Bison roundup shows species' prairie recovery

Bison flipped over an ATV
A year ago here, an agitated bison flipped over an ATV like a child's toy. It's estimated they can travel 35 miles an hour if they have to. And, during roundup time, they get really nervous — and unpredictable — in close quarters.

"This is a wild species that grew up tossing grizzly bears off their backs," Sanjayan says. "It's like herding rhinos."

Within minutes, a phalanx of stomping, grunting brown beasts heads over a hill for the corral, the trucks giving close chase.

Steam rises off the animals' thick fur. This is not the Serengeti in Africa, this is a prairie in Oklahoma.

The bison are coming, and they are not amused.

"They kick like a Missouri mule," Payne warns anyone within earshot.

Groups of grunting bison are led through the mazelike corral. Calves are sorted from the herd and worked separately.

Plastic 'rattle paddles'
Perched on narrow walkways rimming the steel corral, the cowboys use plastic "rattle paddles" with tiny beads inside and cattle prods to direct the animals into smaller and smaller areas until there is room for just one to go through at a time.

"Electroshock therapy," jokes one cowboy, attempting to motivate a 1,500-pound bull into the narrower pen.

"That ol' boy's worked up," his buddy chimes in.

The bull grunts, as if acknowledging his statement.

The sun is barely up and the first half of the day's roundup is in the queue.

After navigating the labyrinthine system of pens, the bison arrive at the final step. Electronic transponders attached to each animal's ear are scanned with wands, and each one's unique, 15-digit number is relayed to a computer, which displays information on sex, origin and age, among other data.

This fall, about 450 will be culled from the herd. Bulls are sold at 6 or 7 years old; cows at 10-12. They might be used as breeding stock, or be on their way to the dinner table.

Keeping tabs on the herd
"We have a pretty good grip on what the sex and age structure of our herd is, how many animals we have out there," says Hamilton, the preserve director. "So, before roundup, all those godlike decisions are made on who stays and who goes so that it can be as efficient as possible."

At a stopping point, the cowboys take a load off.

One of the elders, 74-year-old Jack Cheves, wearing a weathered cowboy hat that hides some of the lines on his forehead, has been in the cattle business all his life and worked the first bison roundup here.

He remembers when some of the locals were uneasy after the conservancy first bought this preserve, worried about the future of their ranches. They've since come around.

As for the cowboys, they look forward to each year's roundup, he says.

"It's just a way of life."

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