Caption for Photo: Bison graze on Antelope Flats in Grand Teton National Park.
Photo by Bradly J. Boner.
DECEMBER 8, 2023
Except from Article in Jackson Hole Magazine
By Mike Koshmrl, Jackson Hole Magazine
Traffic slows, then eases to a standstill past where the Buffalo Fork of the SnakeRiver gives way to a sweep of grassy pastureland. Off to the west, the sawtooth of the Tetons. The eastern skyline is cut by triangular Mount Leidy rising above a rolling sea of conifer forest. But the scenic vistas play second fiddle to the center and cause of the congestion on U.S. 191/26.
It’s a heap of bison. A herd grazes the flats where the old Elk Ranch ran cattle in the early 1900s. And the tourists passing by, many of whom have never seen North America’s largest mammal in the wild, are struck with awe by the bevy of wooly, lumbering animals. With cameras and smartphones in hand—to capture memories of a species that was infamously eradicated from virtually all of its range—they scamper across the highway.