A real buffalo

There are many unusual things that you discover when you spend a lot of time exploring the backroads, and while I'm no longer really surprised to encounter something I've never seen before—well, seen around the local region—I'm often taken aback, at least, momentarily. So it was when I turned a corner and spotted a herd of Bison. Were I a Native American living in our area before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, these monster ungulates would have been a relatively common sight. Maybe I'd have hunted one of the animals, which were a source of food and clothing; maybe I'd have left them for another time. The white settlers wouldn't have had any conflict: they'd have slaughtered the Bison mercilessly—something that almost led to the extinction of the species by the beginning of the twentieth century. Bison were, thank God, saved from the abyss, and they're now relatively common in parts of the protected West. Here, they're raised on a few farms for meat. When I saw this big bull in a field by the edge of the woods, it sent me back to the past—and the hope that maybe we can do it right this time.

This is for the 2nd