The American Bison

by Denny L. Vasquez

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Bovidae

Genus & Species: Bison bison

The American Bison! (More commonly known as the buffalo.) Approximately 25,000 years ago the ancestors of today’s bison entered North America from Asia over the Bering Straight land bridge. Through the centuries they adapted to the new environment as they slowly moved southward. Eventually the range of the bison was extended as far south as Mexico and as far east as the Atlantic Coast, extending south to Florida. But the largest concentrations of bison occurred on the plains and prairies of the central part of the continent, from the Rocky Mountains east to the Mississippi River, and from Great Slave Lake in Canada to Texas.

To most of us today the very name of buffalo conjures up pictures of primitive hunters, with their hair streaming out behind them, as they chase these shaggy beasts across a grassy prairie on their fastest buffalo ponies. Or maybe it brings to mind a picture of some old veteran of the plain’s Indian wars as he snuggles down behind his big bored Sharps rifle and takes aim at the dwindling herd of animals before him.

Bison, more than anything else, are the animals that shaped the lifestyle of the Plains Indians and that figured so prominently in American history. The bison were a principal resource of the Plains Indians, furnishing them with food, skins for shelter, footwear and boats, bones for tools and utensils, and “buffalo chips” (dung) for fuel. Sinew was used for sewing and binding. There was practically no part of the Indian life in which the Bison did not play a part. Bison are America’s most historic animal, and lived up to the name given him by the Sioux Nation, “Tatonka”, “The Spirit Animal.”

However, few wild animals have undergone a more devastating encounter with humans than the bison. The grasslands from east of the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains were the home of 30 to 60 million prairie bison when white settlers first arrived. “The moving multitude…darkened the whole plains,” wrote Lewis and Clark, who encountered a herd at South Dakota’s White River in 1806.

These numbers were reduced to about 500 near the end of the last century, and then slowly increased to an estimated 200,000 thousand on refuges and ranches today. The only place in the United States where the bison has never been driven out of its home range is Yellowstone National Park.

Many people today are unaware that there were other versions of these wandering beasts of the West. When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock there were four subspecies of American bison: plains, wood, Oregon, and eastern. The eastern and woodland bison were the animals that early settlers along the eastern seaboard of the United States hunted, not the larger version that was later encountered by the explorers of the grassy ocean known as the plains country.

Unfortunately, before we woke up to the need to save our natural resources, the Oregon, eastern and woodland buffalo had disappeared from their former habitat in the US. Now only the woodland bison exist in small, protected herds in eastern Canada and are considered to be an endangered species. The Oregon and eastern sub-species are now extinct.

The remaining herds of Wisent, the Old World version of the bison, live on the European continent. But because of the human population densities encountered in that modernized society, there is no longer any room for wild herds. Today, they can only be found on carefully managed preserves. Therefore, Wisent hunting is now a sport of the past.

Today, thanks to wise conservation efforts such as transplanting a herd of 20 animals to Alaska from Montana in 1928, bison in North America have made a recovery and can now be found across the US and Canada. For example the original transplantation to Alaska has grown so well, that today bison herds can be found near Delta Junction, Copper River, Chitina River, Farewell, Kodiak and on Popov Island. There were approximately 700 wild bison in the state in mid-1985.

Thousands of bison also inhabit the National Bison Range in the Flathead Valley of Montana, the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Oklahoma, the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge in northern Nebraska, and the Sullys Hill National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern North Dakota. Many other private herds have boosted the bison’s overall population over the years as well. These efforts are working to ensure the continued well being of the American bison for generations to come.

Bison are the largest land mammal that is native to modern North America. A mature male (bull) can stand 6 feet at the shoulder and can be up to 10 feet long. The head and forequarters are covered with long hair while the hindquarters are covered with shorter hair. Weights of more than a ton are not uncommon in mature bulls while cows are smaller but have been known to weigh over 1,200 pounds.

The head and forequarters, shoulders and hump, are massive and seem out of proportion to the smaller hindquarters. The backbone begins just ahead of the hips and reaches its maximum height above the front shoulder and forms the characteristic hump for which these animals are known. This distinguishing hump is pure muscle, which is attached to extra-long shoulder spines, and serves as a means of giving leverage for lifting the huge head. From above the shoulder, the hump drops almost straight down to the neck and just like their cousins, cattle, sheep and goats, bison hooves are cloven or made up of two equal halves. Bison have 14 rib pairs as compared to 13 that are characteristic of cattle.

Bison have unbranched horns with a bony core, which is a permanent part of the skull, and are covered with a horny or hardened sheath. Unlike another prairie native, the pronghorn antelope, bison retain their horns, which curve out and upward, away from the head, from year to year. The horns of the bull are larger and heavier than the horns of the cow. The horns are dark, almost black in color.

