The Elusive Arizona Bison

Having just returned from a lovely, relaxing week in northern Arizona, I am reflective about the entire experience. We normally associate Arizona (or at least I do) with desert, cactus, iguanas, snakes and brutally hot weather. At this moment, I'm not certain that any of those perceptions are incorrect. But the fascination of Arizonans with bison is my most substantial curiosity.

As a resident of Colorado, I see what we call "buffalo" on a regular basis, alive or otherwise. We have a spot on one of our major highways that designates a "buffalo herd overlook" and we have our share of buffalo paraphernalia and venues. But you won't see the word "buffalo" in Arizona, appropriately so. The only true buffalo are in Africa and Asia and those creatures that we believe to be buffalo are in fact bison.

The Arizonans are better at this than we are in Colorado. In fact, they are substantially more accurate. From the time we arrived in the state until we left, we never saw the word buffalo. But we saw the word bison without pause. Here's how that went.

On one of our short journeys through northern Arizona, we were able to see the following: Bison Home, Bison Retreat, Bison Canyon, Bison Ranch, Bison Trail, Bison Golf, Bison Bar and Grill, Bison Plumbing, Bison Contracting, Bison Ridge Trail, Bison Crossing and Bison Parkway. If you let your imagination wander, you might well visualize Bison Beauty Salon, Bison Bargains, Bison Bowling, Bison Laundromat, Bison Salon and Spa, Bison Business Council, Bison Hardware or Bison Day Care.

The most incongruous aspect of this apparent Arizona obsession with bison, is that there was not one to be found. Given the fact that we were there only a week and that we didn't tour all of this beautiful state, there may very well be some bison that reside elsewhere. But that best intention cannot be supported by the comments received by at least one resident of many years who has never seen a bison in the state.

And so I am led to wonder a number of wonders. Is this Arizona's greatest joke to identify itself as bison heaven when in fact bison are most difficult to spot? Is it more a matter of, "if we wish hard enough, the bison will appear in massive herds?" Perhaps there is a climate explanation with regard to the animals that reside in Arizona. We saw a number of critters, some requiring a more determined effort than others.

Late one evening, we were privileged to see a few elk. That amounted to three elk in a week's trip. But on the particular state highway that we traveled more than any other, there are at least one hundred "watch for elk" signs posted. Knowing a little about elk as I do, it is likely that they are hiding in the shade or some secluded area so as to insulate themselves from pesky humans. Any way you look at it, that's three more elk than bison spotted. It may also be useful to point out that we didn't see the endless elk images. I believe that there was one Elk Ranch but that was probably it.

We also saw a jack rabbit, a snake, a few deer and a bald eagle, the latter of which was the most gratifying sight of all. But the only bison I saw, regrettably, was between a hamburger bun on our way out of town. And still the enigma of the bison remains a mystery.

Happily, we saw a herd of bison in New Mexico, as we were returning to the bison-called-buffalo state of Colorado. New Mexico is the Land of Enchantment so they have no particular incentive to display their bison but did anyway. Certainly there is something to be said for understatement. But there's no mistaking Arizona's pride in their bison. Perhaps the challenge refers to finding them.