They’re big, noble, symbols of the lost Americas. My favorite animal, one I never tire of observing.

I found this bison fur on a low-hanging snag while bushwhacking along a bison trail near the Lamar River in Yellowstone this morning.
Last month I read American Buffalo by Steven Rinella, which I highly recommend. Entertaining and informative. In it he tells an anecdote about scientists that put the calves of bison, yak, and Scottish Highland cattle in temperature vaults with electrodes and whatnot attached to them. They cooled the vaults gradually, looking for the point when the critter’s metabolisms would stop slowing down (for efficiency) and start speeding up to compensate for the cold. As I recall, the cow did in somewhere in the teens, the yak around zero, and even below -30 F the bison’s metabolic rate kept slowing. They couldn’t get the vault cold enough to find the tipping point.

They’re cool animals. They also taste really good.

This is a wolf track in a bison patty. The patty seemed like it had been laid very early that morning or late in the previous day. For scale, the patty was about the size of a medium sized desert plate.
I got out and did some quality bison observing. As the following video will show, the herds seem to behave differently this time of year. Maybe it’s because winter and spring are the only times wolves and bear predate successfully on bison (by chasing them into and getting them stuck in snow, bison have tiny feet for their weight). Maybe they got sick of getting needles stuck in their butts by the park service last winter. (Bison migrate to lower elevations in winter to find easier food. Most of these historic ranges are now outside the park. Bison go where they please, all but the biggest fences be damned. Bison carry brucellosis, a disease which doesn’t effect them but causes miscarriages in cattle. Ranchers freak about this symbol that reveals all they’re doing wrong, so the NPS started building “gates” for bison to go out of and then innoculating them. Never mind that elk carry the disease too…)

Every time I’ve walked by bison in summer and early fall, be they alone or in big groups, they’ve barely acknowledged my presence. I’d just grown to assume that unless I did something stupid, they wouldn’t care about my presence. This morning bison moved away from me every time I was within sight, and always at a brisk walk or faster. A lot faster in some cases, I got some good Dances with Wolves shit on video today:

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7587318&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1

The combined herd at the end is at least 200 strong, a good quarter of the park herd. I presume they’re the same crew Chris and I walked past (30 yards away at most) last fall without a hiccup. I felt bad for causing unneeded calorie expediture, but it was very moving to witness. I can only imagine the awe herd of 10,000+ would have brought on.

All this is a coda for finally getting out on a mini-adventure for the first time in too long. Sneaking away after business in Helena yesterday, camping out, and walking around in the snow all morning was what I needed. My walking legs have also gotten well on there way to weak in the “off-season” thus far. 10 miles of hiking had me feeling it (half was off trail, but still..)

Time to start hiking hills. Bozeman got 6″ in town today; ski season will soon be upon us.