(Bowfishing Association of America image)
May 15, 2017
By Game & Fish Online Staff
New State Buffalo Record: For the second time in less than three weeks, a North Dakota bow fisherman has set a new state record .
Derek Larson's North Dakota state record buffalo. (Bowfishing Association of America image)
Derek Larson of Mandan  arrowed a new record buffalo on May 5 to follow up a new record common carp taken by Derek Barnick of Tappen on April 21.
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According to North Dakota Gamed & Fish, Buffalo have heavy-set bodies, large scales and are blue-green to bronze in color. The bigmouth buffalo has a relatively large mouth for a sucker, located at the end of its snout. It is the largest member of the sucker family. Buffalo are not commonly caught by anglers, but are often harvested by those who bowfish.
Larson's buffalo, pulled in from Heart Butte Reservoir on May 5, weighed a hefty 57 pounds 8 ounces and measured 45 inches. It broke the previous buffalo record of 54 pounds even, taken in the Heart River in 2011 by Keith Huschka of Dickinson.
Buffalo are a native fish sometimes confused with the nonnative and invasive common carp.
State Game and Fish Department records indicate that Larson's fish is the largest ever weighed in the state that was not a paddlefish or pallid sturgeon.
Also, according to records kept by Bowfishing Association of America , it was Larson's eighth state bowfishing record in North Dakota.
