Visiting Sandsage Bison Range & Wildlife Area in Garden City, Kansas

On the final day of our stay at the TownePlace Suites Garden City in Kansas, Shae and I arranged to go on a tour of the Sandsage Bison Range & Wildlife Area.

The organization in charge of the area – Friends of Sandsage Bison Range – doesn’t have a set tour schedule. Instead, you can contact them by phone or email to arrange a tour (details below).

We arrived just before 10am and Benjamin came outside immediately to greet us. Shae and I were the only ones taking a tour that morning, so the three of us jumped in their vehicle and drove over to the pasture where the bison were currently residing.

We spent nearly an hour sitting in the truck among the bison while Benjamin shared lots of information about them.

During the winter, they feed the bison every other day to ensure they get enough nourishment. As you can see in these photos, there had been some heavy snow which limited how much prairie grass they could get to.

One thing we hadn’t been entirely sure of initially was if we were looking at bison or buffalo. It turns out that there are no buffalo in North America – only Asia and Africa – so these were bison.

They’ve had bison on the property since 1924 when they started with one bull (male) and two cows (female). They currently have 45 bison which is a great improvement on 2012 when their number reduced to 10 due to a severe drought. There were 10 calves born this past year which were 30-40 lbs when born. We visited several months after they were born, so they were considerably larger by then.

The bulls grow to 1,600-2,000 lbs and about 6.5 ft tall, while the cows are 800-1,200 lbs and about 5.5 ft tall. The easiest way to tell the difference between males and female is by their horns. Bulls have horns that go straight out and straight up, while cows have crescent or C-shaped horns.

Their horns are made of keratin, the same substance that our hair and fingernails are made of. Benjamin had a horn in the truck so that we could get a closer look at them and see what they feel like.

The worldwide bison population is in much better condition now that it was a few decades ago. In the 1980s, there were only 30,000 bison worldwide; they now number more than 500,000. Somewhat ironically, the reason for the dramatic population increase is due to their increased popularity as a form of meat.

Sandsage Bison Range & Wildlife Area is based on ~4,000 acres which limits how many bison they can have living there. As a result, the cows are usually sold once they reach 10-15 years of age. The bulls are sold before breeding age (3 years old) for genetic purposes to ensure a healthy herd. Every 5-7 years, they bring in new bulls to widen the gene pool.

The bison that don’t end up becoming burgers tend to have a 15-20 year lifespan. This lifespan is a little less than some other bison due to their diet. The prairie grass they eat has sand in it; this sand wears down their teeth which in turn affects their lifespan.

While we were chatting with Benjamin, Shae joked that she’d need to Photoshop the telephone poles out of some of her pictures to make it look like an even more natural setting. Benjamin shared that when telegraph lines were first put up there, bison used them as rubbing posts and so knocked them down. As a result, they had to dig deeper holes and fix them in place better.

We’d love to have had the opportunity to get out of the truck and pet the buffalo, but that apparently wouldn’t have been safe. Buffalo can run at 30-40 mph and will attack if they’re threatened. Benjamin said that they’ll warn you beforehand, but that warning could just be one second before they attack. They then continue until they no longer see you as a threat, so we were content with just sitting in the truck 😉

Bison heads can weigh 70-90 lbs, so you definitely don’t want that butting against you. Their humps are made of bone and muscle and are so big because they have to support the weight of their heads.

We also learned that bison have a matriarchal society. One of the senior cows is in charge and she decides when to stay and when to move.

Final Thoughts

Shae and I had a great time on our tour of Sandsage Bison Range & Wildlife Area. We learned loads about bison and enjoyed getting to be so close to them. If you visit southwest Kansas, we highly recommend getting in touch with Friends of Sandsage Bison Range to arrange a tour.

Contact Details & Address

If you want to arrange a tour of Sandsage Bison Range & Wildlife Area, you can contact Friends of Sandsage Bison Range by email at fosbr05@yahoo.com or call them on 620-276-9400. The address of the bison range is 785 S. Hwy 83 Garden City, KS 67846. There’s no set fee for a tour as they just take donations.