Connecting With My Herd

By Renee Shay, Harvesting Thought

–explore–

Nature is my place of worship, never have I felt comfortable in a church or with any sort of manmade religion, including Catholicism, of which I was indoctrinated into as a child.  From the time I can remember, I have always found solace in exploring my outer world, outdoors, while in contemplation of what was happening in my inner world.  Whether it would in my backyard, the woods or by the river, I would seek nature out if I needed a moment of serenity. 

I was recently reminded of this fact when I was on my second drive across our beautiful country, this time by myself.  I believe, only in America, can a woman be safe and not be alone amongst strangers.  I took the northern route again so that I could go through Theodore Roosevelt and Yellowstone national parks, hoping to see bison this time.

As I clipped along 94 West in North Dakota, the freeway was more desolate than normal due to COVID19, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.  I was elated, the sun was not fully awake yet, so the landscape had just begun to open, and this is what I was seeing!  It was two giants, I do mean giant, bison walking slowly through a field of yellow grasses.  I was on the freeway, this was not an emergency but a necessity to commune with nature, not much traffic to speak of, so I pulled over.  Are you kidding me, day was breaking, you know the quietness of the sunrise and I was standing near a field watching the two bison? 

As I moved through the ditch and closer to the fence, they watched me and me watching them, I noticed they were also looking back on their trail.  With the morning more in focus as the sun rose, I realized that they were moving along, stopping, waiting for the others to catch up too.  Here they came, as slow as could be, six more, much smaller than the first two, but not calves.  The darkness of their hides against the yellow grasses and the blue skies rising with the sun, my day was made.

–challenge–

I had more time on my hands this second trip back to California after a few days spent moving out of my house, signing the closing paperwork, and done, that chapter closed.  So, I left the freeway again and entered the Roosevelt Park area, deciding to get a pass though the ranger station was not open, in fact, I was the only person around the entrance.  See, my first trip out this past spring with my good friend, we had thought we saw a bison sitting along the freeway near the park, but we never had the time to explore more.  I had to confirm that it was originally a bison and not a rock mirage for my mind’s sake. 

The herd I saw was the beginning of the proof and then confirmed, as I got closer to the park area, there was no rock where we thought we saw the bison before (full disclosure, we pulled off the freeway that time too to take a photo), this was a good sign.  I expanded my search and entered the park.  I crossed over a bridge and immediately came across this bison walking along the roadside.  I was surprised as I just passed a group of surveyors, my first sign of humans in the park.  This bison (photo on this blog) did not seem to care about them or me.  He meandered along with me in my vehicle fifteen feet of him, not bothered by the car running or my photo taking.  Interesting enough to me, I noticed he was not a giant like the others I saw off the freeway, much smaller adult male.  It was curious to me that he was alone, lost or outcast for some reason, I was not sure. 

–expand–

I let him be after a moment and drove further into the park searching for his herd, he must be a part of one, right?  I did not see many more humans other than the surveyors and few stragglers in cars every now and then.  Some of the roads were still closed due to winter or construction, so I took the ones that were open.  I saw wild turkeys, deer, a couple more solo bison, which was about it.  Quite desolate, I never ran into the herd again that I had seen off the freeway as the sun rose earlier that morning.  They were off in the sage brush or on one of the closed roads or far enough away that I would not be able to catch up with them again. 

I did not find another herd that morning though I did have a spiritual moment with the juxtaposition of what I did see and that was the important thing.  As I expand my own universe by closing one chapter of my life, selling my home in a placed I had lived in for sixteen years, this was a good lesson.  I knew I made the right decision, no second guessing, I was on the right path with this move.  But one question remained for me, where was his herd? 

I re-learned from this experience that some male bison do not have a herd yet.  Because males must compete with other males to determine who will be allowed to breed within a group of females, some are outcast as “bachelors,” in search of their own herds.  Of course, this makes sense, I knew this about herd animals but had to relearn it for a moment.  Sometimes when you see someone who appears alone, that does not mean that they are “lonely,” sometimes it is by design and just what is needed to get to their next chapter in life.