Bison On The Prairie

Kankakee Sands Bison

Kankakee Sands Bison

December 31, 2016 – There was cold stiff December wind blowing across the prairie at Kankakee Sands Saturday morning, a good way to make a fine memory on the last day of the year. The Bison herd were keeping a tall sand ridge between them and the relentless winds as they grouped together near some small oak trees. I noticed that 10 white-tailed deer had found some protection from the wind in the tall grasses west of the Bison. Rough legged hawks and Northern Harriers seemed suspended in the sky above the prairie using the wind to their advantage as they hunted for small mammals. For a moment one could imagine a time before the Europeans when the indigenous people and nature existed as one. The primitive roads through the dense prairie grasses of their original range were made by these grand beast migrating north and south and stretching from Michigan to Kentucky across a vast prairie, passing oak savannas, marshes, campsites and villages of the natives. I can sense a rumble like thunder under clear skies, dust clouds of movement as a herd passes long ago near where I sit.

Kankakee Sands Bison

Kankakee Sands Bison