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Rangelands 4(3), June 19S2 123 age during the short period thatthey are at theirprime, butat detrimental to the permanencyof the range, but in the end the most they can only provide feed forthree or four months will be disastrous to the stock as well. It is but natural that a of the . The ranchman makes a marked distinction growth of top is necessaryto agrowth of root, thereforeif the between the annual and perennial grasses. He aptly desig- tops be continually cropped to the ground, the roots will natesthe annualas "seedgrasses" and the perennialas "root finally perish. This is especially true of grasses of arid grasses." The seed grasses soon become worthless, their regions, growing in bunches or scattered about here and bleached, short culms are broken and beaten into the sand there a few culms in a place. The range is frequently fed so by storm and wind. The root grassesretain theirvitality and close thatfew ofthe better grassesmature seeds, while many remain green forthe greater portion of the year. Even when others are tramped out by horsesand . During the past dry, their harder, stronger and larger culms contain as much few the effect of over-stocking has shown itself in the nutritionas well-cured , and are, or rather used to be, the inferiority of the cattlewhen compared with those of former valuable winter forage of the West. years. They are poorer as a consequenceof their increased In conclusion, there is a limit beyond which no range can number and the resulting deterioration of the range. be profitably stocked. Ifwe exceedthis limit it will notonly be

The North American

Dave Arthun and Jerry L. Holechek

No other indigenous , except perhaps the beaver, influenced the pages of history in the Old West as did the bison. The bison's demise wrote the final chapter for the Indian and opened the Westto the white man and civilization. The soil-grass--Indian relationship had developed over thousandsof years. The bison was the essentialfactor in the plains Indian's existence, and when the herds were destroyed, the Indian was easily subdued by the white man. The bison belongs tothe .This is the family to which and our domestic cattle, , and belong. Members have true horns, which are never shed. Horns are present in both sexes. TheLatin or scientific name is Bison bison, inferring it is not a true buffalo like theAsian and . The true buffalo possess no hump and belong to the genus . Local venacularfor the Ameri- can bison has included buffalo, Mexicanbull, shaggies,and Indian cattle. The bison were the native on largest Bison were the largest herbivoreon the plains of . the plains of the West. Weight ranges from 800 pounds to Adult males weighed up to 2,000 pounds. 2,000 pounds. Bison are diurnal in nature, as opposed to nocturnal (active at night). They are gregarious, forming family groups or herds. Their span may range up to 30 Bison have poor eyesight, but are highly mobile and pos- years, but normally 15-20 years is average. Females usually sess a keen sense of smell. Due to the bison's enormoussize calve as two- or three-year-olds.The breeding season or rut and its gregarious nature,it is thoughtthat it was not greatly is from midsummerto dog days (Julyto October). Gestation affected by . Predators did, however, take bison is 9 months long. Calves are born in the spring from April to from timeto time particularly the old,the weak, and the lame. June. At birth, calves weigh from 25-40 pounds and are Predatorsof the bison under pristine conditions included the yellowish-red in color. , grizzly , and mountain or . Of thethree Like domestic sheepand cattle, the bison is a . Its mentioned, were probably thepredominant predator, high volume to body weight ratio gives the bison a especially on young calves in the spring and solitary senile high degree of adaptability to the . Recent students adults during the late winter. Estimatedlosses due to wolves have shown it can use high fiber forages more efficiently may have been as high as one-third of the yearly calf crop than cattle; its flesh has a higher content. according to different authorities. These losseswere neces- sary to maintain stability of herd numbers under lightly Authors are with the Department of Animal and Range Sciences, New State university, Las Cruces 88003. hunted conditions. 124 Rangelands 4(3), June 1982 Historical Perspective loped, and bison solely for hides became very Prior to the white man's arrival on the North American profitable. In 1872, 2,000,000 bison were killed just for their continent, bison were the most numerous of all hides, which sold for about $3.50 a piece. W.T. Hornaday in 1914 thatthe . Estimatesof theirnumbers are only speculative,but speculated,probably realistically, wasted the the 1870's would have have from 30,000,000 to 75,000,000. during great period ofslaughter in may ranged been sufficient for the needs of more than a million Bison were very adaptable and had a large domain.Almost people (Durward AlIen, 1974, Our Wildlife every state supported bison, aswell as northern Mexico and Legacy). Between 1868 and 1881 an estimated 31,000,000 bison western .The core concentrations, however, were