I Maintain a Strong Affinity for 3 Subjects Due to my Early Montana Years ….all three are fairly rare in Maine

They are (in no particular order):

A. Rodeos B. Indigenous Peoples of the Plains, especially the Blackfoot tribe, and C. Bison.

With respect to rodeos, I just plain love ‘em. Although I spent only my first 9 years in Montana, my parents took me at least twice to the Western Montana Championship Rodeo in Great Falls, the city where we lived. I loved the spectacle, the participant and crowd enthusiasm, and the horsemanship of this truly western American event that is still found in many corners of the country west of the Mississippi. They are much like logging festivals here in Maine…they showcase the skills of a traditional, and physically-challenging, way of life and culture of yesteryear.

Over they years while living in the east essentially since 1970, I have gone to rodeos anytime I am in the western U.S. and find myself within an hour or two of a rodeo if my schedule permits. Recently, in 2011-2013, I spent an extended period of time based in Denver, Colorado, as an injury-prevention physical therapist/consultant for a large and sprawling energy company. On my long drive back to Maine in September of 2013, to pass the time one afternoon, I counted up the rodeos I had attended during those two years. The count added up to 12…I am not kidding!

Geographically, they ranged from Amarillo, Texas to the south to Belle Fouche, South Dakota (near The Black Hills) to the north, and in size from the very enjoyable community rodeo in Granby, Colorado with three or four hundred local fans in the stands, to the well-known Cheyenne Frontier Days that runs for a week in Cheyenne, Wyoming that has a 19,000-seat arena that is packed for a series of 4-5 rodeos during that week in late July. I spent a July weekend camping near Cheyenne and attending an afternoon rodeo two years in a row. Have I made my case?

I even recently learned that there is an annual (albeit small) rodeo in Levant, Maine up near Bangor. Perhaps next year, Covid-19 permitting, I will be in attendance and even wearing my straw “cowboy hat” for the occasion.

On to the indigenous peoples (formerly known as indians) of the great plains…and the tribe nearest to Great Falls, the Blackfoot. I had some classmates in the first and second grade who were members of the Blackfoot Nation. Nice kids, as I recall. I have always marveled at the grace, resilience, and ferocity of the plains tribes. Two of the most fierce were the Commanches in Texas and Oklahoma, and the Blackfeet in Montana and southern Alberta, Canada.

During those two years based in Denver, I even attended a large “Pow-Wow”, or gathering of the plains tribes, on one Saturday afternoon in March. Impressive traditional dances and drumming were on full display during a full schedule of competitive dances representing many styles and native peoples of the plains. My most recent visit to the Blackfoot Reservation was 3 or 4 years ago, to and from a week of camping and hiking in Glacier National Park with my backpacking and adventuring good friend going all the way back to graduate school. The visit to the reservation was admittedly just a drive-through, consuming about half of the three-hour drive from the Great Falls airport to the Two Medicine Lake area of Glacier NP.

And connecting the tribes of the Great Plains is my third, and for the central purpose of this column and my long-time affinity with Montana…the American Bison. The magnificent bison, that numbered in the tens of millions in the late 1800s and were the life-blood of the aforementioned indigenous peoples. The magnificent bison who were almost wiped off the face of the plains by hunters, and “sports” with rifles who shot them by the hundreds from railroad cars just for the fun of it…and for the bounty set by the U.S. Government and what turned out to be an effective strategy to subdue the plains tribes as the westward migrations from the east shifted into high gear after the Civil War.

Just as was the case with my seeking out rodeos in The West, anytime I drive by a small herd of bison (commonly, but incorrectly also known as “buffalo”), I would stop, or at least slow down to a crawl, and admire them. They are regal and handsome in my view (see photo of the “patriarch”) and worthy of our protection, (much like the bald eagle), in the wild, and sensible use as a food source today from properly-managed bison ranches.…even here in The East!

