Northern Alberta is one of the few places where you can hunt wild, free-ranging bison, and it's the only place where you don't have to draw a license in a competitive permit lottery to hunt free-roaming bison on their original range.

This outfitter hunts isolated populations of these animals that live outside their main range, the unfenced Wood Buffalo National Park, a vast wilderness and the largest park in the world. He is by far the most experienced bison outfitter in Alberta with 10 years under his belt.

These animals do not live in open, grassy plains but in forests, where they feed in small meadows, bogs and marsh edges. They share this habitat with moose, caribou and wolves.

The wet ground in these boreal forests and bogs makes most of their range inaccessible except during the winter when the ground is frozen. The outfitter uses snowmoviles to penetrate the area on oil exploration seismic lines, creek bottoms, old trapper trails and ancient bison trails.

You should be in pretty good shape. You'll ride a snowmobile cross-country until you cut a bison track. Then you'll proceed on foot.

"This could be one of the toughest hunts in North America," the outfitter said. "Alberta law allows residents to hunt these bison year round, without licence or limit. The fact that huntable populations of bison are still out there attests to how tough the hunting is. You will not see any resident hunting pressure.

"My hunters do well because of my experience and because I'm willing to work harder than other outfitters. Other outfitters offer this hunt, but few have actually been there, and none has come back for a second season.

To get to the bison, we often have to cut trails where traveling lanes have grown over or where saplings are bent over by the snow."

Bulls can reach 2,400 pounds, and some of them grow impressively heavy horns. No CITES permits is required to export the trophy, but bison meat may not be taken to the United States. Hunters are encouraged to donate their meat to local charities or families.

Bulls can reach 2400 pounds and there are some truly heavy horned trophies. The existence of these animals in their northern forest habitat was unknown at the time when the population on the plains was brought to the edge of extinction. Lodging is in a tent camp heated by woodstoves and situated close to the hunting territory. You must travel 50 miles by snowmobile just to reach camp. The outfitter takes no more than two hunters at a time.

Though it's possible to hunt from early December through March, the outfitter thinks that mid-February through March is the best time because days are longer and the weather warmer than in mid-winter. Still, temperatures range from 30 below 0 to the 40s.

He encourages hunters to buy a wolf license, which costs about $50, and he does not charge extra if you're lucky enough to shoot a wolf.

Hunts last eight days with one day in and one day out of camp. A cook/helper mans the camp. You'll be picked up in High Level, serviced by several small commercial airlines.

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