Latest / This Week in Yellowstone National Park / The Summer of the Bison: Safety, Behavior, and the Rut in Yellowstone National Park

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The Summer of the Bison: Safety, Behavior, and the Rut in Yellowstone National Park · This Week in Yellowstone National Park

0:00
This is a special standalone episode of This
0:03
Week in Yellowstone. In this episode, I'll be
0:06
covering bison. I'll talk about the most recent
0:09
bison attack, I'll tell you some facts about
0:11
the animals, tell you how to stay safe, and really
0:14
just chat with you all about bison in Yellowstone
0:17
National Park and do my part to make sure that
0:20
all of us that are visiting the park are doing
0:22
our best to stay safe and to keep the animals
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safe. Alright, let's cue the theme music. You
0:38
requested it so I'm recording it. I'm gonna be
0:40
talking to you about bison like I said off the
0:42
bat I had a previous intro where I asked you
0:44
all how many times do you think I'm gonna say
0:46
the word bison in this week's episode I'm not
0:49
gonna keep track if somebody wants to great,
0:52
but also please don't that seems like a very
0:54
tedious task So I'm obviously going to be talking
0:58
about a very serious matter about bison in the
1:00
park Every single week the summer there's been
1:04
news about bison be it the first bison attack
1:08
that happened at Mud Volcano about a month ago,
1:11
then the most recent bison attack at Bridge Bay
1:13
Campground where the video of the guy getting
1:16
tossed went viral, and then if you've been paying
1:18
attention just over the weekend there was a bison
1:22
that rammed into a car and popped its tire. Bison
1:26
are super aggressive right now. The summer is
1:29
their mating season also known as the rut. During
1:32
this time Bull bison, the males of the bison
1:35
species, get very, very aggressive. They have
1:39
to battle each other for mating rights. They
1:41
have to show that they're big and bad. It's basically
1:44
like an old west bar. Everybody's kind of amped
1:49
up. Obviously, bison aren't drinking, but the
1:53
way that they're behaving have them very narrow
1:56
sighted. They are locked in. for one purpose
2:00
and one purpose alone, and that is to ensure
2:03
the survival of their genetics. To do that, they
2:07
must make sure that they are the biggest, baddest
2:10
thing out there. The bison rut takes place June
2:14
to late August, early September. Some places
2:18
may tell you that the bison rut doesn't start
2:20
till July. It generally starts to kick off in
2:24
June. really picks up in July then the first
2:28
week first two weeks of August and then starts
2:30
tailing off and once it tails off it goes to
2:33
the elk rut which is the elk mating season so
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there's really not a letup of aggressive animals
2:39
starting from when bears emerge from dens until
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the snows fall as soon as people are out that
2:47
is when animals are active and aggressive this
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is also when most people visit the parks, which
2:53
is why we have this issue of so many instances
2:56
of bear attacks in the spring and early summer,
3:00
then these bison incidents, then later we're
3:02
going to hear about elk and then it's going to
3:05
be bighorn sheep and then winter is going to
3:07
hit and it's going to be a little bit of calm.
3:10
The increase of visitation, the mating seasons,
3:13
the emergence from dens, all of these things
3:15
are really what makes the park a slightly dangerous
3:20
place. It's not really that dangerous. Obviously,
3:23
there is danger everywhere. But one of the things
3:26
I'm going to be talking about a little later
3:28
is the false narrative being pushed online about
3:32
just how dangerous it is in the park and how
3:35
anybody that's doing anything wrong is going
3:37
to get hurt and blah, blah, blah. So stay tuned
3:41
for that. But first, let's back up and just discuss
3:44
bison going to give you some quick facts from
3:47
the resources and issues handbook that I talked
3:50
about a couple weeks ago on the podcast. Definitely
3:54
check out that episode. And if you listen to
3:57
this coming week's episode, I'm going to tell
3:58
you how you can actually win a free paperback
4:02
copy of that book. But right now, here's some
4:04
quick facts about bison in Yellowstone National
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Park. The population is estimated to be anywhere
4:10
from 3000 to 6000 bison. The 2025 population
4:14
estimate was around 5 ,300 bison and that includes
4:18
two primary breeding herds, the northern and
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the central. Their size? Males weigh up to 2
4:26
,000 pounds and females weigh up to 1 ,000 pounds.
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They can live 12 to 15 years and some live as
4:33
long as 20 years. They really just eat grasses
4:36
and stuff and they mate in June, July and August.
4:41
and they give birth to one calf in late April
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or May. This little quick facts section also
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says that they can be aggressive and are very
4:50
agile and can run up to 30 miles an hour. One
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thing that we do say, a lot of guides and I say,
4:57
and it's pretty accurate, I'm not sure the accuracy
5:00
of the exact number, but bison also can jump.
