Bison

Photos Copyright H. Schuster.  Please ask permission before use.

Finney Refuge, Garden City.

Once upon a time, huge herds of bison carpeted the plains of Kansas.  Early settlers in the area reported seeing herds of the animals so numerous they extended as far as the eye could see.  For the Plains Indians, who had lived here for centuries before the coming of White settlement, the herds of buffalo were everything:  Food, shelter, heat, and clothing.  These native people followed the herds as they moved across the Plains.

With the coming of the railroads and White settlement, however, the days of the bison--and the Indians who depended on them--were numbered.   In less than fifty years, the once huge herds were wiped out.  Bison were slaughtered in large numbers to feed the crews laying railroad tracks across Kansas.   Later, the animals were killed not for meat, but for their thick fur coat, and in some cases only for the senseless pleasure of killing itself.   The last free roaming bison in Kansas was shot as it grazed with domestic cattle in the vicinity of the Point of Rocks in Morton County in the very early 1900's.

Bison at Finney Refuge, Garden City.

With the herds of bison which once numbered in the millions wiped out, the way was clear for grazing of domestic cattle and for farming of the Plains.   Soon, John Deere's plow would turn under much of the grass which had sustained bison for untold centuries.  Only a handful of bison remained as the species teetered on the brink of extinction.

Bison calf, Big Basin Preserve, Clark Co.

Thanks to the far-sighted efforts of a few individuals in the early 1900's, the remaining bison were preserved.  Today in Kansas, three relatively large "public" bison herds are maintained and managed by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks:  Finney Refuge near Garden City, Big Basin Preserve in Clark County, and Maxwell Wildlife Refuge near McPherson.  Each of these locations provides an excellent opportunity to view bison herds in natural surroundings. 

Numerous private bison herds are also scattered across the state.  These commercial herds primarily produce meat, which is claimed to be leaner than beef.

Bison, Big Basin Preserve, Clark Co.

A bison bull in a "Buffalo Wallow".  Bison have the habit of covering themselves with fresh dirt--perhaps to deter biting insects.  Over many years of using the same place or "wallow", the bison herds caused a depression to be formed.  These can still be viewed in a few places where the prairie has not been disturbed.

Bison, Maxwell Refuge, McPherson Co.

Ultimately adapted for life on the plains, the bison's thick fur coat protects the animal from Winter's extremes.   These large grazers use their hooves to clear snow from the dry grass of winter.

Bison bull, Maxwell Refuge.

Other large grazing animals also inhabited the Plains, most notably elk and deer.  These, too, were driven from the Plains and into near extinction by the coming of civilization.  But, with its dominating presence, it is the bison which has come to represent in most minds what Kansas once was.

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