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More Than 1,000 Yellowstone Bison Killed As Harsh Winter Pushes Herds Out Of The Park

An exceptionally hard winter that has been hammering Wyoming’s wildlife outside of Yellowstone Park has also been pushing more Bison out of the Park and into Montana. Roughly 1,000 bison have been killed by hunters, mostly from Native American tribes.
Mark Heinz



Yellowstone Park tourists sometimes must learn the hard way that bison are essentially organic tanks with hooves instead of tracks.

And yet the current winter has been so bad, even the mighty bison are being driven out of the park on the Montana side, where roughly 1,000 have been shot by hunters.

Culling bison is sometimes necessary, and most of the killing this year has been through special hunts for members of several Native American tribes, Montana State Veterinarian Marty Zaluski told Cowboy State Daily.

The number of bison fleeing the park is unprecedented, National Park Service spokeswoman Morgan Warthin told cowboy State Daily.

"The winter of 2022/2023 has been the largest migration out of the park in recent history (decades); likely due to heavy snows and very cold temperatures causing large numbers of bison to move to lower elevations in the Gardiner Basin to find food," she said.

Bison began leaving Yellowstone in large numbers in December, Warthin said.

That month, 13 bison, likely driven by hunger to the roadside, were struck and killed by a semi-truck near West Yellowstone, Montana. Zaluski told Cowboy State Daily at the time that it was the worst such accident he'd ever seen.

Winter Hits Hard

Montana's regular bison hunting season ran from Nov. 15- Feb. 15, and only a handful of the huge critters were killed by non-tribal hunters then, Zaluski said.

The Yellowstone Herd was up to roughly 6,000 bison when this winter hit, he said.

As one of the worst in recent memories, this winter has killed tens of thousands of antelope and deer in central and southwest Wyoming, and there have been reports that large numbers of elk which are usually hardy winter survivors have also been dying.

Wildlife officials in northwest Colorado reported similar winterkill losses.

And Yellowstone hasnt escaped either, Zaluski said. Unusually heavy snowfall has covered much of the park.

"West Yellowstone is buried," he said.

To make matters worse a warm spell in December caused some of the surface snow to melt, only to freeze back over in a hard crust when temperatures plunged again.

"Bison are incredibly resilient and by virtue of their sheer mass can dig and pound through snow to get to food that other species just cant reach," Zaluski said. However, the snow in Yellowstone has been so bad, even they have decided to give up and move on.

How badly the park's other wildlife has been suffering isn't known, Warthin said, though apparently some bison have perished.

"Regarding winterkill numbers, we don't do park-wide surveys for winterkill. However, we are seeing some winterkill during our wolf study monitoring (both bison and elk) and expect more given the severity of the winter," she said.

John Dutton Would Be Very Upset

Bison crossing into Montana has long been a point of contention, particularly for that state's ranchers.

A large portion of the Yellowstone Bison herd carries brucellosis a disease that causes pregnant cattle to spontaneously abort their calves. So, ranchers dont want the bison anywhere near their cows.

Montana established a "tolerance zone," where bison are free to wander out of the park and into the Gardiner Basin, without the fear of cattle being infected, Warthin said.

However, the severe winter has been driving large numbers well beyond the tolerance zone, Zaluski said.

They've even been pushing into the Paradise Valley region which is the setting for the fictional Dutton Family Ranch in the popular streaming service series "Yellowstone." So, it's likely that the family patriarch, John Dutton (played by Kevin Costner) wouldn't be pleased by the current turn of events.

Pure speculations on that last bit.

Can tags be bought?

Interesting. Thanks for posting.
If the winters done a number on the Buffalo, which are pretty good survivors, lord knows how many other species in the park took a hit too.
I read something a while back about Yellowstone wanting to open up a Season for Buff hunts. I believe the number was around 900 in order to maintain the balance of the herd vs the habitat.
I don’t know how many Buff reside in the park, but the number also has effect on antelope, deer, elk, and others as well.
Custer State Park In SD has I believe, 5000 Buff. Every fall they round them up and sell off some calf’s to maintain their balance. (I’d love to see those cowboys on horseback and 4 wheelers do the roundup!)
Wonder what the mortality was in Roosevelt Park as well.
7mm

A truck driver couldn't see 13 bison standing in the road?

That seems like a lot but I can believe it especially if coming around a curve or in a storm. Inside of the park anyway. They line up hundreds deep on the road and move only when they’re ready too.

When I lived there. You could hear about the Buffalo issues every morning almost as I drove to work.
I always wondered why they didn't sell tags.

I'm good with the Trible people getting the meat.

If they actually eat it and don't waste it! Seems like a lot of buffalo killed.

If you had a tag, I wonder if it was bound by zones?

I didn't read everything, re: was posted on the net; regarding this.

The Comanches will kill them!
Then the squaws make teepees from the hides.

I think about this deal a lot…


If u grew up fishing with live bait…….

And u was fishing for two weeks….

Would u put two week’s worth of minnows in yer pail?

No

They would all die…..

Fish and Game needs to realize how big a pail they got…….when it’s at its smallest.

And what's your solution for treaty rights killing of bison?

The pail must’ve shrunk?

No?

They moving cuz they…….(starving) ….hungry….

Not an ideal harvest event IMO

They don't have their ancient migration routes anymore. Of course a lot are going to winter kill.

1000 dead buffler?

That's a good start.

Ole Buzz probably putting on the war paint and head dress as we speak 😉

About the wolves one could only hope..............

OK, what's the typical harvest/kill?

I heard on the radio yesterday that it was 1500.



And the phags can't say chit because the natives made up a big portion of the kills.

TFF