5:04
There's an assumption that they're big so they
5:06
can't really jump. I have heard from numerous
5:09
rangers that some bison have been recorded with
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up to a six foot vertical. A 2000 pound animal
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with a six foot vertical is insane. And so that's
5:21
why you have to take them seriously. They run
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30 miles an hour. They can turn sharply. They're
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not slow. They're not just lazy. It's a very
5:29
aggressive animal, especially when they have
5:31
a reason to be. Yellowstone is the only place
5:34
in the lower 48 states to have a continuously
5:37
free -ranging bison population since prehistoric
5:40
times. One fun fact is that these bison that
5:44
we have right now are the smallest of the bison
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species in North America. I will go into that
5:50
in more detail probably over the winter when
5:52
I don't have as much to talk about, but it's
5:54
a wild thing to think about. In the 1800s hunting
5:59
and eradication nearly caused the extinction
6:02
of the bison and by 1902 poachers had reduced
6:06
the Yellowstone population of bison to two dozen
6:10
animals give or take a few. The U .S. Army who
6:13
administered Yellowstone at the beginning of
6:14
the 20th century protected these bison from further
6:17
poaching. It's a little more complicated story
6:20
than that it's not like the government said okay
6:21
let's protect them. There was a famous poacher,
6:24
I've talked about him on previous episodes, probably
6:26
will in future episodes, but he went out and
6:29
was shooting bison. Park Rangers got wind of
6:32
it, snuck up, and caught him. There's a very
6:34
famous picture of Park Rangers with a bunch of
6:37
bison heads. This poacher was killing the bison
6:41
illegally, but the punishment at the time was
6:43
a slap on the wrist. There wasn't a law to stop
6:46
you from poaching in the park. It was just a,
6:49
please don't do that. And I'm taking away your
6:52
guns. And then they would kick them out of the
6:54
park. And then obviously people would go get
6:56
more guns and go and shoot more. There wasn't
6:58
any sort of legislative teeth or punishment to
7:02
poaching. When this guy was poaching and the
7:04
Rangers caught wind of him and captured him,
7:07
there's also a reporter there who documented
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the entire thing, ran a story about it. And then
7:13
a senator from Iowa, I'm pretty sure, with the
7:16
last name Lacey, introduced Introduced the Lacey
7:18
Act and that was the framework to the in to the
7:22
Endangered Species Act that we have today and
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really gave some sort of teeth to stopping people
7:27
from poaching With just a few dozen bison. It
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was kind of difficult to allow this small gene
7:36
pool to reproduce so Bison from private herds
7:41
that were captured were used to establish a herd
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in the northern range of Yellowstone If you go
7:45
into Lamar Valley and there's like the Buffalo
7:47
Ranch, this was one of those places for decades
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bison numbers were reduced due to belief that
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they along with elk and pronghorn were over grazing
7:56
in the park and then in 1968 herd reductions
8:01
of bison ceased and those reductions began again
8:04
in two that in the 2000s because the numbers
8:08
were so big that the bison population in the
8:11
park was healthy. However, bison are not allowed
8:14
to leave the park, so now the park culls the
8:18
animals or captures them and ships them elsewhere.
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Every year the park has a mandate to get rid
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of a certain number of bison. what that means,
8:28
whether it's killing them or, you know, shipping
8:31
them to someplace that wants to reestablish a
8:33
bison herd. All of those things happen. That's
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a whole other issue, though. Just wanted to talk
8:37
about that briefly. So that's a little bit about
8:40
bison right now. There's probably, you know,
8:43
six thousand bison in the park. That number is
8:46
supposedly big. If they could leave the park,
8:48
it would be better. But state of Montana is currently
8:51
suing to not allow bison to. leave the park and
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go on public land ranges and all of that and
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the federal government also agrees with this
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and it's just not great. The main reason most
9:04
ranchers do not want bison to leave the park
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is because they carry brucellosis, a disease
9:10
introduced by the cattle industry. The cattle
9:13
industry eradicated that and has a vaccine for
9:16
it but they can't vaccinate every bison in the
9:20
park. And so the bison can carry it. I've also
9:24
heard that elk carry it, but that's apparently
9:26
not a big deal. But that's an aside for a different
9:29
podcast altogether. So we have a lot of bison
9:32
in the park. It's the middle of their rut. The
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bulls are aggressive and angry and ready to rock
9:39
and ready to mate. And we also have about a million
9:44
people coming into the park a month in June,
9:46
July, August. So now that we know a little bit
9:49
about the bison, we know they're fast, we know
9:51
they can jump, we then get into this discussion
9:54
of, well, why do people get too close to them?
9:57
Bison, for the most part, spend their day grazing,
10:01
laying around, just roaming. They look very calm,
10:05
they look very peaceful, and honestly, it's easy
10:08
to mistake their behavior as something like a
10:12
cow would do. I mean, if you want to look up
10:14
something fun, look up how many cow attacks there
10:17
are in America every year. That number will blow
10:20
you away. But bison just spend this time hanging
10:24
out right there by the popular areas. They're
10:27
at Old Faithful walking next to the boardwalk.
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They're at Mud Volcano hanging out on the other
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side of the boardwalk and a little railing. And
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everybody gets close and takes pictures. And
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for so many people visiting, nothing happens.
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But. Every so often something happens, and that's
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what I really want to talk about today. A bison
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attack, you can say it's a charge, you can say
10:51
it's a goring, you can say whatever term you
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want, it's just a bison attack, right? It's a
10:56
bison saying, leave me alone, I want my space.
10:59
And these things can happen without warning.
