Last week I had an opportunity to visit the Cheyenne-Arapaho tribal bison herd in Concho, Oklahoma with Bryan Pearson and lead by Tommy Beartrack.

The herd is over 300 head, and the tribe has brought in some bison from the Yellowstone herd to help strengthen and purify the line. There is something majestic about the bison that makes me believe that there has always been a connection with humans going further back than our history books talk about.

I am not a wildlife photographer by any means, and I have a healthy respect for large animals that could easily harm me with a quick twist of their heads, heads or horns. However, somehow I felt at peace and that ease around these gentle giants, that were more curious about me than I was about them. While I would never condone walking out to a wild animal or a large domesticated animal and petting it on the head, I did have a curious female that was not shy of rubbing against me for another handful of food. She seemed completely oblivious to this stranger standing in front of her with the camera, and all she concentrated on the few pellets that I had in hand.

I’ve always been fascinated with the American Buffalo and two of our CORE Team members photograph herds regularly, Bryan & Ken, so I am no stranger to the good and bad stories surrounding this icon of the American West. But there is a big difference between hearing about the bison and actually walking amongst them.

If you are interested in the history of bison, be sure to watch the PBS special from Ken Burns – The American Buffalo. Besides the excellent filming, the information, both historical and mythical, is intriguing and disheartening about the near extinction of this treasure.

Here are a few images taken with my Fujifilm X-Pro3 and vintage manual focus lenses.

Enjoy and Keep Shooting!