Bison Ranching in Oregon's Wallowa Mountains | Oregon Field Guide

Bison are an iconic symbol of the West. They're America's national mammal. They have a reputation to live up to, and they don't disappoint. It's almost kind of like thunder a little bit. You can feel the bison running the ground. We sort of think of them as domesticated, but basically they're almost wild animals. We've worked with them a lot and kind of know their habits or what they might do, but they can always surprise you a little bit. Now you may be saying to yourself, bison, bison are just like cattle. But there are important differences between the two. It's not a big deal if a cow gets out. But if the bison get out, it's a little bit more of a catastrophe. The bison were just escaping from one pasture to another, so no one was in danger. But still, this wasn't the plan for the day. I'll chase them up the fence line, back up to that gate. They're pretty cute looking when they're little, but they grow up to be menaces. You just don't give them any other option but to do what you want them to do. But sometimes they still figure out a way to get around that. Wayward bison like these are a problem Marta's father, Bob Stangle, has been dealing with for decades. I've been observing them for 40 years. I've picked up on a few things. About the time you think you've got them figured out, they'll prove you wrong. Not quite a train wreck, but they put a pretty big hole in the gate. They always make it exciting, it seems like. How do you normally do that wrap? You want to tighten that some? Yeah, it's pretty loose. The princess is becoming the master, because I won't do it anymore. I'm trying to get it turned over to the next generation a little bit. I'm glad they took an interest. I wonder sometimes whether they should have gone and done something else, but they want to do this. I'm trying to make that opportunity work for them. A lot easier to close than it used to be. My parents bought this property in 1958. It was a grain and cattle operation. I always worked on the farm. And then when I got out of college, I came back home and I read some articles about people raising bison. And so in 1979, my older brother Joe and I went back to northeast Colorado and bought six heifers and two bulls. Just to sort of try it out. By 1987, we switched solely to bison for our livestock operation. The Stangles have more than 500 head of bison on almost 7,000 acres of land at the base of the Wallowa Mountains. Bob is starting to take more of a backseat as his daughters, Marta and Teresa, learn the ins and outs of running the ranch. If you're going to make it real simple, Marta does a lot of the land and animal management, and then I do more of the people, office, meat sales management. It works really well because Marta and my dad really enjoy being outside. And if they don't have to talk to people, that's great for them, where I really enjoy getting to do the marketing or customer service. Hey Morgan, this is Teresa Stangle. Stangle Bison Ranch is now a good time. So as far as round steaks, we can do cubed, plain, keep them as roasts. Yep, perfect. We live in a society where if you're going to do business with somebody or you find something, you Google it. It is definitely not dad's thing. So that was really helpful to have both Marta and I and then me being able to focus and learn about it. Teresa taught herself marketing, while Marta got a degree in crop and soil science. They're taking what they learned from their father and his brothers and building on it. A lot of the stuff I learned in college was how the grass grows and the different stages, and then the different soil types and what they're best for. So I brought a lot of that back. We generally try to do like a three-year rotation with our grazing, so we're not coming into the same pasture at the same time every year. And so we're trying to revitalize the soil and the grasses with the bison. Bison used to be here naturally, and due to people being horrible, decided to go on a track to where we are at, like 500,000 bison in the United States. They are such amazing animals, and to think of a world where they might not be there is a pretty depressing one. A lot of them are on farms and ranches, but it is great to be a part of trying to rectify that history where the bison should get to be back to where they were. Ready for breakfast. A bummer calf is one that isn't going to be raised by its mother for one reason or another, and we end up feeding it artificially. We call them the bottled baby or the bummer calf. If we hadn't stepped in and caught Wanda and started feeding her, she would have probably died out there. That's all. There you go. Milk's all gone, but she's not done. Maintaining the bison population in America isn't just about the past. Hi. How are you? Good, how are you doing? Good. It has a direct impact on the local community in the present. We love bison! Well, good. I'm glad you like it. Thank you. They know exactly what the meat is. They know where it came from. They might even tell you the name of the animal. You know, that's how, like, if you say farm to table, this is it. The way I love it is that's how we survive. That's the only way we go. We don't support each other, and what's a community? When we were younger, during different seasons, you know, we didn't feed dad as much because he was extremely busy doing a lot of things. Like most things, once you get a little bit older, you really appreciate some of those things that you didn't when you were younger. What I love about what I do is being able to work with my family, have that interaction with them every day. Running the ranch has given us the opportunity to do that. As far as my relationship with my dad and being able to take over the work that he does, he just has so much knowledge. I just feel like I'd never be at that level, you know, maybe when I'm as old as he is now. I hope to be there one day, but I'm getting there. Great people just doing their thing in their own Northwest-y way. We love bringing you stories like this. Support what you love. opb.org slash video.