11:02
They can happen when you're just by yourself
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and earlier there were a hundred people around
11:07
the bison and it remained calm. no one really
11:09
knows what's going to set off a bison and the
11:12
big bison attack that everybody's talking about
11:14
when the 65 year old visitor was seriously injured
11:17
by being tossed about eight feet into the air
11:19
by the bull bison that was an absolute fluke
11:24
thing the amount of times people walked by that
11:27
same bison and nothing happened was in the dozens
11:31
if not hundreds that bison was hanging out at
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a popular campground that was full Everybody's
11:37
walking back and forth. There's cars constantly
11:39
driving around. One of the theories I saw online
11:41
is that there is a truck that drove by and that
11:43
truck angered the bison. Possibly. Also, bison
11:47
just could have snapped. It could have just seen
11:48
somebody and said, hey, I'm going to go charge
11:50
that. Again, it's fueled up on testosterone and
11:55
sometimes they just look for a fight. The guy
11:57
who got tossed, that 65 year old, did everything
12:01
right. He was far enough away. beyond what the
12:05
park recommended. He had trees by him that he
12:08
could go behind. He also had, you know, was walking
12:12
with his grandson, so he was a little distracted.
12:15
He did stop and take a picture, and I saw a lot
12:17
of criticism about that, by a lot of people whose
12:20
social media profiles have them taking pictures
12:22
too close to bison as well. This guy was not
12:25
too close. Not everybody gets too close that
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gets attacked. It's just very rare when something
12:30
like this happens. This guy did everything right
12:33
to try and avoid the bison, ran through some
12:36
trees, ran around the trees. That bison was just
12:38
dead set on getting him. There was, it's like
12:41
Final Destination, I guess, if you remember that
12:43
movie from late 90s, early 2000s. I think he
12:46
must have missed something and that bison was
12:49
that kind of, okay, you're going to pay for missing
12:51
this terrible event. That's not really true.
12:53
That's me trying to be funny about a serious
12:55
situation without actually laughing about it.
12:57
But... These things just happen this guy did
13:01
nothing wrong But there are times where people
13:04
do things wrong and it's really hard for the
13:07
non Yellowstone visiting population to discern
13:10
the difference between those events The news
13:14
came out guy gets tossed by bison You see the
13:16
video the video with the long video you see exactly
13:20
what happens then everybody cut it short So all
13:22
of a sudden there's a guy taking a picture and
13:23
getting tossed by bison. That's a very easy narrative
13:26
to blame the person This person did nothing wrong.
13:29
I cannot emphasize this enough. All visitors
13:33
to Yellowstone National Park or the overwhelming
13:36
majority of visitors to Yellowstone National
13:39
Park will be closer to a bison out of their car
13:42
than that person. This sounds like hyperbole.
13:47
This sounds like I'm making things up. But if
13:50
you get out of your car around any wildlife,
13:52
you're going to be about the same distance if
13:55
not closer to a bison than that person and you
13:57
will be following the rules. One reason I'm bringing
14:01
this up too is a lot of people who saw this said
14:04
well that's why you never get out of your car
14:06
in Yellowstone National Park. This is why you
14:08
never if there's any animals nearby you never
14:11
get out of your car. If you did that you're staying
14:13
in your car the whole time. You're not camping.
14:14
You may not be able to get into your lodge. If
14:17
you are staying at Mammoth sometimes there's
14:19
elk nearby. If you stay in your car anytime you
14:22
can see an animal you're not going to be getting
14:25
out of your car at all or very little in Yellowstone
14:29
National Park. There is a risk you take by exiting
14:32
your car with wildlife nearby. That's why the
14:35
park has the rules 25 yards from bison and elk
14:38
and moose and things like that and 100 yards
14:41
from bears and wolves. Obviously those are guidelines
14:45
and not set in stone. rules agreed upon by the
14:50
wildlife. These animals have no idea what the
14:52
regulations are. If they feel threatened, they're
14:55
going to react. And that's what happened with
14:57
this. The guy felt threatened, and that was that.
15:00
So why do bison charge? Bison charge because
15:03
of personal space. They just feel crowded. I
15:06
mean, we all feel crowded sometimes, right? And
15:08
we're just like, oh, you got to get out of here.
15:10
And if sometimes, I mean, if you're hopped up
15:11
on testosterone and you're a bull bison, your
15:14
idea of escaping That moment is probably to knock
15:17
over whatever is blocking you and run away. Again,
15:21
if you've been to Old Faithful in the summer,
15:22
you know, if you walk that paved path toward
15:25
morning glory, there's usually a bison hanging
15:28
out there. Sometimes a bison will just walk across
15:30
the boardwalk at Old Faithful itself. Sometimes
15:33
you'll be hiking and there'll be a bison nearby.
15:36
This just happens. And there's one thing, actually,
15:38
there's a lot of things you can do to really
15:41
start paying attention to bison. To make sure
15:44
that you are reading their behavior correctly
15:46
So let's talk about the warning signs that a
15:49
bison is feeling irritated They're the obvious
15:52
ones head swinging pawing the ground snorting
15:56
and a bluff charge Those are the obvious ones,
15:59
but there's a little bit of a tell Most of the
16:03
time it's not every time because sometimes bison
16:06
charge without a warning. There's nothing you
16:08
can do about that, but Most of the time there
16:11
is a behavior that is given by them that you
16:14
can read. If a bison's laying down, it's a little
16:17
harder to do it, but if you're watching a bison
16:20
and standing up, look at its tail. If its tail
16:23
is down, it usually means it's calm. If it's
16:26
wagging around and slapping at flies, it's preoccupied.
