..bet you never thought you’d hear that from me…..but last week the only disadvantage of a convertible became absolutely clear.  We went up to the Lamar Valley to see how it was going with the bison.  The males are beginning to integrate into the female herds–because it’s getting very close to breeding time (Gestation in bison is ~280 days—so the babes were born in April; mom gets pregnant again in August–and the circle of life continues).

We got stuck in a bison jam and were surrounded front, back & sides by almost 400 bison.  It was clear that rut was imminent–based on the sounds.  I was never more glad that the top on the car was up, as the bison passed within a few feet of the car, crossing the road in front of us and behind us and on both sides.   At one point, a male and female were inches from the drivers side (where the last bison bump occurred). You know that notice on your rear view mirror that says “Warning: Objects in mirror are closer than they appear”…I kept thinking back to the TRex attack in Jurassic Park…they were way too close! The idiot in the jeep behind us didn’t seem to understand that he needed to leave space for the bison to get between the cars so they were getting really close, and there was one female who stood in the middle of the road blocking both lanes for 15 minutes!  Good times were had by all (except for the people in the cars).  At one point I had a mental  image of a bison deciding to walk right over us and sinking through the top, with his legs just dangling there in the middle of the car.  It made me giggle.  (Apparently that happened to a visitor last summer; the bison walked over the hood, the top of the car, and then down the trunk…there wasn’t much left of the car.

The weirdest (and scariest) part was the sound…turn your speakers up really loud before listening to the video…..and imagine that in your ears as you sit stuck among the horny males (if the embedded youtube video doesn’t work–here’s the direct link…bison )

After we cleared the herd, Tim & I both breathed an audible sigh of relief…and our blood pressure slowly dropped…..but it was awesome!   I LOVE this park.