New Buffalo Record Set

A bow fisherman from Bismarck has set a new bow/spear state record.

Mitch Estabrook arrowed a 60-pound, 8-ounce buffalo from Heart Butte Reservoir on May 16. It broke the previous record by 3 pounds, taken at Heart Butte Reservoir in 2017 by Derek Larson of Mandan.

Buffalo are a native fish sometimes confused with nonnative and invasive common carp. North Dakota Game and Fish Department records indicate that Estabrook’s fish is the largest weighed in the state that was not a paddlefish or pallid sturgeon.