on were killed. This estimate is based on the amount of bones the east of the Rockies in , , shipped on the railroads. Ittook 100 skeletonsto make aton eastern , , , Nebraska, of bones. A ton of bones sold on the of $8.00. eastern eastern Colorado, Kansas, , average , Between 1868 and 1881 several milliondollars were for eastern New and . paid Mexico, bones in Kansas alone. were usedas a in About 200,000 years an ancient of bison They refining agent ago, for , and for fine bone china. roamed present-day America. These bison were later processing, Although never a stated objective, another factor contri- replaced by a smaller Asian bison (about 40,000 years ago) buting to the zealous slaughter of the bison was its role in which came by way of the Bering Strait. The present-day the Indians. bison is the descendant of this Asian bison. subjugating General Sheridansaid, in reference to the bison hunters: "These men have done in the last two The first Europeansto see the bison were probably the years, and will do in the next more to settle the vexed Cortez' men in 1521 called them the year, Spanish explorers. Indian question than the entire has done in the "Mexican bull."The Spanish madeefforts to domesticate the regular army last 30 years." Sitting Bull, the chief who defeated bison, but their attempts were unsuccessful. By 1819 almost all the bison were extirpated east of the Mississippi. In the 1830's following the decimation of the beaver, the American Company and the Hudson Bay Company switched from purchasing beaver pelts to bison robes. These two fur companies used New Orleans as a shipping point for their European markets. Hunting along the Mississippi and upper Missouri, they found more than enough bison to fill their orders. By 1840, most of the bison had disappeared west of the Rocky Mountains. It was not, however, until the 1850's that the massive slaughter of the began. The post-Civil War era brought ahuge influxof people into theWest. The promise ofa new life, free land, and lure ofgold and plentyof adventurewas more than enough reason. Cow Custer,stated: "A cold wind blew acrossthe prairie when the towns such as which soon Dodge City, Kans., sprang up, last buffalo fell . . . a death-wind for my people." By 1889, becamethe capital forbison hunters. Initially, there were fewer than 1,000 bison left in the . was done only by locals and the meat was used locally. However,one event occurred which changed the history of Efforts to Save the Bison the Old West and spelled the beginning of the end for the In 1880, passed a protection law but that bison. The railroad linking East and West was the most by time, the bison were already gone. In 1886, the Smithsonian important factor contributing to the buffalo's demise because it the West to numbers of Institute sent S.T. Hornaday, a taxidermist, out West to opened up large people. obtain a bison for Further, it allowed free of and manu- preservation purposes. Hornaday finally exchange agricultural found some bison northof Miles Mon. He wasso factured products and natural resources between the East City, aghast at the low numbers hestarted a movementback Eastto save and West. the bison. In the American The bison the meatsource forthe settlersin 1905, Bison Society was formed provided early with as its President and Rooseveltas its the West. Afterthe Civil War bison meat becamepopular in Hornaday Teddy President.In 1894, it became to kill bison in the East, which made bison hunting a very lucrative busi- Honorary illegal Yellowstone Park. In 1897, the Mounted Policestarted ness. In the early 1870's a new tanning processwas deve- Royal patroling bison herds in . In 1908, the National was established in Moise, Mon. The National Bison rangewas 20,000 acres and stocked with 400 bison. It was the efforts of far-sighted peoplewith conservation ideals that saved the bison from . In 1886, such a man was C.J. "Buffalo" Jones,who put 13 bison calveson his private ranch in Kansas. In 1888, Jones bought 86 bison in Canada. In 1895, Jones sold most of his bison to Michel Pablo in Montana. Pablo entered the bison business in the early 1870's. In 1872, Walking , a Flathead Indian, went from the Mission Mountains to the River and while hunting he Liison are gregarious animals that form large groups or herds. found several motherless (orphan) bison calves. He took Rangelands 4(3), June 1982 125 them backto the Flathead country nursing them on the way area, they did not return for several years, which gave the by lactating . Walking Coyote later sold them to range time to recover.Considerable evidence was evaluated Michel Pablo. By 1906, Pablo had 600 bison. In 1908, theherd by Kirsch and Krusethat prairie grouseand waterfowl popu- was dispersed and provided the seed stock for the National lations were kept at low levels because of the lack of cover Bison Rangeat Moise. Banff in British Colum- where heavy overgrazing by the bison occurred. It is impor- bia and Yellowstone Park also received bison from Pablo. tant to recognize that prairie , waterfowl, and bison evolved together. Therefore, it is unlikely that bison caused Bison Prairie Impacts on the any long-term or permanent damageto these