Big bison observation #7: They often run through things rather than around them


A photograph taken in early spring showing one of the many holes punched trough briars by the bison. 
If you've ever startled white-tailed deer while walking through a forest, you're familiar with their graceful bounding.  Typically they will dodge and duck around each tree branch with their slender bodies making little noise and, if you're not careful, you may miss them altogether.  Now imagine the exact opposite and that would be a bison.  Like some wooly juggernaut with horns the bison walk or run through briars, brush and small trees like they don't exist.  Often, when the bison decide to cross between pastures the crashing of brush and breaking of branches is loud enough to be heard 50 yards away in our camper.


Sometimes, when they emerge from the forest, vines and branches will stay tangled in their fur.  I once saw a bison dragging a 30 foot long briar vine.  When this happends they don't seem to care much and it eventually just falls off.

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