WICHITA MOUNTAINS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE.
Day 169 – Beginning of Week 25. We were visited by a female deer this morning at the site. She was just walking through like it was part of her daily routine. Lots of wildlife here! A beautiful, clear day, 35 degrees at 7:30 a.m. We have no internet and no cell phone signal. Guess the blog will be late in getting published. Rob put the OK sticker on the U.S. Map.
Added Oklahoma
There was a lot of ground to cover; we packed lunches & headed out to the Visitor’s Center to get an overview of the Refuge. It was a large, modern facility a little off the main refuge road & as we turned to pull into the parking lot, we saw 3 huge, gorgeous buffalo statues. Life-sized & life-like, the buffalo statues were placed right on the driveway just before the Visitor’s Center. Wait a minute. They are moving. They are eating grass. OMG.
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We were both speechless. We drove very slowly by, our mouths hanging open in shock. The buffalo couldn’t have cared less. We parked the car & hurried over, still in awe & staying a respectful distance from them, and got some pictures. The buffalo just continued eating. We went into the Visitor’s Center and at the main desk, I asked if those buffalo were tame, like were they pets? The woman said (not a direct quote, but something close to): Oh no, they’re not tame. You must keep your distance. Those three buffalo are older and tend to hang around here. When they are older they tend to keep to themselves, then they go off & die in solitude. Recently an elderly man who lives near here who was familiar with one old buffalo in particular, felt so unthreatened that he sat on the ground in front of the buffalo and stuck out his hand, offering the buffalo some food. The buffalo charged the man. Luckily, he was uninjured because he fell down and the buffalo jumped over him and just missed trampling him. They are not tame.
She gave us some literature and suggested we watch the short film about the Refuge so we’d get a better idea about what they do. We watched the film and found out so much more great information. This Wildlife Refuge is the oldest and most prestigious in the United States. In addition to herds of wild buffalo (American Bison), the Refuge maintains herds of special Texas Long-Horned Cattle and Elk, all three of which had become virtually extinct in OK & the surrounding Great Plains States. The other regularly-seen critters are also found here – birds, butterflies, turtles, rabbits, frogs, fish, etc., and there are many Prairie Dog “Towns”, as they are called.
(Warning & apologies to those reading, some of the paragraphs below, and the lengthy descriptions in past blog entries also, are very long and wordy. Just skip over them if it doesn’t interest you, please. We blog this information & descriptions for ourselves so that we can continue to remember & feel the same about what we’ve seen & experienced when we look back & read many years in the future.)
Following is the wonderful conservation story of the return of the Wichita Buffalo Herd, from NWR brochures & handouts: “Between 1830-1880, the American Bison, or buffalo, was reduced in numbers from 60 million to a mere handful. By 1900, there were but two small wild herds in all of North America, numbering only 550 animals total. Elimination of buffalo from the plains forced a change in the wide-ranging hunting life of the Indian. This change was accelerated in the last 40 years of the 19th century by the coming of the buffalo hunter and thousands of land-hungry settlers. Farsighted conservation leaders such as President Theodore Roosevelt became concerned. They realized that this native American animal, so important in the development of the West, could easily become extinct and forgotten by generations of Americans yet unborn. Through the efforts of the American Bison Society and the New York Zoological Society, an offer was made to donate 15 bison to the Government if Congress would appropriate sufficient funds to fence an area in the Wichita National Forest and Game Preseve in OK. Congress set aside $15,000 for this purpose. The fence was built. On October 11, 1907, fifteen of the finest buffalo from the NY Zoo in the Bronx were shipped by rail to OK. Seven days later, these seven bulls & eight cows had safely returned to the plains & mountains. The herd prospered and grew. Today it numbers about 600 head. This is more than the total number of buffalo in the entire nation in 1900. Every effort is made to keep the herd in as natural condition as possible. The animals are not fed concentrated feed but thrive on lush range grasses. Surplus buffalo in excess of refuge needs are sold live at public auction. Since 1907, more than 6,000 animals have been removed from the range by sale or donation in order to preserve the high quality of Wichita grasslands. Of special interest are the little, reddish-colored calves that are born in the spring. Buffalo calves change color, and as they grow older, become dark brown like their parents. Twins are rare. Normal bison life span is 20 to 30 years, but a few live to be older. Two buffalo cows here are known to have had calves at 28 years of age. In most cases, the older bulls become solitary at about 15 years of age.”
In addition to this wonderful buffalo program, Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge has brought back endangered Elk and Texas Long-Horned Cattle to Oklahoma, using similar means. The cattle had been interbred with other kinds of cattle, and were all but killed off for their prized meat and horns. From Guide to the National Wildlife Reguges, by Laura & William Riley: “In 1927 the Refuge received a foundation herd of 20 purebred Texas Long-Horn Cattle, an historically significant breed descended from cattle brought over by early Spaniards. These great rangy animals, whose horns can measure 8 feet tip-to-tip, are preserved in the Wichita’s with management aimed at maintaining the integrity of the breed. Prairie Dogs, once even more numerous than the Bison or the Cattle – gregarious, frolicsome little rodents that once existed in the billions on the prairies, their burrow colonies spread over tens of thousands of square miles – were allowed to repopulate here away from farmers and cattlemen who nearly poisoned them out of existence. This is land that has never seen a plow, strewn with huge lichen-covered boulders, weathered granite mountains over five million years old, a rugged rocky island upthrust visible for many miles in the otherwise rolling and featureless plains of southwestern Oklahoma. Looking out over the 59,019 acres of this Refuge, you see the country as it was before the Europeans came – ‘nothing except what God put here’ as one staffer put it – for much of it is unfenced and the herds roam free.” The film we saw at the Visitor’s Center showed how through DNA testing & regular blood tests, only the most healthy, pure-bred cattle are remaining on the Refuge, while control of the size of the herd to maintain the vital grasslands for their food is done through auction and donations. The Elk herd size is controlled by a yearly hunt where numbers are closely watched & maintained.
