Bison roam in Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, and Badlands National Park. Each of these areas is shared with hikers. Rather odd it is but the information available to hikers about avoiding bison is more difficult to find on the Web than information about mountain lions or bear. But if we had saved the news clippings of the pre-digital years in newsprint, we would find ample reason to be leary of these animals.

We do not hear of injuries from bison among hikers, but rather the injuries have been reported occasionally as happening to motorized tourists stopping their vehical to approach the animals, either for a photograph or for a closer look. As the Park Service at Wind Cave informs us, bison have an unpredictable temperament—especially during rutting season, which basically coincides with tourist season in the Hills.  Here we are compelled to quote the Park Service at length:

They [bison] usually appear peaceful, unconcerned, even lazy, yet they may attack anything, often without warning or apparent reason. To a casual observer, a grazing bison appears slow and clumsy, but he can outrun, out turn, and traverse rougher terrain than all but the fleetest horse. They can move at speeds of up to thirty-five miles per hour, and cover long distances at a deceptively fast lumbering gallop.

...At the time bison ran wild, they were rated second only to the Alaska brown bear as a potential killer, more dangerous than the grizzly bear. In the words of early naturalists, they were a dangerous, savage animal who feared no other animal, and in prime condition could best any foe. A bull with lowered head, snorting and pawing the ground, with tail stiffly upraised, conveys a universal warning of danger to all nearby that is impossible to ignore!

Bison in the parks commonly use the same trails as the hikers. A hiker who tops a hill on the trail, and sees no bison nearby would be well-advised to not get too comfortable and begin unpacking his gear in search of that lost map or water bottle. If a bison tops the same hill and the hiker, sitting by the trail, looks up to notice the bison standing fifty feet away, the hiker has put himself in a vulnerable position. He may not have time to repack his gear.

We have witnessed a bison chasing a hiker for no apparent reason other than some obscurely-defined territorial instinct. The hiker was lucky that the bison abandoned chase when the hiker ran across a stream and into a thick grove of trees. Had the bison been truly incensed, it could have easily crossed the stream and tried its luck at the first few trees—if the hiker made it that far.

Yet we also see large herds of bison grazing near populated campgrounds with little apparent concern from personnel who manage the herds, nor from the campers or bison.

As hikers we wish to always keep an eye out for the bison in summer months grazing or moving upon their rangeland. This is their home. We also want to always have in mind an escape route, perhaps into thick forest, should we find ourselves approached unexpectedly. If bison are on the trail, we can leave the trail and find another route a hundred yards or more distant.

 _ENext Section: Insects, Spiders, and Ticks