Bonny Fleming shared these photos of spring at Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. See or purchase more of her work at bonzeye.asiostudio.com.
Custer State Park Spring
Tag: buffalo
Buffalo at Wind Cave National Park
It was 9 degrees below zero and snowing sideways when Joel Schwader photographed these buffalo at Wind Cave National Park near Hot Springs. “Most people thought I was crazy,” Schwader says. “I pushed snow with the front bumper of my van to get to a place that has no cell phone service. For hours I sat on the edge of a gravel road near Boland Ridge and tried my best to capture the raw courage and simple beauty of the North American bison.” Visit joeldphotography.net to view more of the Rapid City photographer’s photos or order prints.
2013 Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup
The Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup was held Friday, September 27th. Over 1,000 bison were rounded up by horseback riders to be vaccinated, branded and sorted for auction. Those sold generate money for park operations. An estimated 14,000 attended this 48th annual event.
Photos by Deborah Eich. View more of her work at lifescapephotos.blogspot.com.
Buffalo Battle
Michele Richter shared these photos of buffalo battling in Custer State Park last Saturday.
“What started out as a shoving match next to the Park road resulted in brute strength of these two,” Richter says. “It was so quick. I felt my heart pounding out of my chest trying to photograph it and marvel at it at the same time.”
Visit this link to see more of her work or purchase prints.
Wild Idea Buffalo Co.
Cheyenne River Ranch buffalo roam freely on thousands of acres of native grasses. The ranch is owned by Dan and Jill O’Brien with a focus on grassland restoration and humanely harvested meat sold via Wild Idea Buffalo Co. Dan has been a wildlife biologist and rancher for over 30 years and is author of Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch.
Bonny Fleming captured these photos by 4-wheeler this spring. View more of her photos or purchase prints here.
Buffalo: The Salmon of the Prairie
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| Dr. Kevin Weiland claims grass-fed bison contains more Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E and other nutrients than grain-fed meat. |
Kevin Weiland was just 16 when he saw the consequences of an unhealthy diet. He was helping his father with the family-run ambulance service in Madison when they were called to a nearby farm. In his book, The Dakota Diet: Health Secrets of the Great Plains, he recalls finding the farmer,”sitting in an enclosed combine with his fist clenched tightly to his chest as he struggled to breathe. His skin was pale and clammy, and his eyes had a blank stare of death. He was in his mid-fifties and extremely overweight and it took several of us to get him on a stretcher and into the back of the ambulance.” An autopsy showed he had died of a heart attack and suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure.
Weiland went on to become an internal medical physician. While he treats many health problems at the Rapid City Medical Center, including diabetes and heart disease, a large part of his practice centers on preventative medicine. Weiland developed the Dakota Diet to encourage people to eat healthy foods and prevent disease. His book includes a food plan, sample menus and, of course, the requisite chapter on exercise. (You didn’t think you’d get away with loafing on the couch, did you?)
The foods Weiland recommends are based on many of the Mediterranean Diet’s guidelines: plenty of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, small portions of nuts and fish on a regular basis. What makes his diet unique is the many food choices produced on the Dakota plains — including grass-fed buffalo.
“Buffalo is the salmon of the prairie,” Weiland says.”It has fewer calories than grain-fed meat, and contains more Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E and other nutrients. A buffalo steak may have 100 fewer calories than a steak from a grain-fed steer. You could lose up to 10 pounds a year just by switching your main source of meat to grass-fed buffalo.”
Can ranchers produce an equally healthy food by grass feeding their cattle?”Yes, absolutely,” Weiland says.”Meat from grass-fed cattle is a great source of protein, a nutrient dense food. All the nutrients get depleted in a feedlot.”