16:30
You will know when a bison is irritated if you're
16:35
near it, and that's by watching how its tail
16:37
goes up. It won't go straight up in the air,
16:40
but it'll be curved at the top. Basically like
16:43
if you try and make a question mark out of your
16:45
finger, that's what the tail will do. I joke
16:48
on my tours that if you see the bison do that,
16:51
it's going to do one of two things and maybe
16:53
both. It's going to defecate and it's going to
16:56
charge. Usually they're going to evacuate their
16:58
bowels and then run. Maybe at you, maybe away
17:01
from you. But watching their tails is key. Also
17:04
watching them before you get close to them. What
17:08
level of attention are they giving you? If they
17:11
stop eating and stare at you, you are too close.
17:14
That might be 70 yards away. It might be 26 yards
17:19
away. But if you impact the movement of an animal
17:23
and it stops and looks at you, you are too close.
17:25
That goes for bears, that goes for wolves, that
17:28
goes for elk, that goes for everything. And that's
17:30
one of the things that not everybody that visits
17:33
the park knows. Most people say, okay, I'm within
17:37
the guidelines, I'm fine. And 99 .999 % of the
17:42
time they are. However, it's this little tiny
17:45
fraction of a percent that then will have an
17:48
issue. One other thing I've seen recently is
17:52
that people will... I really struggle with this
17:57
everybody because I don't want to sound accusatory
17:59
here But it's really easy to assume if you're
18:02
standing someplace and a bison walks by you.
18:05
You're fine That's not the case if an animal
18:08
approaches you any animal keep that distance.
18:11
I just saw something online of somebody on the
18:14
boardwalk at Grand Prismatic and a bison walked
18:16
near them and they took pictures and they're
18:18
like we're on the boardwalk and a bison walk
18:20
near us and It was a bull bison walking within
18:24
10 feet of them. That is a very dangerous situation
18:27
for a lot of reasons. One of which is you're
18:31
on a boardwalk and if you jump off of it, you're
18:33
then in a bacteria mat by the hot springs. That's
18:36
not a safe place just to have to run from a bison.
18:39
Instead of moving away, they just stood there
18:42
and let the bison pass. I've seen this numerous
18:44
times. When my dad visited in May this year,
18:47
we were at Old Faithful and people were set up
18:49
at the picnic table at that gas station by the
18:52
lodge. and a bison walked by within three feet
18:55
and everybody just moved to the other side of
18:57
the picnic bench. That is not acceptable behavior.
19:02
Obviously I went and chatted with the ranger
19:03
and I said this is what you know is going on
19:05
and they went and chatted I guess but you know
19:09
this behavior is just common because the fear
19:13
with bison kind of fades away. Bison do not look
19:18
menacing. And despite the fact that someone got
19:20
tossed, another kid was earlier attacked. There's
19:23
no video of that. There was a bison during the
19:26
rut recently that, like I said, jabbed his horns
19:29
into a tire because he was just like, oh, right.
19:33
It's this is something that when you look at
19:35
a bison walking, even if it's walking on the
19:37
road, it's just sauntering. It's just chilling.
19:39
It's just a cool, cool animal that has no rush
19:43
in the world until they do. One of the main issues
19:47
that comes with visiting Yellowstone that I am
19:50
guilty of everyone is guilty of So there's no
19:53
blame here. It just happens is that there's this
19:57
illusion of safety and numbers and Getting trapped
20:02
into thinking that it's going to be fine. I've
20:05
done this before I've watched bears and I realize
20:09
we are 50 yards away from a bear not a hundred
20:12
there's not a ranger nearby they're not telling
20:13
this is okay so when it dawns on me i get back
20:16
in my car and leave or i also say like hey i
20:19
think we're a little too close if everyone else
20:21
leaves great but at least i'm vocalizing that
20:23
because you get caught up in the moment when
20:26
one person gets close to a bison then there's
20:28
safety in numbers so everyone will and that's
20:31
probably going to stress the bison out more i
20:33
mean if you're like me and you're having a conversation
20:36
with one person and then all of a sudden 30 people
20:39
come stand around you and stare at you that's
20:42
going to raise your anxiety a lot no matter what
20:44
else is going on in your day if you're already
20:46
like amped up that day that's going to set you
20:49
off and that's how you have to think of bison
20:51
especially during the rut bison during the rut
20:54
are kind of just looking for a fight they're
20:57
like just give me a reason they're More than
21:01
likely not going to do anything to a person or
21:02
car But obviously they do and so knowing that
21:05
they do and keeping that at the forefront of
21:08
your mind Really will help you the next time
21:11
you might accidentally get too close to one When
21:15
you see other people standing by you may think
21:18
all right everyone else is there it's safe and
21:21
that is risky behavior because That's then when
21:24
everybody might have to run. I was once in the
21:27
park and there is a bear across the river this
21:31
bear is across the river and we were all you
21:34
know 65 yards away but it's on the other side