In late fall, the bison’s coat is a rich, dark brown. However, as winter progresses, the coat will change color and becomes much paler by spring. In the spring, buffalo begin to shed their heavy winter coats, and soon their hair hangs in tatters. To hasten shedding, bison rub against large stones and trees. By late spring, the only remaining long hairs are on the head, forelegs, and hump. The hair on the chin resembles a goatee and mature animals tend to have more hair on their heads.

The term “buffalo wallow” was coined to describe the areas of loose soil and sand in which the bison love to roll in. It is this “wallowing” activity that helps them to escape the torment of attacking insects that seem to plague them.

Bison are larger in stature than most beef cattle. Their forehead is convex rather than concave like those of cattle and their legs are larger. Their eyesight is very poor even though their eyes are very large, but their sense of hearing and smell are sharp

During the breeding season, July and August, the herds become restless as the bulls leave their bachelor groups and mingle with the cow-calf herds. Noticeably quiet at other times, the bulls bellow hoarsely and become quarrelsome with many fights occurring over breeding age females as the combatants, with lowered heads, paw the earth defiantly. The strongest bulls will tend individual cows until copulation is completed, then they will search out other receptive females.

For the most part bison calves are born in May or April. The coat of newly born calves has a reddish-orange tint to it and will weigh approximately 65 pounds. At birth, the calves have only a faint suggestion of the hump they will develop later. They are able to stand within only 30 minutes of birth and within three hours of birth, they can run and kick their hind legs in the air. At approximately 6 days of age, the calves start following mother around as they learn to graze. Their coat begins to darken at about 10 weeks and will become the dark brown color of the adults about 5 weeks later.

Cows are considered sexually mature at 2 years of age and will give birth to a single calf. The gestation period of buffalo is approximately 270 days. In captivity, buffalo have been known to live to a relatively old age, of 30 years, especially, when compared to other hoofed animals. One tagged wild bull killed by a hunter in the Copper River area of Alaska was over 20 years old.

Being migratory animals by nature, wild bison, of which the only truly wild remaining herds are in Alaska, Yellowstone National Park and parts of Canada, historically lived in herds of thousands. But today they will scatter across their habitat, alone or in groups ranging up to 50 animals or more. The herd provides defense against predators. When in danger, females surround young and bulls surround females. And despite their great size and bulkiness, buffalo have amazing mobility, speed, and agility, and are able to sprint at speeds of up to 30 mph. when attempting to elude danger and have great stamina for long distances. I have seen domesticated bulls jump a seven-foot fence in an attempt to escape their handlers. These animals are notorious for going where they want, even through barbed wire or chain link fences, when the urge hits them.

The bison in the Delta Junction area of Alaska represents an example of their migratory habits in the wild. They move far up the Delta River in early spring to secluded meadows for the calving season. Then around August they will gradually travel back downstream onto the Delta Junction Bison Range In the late fall, they move onto their winter range where they remain throughout the winter.

Bison are ruminants (cud chewers) and belong to the same family as cattle, sheep, and goats Since they are grazing animals, the diet of buffalo is made up mainly of various grasses and forbs like vetch, a favored summer food found on gravel bars. Sedges, silverberry, willow, and ground birch are also eaten. Unlike domestic cattle, bison are able to forage in snow to reach food. They sweep the snow up to a meter deep with sideways movement of their broad heads. They will eat snow if ice on the water is too thick.

Hunting buffalo today is a far cry from what it was during the 1800’s. The only wild, free roaming herds to be found today are in the Alaskan backcountry. There, controlled hunts are conducted each year that are designed to keep buffalo populations from burdening the limited carrying capacity of the range, to limit agricultural depredations, and to provide recreation and meat for sportsmen. Hunters pursuing buffalo at Delta Junction, Chitina River, Copper River, or Farewell, are often surprised by how difficult it is to stalk them. They can be among the most difficult of Alaska’s big game animals to bring down.

In the rest of the continent, buffalo hunting is limited to ranches or hunting preserves that have herds for this purpose. These hunts can range from re-creations of mountain man and Indian type events to relatively easy “hunts” that are conducted much like a cattle roundup. The challenge involved in a hunt of this nature will depend upon how “domesticated” the herd involved is. After all these animals are related to cattle and when heavily domesticated, take on the submissive traits of their distant cousins.

The author took his trophy bull on a large ranch in the central Texas hill country. The herd had free reign on the 30,000+ acres of land and it made for an interesting adventure, especially since the herd had been on the ranch for 3 generations and no attempt at domestication had been made. The hunt provided me with proof positive that bison can be as illusive and wild as whitetails. It took me 4 days and miles of footwork to finally harvest the bull that I had chosen.

The rewards of a successful hunt are a magnificent trophy and delicious meat, which is similar in consistency to beef. Many of the dishes utilized for beef can be applied to buffalo. Even, the fat is edible, but is yellow rather than white and does not marble throughout the meat. The robe from a buffalo taken in the winter can be extremely warm and luxurious. The shoulder mount or skull mount of a trophy bull will make a fine addition to any hunter’s collection.