Bison heard release in northern Colorado
Elk
Just saw on the news they released a herd of 10 bison north of Fort Collins on the Soapstone Natl Prairie. Supposedly these bison are a pure breed with no bovine DNA originating from the Yellowstone heard and are disease free. Obviously a long ways away from the thought of being a large enough herd to establish a hunt but kind of neat they are putting forth an effort for conservation of this species. They were raised in captivity and are very domesticated. Any chance of them and their offspring becoming more wild in nature over time or are they doomed to be the equivalent of zoo animals for the duration? Any other thoughts on their reintroduction?
I've seen cows that escape become very wild. I'd think that they'd become more wild over time and skittish towards humans.
It's not a release BTW. They're putting them in an 880-acre fenced pasture.
Another big waste of taxpayers money.
Michael
Must have been a loud release. :)
Is the 880 a temporary thing to get them established?
"Must have been a loud release. :)"
Yeah no kidding! Quite the large herd ay. Lol
Soapstone is a 28 square mile open space, paid for by City of Fort Collins residents who VOTED for open space. If the residents wanted to spend their money on open space - its not a waste.
As a Larimer county resident, I think its awesome!!
The neighboring open space, "Red Mountain" allows limited hunting. Maybe if the bison herd grows - my kids can hunt there someday.
Now if the city of Fort Collins would just open up Bobcat Ridge to hunting I'd be all over that.
See the link. Don't know why any hunter wouldn't think this is really cool.
There is a herd on Camp Pendleton that started as pretty domesticated, that now the Marines don't even mess with.
"Is the 880 a temporary thing to get them established?"
I believe so. Think they said as the herd grows they will expand their range as needed. I think it's a really good thing if it can be successful. This is obviously part of the bisons original range and I'm all for the reintroduction and conservation efforts. I'm excited to see what the future holds for this awesome animal.
Most of the money for the project will come from donations and sponsorships.
Also, almost all of the existing "bison" in the U.S. have been interbred with cattle at some point. This is a genetically-pure herd that is being cultivated to increase the pure bison herd in the country. There aren't very many of them left, and Soapstone is a perfect place for them to flourish.
I think I am the only person to get bowsiter a joke, I was thinking the same thing bo! hahaha
Bison are a huge missing piece in wildlife management in the West. I would love to have a huntable population here in CO but I suspect that the NW corner would be a more likely possibility over the front range.
Soapstone is classic bison country and I hope it succeeds. If the herd isn't in view, right across the road there are usually a few hundred in the private Terry Ranch herd to look at. My first thought was when they get to feeling frisky I hope some bulls don't decide ignore the fence and cross the interstate. Hitting a 1400lb bull at 75mph wouldn't be pretty.
"Bison are a huge missing piece in wildlife management in the West."
It's true. I wish there were 1/2 the excitement in repopulating this iconic North American animal as there is for wolves which still hold a larger % of their original range than do these animals who are at a tiny fraction of their original numbers and range.
Does Thunder Basin in WY have bison? You'd think that it wouldn't be too tough to repopulate these animals in more places if they can cram wolves down everyone's throats.
I didn't know that when bison are crossbred with cattle the offspring aren't sterile. I can't imagine what a 1-ton longhorned beefalo would look like, but I know I sure wouldn't want to mess with it.
Bravo for reintroduction, although good luck with fences holding them. My understanding is they just lean against them.
"You'd think that it wouldn't be too tough to repopulate these animals in more places if they can cram wolves down everyone's throats."
Idyl- you just took the thought right out of my brain. I know bison are a huge resource consuming animal but imo are just as important as the next species to have around. I'm sure ranchers and cattlemen don't want to hear about them being reintroduced especially on or around their grazing areas. That is one issue we already face with the wild horse population on BLM land. Human growth and expansion has taken away so much natural habitat we'll really have to limit these animals and herd sizes. Kinda sad.
Thunder Basin, like about all national grasslands, is leased for grazing. Bison are about as popular as wolves are with many ranchers. Not saying that should mean no bison, just that it would likely be hard fought. I hope more bison can be stablished. They don't fit very well in most of the modern west but there are pockets that can work.
One bull calf with 9 cows, thats gonna be a lucky guy in a year or two!
Reminds me of the old blues song, "One's too many and a hundred ain't enough"...
Just like the wolf reintro, I would struggle supporting any large scales reintroduction projects. It would be hard to find many places where the animals could be reestablished with out some severe negatives effects.
The bigger question is how will populations be managed. We should be on the front end of this issue and working to insure that hunting will be a population control method. The very last thing we need is another wild horse issue where there is almost nothing that can be done and they are a detriment to virtually all other animals in the area.
I can see a thousand ways to waste money worse than reestablishing bison
Waiting for the news release of wolf releases to control buffalo.
Why would they release a "Calf Bull" and not a mature one - I would think the breeding process would get under way quicker with an adult? Just wondering?
Don't know but very possible the cows are already preggers. That would make sense to AI them ahead of time.
Need something to feed the wolves when they take over colorado to.........
Good post.
There isn't a more iconic North American animal than the Buffalo.
It's too bad that bunny huggers would favor a non-native wild horse over a native Buffalo but hopefully they can integrated back to where they used to live.
Also, don't think that wolves will prey on Buffalo. Buffalo don't have much to worry about from wolves until the snow gets deep.
"Don't know but very possible the cows are already preggers. That would make sense to AI them ahead of time."
And again Lou most likely nailed it! Man this guy has it all... brains, braun and a real long... "bow" ;)
Great pic elkstabber. Where is that at?
LUNG$HOT - The Buffalo pictured above was from the Kaibab Plateau in northern Arizona. Totally wild free range herd of about 500 there. Tags are hard to draw but I got lucky.
Elkstabber- That's awesome man. I'd love to arrow one of those beasts at some point in my life. Im sure the meat was great!
BTW the Kaibab buff that elkstabber has there is a result of an experiment to cross cattle with bison a long time ago. There is cattle dna in that herd but they look and act just like any other wild bison. Nice job elkstabber, Congrats again!
Lou - The cows are preggers. In addition, the cows that are at the CSU research center are preggers with the pure strain as well. In short there stands the potential to have close to 20 calves next year (the 10 at Soapstone and the 10 at the research center.)
Also, the plan for the Soapstone Bison is to use the Soapstone area as a bison breeding ground and eventually repopulate them into the various states where they once roamed freely. (At least that's what I was told at the ceremony.) Now the only thing left to do is get the Soapstone fencing sturdy enough to hold a bull.
Herb, is the lead biologist as cute as she looks in the photos? :)
:^) Well, I had to Google her after that post. First pic I get is her preg testing a bison.
Cattle get wild quick. Big Island in Hawaii has some mean cattle on the loose. Stink something awful. Pigs get mean quick, too, and start to grow tusks that will cut you open in the blink of an eye. Sheep and goats tend to be skittish and not aware of them getting mean other than for a goat to knock you over if turn your back on them.
The wild cattle in Australia are very dangerous. Bowhunters have had some very bad experiences with them.
Lou- The lead biologist is not cute she is beautiful!!! The only way she could be more attractive is by putting a bow in her hand.
This is pretty cool news. Colorado gets pretty open for a long ways once you get north of Wellington. I hope the herd gets established.
"First pic I get is her preg testing a bison." What could be hotter than that?
"Cattle get wild quick. Big Island in Hawaii has some mean cattle on the loose."
Quick trivia: David Douglas, the botanist, Douglas Fir is named after, was killed by a wild cow on the big island. Back when they were wild but didn't receive much hunting pressure, they were apparently very aggressive.
