If you’ve driven west out of West Yellowstone lately you know there is a huge problem with bison on the road. We saw 25 – 30 in the space of about three miles yesterday. While they weren’t all on the road at one time, as high up in the food chain as they are, they don’t think twice about crossing the highway. Apparently their moms didn’t teach them to look both ways before crossing the street, because last week several were killed in bison vs. car accidents.
The speed limit on the highways in big sky country is 70 mph (or whatever is reasonable and prudent for the conditions, whichever is lower.)Â Reasonable and prudent (not 70) is probably the speed you should be driving this time of year with all the game on the road.
Last week a flat-lander, driving way too fast, came over a hill just west of West Yellowstone and encountered a whole herd of buffalo on the road. He crashed into them and seven were killed or severely injured (and assumed put down.) While the highway patrol was cleaning up that mess, a trucker came high-balling over the same hill, crashed into eight more bison and killed or injured them.
That’s 15 bison killed in one day on one stretch of road! Not to mention the damage to cars and humans. Running into a buffalo would be like running into a tree. Running into several would be like . . .  Safe to say you wouldn’t drive away from that one.
But the other thing I wonder is what happens to all that very expensive meat? I mean, if we had 15 bison down, there was 8,000 – 10,000 pounds of meat (at an average price of about $12 – $15 per pound.) What happened to that? And the robes, at about $1,200 each. And the heads, etc., etc., etc. There was tens of thousands of dollars lying there in the highway. Where did that money go? Just a thought.
If you’re driving in or around Yellowstone National Park, slow down. Not only will you be able to see more, you’ll protect yourself and our wildlife. This is a critical time of year for wildlife. The grass is starting to come back out and they’re able to start recovering from a harsh winter. Please give our wildlife the right of way on highways and byways when you come to visit. Trust me. It will be better for everyone.
That is sad! I would hope that the resouces from those lost bison were put to good use and back into the park!
There are certainly a lot of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you bring up where the most important thing will be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a fair game. Both boys and girls feel the impact of just a moment’s pleasure, for the rest of their lives.