375H&H
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Does anyone know of an organization that supports putting Buffalo back on the landscape AND then treating them as a game animal?
Buffalo Conservation
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375H&H
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Are they free range?
OriginalOscar
Active member
Look at Utah, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota F&G.
Utah is fortunate with establishing a second herd in the Book Cliffs the last decade. Buffalo are hard to expand due to conflict with grazing and disease in many herds.
Amazing animals and anyone who's hunting them in the Henry Mountains or Book Cliffs has a new respect for them as game animals.
Utah is fortunate with establishing a second herd in the Book Cliffs the last decade. Buffalo are hard to expand due to conflict with grazing and disease in many herds.
Amazing animals and anyone who's hunting them in the Henry Mountains or Book Cliffs has a new respect for them as game animals.
375H&H
Well-known member
Yeah I live in Wyoming and even though the G&F do a great job on managing wildlife, I would be lying if I said they support Buffalo on the landscape. There are many national forests and areas where they could exist but the state only supports them because of Yellowstone.
406LIFE
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@375H&H the bison on the APR are as close to free range as you will find. They do rotate them, but its also on a vast landscape. To get more free range you'd have to look to YNP as the migrate out of the park. Then they get harassed either by hunters or FWP back into the park.
375H&H
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It sounds like Utah has done more for Buffalo than any other state! I guess what I am asking is what organization can we support to get free range Buffalo on the landscape as a game species?
D
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Unfortunately, getting support (or even lack of opposition) from the stockgrowers is a HUGE hurdle. Without that happening, the odds of them being allowed to expand are slim and none.
LopeHunter
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This. Needs 10,000s of acres of prairie ideally and fences are like clumps of grass when the bison push against it unless build a 10' tall concrete wall. Cattle can carry brucellosis. That is a bad thing so ranchers fear outbreaks. Most bison are not pure so have some cattle genetics and can carry and transmit brucellosis to cattle. Are elk a bigger risk to cattle for brucellosis? Perhaps. I think politically it is easier to blame bison than elk out West.
Rancho Loco
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Watch out for what you are wishing for.
406LIFE
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The political football of getting SGA to accept them will probably never see truly free range bison. There is no conservation group, per se, that I am aware whose sole endeavor is to restore the bison to the plains and grow them to a sustainable population for hunting, ala NWTF did for turkeys.
There is some bright spot in the rancher/conservationist conversation if you look at what has transpired with the Sage Grouse. There has been some great partnerships formed in helping restore sagebrush habitat. But sage grouse do not have the ability to decimate a herd as a bison do (whether or not the science supports it...). Still, if that can be built on and there can be shown a symbiotic relationship between ranchers and bison, then there is the possibility. (There has also been cooperation with TU and ranchers on water allotments.)
Personally, I think that the APR is the best hope for a free ranging herd that can sustain harvest.
375H&H
Well-known member
Rancho Loco, I am wishing for a native game species to be put back into more of its original habitat than is now and then have more opportunities to hunt them...sounds like textbook conservation to me. Obviously places where it makes sense and there are plenty of suitable places that come to mind. Is that bad?
ClearCreek
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I believe there are only two bison herds in the lower 48 that are "free ranging" to qualify for the Boone and Crockett Record Book. Those are the Henry Mtn. herd in Utah and those in northwest Wyoming in certain counties.
ClearCreek
rmyoung1
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That’s not right. Montana bison that migrate out of Yellowstone are eligible. South Dakota bison in Custer SP are eligible. Book Cliffs bison in UT are eligible. So are the bison in northern AZ, I believe. There might be others.
406LIFE
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Bison taken on certain reservations are also taken on a case by case basis. Also, there are free ranging bison in Alaska and Canada.
ClearCreek
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You are correct, I checked my B&C Record book and there are entries for bison from Custer Co. South Dakota, which I assume is Custer State Park. It is kinda odd that herd is considered "free range" as they are fenced in, rounded up each fall, some are culled, they vaccinate them and then turn them out again. The herd is managed more like a large domestic cattle herd than a free ranging bison herd. But, since the state offers a hunting permit for the bison there in the park they qualify for the B&C record book.
ClearCreek
Rancho Loco
Well-known member
Which suitable places are we talking about? In Montana, the #1 patch of land eyed for "reintroduction" of bison is the upper breaks. Inconvenient in the argument for re-introduction is the fact that Ft. Peck reservoir has cut off the Bison't natural winter migration corridor. Buffalo are naturally fond of movement, and very feed sensitive. They will not stay put for long, and will naturally migrate great distances for feed. Look at what the Yellowstone herd does.
Without this natural winter migration corridor, you'll see Buffalo graze the upper breaks down to bare dirt, just as they have in Yellowstone, and you'll soon see ranching lease-holders come under scrutiny, and eventually pushed out to cater to the food needs of the Bison. It's not a compatible mix.
Buffalo are amazing creatures, I learned a lot about them and an increased admiration for them while working/living on a large ranch up near Choteau that runs them. But we have to be realistic about their natural habits, just like wolves. Our landscape is too greatly altered to just dump them out in open areas and hope it works out, even with management. Because there's always going to be people who think their idea of management is better than ours and/or what is more beneficially right. One only needs to look at the Yellowstone herd and the Buffalo Field Campaign to see what could easily happen.
No it is not bad, I'm sure many of us would like to see buffalo roam free on their historic range but that is simply not possible any more. The huge areas buffalo would need to graze and migrate are already occupied by cattle and the I seriously doubt all the cattle ranchers are willing to remove all the cattle and tear down all the fences. It would also require removal of any Interstate Freeways blocking their migration paths as well.
Would we all be willing to return all the lands Native Americans historically inhabited as well? Again it is just not possible even with all the treaties giving them these lands in perpetuity.