Plains Indians thrived for centuries on a buffalo-centered diet similar to Weiland’s. After being confined on reservations and forced to subsist on commodities like white flour, sugar and lard, the Indians developed the while man’s diseases of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
With Weiland’s help, Beau LeBeau, an obese and diabetic Lakota man from Pine Ridge, began the Dakota Diet in February of 2007. South Dakota filmmakers Sam Hurst and Larry Pourier recorded his first 200 days on the diet for a documentary, Good Meat: How the Lakota got Fat and Beau LeBeau Changed His Life.
Buffalo is more than food for LeBeau. He told the Rapid City Journal, “The buffalo is considered sacred by our tribe, of course, but before this, I didn’t bring it into my daily life. Now I do. There’s always been a spiritual connection for me, but now there’s even a better connection to it.”
LeBeau went from 333 pounds to 269 pounds after 100 days on Weiland’s diet and exercise plan, and he had significant improvement in the sleep apnea that awakened him as many as 33 times an hour. Blood studies for diabetes and liver function also improved.
Weiland sees the impact of his diet with other patients as well.”We’re getting people off medications for treatment of their diabetes, some of which cause heart disease,” he says.”With nutrient-dense low-calorie foods, their insulin resistance gets better and their blood sugars improve.”
Weiland’s campaign to improve South Dakotans’ health through better diet and exercise still has a long way to go. He offers the following statistics: in 1987 less than 10 percent of South Dakotans were considered obese. By 1995 the numbers reached 14 percent, and in 2001 they jumped again to 15-19 percent. In 2011, a sobering 28 percent of South Dakotans were considered obese.
We need to think about nutrition as a way of life,” Weiland says.”Don’t just diet — live it.”
A number of South Dakota ranchers are now raising grass-fed bison, including Sioux Falls talk show host Rick Knobe. He and his son, Brian, have raised grass-fed buffalo at their Lazy RRse Buffalo Ranch since 2000. Lazy RRse buffalo receive no hormones and they graze natural prairie grasses.
Knobe has interviewed Weiland on his radio show, and found him to be extremely knowledgeable.”A lot of docs say, ‘Don’t eat red meat, don’t eat red meat.’ But Weiland says it’s OK if you do it this way.” Knobe believes the long-term benefits of grass feeding could eventually change the livestock industry.”So many people feed grain now, it’s going to take a long, long time to change that,” he says. In the short term, it’s more likely that small farmers and buffalo ranchers will continue the grass-fed trend.
“If you take a slice of buffalo meat and compare the grain-fed to the grass-fed,” Knobe says,”Grass fed is clearly leaner.” Because the grass-fed lacks marbling, it has a tendency to cook rapidly so he offers this advice to customers:”Just remember, cook it low (as in temperature) and slow.”
Bison Kebabs
From The Dakota Diet by Dr. Kevin Weiland
1 lb. buffalo sirloin
2 medium zucchini or yellow squash
1 large red bell pepper
1 large onion, quartered
8 mushrooms
8 cherry tomatoes
Marinade
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup dry white wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
Mix the marinade. Cut the sirloin into 1 1/2 inch cubes and marinate in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours. Cut squash and bell pepper into 1/2 inch pieces. Skewer the meat and vegetables as desired and grill over medium-hot coals for 8-10 minutes, brushing with marinade occasionally. Serves 4.
Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the January/February 2008 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call 800-456-5117.
The Elks Club
It was a still sub-zero morning in late February. The year was 2011 and the snow lay thick over the hills and valleys of the southern Black Hills. I was on my way to Montana for a conference and took a detour through one of my favorite places in South Dakota just to see what I could see. As usual, I was not disappointed. As I made a turn on a winding road that ran along a ravine between two sets of low hills, I saw a lone coyote standing still with his head tilted, as if listening for something. Luckily I was downwind and he was hungry so he paid no notice as I pulled over. I grabbed my camera, got out of my vehicle and slowly nestled in as close to the road barrier as possible to watch the show. Mr. Wile E. Coyote proceeded to slowly walk down the hillside, stopping to listen every few steps. After a couple minutes of this, he stopped statue still, cocked his head, and proceeded to pounce into the snow, burying his head up to his shoulders. After five seconds, he pulled out a fat rodent that he firmly held in his jaws. That was when he looked at me, turned away and continued his meal. It was like I was watching PBS’s Nature program in real life.
