Buffalo Munch in North Dakota

“Crunch, munch, crunch, munch….”

At the end of a 10 foot length of PVC pipe, a bull buffalo gobbled and licked the lion’s share of the tasty alfalfa pellets we poured down to the paddock he shared with his mate and child.

Here is a link to nearly three minutes of the buffalo family, feasting.

We had spotted that buffalo family the night before, after dining at the Frontier Fort Bar and Grill in Jamestown, North Dakota. They in turn had seen us when we walked over to the enclosure fence behind the restaurant building. Taking the bull’s lead, they had turned tail and symbolically snubbed us.

But it was a different story in the morning, with treats sluicing down the pipeline. Standing on the back porch of the restaurant’s gift shop, we could safely observe these huge beasts as long as the 50¢ bags of food held out. All three repeatedly chowed down.

It was the closest we have ever gotten to the wary symbols of the West … or cared to get.

The irony and juxtaposition was inescapable. Buffalo feeding outside a restaurant with a menu that included such dishes as elk and bison burgers.

Just down the road from the “World’s Largest Buffalo (statue).”

It was all part of a trek to North Dakota, my fiftieth state visited. When told “this is my last state” many in North Dakota smiled and said, “We hear that a lot.”

So I mentioned that fact quite often.

Sharing the destination nature of the trip was a nice way to acknowledge the hospitality we experienced, letting people know that this visit to their home state was truly something special.

Photos, video, and text Copyright 2014 by Walter J. Podrazik