BIG BONE LICK STATE PARK—Beaver, KY
I made a new friend. Let’s just call him, “Buff”. I would like to protect his identify for his sake and mine due to an incident.
When Jim and I made the half mile easy hike to the small herd of Bison in the State Park, the last group near my new friend was four teenagers (two girls, two guys). We didn’t witness any foul play, but poor Buff was breathing mighty hard.
I walked up slowly but close (note: not past the guard rail set up), and started talking to him. He had his head up to that wire fence you can see in the picture. His breathing started slowing. He was calming down. Teenagers will get you all upset like that, especially a herd of them!!
It’s at that moment that the incident happened. I couldn’t help myself. We had a strong connection. Like when an animal knows that you are there to do good, not harm, even though they could rip your head off with one swipe, or throw you up in the air 10 feet so you land on your head and not think twice. I reached my hand, out and touched the hair sticking out of that wire fence above his big heaving nostrils. Buff didn’t flinch, his breathing didn’t change, but Jim’s did. Quite a bit, actually.
Jim says, “That is illegal!” I explained that it was fine and I had calmed his breathing. I told Jim that if he was bothered, he would have moved, yada, yada, yada. To which, Jim said, “That is a wild animal!” I thought to myself, “not hardly, with all these humans coming around touching them.”
There it is, my first big sin on my trip.
So, this is where I admit I was wrong. I should not have touched his hair. It was not good for the buffalo. I could have given it a disease. I don’t think I harmed it emotionally, and I do think we had a connection. I will believe that to the grave! If it was a different time, he would have been like my horse. Just like “Guy on a Buffalo”. If you haven’t seen that, look it up on YouTube. It is worth it.
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