Buffalo Migration Has Begun: Invoking The Honorable Harvest
For the third straight October, wild buffalo families are already beginning to migrate from Yellowstone into Montana. Until these recent years, it was extremely rare for the matriarch-led family groups to leave the park so early. They have traveled many miles to their new year-round habitat on Horse Butte, causing BFC and local residents to both celebrate and become increasingly vigilant, watching out for threats. As we feared, within a day of the buffalo being spotted, hunters arrived. Luckily, the buffalo are currently safe on lands where hunting is not allowed, and they have many people looking out for them. But the hunters and game wardens are watching closely, too, possibly being tipped off by the local Montana Department of Livestock agent and the state-run “buffalo hunt hotline.” Fair doesn’t even come into play and the buffalo don’t stand a chance with so much stacked against them, including hunters racing against Yellowstone’s buffalo trap which the Park Service intends to open earlier this year.