Small Town

Leeza · Post by **Leeza** » Tue May 10, 2011 7:48 am

In the forum and chat we often hear people say, "I live in a small town of ___ population" just to have someone else think that that is a large town.

Now I think we can all agree that Monowi Nebraska, USA is a small town.

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/One-woman ... elsieeiler

Leeza

Absaroka · Post by **Absaroka** » Wed May 11, 2011 11:58 am

based on the picture it may be getting smaller.

Post by **DonnaT** » Wed May 11, 2011 12:37 pm

Larry the Cable Guy did an Only In America show on the town and it's mayor.

Laura Ashcroft · Post by **Laura Ashcroft** » Thu May 12, 2011 3:33 am

My town isn't as small as that, but 2500 is pretty small. Everybody knows everything. It's annoying

Carol Ann · Post by **Carol Ann** » Thu May 12, 2011 7:16 am

451 folks here

Paula G · Post by **Paula G** » Thu May 12, 2011 2:12 pm

err, 450 sounds like a block of flats, I life in a suburban Borough of London with a population of about 300,000, that is just a small part of the city of 7.5 million. In a small place I think I would worry about being conspicuous. Here I can be totally anonymous if I choose, - where do you hide a tree? - in a forest.

Ralitsa · Post by **Ralitsa** » Thu May 12, 2011 7:46 pm

there are several towns thoughout the dakotas and Nebraska that are down to 1 person, or 1 family. Oddly enough, populations of those states peaked around 1910-1920 and have been declining ever since. That's why I want to move there and have a bison ranch.

Carolynn · Post by **Carolynn** » Thu May 12, 2011 10:35 pm

Wow, bison can be hard to handle. If they decide to move, the barbed wire fences that keep cattle in pasture just do not work. Their padded heads just let them stretch them until the wire breaks or they pull the posts out of the ground. And they remain wild, no matter how much you work with them. There is a vet near Stratford, Oklahoma, that has been breeding a strain that is more tractible and a bit smaller, and is also brucelosis free, but still susceptible to the disease. He keeps trying.

A man who owned property in western Oklahoma had 120 head of bison with two good bulls, until one killed the oher. He never got out of the pickup around them, or got off his horse. Had one gored out from under him by a cow bison when trying to separate her from her injured calf. Had to run very fast. They can cover several acres in just a few seconds.

My uncle bought one to butcher from the Wichita Wildlife Refuge, and showed up with a regular stock trailer to pick it up, and the wranglers just laughed at him, and sure enough, the cow just ripped the trailer apart before he could even get on the road. Takes a very robust trailer to haul them, or maybe a good tranq gun.

So be sure you investigate bison very carefully. I saw one with a .50 cal. slug in him run 1000 yds before collapsing, then got up to ram and damage a half ton pick-up several times when he was approached, and he was lung shot. Their lungs are supposed to be connected, so a lung shot is supposed to be fatal through suffocation, but nobody told the young bull about that.

Oh, and the Crow tribe has a large bison herd in Wyoming that, though they are confined over 30 or 40 square miles of reservation land they have amassed, they are allowed to be bison and range over the landscape. They wrangle them with helicopters, 4 wheelers, and jeeps and Humvees. Their holding pens are ultra strong. National Geographic had a special on how they were "returning to their roots" about 8 years back, and may still be available on their web site. The Bison Growers Association would be another good resource for you. They have annual meetings with introduction of various bison products that are a lot of fun, and tasty too.

They are amazing critters, and I respect them a lot.

Carolynn

Absaroka · Post by **Absaroka** » Fri May 13, 2011 7:25 am

As Carolynn points out bison are wild animals, not domesticated or able to be domesticated. At places like Yellowstone Nat Park they kill far more people than bears do. Actually a fight between a grizzly bear and bison is dangerous for both and a grizzly would typically only go after a young, old, sick or injured bison.

Hitting on in your car can easily be fatal, for you.

That being said, having a large piece of land where bison live (I'm not sure you'd call it a ranch, maybe more a private wildlife preserve) might be fun. And bison meat is delicious.

Lydia · Post by **Lydia** » Fri May 13, 2011 10:20 am

A few years ago, the local markets in Florida were selling "beefalo" - supposedly a hybrid of bison and cattle (probably the Brahma). Never took hold. Tough as leather but tasty if well stewed.

From what was said above about the bison, the hybridization procedure must have been exciting to say the least.

Lydia

Laura Ashcroft · Post by **Laura Ashcroft** » Fri May 13, 2011 1:22 pm

This is not far from me. It's a nice drive and can get a little scary when you have to drive through a herd.

http://www.gonorthwest.com/Montana/nort ... nge_ta.htm

Leeza · Post by **Leeza** » Fri May 13, 2011 1:30 pm

We have some bison producers in the area that have them in fairly small pens with 5 and 6 wire fences. The owners say the trick to holding them in is to not let them run out of feed.

Leeza

Absaroka · Post by **Absaroka** » Fri May 13, 2011 2:20 pm

I remember the first time I went to Yellowstone Nat. Park. It was late June and there was still a lot of snow-it had been a hard winter even by their standards. As a result the bison had migrated to more people intensive places. I remember parking my car in the lot at The Old Faithful Inn and there were half a dozen or so just standing around, wathcing the cars and taking up parking spaces. I think I walked within 10 or 15 feet of one and seemed completely unconcerned. I had the thought that I could go over and touch it but this little voice kept telling me that was probably a bad idea. The little voice was likely correct.............

The rangers also said to stay away from the dead bison carcasses. Seems the bears are fond of them and might take offense. These were out on the trail, not in the parking lot, although there was a dead elk in one of the hot pools that no one wanted to attempt to remove.

My favorite bad memory is of climbing Mt Washburn. There was still about 6 feet of snow on the ground and the trail got lost. Since I had a reasonably good view of where I was headed and there was a road to the top on the other side I just continued onwards and upwards. In the distance I saw footprints and was excited and relieved to see that another hiker had preceeded me. When I got there they proved to be fairly new bear tracks which ended my relief.......It was however an extraordinary view from the top.

Considering where we are I'd love to say I did this all en femme, but fraid not.

Zari

Gillian · Post by **Gillian** » Sat May 14, 2011 8:49 am

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam......There are alot of Bison farms in my area, you just put up strong fences. They only tend to move according to feed and water conditions. If you ever had bison burgers, you would never go back to hamburger. The leanness of the meat is excellent when it comes to barbequing. Try a 1" thick steak on the rareish side to keep it juicy. So goes my helping my Alberta bison farmer friends.