America's National Mammal - The Bison

God Bless the Bison!

Certainly this is not an unusual image in any way! But it speaks of the history of our country and what an important creature it proved to be! A primary food staple to our native population for years, the bison was almost made extinct with the coming of the settlers to the Wild Western frontier. When the killing of Buffalo for food was not the case for the military fighting the Plains, Indians would kill them to starve out the native Indian population! Terrible I know, but it is historically significant.

Modern day is much kinder, although life is anything but kind to the Bison. While I do not agree with much done in Washington these days the recognition of this great mammal is a good thing.

The image of this large bull was made in the Elk Flats area near Mount Moran in the Grand Tetons NP in Wyoming. The power of this mighty creature amazes me and I truly appreciate the grandeur of his scale in nature! He was surrounded by a large herd with many little "red dogs" bounding about! So I imagine he was truly in his prime...