21:36
of the river it's a grizzly it's eating a carcass
21:39
this was years ago and there was even a volunteer
21:43
ranger there and they're like oh we'll be fine
21:45
like it's on the other side of the river it's
21:46
just eating we're gonna be okay you know just
21:50
setting the parameter so we all could get pictures
21:52
and have a good time watching this bear we all
21:55
knew we were close but again safety and numbers
21:59
It's familiarity, you know, we've all taken pictures
22:02
of bears before. Yeah, you can tell that bear's
22:04
not aggressive. It's just chowing down and then
22:06
it's gonna nap. And then the bear decided to
22:09
immediately stand up without warning. A grizzly
22:12
bear standing up staring at everybody without
22:14
warning. Every single person in the group that
22:18
was taking pictures backed away instantly 10
22:21
feet, nearly walking into the road. That's when
22:25
we all decided, oh, maybe we're too close. But
22:28
we all did this. I was there. Other people were
22:31
there. There was a volunteer ranger there at
22:32
the time. Everyone did this. And it was one of
22:35
these things where, oh, we're fine. Everyone
22:38
else is doing this. And when you see somebody
22:41
by a bison, you think, OK, this bison's going
22:43
to be calm. That's what happened with this guy
22:45
at the campground. This bison had been at the
22:48
campground for days by all reports. hadn't charged
22:51
anybody it ran around a little but like bison
22:54
do that but this one hadn't charged anybody aggressively
22:57
it was just kind of doing bison things and then
23:01
a flip was switched and it took off after this
23:05
guy and tossed him there was nothing anybody
23:08
could do because again everybody just kind of
23:10
put their guard down and also you're far enough
23:14
away as i talked about on the podcast recently
23:18
There was a incident I had with a tour guide
23:21
who allowed his clients, including little, little
23:26
kids, walk within 15 feet of a bison that same
23:29
day that that guy got tossed. And I said, hey,
23:32
you're too close to the bison. And he said, bison
23:35
rut doesn't start yet. They're fine. I do this
23:37
all the time. Wildlife does not care how many
23:42
times you visited the park. It doesn't care about
23:44
your level of expertise on the park. It's going
23:48
to do what wildlife does, which is be wild. It's
23:51
going to just react. So now that we know about
23:56
bison, we know about the attack. Let's go back
23:58
to the statements that a lot of people are making
24:01
of, well, I'm not going to visit the park. I'm
24:03
never going to get outside if there's a bison
24:05
nearby. I'm never going to get out of my car
24:07
in the park. That's why you don't camp in the
24:09
park. All of this. This, again, the guy getting
24:14
tossed was a freak accident. however nearly every
24:18
year someone gets injured by a bison someone
24:21
gets chased by a bison someone gets too close
24:24
to bison it happens all the time not everything
24:27
makes news not everything is documented so how
24:31
can you just stay safe how can you have peace
24:34
of mind when you're around bison first thing
24:37
to do stay calm stay calm follow the rules if
24:42
it says 25 yards stay 25 yards away if not more
24:46
I like to give them an extra 20 or 30 yards during
24:49
the rut because they're fast creatures. You cannot
24:53
run 30 miles an hour. You cannot out maneuver
24:55
a bison. If a bison wants to get you, it's going
24:59
to get you. Same with a grizzly bear. Same with
25:01
an elk. If it wants to get you, it's going to.
25:05
However, most of the time they just want to scare
25:07
you away. But why take that risk? Just don't
25:10
get close. One thing that you can do is If a
25:16
bison is walking towards you or you notice one
25:18
when you're out and about, increase the distance
25:21
from it. Use trees, large rocks, and vehicles
25:25
as barriers whenever possible. If you're on a
25:28
boardwalk, move away rather than crowding the
25:31
animal or trying to pass it. Maybe you don't
25:33
get to see whatever you're going to see that
25:35
day because there's a bison there, but the smart
25:38
thing to do is to stop and go back. Another thing
25:42
you're going to see online a lot is Or you might
25:45
see it in the park when you're there. People
25:47
running to animals. I've seen people run toward
25:50
a grizzly bear. I've seen people run toward bison.
25:52
I've seen people run toward bull elk fighting.
25:55
People are going to do what people are going
25:57
to do. Don't do that. Do not run toward an animal.
26:00
Also, don't run away from an animal unless you
26:03
absolutely have to. Like, if it's charging, run
26:06
away. Do what you can to stay safe. but don't
26:09
run toward an animal to get that picture to do
26:12
anything. The whole point of being around wildlife
26:15
is to keep it wild. Now a few weeks back I asked,
26:18
what do you do if you encounter bison on a trail?
26:21
There's a few things. The first, if you just
26:24
got started hiking and you round a corner and
26:26
there's a herd of bison there, just turn around.
26:29
Just go hike somewhere else. Also, don't hike
26:32
in areas that are heavily populated by bison
26:35
during the rut. Right now, that means Lamar Valley.
26:39
A lot of people contact me and they say, hey,
26:41
I want to go hike Lamar Valley right now. Why?