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The setting was Wind Cave National Park — a place more known for what lies beneath the ground than what is above the ground. I find this quite ironic, as the park’s land is full of scenic beauty and breathtaking wildlife scenes all available from the comfort of your vehicle. For a guy like me that has a love for wildlife but isn’t in the best hiking shape, the place is a”must visit” every time I’m in the area.
Any time of the year offers a good chance to view a variety of creatures from mule deer to American bison and prairie dogs to the coyotes that hunt them. I particularly like to visit the park in the early winter as I’ve had good luck seeing and photographing what I consider one of the more photogenic wild creatures… the mighty wapiti or elk. The park has a fairly large herd of these beasts. They are not always the easiest to find, but I’ve had luck early in the morning along the park’s northern back road in early winter.
Elk are not only beautiful creatures to look at; they are also revered by Native American tribes and hold spiritual significance in their culture. There are legends of Elk Men who are credited with the invention of the flute that, when played correctly, had a magical way of attracting a mate. The elk’s symbolism of love and passion may have been simply derived from what the Plains Indians observed. The courageous and mighty bulls, crowned with a majestic set of antlers, were powerful figures as well as examples of something to emulate — specifically in how they fought for and defended their harems of devoted cows.
Late in the fall, you may be able to observe this fighting and defending between bull elks along Wind Cave’s Rankin Ridge. If you are lucky, you may also hear the bulls bugle. It is a sound that is unmistakable as well as impressive. I have yet to see or hear this at Wind Cave, but I did witness it at Yellowstone in the fall of 2010. It was one of those moments of nature that sticks with you. It is both the real and potential experiences like this that makes Wind Cave National Park’s aboveground features just as important and impressive as what lies beneath. Just don’t forget your camera!
Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing our prettiest spots around the state. Follow Begeman on his blog.
The Buffalo vs. the Bull
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| Folks from both sides of the border gathered to watch the contest between Scotty Philip’s buffalo and a Juarez fighting bull. |
There’s no one quite like a four-year-old for pondering the imponderable. My grandson Little Jack once asked me if a saber-toothed tiger could beat up a Tyrannosaurus rex. I told him I’d have to think about that, but I did know that a South Dakota buffalo could beat up four Mexican fighting bulls. At least that’s what happened in Juarez, Mexico in 1907.
Scotty Philip, the well-known Stanley County cattleman and buffalo fancier, was in Texas on a fall buying trip and encountered a couple of sports from Juarez who were given to loud and repeated boastings about the stamina, fierceness, and fighting heart of the sharp-horned bulls they bred for combat in the bull rings of that country.
In response to this chauvinistic yammering, Philip politely suggested to the boastful Mexicans that he had, on his ranch, any number of ordinary buffalo that by damn could mop up the ring with the finest of those so-called fighting bulls. He furthermore offered to ship one or more of these buffalo to Juarez to prove his point and solidified his proposition with a substantial wager.
The Mexicans had seen only pictures of buffalo, and the prospect of one of the awkward, shaggy creatures challenging their fast-stepping, muscled beasts of destruction translated to them as an unprecedented opportunity for mucho dinero. Philip’s sporting proposition was quickly joined, and arrangements were made for publicity and use of the Juarez bullring.
Unfortunately, a severe blizzard required Scotty Philip’s presence on the ranch that January, so he was unable to make the trip to Mexico. In his stead, he dispatched his nephew, George Philip, to look after family interests and those of the local community, which had accumulated a sizeable pot to be wagered on behalf of the buffalo. Cowboys Eb Jones and Bob Yokum were sent along to tend the livestock.
