Bison Hunt

[dficklin]

Is it possible to hunt American Buffalo or Bison with a .270? If so, what size/type bullet? Thanks!

[farmer]

I would not do it. The minimum I would take is a 300 magnum with heavy bullets designed for deep penetration.
I did some more research a 338 magnum would be even better.

[turner1978]

Like Farmer said "Don't do it!" It is probably possible to kill a buffalo with a 270 but why? Odds are you would just cause a lot of needless suffering. I personally wouldn't use anything less than a 338 win mag with premium bullets like A-frame, barnes, t-bonded bear claw, etc.

[hunterNick]

dficklin
I have seen a boy shoot a trophey american bison with a 7mm-08, but I would suggestusing a minimum caliber of a 30-06 with a good shoot.

[Yooper]

I'd have to say it depends on how comfortable you are with your .270. Would I do it? Oh no... Me, I like big bullets for critters that can stomp and gore me into the ground...

They had one escape off of a ranch in Michigan onto private property. They tried to capture the beast, but that's not so easy. After a while, it was determined that the animal must be destroyed and the opportunity to do so fell to the land-owner. He went "old school" and got an authentic 45-70 from the era and harvested the animal after a two day hunt. Pretty cool.

[biggamearcher32]

shooting buffalo with a 270 is not a good idea i would not even hunt elk with a 270 but that is just my opinion. i would more go for a .300 win mag.

[hunter1992]

I would not advise it. If you are going to spend money and go on a bison hunt why go underguned. As said before don't go with anything smaller than a 300 Win mag. A 270 will work fine for elk if you know how to shoot it. The old 30-30 has probably shot more elk than any other caliber. I even know someone that shot a small cow moose with a 270 but that didn't seem like a good idea to me.

[protector]

I've never hunted buffalo, but I did a quick search for recommended calibeers and ran across a Billings Gazette newspaper article quoting a Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks official as saying the agency recommends .30 caliber or larger. FWP has shot with .22-250 in the brain and .270 in the heart and they work, but not recommended. The opinion was based on the experiences of FWP personnel who apparently used to take hunters out to find buffalo during hunts in the past. Then comes the surprising part: big magnums that move really fast don't work as well:
"What's hard for people to grasp is that the higher magnums, the bullets that fly really fast, tend to blow up instead of penetrate. They're not the best. The bullets will not penetrate" TThe slower-moving, larger-grain bullets will get better penetration. Rifles like a .30-06 with a 220 grain bullet work well.""Some of the bigger magnums as long as they weren't maxed out in terms of the grain of the bullet and were slow enough, they worked well, too. The high-speed magnums were less efficient."

Even more important than caliber, however, is where a hunter puts the bullet.

"Shot placement is the most important thing. That's critical." "Generally, when we were going along with hunters, we were telling people that if we were close enough, they should be brain shooting them. Generally, you want to shoot them in the ear, forward into the brain. You can't shoot them if they're sideways or if they're facing you. There's greater margin for error" "Sometimes, people will shoot them in the horn or the top of the skull and the bullet will just bounce off."
Making a heart shot is also effective, but that has its hazards, too.
"For the average person, to try to shoot them in the heart also takes an adjustment." "Their front shoulders are huge when you look at them through the scope. The average hunter would shoot them in the lungs.