26:44
It is the bison rut. It is not safe. You might
26:47
get surrounded by a thousand bison. What are
26:51
you going to do then? There's not much you can
26:53
do at that point. So just don't hike there. Do
26:56
other hikes. There's a thousand miles of trails
26:58
in the park. I will happily recommend some place
27:01
to go if you're like, well, I really wanted to
27:03
go hike Lamar Valley. Then I can tell you where
27:06
to go where you won't have as many bison interfering
27:10
with your movement. If it's not in one of those
27:13
places and you encounter bison on a trail, there's
27:16
a few very easy things to do. Just look in which
27:19
way are the bison moving. If they're all bedded
27:21
down. Then what you should do is try to go clear
27:25
around them This means go off trail when you
27:27
can it might mean to climb up a hillside that
27:29
has a lot of like deadfall on it You have to
27:32
avoid them at all costs give them plenty of space
27:34
Do not scare them if they react to you like I
27:38
said earlier then you are too close Now they
27:41
might react a little bit obviously because there's
27:43
a weird thing walking up in the woods, but if
27:46
they become on high alert you know their tails
27:48
go up they start grunting or they all start staring
27:52
and slowly moving towards you then you know you're
27:54
too close the other thing to do if you're hiking
27:57
and they're blocking your path like i said turn
28:01
around go around or you're just gonna have to
28:05
wait if you're hiking back to your car and they're
28:07
there and they're not moving and you can't get
28:09
around them backtrack a little and you have to
28:12
wait. This is why you should always carry extra
28:14
food, extra water, extra sunscreen, all of those
28:17
things because you might have to wait because
28:18
of a bison jam on a trail. This is Yellowstone.
28:21
This is wild. You are not guaranteed safe and
28:25
easy passage through any trail. More than likely
28:29
it's going to be safe passage, but easy? That
28:31
is a matter of luck sometimes. Now if you can
28:37
go around them, like I said go around them. Also
28:41
one thing that you will notice if you're hiking
28:43
the more you're out in the backcountry is bison
28:46
will be moving. Most of the time they're not
28:49
just going to lay there forever they're slowly
28:52
moving and sometimes that first one will start
28:54
walking always look for one in the distance and
28:57
which way is it going because that's usually
28:59
the lead bison that's kind of the direction that
29:01
they'll probably go so you can wait it out and
29:04
then as they pass then you can go. One trail
29:07
that this always happens on is the Lamar Valley
29:10
Trail. On the Lamar Valley Trail, you park at
29:13
the big parking area, you walk down a hill, you
29:15
cross a little bridge, then you walk through
29:17
the prairie and then you climb up another hill.
29:19
Right around that hill and in that little swampy
29:22
area, there's almost always bison and they're
29:23
almost always blocking the trail. This is an
29:26
area where the summer I was leading a tour and
29:28
there was a couple from overseas that were just
29:31
hiking and I had to basically grab them and say,
29:34
hey, don't hike toward the bison but they were
29:37
used to hiking around the cattle in the alps
29:39
and that's not a big deal but with bison it is
29:43
so we had to backtrack a little bit and then
29:46
we waited and then the bison started moving toward
29:49
us and then one flopped down and potted and then
29:52
stood up and potted the ground and we had to
29:54
quickly move away we could have easily been attacked
29:57
by that bison and we were trying to do everything
29:59
right again you can only do so much but Things
30:04
like that will happen. Be mentally prepared for
30:07
it beforehand so you have an escape strategy.
30:10
Any time I'm hiking, I'm always on the lookout
30:13
for wildlife, as you should be. If I see bison,
30:16
I'm always looking to see if they're more than
30:18
one. If there's a herd, which way is that herd
30:21
moving? How are they behaving? If they're all
30:24
kind of on alert, then they may be more likely
30:26
to run towards you to protect themselves because
30:30
you might be a threat. You have to analyze the
30:32
situation, and the only way you can do so is
30:34
by experiencing it over and over and over again
30:37
and getting more comfortable with it. And by
30:39
comfortable, I don't mean complacent. I mean
30:42
to the comfortable, like, okay. You're used to
30:45
bison being there and you understand the risk
30:47
is always there. So you're always on alert, but
30:50
it's not going to stop you from doing anything.
30:52
That's one reason why I really like giving tours
30:55
is I like helping people get that experience
30:59
and that knowledge so then they can start hiking
31:01
in the park on their own with a little more confidence
31:04
because it's a very scary place. If you actually
31:07
know what the wildlife is doing in the park,
31:12
hiking in the park can be terrifying. Because
31:14
you might be hiking on a 17 mile loop. You might
31:18
be doing specimen ridge, which isn't a loop But
31:21
it's a it's a good example of this doing a 17
31:24
mile hike. You've hiked the whole ridge You finally
31:27
get to lose elevation. Then you have to forward
31:30
the Lamar River Then you only have a few miles
31:32
left as soon as you round that last corner. There's
31:36
hundreds of bison there What are you gonna do?
31:39
You may have to on tired legs after a long day
31:43
Walk clear around on a hillside Climb tons of
31:47
elevation maybe a thousand feet to avoid this
31:50
thing this herd and then get to your car This
31:54
is a reality that can happen on a long hike or
31:56
a short hike It needs to be in your head that
32:00
this can happen with any animals But especially
32:02
bison and especially during the rut if you're
32:05
hiking in a place with all of these You're then
32:07
hiking into a place that everything is hyper
32:10
aware and very angry and very much ready to defend
32:14
itself for the honor of the female cow bison.
32:18
Now obviously, this may not impact you. The majority
32:21
of visitors don't go out in the backcountry.