About the Refuge itself, “Established in 1905, the Refuge encompasses 59,020 acres (about 90 square miles) of native mixed grass prairie and the wildlife that call it home. Over 40% of the Refuge is open for recreation (Public Use Area) while the remainder is closed to protect the animals and their habitats from disturbance. Main highways through the Refuge are open 24 hours. The Mount Scott scenic drive, side roads, pull-outs, picnic areas, and hiking trails close at sunset. Camping is available at the Refuge year-round. Doris Campground – RV and tent sites – are available on a first-come, first-served basis.”
And from the film, when rounding up the herds of Elk, Buffalo, and Cattle, the Refuge initially used horses & dogs to herd the animals. Then trucks were used, followed by helicopters. This proved to be very stressful to the animals. The Refuge now uses alfalfa cubes sprinkled on the ground in the areas they want the animals to go. Voila! Problem solved. No one gets stressed out.
Information on Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge: 32 Refuge Headquarters, Indiahoma, OK 73552, (580) 429-3221 or (580) 429-8487 or (580) 429-3222, website – www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/oklahoma , e-mail – fw2_rw_wichitamtns@fws.gov. A stop here should be on everyone’s agenda if in the area!
Back to our visit to Wichita Mountains NWR, we toured the Visitor’s Center & enjoyed the many displays, then headed out to do some touring. The 3 buffalo were still stuffing their fuzzy faces. Rather than a designated Auto Tour, this Refuge had many miles of roads thoughout huge amount of acreage. We managed to cover all that were open to the public. We drove to the top of Mt. Scott, stopping at turn-outs on the scenic drive and having our lunch at Lake LaTonka while watching the fishermen. We saw buffalo at several different locations throughout the Refuge, but did not see any Elk. There were plenty of Long-Horned Cattle & we were amazed by their size. Beautiful lakes, many birds, wonderful scenery, just as wild as could be. There was a turn-off for “Holy City of the Wichita’s”, interesting. Then we encountered the Prairie Dogs. But first, we’ll let the pictures do the talking……
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So, Prairie Dog Towns. Several places we went, we encountered a grouping of mounds of dirt & rocks where little critters scurried about. SO cute. And not just cute, but the personalities. Little ones, big ones, and they chirp & squeal. Hard to take, you just want to take them home.
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These pictures are from several different areas we stopped at to see these little kids. But at one place, we had quite an experience: We pulled up and parked. They were all skittering about. They’d stand up, look at us & give a little chirp, then go about their business, scurrying to and fro. But one large one came up out of its hole, threw its little arms in the air and squealed loudly, falling face-first to the ground by its hole. It did not move.
Groundhog playing dead, Wichita Mountains NWR, Lawton, OK
I’m like, oh no! We scared it to death. It’s had a heart attack. We waited, it did not move. Then suddenly, it stood up and walked forward a few steps, looked at us, threw its arms in the air, and squealed, falling face-first onto the ground. It didn’t move. This happened one more time. It was playing dead. A real drama queen. We were laughing SO hard.
After driving the north and east roads, we headed back by the visitor’s center to get on the main road to go south and west. As we passed the visitor’s center, we saw that the buffalo were now resting on the ground. We stopped for pictures. Ooops. Just large rocks.
We saw dense smoke rising from the direction of the campground. Oh no, the girls are in the RV. Could there be a fire? Panic time! We drove rapidly until we were stopped at a place on the road where people were being pulled over by Wildlife Refuge personnel to explain that they were doing a controlled burn. We made sure that they knew we were concerned about the campground & they said that was not in the plans for this burn. Phew! We drove the rest of the Refuge roads & then came back to the RV, sat outside, and the Canada Geese were flying over in pairs. We were visited by an opossum. Now, we’d thought that opossums were ugly, but this guy was pretty darn cute.
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We noticed also that most of the birds at the campground, and there were many, were the same birds we had at home: cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches, etc. We were wondering if this was because we’d left the larger mountains behind and crossed the continental divide? Anyway, the girls were finding plenty of birds to keep them occupied. We had dinner early, then went out to do a quick drive at sunset to see how things looked in the different light. The fire was smoking a bit and the fields were burned black.
We saw buffalo, the three we’d seen at the Visitor’s Center previously, and they were feeding by the side of the road at a different location. And we saw the Long-Horned Cattle up close finally. They were impressive.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
We came back to the RV and visited with the girls, read our books, and headed to bed fairly early. It’s supposed to rain for a couple of days. We’re thankful for the good weather while we were here. This is a wonderful Wildlife Refuge and we are in awe at what they’ve done here.