No bull -- we can do a bison roundup

Oct. 9—The annual bison roundup at Custer State Park in the Black Hills, held just over a week ago, gives a glimpse of what the prairies in the American West looked like 150 years ago.

It's worth the trip to see. About 1,500 bison are rounded up by horse riders, pickups and ATVs while even more spectators than bison spread out on two hillsides to watch.

Gov. Kristi Noem is the host of the event, usually riding her horse in the roundup but this year horseless, watching from a hill due to a recent back surgery.

It's a grand spectacle that draws visitors and provides good political theater for the governor.

People in our area have a lot more interest in bison since a genetically pure wild herd was added to Minneopa State Park a few years ago. The bison quickly became wildly famous, so much so that Minneopa (the prairie side, not the waterfalls side) went from a sleepy park rarely visited by anyone outside the region to one of the most popular state parks in Minnesota.

At nearly 50 bison, we don't quite have the herd size of Custer, but we're making gains, with a record 16 calves born this past spring.

While the herd may be smaller, there's no reason we can't have a roundup event at Minneopa each fall. Gov. Tim Walz, whose hometown is Mankato, would comfortably fit in leading the festivities.

In one manner or another, Custer, Minneopa and the other parks with bison round up their herds every fall for the same reasons — to check each animal's health, give them vaccinations and sort out some of the two-year old bulls to be sold or transferred elsewhere to prevent inbreeding.

So why not make an event out of it?

People could easily line up behind the fence on the south side of the bison range. And the high hill where Seppmann Mill sits would give a great vista as the bison are driven to the corrals on the west end of the park.

The late Rex MacBeth, who was for decades the area's No. 1 cowboy, would have been a great leader of the roundup, but there are plenty of horse men and women in the area who could be recruited for the roundup.

And of course we would want the Dakota/Lakota involved. There are some skilled Dakota who ride their horses from as far as South Dakota to Mankato every Dec. 26 for the Dakota 38+2 Memorial Ride.

Like at Custer, a breakfast could be hosted. Do it atop the Seppmann hill and raise money for the Friends of Minneopa. Souvenir T-shirts with the mill and a bison on them could be sold.

Part of the Custer roundup festivities include a big arts fair at the nearby State Game Lodge, a grand lodge President Coolidge used as a summer White House.

Minneopa could host an art fair at the nearby scenic waterfalls area.

As our herd grows and the roundup draws more interest, we can garner some good media attention. It might draw the filming crew from the "Small Town, Big Deal" TV show as this year's Custer Roundup did. (We ran into the hosts, Rodney Miller and Jann Carl, as they were coming out of a cafe in Custer one day, getting ready to cover the roundup the next morning.)

I never heard of Gov. Walz riding horses, but maybe he does. If not he would need to learn before the first Minneopa Roundup.

We can't be having the South Dakota governor outshining us.

Tim Krohn can be contacted at tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com or 507-720-1300.