32:24
So let's focus back in the front country trails
32:26
and the boardwalks, which is more than likely
32:28
what you're going to be hiking. If you encounter
32:30
a bison on a boardwalk, like I said, you may
32:32
just have to turn around. Even if you see other
32:35
people engaging in behavior that you say, oh,
32:38
if they're doing it, it should be fine. Why take
32:41
that risk? Come back later that bison will probably
32:44
move and if it doesn't then know that you're
32:47
making the smart safe decision Again bison are
32:51
huge weighing between 1 and 2 ,000 pounds. They
32:53
can run 30 to 35 miles an hour They can maybe
32:56
jump over you. They are nimble. They can turn
32:59
almost on a dime They are an underrated attack
33:05
creature now. They're not necessarily going to
33:07
attack but there is a chance they will, especially
33:10
during the rut, and that's when you're seeing
33:12
all of these things happen. Like I said at the
33:14
top, the rut coincides with the busiest visitation
33:18
months of the park. It's not by design, it just
33:22
so happens that that's when it happens. So when
33:25
you're visiting the park this summer, know that
33:28
you are there during the most aggressive time
33:30
for bison. That means to be vigilant in keeping
33:34
appropriate distances not testing your fate and
33:38
knowing that Even if you do everything right,
33:40
there's still a very very very very small chance
33:43
that something could happen So have an exit strategy
33:46
always it's in my head constantly. Yes It's kind
33:49
of tiring. But if there's a bison around I always
33:52
think okay. Where am I going to go? this is something
33:56
that I like to teach people while we're on tours
33:59
is like okay there's some bison there if they
34:01
happen to come closer to us this is where we're
34:03
going to go and I tell them that and I say and
34:05
then in the future you can know this and it's
34:08
a good skill now if you're on a boardwalk that
34:10
you can't get off of backtrack on the boardwalk
34:12
obviously there are situations that will be potentially
34:16
close but if you do everything right you pay
34:20
attention you will be absolutely fine One thing
34:23
I also wanted to quickly talk about I know that
34:25
was a ranting segment so apologies I hope you're
34:28
still listening one thing I wanted to talk about
34:30
is what the park does with aggressive bison Many
34:35
people will ask like oh is the bison gonna be
34:37
put down because it's aggressive Yellowstone
34:40
will like the park rangers will kind of figure
34:42
out. Okay. How did this attack happen all of
34:45
these things but Most of the time with bison
34:48
they'll attack people and then the park just
34:50
leaves them alone A bison doesn't necessarily
34:54
actively seek out people to injure. It's always
34:57
reacting to something. So charging is natural
35:01
behavior for a bison. Bison are also wild animals
35:05
and are unpredictable. They're not zoo animals.
35:08
They can't be controlled. If one wants to hang
35:11
out at a campground, they can't close the whole
35:13
campground because of that. So you have to know
35:15
this is nearby. This is something that's going
35:18
to happen. If you're camping, You'll have bison
35:21
walk through your camp. Potentially you'll have
35:23
elk. You may have a bear go through in the middle
35:25
of the night. It's just something that happens
35:27
when you camp in the wild. Yellowstone protects
35:31
wild behavior and protects its wild animals and
35:34
will only interfere if it is a true and constant
35:38
threat to people. So that's usually going to
35:41
be bears. The bison that attacked at the campground
35:45
at Bridge Bay, it's Probably still at Bridge
35:49
Bay, to be honest, and it's probably just raising
35:51
a ruckus all the time, but now it's famous and
35:53
everybody knows to keep its distance. That bison
35:57
is going to live out its life in the park and
36:00
be fine. Because at the end of the day, when
36:03
you enter the park, the park will hand you a
36:06
flyer. That flyer has everything you need to
36:09
know to stay safe. Whether or not you read it
36:13
is up to you. By accepting this information by
36:16
entering the park, you are therefore accepting
36:18
the risk that comes with the park. And this is
36:22
something I think we as a society have kind of
36:24
lost is when we're in the wild. It's wild. It's
36:29
potentially dangerous. It probably won't be five
36:32
million people probably visit the park this year.
36:35
And how many are going to get injured? Very few.
36:38
Statistically zero. It's going to be a number,
36:40
but it's going to be so few that it's just negligible.
36:43
But things will happen and you have to understand
36:46
that by doing this and entering the park and
36:49
being around wildlife, the responsibility falls
36:53
on you to maintain safe viewing distances and
36:56
to know where you need to go if an animal gets
36:59
close to you. So all of this is just kind of
37:04
a rant and rave. I wanted to talk about it, but
37:08
I do want to say something that I feel is very
37:10
important. If you see people getting too close
37:14
to wildlife, there is a new push, and I dislike
37:19
it wholeheartedly, there's a new push just to
37:22
back away, jump in your car and film, and wait
37:25
for something to happen. This is the absolute
37:27
worst thing you can do. Be a good part of humanity.
37:30
Tell the people they're too close in a positive
37:32
way. Don't scold them. Don't yell at them. Just
37:34
say, hey, you might be a little close. I just
37:36
want to let you know. Remember that guy got tossed
37:38
and bison ran really fast. Say something to bring
37:41
levity to the situation. And if they ignore you
37:45
and they're still getting too close or they're
37:46
engaged in reckless behavior, there is a way
37:48
to document it. Take a picture of the person.
