Where the Buffalo, er, Bison Roam

We live far out in our county. Right across the road is a herd of Bison (aka buffalo. The words are used interchangeably but they are correctly Bison - buffalo live in the water in other parts of the world.)

(It’s tough being a word stickler. Don’t get me started on using “of” with “should” or “could” or other words instead of “have” - which I couldn’t even type here because the editor is a bigger stickler than me! I suspect my “sticklerness” is worse for those who have to listen to me.)

So - the Bison.

When we first moved here, imagine our excitement to find a herd of Bison right across the road. They are BIG. They make cattle look like midgets. There was a beautiful herd with mommas, babies, and a big bull who had a bit of a gimp in his getalong, but it didn’t stop him from doing his job - protecting the herd and making more babies.

Not the local herd, but similar. Photo by Andrew Patrick

They always moved slowly, and they had a good life - lots of pasture, some hay when it got cold and hard to find food, shelter. The energy they gave to the neighborhood was sacred and profound. We counted ourselves lucky to live so close to them.

Then the herd became almost non-existent. No more babies. The people who were raising them fell on some tough times and their herd of Bison dropped down to about half a dozen individuals. It’s been several years, and over time we noticed the herd size slowly increasing. And then we had a wonderful surprise.

It was a dark and windy day. (It really was). Usually the Bison will hang out on the side of their hill away from our road, but this day, they came streaming down the hill, running. Magnificent! Among them were babies, mini-bison who were just as speedy as the adults. We’ve never seen them move that fast.

Across the road and on top of the hill. Hard to see the babies, but they’re there.

Something obviously spooked them, and it was probably an approaching storm, complete with thunder and lightning. They surged into the front pasture and looked as though they wanted to go into the shelter area, but the gate must have been closed, because they milled around for a while and then ran back up the hill. Eventually, they disappeared, and we haven’t seen them since. They’ve taken up residence on the back side of the hill again.

Wow. Just wow. Seeing those big Bison thundering up and down the hill was like being transported back 150 years. (Probably on a smaller scale, since Bison used to roam the plains by the thousands, but still!)

Two things - Thing one: Bison, as I said, are huge, but they respect the fences. We are very grateful about that, because who wants a herd of Bison charging toward your house? The house would not survive. Thing two: It was so great to see babies again. 

The Bison provided us with a beautiful show of nature at its finest, and we appreciate them so much!