It's Finally Here ~ The BBR ~ The Badlands Buffalo Roundup

The Buffalo ~ those little unassuming brown spots in the distance

They are out there.

Buffalo.

Badlands Buffalo.

800 of them. 

The Senator had been hired to find them. The big, brown beasts were hiding in every nook and cranny on the range that encompasses the Badlands National Park.

Did you know that almost three million people visit the Park each year? Many come to see the buffalo, if they can find them. 

You see, the buffalo don't really hang out along the "Loop Road," which is the main road most tourists travel when they visit the Badlands.  On the Loop Road, one can expect to travel on a winding road, and see lots of striped spires and craggy crevices, but not buffalo.  Oh, an occasional deer, antelope, or Bighorn sheep might be spotted, but not buffalo.

No, No, No, the buff like the wide open spaces of the western edge of the Badlands - The Range. And this is where the story begins. . .

The Senator spent three days, on horseback, helping a handful of ranchers gather the scattered buffalo.  A bunch of National Park workers, with walkie-talkies and BWP's (big, white pick-ups) helped also.
An early morning meeting established the days doings.  Then the riders headed off toward the horizon to gather up the beasts. Some days the guys traveled 25 or 30 miles.

And they're off!

There they are.  Can you see them?  On the upper, left side of the pix. 
Now go gett-em boys.  

They would gather some, move them, gather more,  and move them.  At strategic points, on top of the ridges, waited the BWP's.  The pick-ups would then move behind the buffalo and "push" them in the direction of the corrals.  The Senator said this was easier said than done, and he was glad he was horseback.  He wasn't particularly fond of the BWP's.  (Sorry guys and gals.)

The BWP's

 On to the corrals.  They are big. They are about ten feet high.  They are solid.  Let's put it this way, if you were alone and got caught in one, (why this would happen is beyond be, but I'm just sayin. . .) you would never be able to escape the confines of it.  I would liken the experience to something out of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." You know, the kids drop down into "no-where-ville," never to be seen again?  Ahhhhhh!

Seriously.  The walls are ten feet high.  No escaping.  None.

The Catwalk - the safe place to be

John Deere pushes the big wall.

Once the big buggers are in the corrals, they are checked for disease.  I guess they also do some sort of genetic testing, too. Then the buffalo are released, back to roam the range.

The Senator experienced three days of the roundup. I simply heard stories, each evening, around the campfire. Well, not exactly the campfire, more like around the kitchen table with soup bubbling on the stove. The Senator has all the details. I just got the big picture. Speaking of pictures, here are some more of them.



P.S. all of the pictures on today's post were taken by the Senator.
(I'm just sayin'. . . )

If I can get him off the range long enough, I'll have him add a post about his experiences on the BBR.  For now, you got a glimpse of a bi-annual tradition out here on the EDGE, no, I guess, IN the Badlands. 

from the range, peace,

kathleen

the handy girl