From his ranch near Ft. Pierre, Scotty Philip selected two run-of-the-herd buffalo bulls, an eight-year-old and a four-year-old, for the contest. He called the older one Pierre; the name of the other isn’t recorded — Murdo, perhaps. The bulls were loaded into a specially reinforced boxcar, and the entire party made the trip to El Paso and across the Rio Grande to Juarez in seven days, amidst a generous amount of en route hoopla due to the advance publicity and general interest in the outcome of the matchup.
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| Stanley County matadors? George Philip and fellow South Dakota businessmen posed in the ring after the famous fight. Photo from S.D. Historical Society. |
When they got the buffalo to the bullring on the designated Saturday, George Philip (according to his account of the trip in South Dakota Historical Review thirty years later) and company were surprised not only at the size of the facility, but at the number and fervor of the partisans from both sides of the border who had gathered for the spectacle.
When Pierre ambled out into the arena, the crowd emitted a buzz of anticipation. But the buzz became a groan as the shaggy bison reached the center of the ring and, tired from his long trip, calmly flopped himself down. Then there was a great reverberating roar as the Mexican bull was turned into the ring. Enraged by the darts that had been plunged into his shoulder to enhance his fighting spirit, the snorting, pawing bull launched himself at the unkempt mound in the middle of the arena like some 1,500 pound juggernaut from hell.
Pierre managed to get to his feet in time to take the bull’s charge head-on. There was what sounded like an underground explosion, and the dust cleared to reveal the unmoved Pierre stoically contemplating a surprised and slightly dazed bundle of bovine bewilderment that had been bounced back a rod or so from the point of impact.
But the bull’s momma hadn’t raised any dummies; after all, hadn’t he a pair of sharp horns that could slice this upstart’s liver right out of his body? So he sidestepped to a position that gave a clear shot at the buffalo’s uncovered flank, lowered his head and charged in for the vivisection.
Alas, the bull’s momma hadn’t told him about a major difference between bulls and buffalo; namely, that buffalo turn on their front, rather than rear, legs. This ability allowed Pierre to pivot at the last minute and once more absorb the bull’s charge with his massive skull plate. And this time, the buffalo put some thrust behind powerful counter-blows.
After the final encounter had brought him to his knees, the once-fearsome fighting bull fled to the nether regions of the arena and tried to climb out of the ring. Failing that, he could only stand shaking as the catcalls and imprecations of the angry crowd rained down.
Claiming a fluke, the Mexican breeders called on George Philip to allow them to try one of their “best” bulls against the buffalo. Ever willing to go the extra mile, George agreed; and a fresh contender — sinewy and belligerent as the first bull — roared out of the corral directly at Pierre, who stood patiently at ring center. The outcome was the same as before: no matter from which direction the bull charged, he was met head-on.
This scenario was replayed that afternoon with yet two more bulls — and to the same end. By the time the sun had started to sink behind the stands, four battered and shaking Mexican fighting bulls huddled in the shadows by the west wall while the pride of Stanley County rolled contentedly on his back in the arena sand. George Philip offered the younger buffalo in combat the next day, but all the heart had gone out of the Mexican breeders, and they declined. For them the question had been settled, and they had no desire for any further decimation of their prize stock.
It would be nice to report that the buffalo were given heroes’ welcomes back home; but because of transportation costs, they were sold in Juarez. One hopes they were used to enrich the fighting bull genetic strain, but the likelihood is that the burrito might have been replaced by the buffalito as the fast food mainstay in old Juarez for a time.
Later that year Mr. Scotty Philip founded the town that bears his name. His nephew, George, eventually became a respected lawyer in Rapid City. Eb Jones served as a Stanley County commissioner, and Bob Yokum has evidently been lost to history.
As I told my grandson, a South Dakota buffalo might have a struggle with old Tyrannosaurus rex, but I’m sure he’d give a sabre-toothed tiger all the fight he wants, and then some.
Editor’s Note: The author, Jim Dickson, is a Sturgis native who currently lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. This story is revised from the March/April 1995 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a back issue or to subscribe, call 800-456-5117.
