming here in the 1800s and ending up in this valley slinging bullets with Theodore Roosevelt. Right here. We got him. Dude, hell yeah. Did you hit him? Look how pretty he is though. He is so pretty. Nice work killer. Thanks man. Team effort. Look at that Brady. That is awesome. That's what you call a bull. Look at his freaking fists. I know. That back end is so nice. Yesterday when we seen him through the spot and scope and I seen those backs, I was like he's big. Big enough. That is awesome. 1, 2, 3 Big smiles. Coulter smile. That is so awesome. What a day. They don't get any better than this. These are the few hunts. How are you guys tired? Better get some more sticks there son. I am going to literally when these boys are all in their 20s and just studs. I am going to go in a hole and shoot a cow and I am going to give them the GPS coordinates and say go get it. Go get that cow. Every time when I was a kid I just shot stuff where I needed to shoot. My dad he would just son don't you ever think how we are going to get this out of here. I said no. I was up there on the mountain looking and I was like well could have been worse dad. What a 48 hours man. It has been pretty good. We haven't had a lot of slack time. No not a lot of slack time. That is ok though. It is the last morning. That is a possibility because if Coulter shoots a bull that is where we are going to end up. Was it yesterday the last morning? Yeah. And then what happened? It gets Sunday and it is the last morning. You have to lift it off the ground. There. 83 That ain't bad. That is a side. The other hind is right. Robert your son is over there trying to call in an elk while we are trying to pack up. He just roared right there. We are literally trying to get packed. And he heard it too. So he is calling at him again. And we have heard this one bull doogling this morning and he is out in the field trying to call a man. He is like right here. He is getting louder. You know what if he calls it in we can make two trips. I swear it is going to come. This is why I only take one Hanuman boy hunting at a time. Because there is no way all of us can handle three of them at once. As you see that is one. Times that by three and that is my life. Perfect. Go ahead and start. Did you cut my rope? I have had this rope since I was a kid. Good things have to come to an end sometime. I think we are good. Somebody else's. Right through the tree. You don't get many hunts like this in a lifetime. In the moments it feels special. But when you look back on the memories it feels incredible. I was lucky enough to share these moments with my son and three good friends. And to top it off we were able to capture it on video and share it. I am not one to get too sentimental or dramatic. But this truly was the hunt of a lifetime. These moments in the field they stay with you forever. Although Colter may not fully appreciate what it means yet, as time goes on I know he will. We made her? Barely. It was an adventure from start to finish for sure. You suck. I think you might start putting on clinics about horse whispering because you are as good as I have ever seen. I have been listening to you whisper to this horse the whole way out. And I am still getting beat up. Stop. Hey. Hey. Would you chill? What are you doing? Hey. What size is his head? Watch out behind you. Pretty slick.