Who else would like to see free ranging bison?

Why do states like Missouri and Tennessee bring back wild bison but keep them behind the fence?

In Mother Russia, Bison come to you!

New York has a Buffalo

FYI: Missouri is West of the Mississippi

Ever seen Bison hit a car?





I have... Damn.

There's not as much public land, maybe?



Agreed on hitting one with a car.

cheese and bacon, gotta add a little fat to a bison burger.

A herd of bison is probably the closest thing to a platoon of armored Catapillars that's sentient and carbon based.

Bison are very destructive animals.  We could not have built the america we did without getting rid of them.

Also the Species of Bison that Inhabited the eastern United States is Extinct.  The Woodland Bison was wiped out by 1830.

Eastern Woodland Bison (Bos bison pennsylvanicus)


last killed in 1825 at Valley Head, WV; Cory (1912) states last killed in Wisconsin in 1833

forest meadow herd grazer ranged from Cape Cod to Kentucky

disappeared after hunting for hides and meat

References:

Allen, G. M.  Extinct and Vanishing Mammals of the Western Hemisphere    QL715.A44 1942  p.341

Williams, J. and Nowak, R.  chapter in The Last Extinction  QH75.L36  1993  pp. 107-139

Ziswiler, V.  Extinct and Vanishing Animals  QL88.Z513 1967 p.114

Return to Mammal Map

So are elk!

But elk were brought back

They don't tolerate fences?  Expound on that please.  





 

The ones Ive seen tolerate fences well enough...



Used to drive by the ones in Shelby Farms (memphis) everyday.



 

Elk are no where near as destructve as Bison.

They'll run a light wire fence down, or at least get tangled in it.

They big.  They duuuuuumb.  They "spooky".  I like 'em.  Cows are pussies.

It takes a stronger taller fence to hold in buffalo than it does cows, they can jump like a deer and bull doze a 5 strand barb wire fence at will.

Those are also domesticated for the most part.  You cant have a herd of domestic bison roaming around that see people as something to get food from.  You wouldnt think it was to cool if everytime you opened your door you had a herd of bison destroying your yard and demolishing your car by using it as a rubbing post.

Yeah but elk are pretty destructive, trust me

True, I want to say a few years back they stomped a drunk guy that decided it would be fun to go play with them.



 

Thats why they are released on public lands

I'll have to check out the guy down the road's fence a little better.  The front is typical pipe/cable but I don't think he has it all around.  


It didn't look much higher than normal though...    Usually 40+ bison out there.  Several calves out now too, cute little guys when they're fresh.
 

Again those are also pretty much domesticated buffalo, not free ranging.  They havent ever known anything but life in an enclosure.  Set them free for awhile and things will change.

At the Calgary Stampede there is bison riding by Indians.  When I watched the bison were difficult to remove from the ring, riders on horses seemed to be afraid of them as were the clowns.  Pickup trucks tried to herd them out and one got it's door caved in very nicely.  They can be very fast and hit very hard with their head.

It's a shame we can't have nice things.

Turn them loose in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Technicality.

I'd fist fight a bison.  Slap some sense into those destructive fence-intolerant not-native-to-the-east motherfuckers.  Teach 'em a god damn lesson.  I fucking hate a herd mentality.  I won't tolerate it.

I don't know about wild, free-ranging bison, but more people should raise them.  A lot of people in VA raise bison and its incredible.

I was having all kinds of trouble with my bison until I called the "The Bison Shouter".

How do you keep them in the park?

They would stay there

Its all mountains with high elevation meadows

No farmlands

You know what you tell a bison with two black eyes?  You ain't gotta tell it shit, I already told it twice.

Don't even get me started on bison.

Better idea, we surround their grazing areas with Bison-hating, intolerant ARFcommers.



Fuck yeah.





 

Boys, I think we done smoked out a pinko bison sympathizer.  You do know that bison hate America, right?

Because they'd eat up farmer's crops and giant herds would roam across busy highways

They're not extinct.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_Bison

Geography slap!

Wood Bison and Woodland Bison is not the same thing

Bison Migrate dude..... do you know anything about Bison?

EXTINCT WOODLAND BISON

Free ranging Bison? Have you ever seen a herd of Bison free ranging, say in South Dakota? Wyoming? Typically, the 'free range' bison are on either National Park land or an indian reservation. They require a huge amount of free space, a huge amount. Government owned land in the necessary acreage may not be available east of the river. Private land owners with the acreage needed to support a free ranging herd may not be willing to devote the land to the enterprise. Personally, if I owned enough land to consider free ranging bison, it wouldn't be undertaken without a plan for profit to at least support the ongoing operations... gotta put a fence somewhere or else the buffalo will wander off looking for food.

ALL of the buffalo I've ever seen in Missouri are behind really big strong fencing. ALL of the captive buffalo I've ever seen in Wyoming are protected behind really strong fencing. Buffalo wandering loose in urban areas is always bad... and usually it's the buffalo that loses when push comes to shove in the recapture and corralling operations. Buffalo don't behave like domestic cattle.

Have you ever seen the damage a buffalo can do to anything? They are powerful animals. They are not domestic cattle and if left alone in a free range environment would be pretty much unapproachable... how they get away without mishaps in parks like Yellowstone is pure luck. The herds are maybe accustomed to traffic?

Free ranging buffalo east of the Mississippi would depend on the amount of land available and the herd size. They do not generally play well with others, although there is a small herd(6-9?) at Grant's Farm in south St. Louis that seem to be pretty well adjusted to hanging out with a wide variety of other park animals. MY GUESS, it that the herd was introduced to living with other animals from birth; an option unavailable to a free ranging operation.

Interesting question. Looking forward to reading the responses, Magnificent animals. I was taught early on to give them maximum respect. They were not to be trifled with or antagonized or approached. I was taught they were pretty much unpredictable and to stay way back from them. I have seen them trample industrial chain link fence like it was an annoyance and that was when they were not even irritated or spooked.

Short of a solidly built corral, bison and cattle remain w/in  their fences because they don't really want to get out.  Even a heard of cattle could run through your standard 4-5 strand barbed wire fence, and bulls routinely shell out stretches of fence just scuffling among themselves.  W/ the possible exception of a good strong electric fence(which provides a psychological barrier) cattle and buffalo stay in the fence because their belly is full enough it isn't worth the effort to walk through it.  

The closest thing you will find to free ranging buffalo is Yellowstone and Custer state park(in south Dakota).  The Custer herd gets rounded up every year to cull excess animals.  The feds don't seem to be able to manage their herd so, every few years when the winter gets really bad,  the state of Montana has to call up a bunch of riflemen to kill the starving Buffalo leaving the park.

I know of some in the Tampa Bay Area, but they are fenced in.   A few did get out about 10 years ago and they destroyed a golf course!

 

Ranchers and elk hunters hate them with a passion as they spread a disease that makes them aborts fetus.

My mother is a bison, you bastard.



 

I remember hearing a story about how, back in the 19th century, a Bison was taken from the American West down to a city in Mexico and put in the ring with 10 of their most aggressive and vicious bulls.

End result?

Bison - 10
Bulls - 0

Those are some mean bastards.  You see one coming your way, you move or will be moved.

_MaH