37:51
Take a picture of their car with the license
37:54
plate and immediately go to a ranger station
37:57
and report them. You have to get a picture of
37:59
them, get the car, make and model in the license
38:02
plate, and that way the park can track them down
38:05
if they are actually violating rules. That includes
38:07
getting too close to bears, that includes flying
38:10
a drone, that includes those people who just
38:13
walked out in a grand prismatic. Somehow no one
38:15
followed them to their car and took a picture
38:18
of their car. If you want people to pay for them
38:22
breaking rules, documenting them and then just
38:26
posting it online, is not the way to go. I'm
38:29
not saying that the people that posted about
38:31
this were doing that. I know one of those people
38:34
that posted the video, the two people walking
38:36
out to Grand Prismatic personally, she's my tattoo
38:38
artist, she's an amazing person, love her to
38:40
death, she knows what to do, but she just couldn't
38:43
get down there fast enough. But someone saw them
38:45
do this and they didn't document their car, instead
38:48
people just filmed them doing it. Document the
38:50
car and report it to the Rangers. please that
38:53
is the best way we can do it to stop people from
38:56
engaging in reckless behavior not videoing them
39:00
and shaming them on the internet because shaming
39:02
people on the internet does not work and any
39:04
tour group i'm going to say this blatantly because
39:06
we are 40 minutes in basically but any tour group
39:10
that participates in the shaming of visitors
39:13
without trying to educate and be a positive influence
39:17
on the park deserves an unfollow on whatever
39:20
social media you follow them and probably don't
39:22
book a tour with them because if that's the level
39:24
of harassment that they're giving to visitors
39:28
that they don't like then they're not being positive
39:30
stewards to the park and I know me lecturing
39:33
about that Makes me seem like that and if you
39:36
went on follow me, you don't want to listen to
39:37
this podcast. It's okay I want people to hold
39:41
each other accountable by all means but there's
39:43
a way to do it that doesn't just Feed into this
39:49
circle of negativity that never solves anything
39:52
We have an opportunity as visitors to the park
39:55
to leave the park better That means not littering
39:58
that means following the rules and that means
40:00
encouraging other people To know the rules and
40:03
to follow the rules. That is our responsibility
40:05
and I want everybody listening to just take that
40:09
to heart It's the very least I can do but know
40:12
that if you ever see me doing something wrong,
40:14
please call me out happy happy to have my behavior
40:18
corrected if I'm doing something wrong because
40:19
more than likely it's going to be because I'm
40:21
just like everyone else and I'm caught up in
40:23
the moment. We all get caught up in moments in
40:26
Yellowstone and sometimes a friendly voice and
40:29
a reminder of oh hey this is what you should
40:31
be doing but in a much probably less judgmental
40:34
way then that is something that we all can learn
40:37
from and we will remember we'll get brought back
40:39
to reality and then in the future we're going
40:42
to have better behavior because of it. With bison
40:46
people are going to get too close to bison from
40:48
here until there's no more bison around. This
40:52
is going to be something we deal with every summer.
40:55
Again, this time of the year, highest visitation
40:58
and the most aggressive bison. It's just a combination
41:02
that is due for an incident. Sometimes it's just
41:06
one person, sometimes it's three or four throughout
41:08
the year, but something's going to happen pretty
41:11
much every year. The way to get better about
41:14
this is to remember That the goal of the park
41:17
is not to get as close to an animal as you can
41:20
or to make sure that you get that picture No
41:22
one else does the goal is to leave Yellowstone
41:25
with incredible memories the best picture you
41:28
can get from the safety of Wherever you are and
41:32
a story about what you saw not a story about
41:34
how you ended up in the emergency room Or how
41:37
you saw somebody else get injured. I want you
41:40
to tell stories about the good visitors of the
41:43
park, the ones who are following the rules, the
41:45
people who are positive and have waited their
41:47
whole lives to enter Yellowstone, and then they
41:49
get to see the bison during the rut. They get
41:51
to see the mating courtship displays, the big
41:54
clouds of dirt up in the distance of the prairies,
41:57
the grunting noises drifting across the river.
42:00
They get to see that. You get to see that. And
42:02
it's a magical, wonderful experience that we
42:05
nearly lost because a little over 100 years ago,
42:08
we had two dozen bison in the park. the end of
42:11
the day respect wilderness know that the park
42:15
is one of the greatest gifts we can have because
42:18
we get to be a part of this safely from a distance
42:22
and together celebrating our public lands thank
42:26
you for listening apologies for the long -windedness
42:29
i mapped out what i was going to say but end
42:33
of the day sometimes i rant um if you enjoyed
42:36
this thank you if you didn't enjoy this I'm gonna
42:39
be back in a couple of days with a regular episode.
42:42
I'm gonna be doing things like this very, very
42:44
rarely, but I was asked by a lot of people to
42:47
talk about bison, and so I did. If there's anything
42:51
I didn't address, shoot me a message 406 -589
42:55
-1873 for texts, or theoutdoorsocietyatgmail
43:00
.com for emails. There's gonna be a new episode
43:03
this Thursday. Thanks for listening. See ya.
43:17
Abrupt ending! This week in Yellowstone is brought
43:20
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43:22
It's just me. I do this. It's a labor of love.
43:25
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43:27
it. Shoot me a message. Otherwise, keep listening
43:31
and I hope to see you in Yellowstone. Copyright
43:34
2026, baby!