New National Mammal

[Kentucky Colonel]

The North American bison became a national symbol of the United States on Monday, as President Barack Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act into law. The legislation adopts the once-nearly extinct species as the country's official national mammal.

[font=proxima-nova, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Fun, eh?[/font]

As of 2012, there were 162,110 bison on private farms and ranches, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture census, in addition to an estimated 20,000 roaming public lands in the U.S. and Canada. - Politico

I hope this does not make getting a bison steak harder.

 

[sqezer]

Anything ODUMMER puts his name to makes me worry.

 

[Muley Hunter]

The numbers are a shame. We used to have 10 million.

 

[Dead-Eye-Jim]

Not sure if you can still purchase them for cheap, but we bought 2 calves about 10 yrs ago and then butchered them. We had them in a pen about 5 acres. Fed them hay in the winter. Made some good food. Was a payne to tan the hide though.

 

[texsam1949]

As I recall , after living in Montana bout 15 years, you could go to the annual auction held at the National Bison range over in Western Mt and bid on a Buff ! They had to cull the herd to keep it in balance with the available acres. Wasnt uncommon to be driving along the Eastern Front of the Rockies , through open range land, to see some big brown fellows ranging !

 

[RonRC]

There are a couple of small herds not far from Denver. One herd can be seen some days right along I70 just past the Evergreen exit, maybe 15-20 minutes west of Denver.

A big problem keeping bison herds in a developed area is the cost of the fencing. Cattle fencing will not contain bison.

There is a good size, privately owned herd in South Park, a 9000-10,000 ft high plateau an hour and a half drive from Denver.

A few years ago, I watched a herd walk around me on my motorcycle in Custer State Park, South Dakota. That created a bit of anxiety! When does a bison cross the road? Anytime it wants.
Ron

 

[Muley Hunter]

We have a small herd on private land here. He won't let anyone hunt them. He breeds them and butchers one every now and then to feed his family. I got to know him pretty good and hang out there sometimes. They sure are big up close. My Cheyenne friend knows him too and gets all the hides.

You think i'm grumpy? Walk up to a buffalo and he'll show what grumpy is.

 

[Okie Hog]

Every year the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge at Cache, OK holds a buffalo/longhorn auction. The trailers are inspected before buffalo are allowed to be loaded. There were instances of buffalo getting out of trailers on I-40 and I-44.

i'm not sure why a federal wildlife refuge keeps longhorn cattle. In 2011 much of the refuge burned. There was not enough pasture for the longhorns. They were put on Ft. Sill. That trashed the elk deer and hunting on much of Quanah Parker range for a couple years.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

I have had the pleasure of being up close and personal with buffalo. That massive, shaggy head and the sheer bulk up close was thrilling. They have a lot of presence.

 

[lighthorseman]

Actually Long Horns were as close to extinction as the buffalo were..........and in 1910 there were only about 500 elk in the state of Colorado......I think the population is about 370,000 now...one of you Colorado boys correct me....been a while since I worked with CDW. It's actually a good thing that the majority of Bison are held privately, because the feds have shown over and over in the Yellowstone that they are incapable of managing wildlife.

I worked for a sportsman club in Denver that had that South Park Ranch leased and one day sitting out close to the herd, I talked to one of the cowboys and he said that so far that year the buffs had gone through every fence on the ranch and had killed three horses......even "domesticated" ones are not to be messed with.......the hanky heads would have a fit over it today:affraid:  but I once attended a buffalo rodeo at Jefferson County Fair Grounds...all the riding, roping, steer wrestling etc was with buffalo bulls, cows and calves..........

 

[Muley Hunter]

270,000 elk. It could be much more, but that's where they want it.

 

[lighthorseman]

Actually........there's good reason for that. First, today's hunters are not proficient enough to harvest adequate numbers. Available winter range has been effected by several years of drought, which happens from time to time in the Rockies and human population expanse is effecting migration as well as available forage. A quick check of the current population is around 262,000. Colorado still has the most elk of any place in the world and more than all the states combined.....at one point that included all the Canadian Provinces. We as hunters should understand that wildlife management is little different than ranching. Populations have to be controlled...and hunting alone isn't adequate in most cases....however that is also the reason that the left is always pushing for more predators. Introducing wolves into the Northwest has devastated elk herds especially in Idaho. Colorado in my opinion has had an amazing success with managing elk but still falls short in lowering the herd numbers for the available habitat. Hunter success rate for elk usually hovers around 20% and total numbers of animals harvested is about 40,000-45,000........couldn't find current stats. When I was still working with CDW they were hoping to harvest upwards of 80,000 animals but couldn't reach that number due to hunters not actually filling tags. Plenty of elk to go around.....but most modern hunters (almost 80%) not up to the sacrifice required to harvest one...or just in the wrong place at the wrong time to bag one!

 

[BigAl52]

I dont eat much red meat anymore but when I do buffalo is my preferred red meat. Far as I am concerned let them roam the plains like they use to. I think there cool.