24x40
oil on board
original available $2000
giclee canvas available Just north of me, at Pink Mountain, we have wild plains bison in abundance. I just returned from a pack-trip west of there, 40 kilometers in and there are nothing but bison trails and wallows everywhere. I was walking down to the creek carrying dirty breakfast plates to clean up and I noticed what looked like one of the bays in the shadows under a bunch of spruce. There was no wind and I was walking silently down a buffalo trail to the creek. All the horses were hobbled and up the other end of valley and I wondered why this one had strayed off.

Because... it was a BIG plains bison at fifty yards, that's why!! I almost dropped the dishes in disbelief. We eyeballed each other for at least a minute. I had my 30-06 on my shoulder because I thought I might run into a dish-wash elk.

He stood like a staue and then turned and left in a lope...right through the open buck-brush...without a sound. How the heck can a big animal like that be so silent? Many times I have seen Grizzly come into licks the same way...silent like a ghost. You look up and there he is...out of nowhere.

That bison encounter happend in August of 2013. As I was reviewing my sold paintings for the website, it struck me that I had done a lot of bison scenes. Now I know why.