This all brings me to a conversation after a doubles tennis match a week or two ago at the Rangeley Town Park tennis courts. Among the topics that came up was the bison ranch/farm off Route 16 halfway to Stratton. Who knew? I certainly didn’t !

Since it was a nice day (although I would have gone in a rainstorm, I think), I drove to its location a couple miles off Route 16 on the Kennebago Road that afternoon. Sure enough…there was a herd of bison, in a high-ground field affording a beautiful view of the Longfellow Mountains up to and including the beautiful Bigelow Range, that included a number of playful spring-borne calves, next to the road on my left. I was fortunate enough to have a brief conversation with the co-owner, Micheal Weaver (along with his wife Nichole), of the operation, who was finishing up a mid-day feeding of the two herds.

We agreed to sit down for a more extended conversation the following week, socially-distanced at the nearby weathered picnic table, with my notepad and pen in hand. I returned last Thursday on another beautiful day and sat down to learn a bit more from Micheal. He apologized that Nichole couldn’t join us…she had an event to attend with their two small children that day.

Co-owner of “Bigelow Fields” bison ranch, Micheal Weaver, with some of the herd, and some of the Longfellow Mountains in the distance Allen Wicken

I learned that Micheal grew up in Alaska, near Anchorage. Right after graduating from high school he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. After a few years, that included one tour to the Middle East, he was stationed at the nearby U.S. Navy (includes the Marine Corps) Survival School at the end of Redington Road as an instructor from 2009-2012. I didn’t ask what his instructor specialty was, but in retrospect wished that i had. It was Micheal’s first time in Maine. And as many of us from away often do, he fell in love with The Pine Tree State,…and in keeping with that theme, he also soon met his Stratton native wife-to-be, Nichole.

The inital, and still handsome, initial breeding bull at “Bigelow Fields” in Stratton, Maine Allen Wicken

Long story short, they later had the opportunity to purchase the longtime Nile Homestead/farm and its beautiful high ground location. It was a perfect site for both of them to stay connected to the land and the outdoors and to launch a commercial operation of mutual interest, a bison ranch,…so they did!

They had some help from the Maine Farmland Trust who gave their endeavor an easement in exchange for an agreement that the land would never be developed for any purpose other than farming/ranching. They also obtained a grant from Maine’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). In fact, that afternoon Micheal was expecting another visit from the NRCS who periodically visit their bison operation (named Bigelow Fields, by the way) to discuss the past year and plans for the future growth of the ranch.

From an initial herd, started in 2016 with one bull and a half dozen cows, the herd today numbers 45 head. This includes a second herd, separated by a fence, with one breeding bull. This will help insure the genetic/DNA health of the combined herds going into the future. Their plan is to grow the herds to a total of about 100 head, whereby they will be able to “harvest” about 20-30% of the total herd annually thus allowing for a sustainable herd that will keep them going economically as well.

Speaking of “harvesting”, I learned that they can’t do the butchering themselves, since that would require a full-time U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector on the payroll. The ranch is not big enough to afford that added person, plus there is the large investment in slaughterhouse equipment and facilities. Instead, they have an arrangement with a slaughterhouse, complete with a U.S.D.A. inspector, in Guilford, Maine. So a periodic trip north with their livestock trailer and a few selected members of the herd, is a regular occurance.

Micheal noted that there is no shortage of work to be done on a daily basis, and in the planning for added equipment and so forth, but the fine bison ranch is proceeding well…and it sounds like both Micheal and Nichole are no strangers to hard work. Having a beautiful location and a handsome pair of kids makes their future all the more promising. And personally, I am very pleased to have a bison ranch nearby…to stop by now and then and watch these beautiful animals mosey about very contentedly, with an equally handsome mountain range in the distance!

We need to write, otherwise nobody will know who we are.

Garrison Keillor

Respect Science, Respect Nature,

Respect Each Other. VOTE 2020

Per usual, your thoughts and comments are more than welcome. Simply fire off an email to: allenwicken@yahoo.com