The Great Buffalo Hunt

By Ralph Chain

While there is a distinct difference between a bison and a buffalo, bison is commonly referred to as the American buffalo or buffalo in the United States.

We have an outfitting service here at Chain Ranch which is run by my grandson, Newley Hutchison. We entertain clients who come from all over the United States.

Newley was contacted by Smith and Wesson Firearms out of Massachusetts. They had developed a new .50 caliber pistol and were wanting to try their hand with the new S&W500 pistol on harvesting large game. They wanted to send eight expert marksmen on a buffalo hunt in northwestern Oklahoma to try out the new gun. Two of the men were retired CIA agents, one of whom was involved in special operations in Cuba, the other was from Washington D.C., where he served on the police force for 30 years.

Not being able to say no to such an impressive client and knowing we did not have all the buffalo we needed for the hunt, we contacted a large buffalo ranch that neighbors us in Kansas to increase our buffalo herd. The ranch manager informed Newley that they were getting ready to ship 19 large bulls to slaughter at a processing plant in Colorado, and he was welcomed to come up and pick the four big bulls he needed. Upon returning home, rather than the four that were needed, he bought all 19 of the big bulls, which sounded good at the time.

Newley was under the impression that the bulls were accustomed to barbed wire fences, so he casually mixed them with our original buffalo herd, which is on 4,000 rough, mountainous acres, thinking that they would settle with the original herd. They settled alright; they settled in a 30-mile radius with each bull having a small harem of cows.

Upon checking the herd the next morning, we could only find three buffalo left on the 4,000 acres they were supposed to be on. One of the first things Newley learned is that you cannot drive a buffalo. The only way you can drive him is in the direction he wants to go. With hunters arriving for the great hunt, Newley also had calls from the Highway Department saying there were buffalo on the highway, calls from the neighbors complaining that buffalo bulls were with their Hereford cows, calls from the Major County Sheriff’s Department saying there were buffalo on several different roads about to be hit by cars and calls from the Fairview City workers saying there were buffalo drinking out of the sewer lagoons. As the hunters arrived, not only were Newley and family members guiding, but all the local law officials, neighbors and passers-by were helping with the hunt.

Locating the bulls was not the only obstacle they had to overcome. When they did find some of the bulls and were able to harvest them, the next obstacle was loading a 2,000-pound bull out of a 30-foot canyon and into town to be processed. It is amazing how little attention one draws driving through the streets of Seiling and Fairview pulling a flatbed trailer with two to three big buffalo carcasses headed for the processing plant. (The story only made four newspapers)

We had already scheduled the buffalo to be processed at the Seiling packing house, but after they received a half-dozen buffalo to be processed in a 24-hour time period, they decided they didn’t need any more buffalo. So Fairview, being the next closest processing plant, was our next choice on patronizing. After about a dozen, they decided they wanted out of the buffalo processing business as well. With our next closest commercial processing plant being 60 miles away, our only option was to turn our deer processing facility into a bison packing house.

After a three-day adventurous hunt, all hunters went home happy with big stories to tell, but we still had 70 percent of our buffalo herd scattered across Major County. A month later, with freezers full and a small buffalo herd intact, we had the situation under control. Needless to say, the Cub Scouts, FFA groups, 4-H groups, senior citizens, and anyone else who wanted buffalo meat had their fill of buffalo, and we were getting a little tired of eating buffalo burgers, roasts, and chili.

It was one of the last great buffalo hunts in northwestern Oklahoma. We certainly don’t keep such a large herd anymore. If you have any questions about hunting buffalo, visit www.chainranch.com.

This story originally appeared in the November 2026 issue of Oklahoma Farm & Ranch.