species. The impact ofthe bison on the ecology of the prairie was Bison grazing apparently benefited the ante- tremendous. As mentioned before, the bone count between lope. Several studies have shown are primarily 1868 and 1881 indicates that 31 million bison were killed. forb and shrub feeders while bison feed almost exclusively However,this does not allow for natural recruitment during on grasses. Heavy grazing by the bison apparently main- the period of slaughter (and bone accumulation) which tained a low vegetation with a high forb and shrub compo- occurred over at least 50 years. nent preferred by the pronghorn. The fact that large Although some ecologists have held the view that bison populations of bison and pronghorn existed together under naturally rotated themselvesso thatexcessive rangeuse did pristine conditions suggeststhat at leastmoderate overgraz- not occur, this is notsubstantiated by old accounts. Journals ing by the bison made conditions more suitable for the of the Hudson Bay Fur Company provide strong evidence pronghorn. Very little information is available concerning that the Northern Great Plainsbison used thesame area year the impacts of bison on otherurigulates such as or . afteryear until the forage was completely depleted and then Becauseof their rubbing activities, bison may have retarded of necessity moved to otherareas. tree establishment on the prairies. This could have been R.E. England and A. De Vos (JRM, 22:87-93) reviewed detrimental to deer and possibly elk. Converselythey may considerable information suggestingthat the bison did over- have benefited deer by changing vegetation composition graze the prairies at least in some areas. They reported that fromgrasses to forbs and shrubs. Someevidence is available severaljournals of the old furtrappers mention high popula- that the bison maintained conditions more suitable for many tions of bison and then allude to poor range conditions. small mammalssuch as prairie dogs and ground squirrels. Records of the Hudson Bay Fur Company described over- However, so few accounts are available regarding these grazing in western Canada to the point there existed no animals that no real conclusions can be drawn. forage for their horses. Paul Kanedescribed that range con- dition around Edmonton, Alta., in 1846. He stated bison Present Status numbers were so high the dust nearly choked him to death. Currently there are probably around5,000 to 6,000 bison in Ranges in this part of Alberta presently support alush stand the United States, and populationsare increasing.There are of mid grasses. M. Lewis, in his 1814account of the Lewis many privately owned herds in various parts of the United and Clark expedition, described large cactus patches so States. Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, the Moise thick that travel was impeded in many parts ofthe Montana National Bison Range in Montana, and Wichita Mountains prairie country. He also mentioned traveling through large National Wildlife Refugein Oklahoma are the primary popu- areas dominated by thick stands of big sagebrush. Both lations in government ownership in the United States. The species are associatedwith severelyovergrazed range in the Wood Buffalo National Park in the area discussed. L. Kirsch and D. Kruse (Tall Timbers Wildl. supports the primary bison population in Canada. The Conf. 12:289-303) reviewedsubstantial information indicat- Wichita National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma provides the ing that bison may have heavilyovergrazed some partsof the spectator with the best opportunity to view bison as they prairie country of Kansas. However, our examination of occurred under pristine conditions on the North American available literature does suggest that once the bison left an prairie.

July Ranch Management Field Day July 13 will be a red letter day for the Hills Simmental Ranch at Mankato, Kansas. The family owned and operated ranch will hostthe KS-NERanch ManagementField Day. Helping co-sponsorthe field day will bethe KansasChapter and Nebraska Section SRM. Paul Ohlenbusch,field day chairman, called the July 13th affair "a unique effortand a unique opportunity." Ohlenbusch, extension range and managementspecialist, Kansas State University, knows of no similar event that has drawn upon the resources of two states. Since the idea of a two-state field day was proposed a couple of years ago, 18 local and state agencies and organizations interested in managementand cattle production have agreed to help plan for, participate in and support the field day. Ohlenbusch calls the Hills"Innovators who aren't afraid oftrying new ideasand of taking risks. Many ofthe things done on the ranch are usually read or heard about but not seen." Tour topics will include seeded and native range managedtogether, wildlife and recreation, timber stand improvement, cool season ,limited irrigation for crops, replacementheifer development,cow herdhelp, performancetesting, working corrals, forage sorghum and corn varietiesfor silage, and specialized fencing/daytime calving. For more information and registration contact Paul Ohlenbusch,Agronomy Dept., KSU, Manhattan,KS 66506. 913/532-5776.