{"id":4455,"date":"2012-02-20T18:07:06","date_gmt":"2012-02-21T01:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4455"},"modified":"2026-02-12T14:03:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:03:04","slug":"bison-bull-grazing-on-winter-grasses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/02\/20\/bison-bull-grazing-on-winter-grasses\/","title":{"rendered":"Bison Bull Grazing On Winter Grasses"},"content":{"rendered":"

This American Bison bull still has his thick winter coat but it won’t be long before he will shed it and his haunches will appear much sleeker.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Bison bull grazing in winter grasses –\u00a0 Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 640, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It tickles me to be able to photograph wild American Bison. American Bison were hunted heavily in the 19th and 20th centuries and by 1884 they were in danger of becoming extinct after the population plummeted to a few hundred head.<\/p>\n

In 1899 James “Scotty” Phillip purchased five head (including one female) in an effort to preserve these majestic animals from extinction. At the time of Phillip’s death in 1911 the herd number was estimated at between 1000 to 2000 animals.<\/p>\n

Around the same time period two Montana ranchers, Michel Pablo and Charles Allard, spent 20 years finding and raising purebred American Bison. That herd numbered 300 when Allard died in 1896. \u00b9<\/span><\/p>\n

Had it not been for men and early conservationist like Pablo, Allard, and Phillip and their efforts in preventing American Bison from becoming extinct we might not see them freely roaming in State and National Parks throughout the western United States.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to see more of my American Bison photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

\u00b9<\/span> Wikipedia<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It tickles me to be able to photograph wild Bison. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[443,511,1022,26],"tags":[4463,745,593,4350,1269,3981,11978,1270,1268,519,4035,102,4032,373,4315],"class_list":["post-4455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bison","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","tag-american-bison","tag-bison-bison","tag-bison-bull","tag-buffalo","tag-charles-allard","tag-davis-county","tag-desert-island","tag-james-scotty-phillip","tag-michel-pablo","tag-nature","tag-nature-photography","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-photography","tag-winter","tag-winter-grasses"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-winter-grass-mia-mcpherson-2049.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-19R","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8122,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/16\/spring-time-bison-bull-on-antelope-island-state-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":4455,"position":0},"title":"Spring 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Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bison in front of the Wasatch Range, Antelope Island, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/american-bison-wasatch-range-mia-mpherson-5010.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/american-bison-wasatch-range-mia-mpherson-5010.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/american-bison-wasatch-range-mia-mpherson-5010.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/american-bison-wasatch-range-mia-mpherson-5010.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeing this Bison bull grazing on fresh grass isn't an unusual occurrence for me because I see them so often on Antelope Island but I also realize that there are quite a few people who haven't had the pleasure of seeing them in the wild like I do.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bison bull showing sun bleached winter coat, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-shedding-mia-mcpherson-1027.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-shedding-mia-mcpherson-1027.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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