When the Tallgrass Bison Come Back to the Road: Osage County's Roundup Season and the County's Other Herd

Out at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve near Pawhuska, the 15-mile bison loop has been strangely empty since the first of October. The grass is still there, and so are the scenic turnouts and the county roads in. The animals the drive is named for are not. The Nature Conservancy posted the notice on its Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve page: beginning October 1, the herd would not be visible from the road, and staff expect to finish all wellness checks by November 20, "at which time the herd will return to the prairie."

That puts the herd's return eight days after this post runs. It's also a good time to remember that Osage County runs two bison herds. They answer to two different owners and keep two different calendars, and each one meets the public in a different place. The Conservancy's herd is the one you watch through a windshield. The Osage Nation's herd is the one you're more likely to meet at a meat counter in Hominy.

Where the Tallgrass Herd Has Been Since October

The docent page has a little more detail. During October and the first half of November, the herd "may be relocated to the north pasture," out of view until the roundup wraps up.

Anybody who has worked cattle will recognize most of what happens next. The Conservancy's roundup story describes the whole herd being gathered each fall by staff and local wranglers for a checkup that includes a weigh-in and vaccinations. The work goes in this order:

1. Cattle cubes bait the bison into smaller and smaller pastures, and the gates close behind them each time.
2. Wranglers on flatbed pickups push the animals into holding pens, hollering and revving engines so the bison don't turn back before the gates shut.
3. In the corral, about 50 to 75 bison at a time go down narrowing alleys into a working chute.
4. Staff read data from transponders in each animal's ear, and new calves get tagged.

The same story tells about a crew struggling to move bison out of the last 1,500-acre pasture into the smaller traps, which helps explain why the job takes weeks. The herd roams about 23,000 acres of the 39,000-acre preserve, and the crews try to bring every animal in off that ground. They don't always get them all. In the 2020 roundup, 2,186 bison came through the corrals and nine couldn't be caught, and the stewardship staff call those few stubborn ones "known escapees."

What Last Fall's Count Says About the Herd

The Conservancy brought 300 bison to this prairie in 1993. At the most recent roundup, in fall 2025, the tally looked like this:

That's nearly seven times the original 1993 herd. The 486 calves also show how fast a herd grows on good grass, and that's why a fall gathering is part of managing it. The Conservancy says the bison are there to restore the balance between grasses and broadleaf plants. Bison eat almost nothing but grass, which leaves room for the forbs that disappear from heavily grazed ground.

Before the 2025 checkups, a much older part of the same story describes how the preserve once handled extra animals. In that earlier era, it sold about as many bison as were born each year, mostly to meat producers. That's history from a page first written years ago, not a description of this fall. It does connect to the county's other herd, though.

The First Drive After November 20

When the herd is back on the prairie, the preserve works the way it always has. It's open dawn to dusk every day, admission is free, and you get there on county roads. There are scenic turnouts, picnic tables, public restrooms and a visitor center. The 15-mile bison loop is the main drive.

The visitor center opens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but only on certain days. Volunteer docents staff it, and the online calendar marks their days with a "Reserved" label. Check that calendar before you plan a stop around the building.

If you'd rather walk than drive, the Nature Trail has three connected loops through all of the preserve's major habitat types. It's mowed and graveled, with benches and boulders for resting and numbered markers keyed to the trail brochure. The loops can be hiked separately or strung together:

• Bottomland Trail is about half a mile on level ground around the Sand Creek bottomland.
• Study Trail is about a mile and takes roughly an hour at an easy pace. There are some loose rocks and uneven footing, and it can be muddy in wet weather.
• Prairie Earth Trail is about 2 miles of rough terrain and steep hills. Allow 1.5 to 2 hours, and expect mud after rain.

The rules haven't changed. Stay in your car around the bison, which the Conservancy describes as having "an incredible amount of power and very pointy horns." Leave the dog at home, because ground-nesting birds are easily disturbed. No hunting, camping or campfires. Utility vehicles and golf carts aren't allowed on the preserve. If you're bringing a large group, such as visiting family over Thanksgiving, the preserve asks you to call ahead at 918-287-4803 so it can line up a docent.

The County's Other Herd Comes In on Its Own Schedule

The Osage Nation runs a bison herd of its own in the county. The Osage Nation Bison Preserve is a conservation herd overseen by the Nation's Department of Natural Resources. According to Osage News, the Nation's bison restoration work has been based on the 43,000-acre ranch it bought from Ted Turner.

The Conservancy announces its roundup window. The Nation's bison come in when they're ready to come in. In an April 2025 Osage News report on Butcher House Meats, a staff member explained that a planned bison processing day fell through because the animals were "behaving stubbornly." Dr. Jann Hayman, the Nation's Secretary of Natural Resources, told Osage News that rescheduling is normal:

"Bison are wild animals and do not behave like cattle, so there are times where the bison movement prohibits gathering. We simply coordinate with BHM and schedule a new date."

BHM is Butcher House Meats, the Nation's 19,000-square-foot processing plant at 115 Eagle Ave. in Hominy, across from the Hominy Osage Casino. It was built and approved for cattle, bison, hogs and seasonal deer, and it has a retail counter open to the public. Hayman told Osage News that every bison sold there comes from the Nation's own preserve: "We only sell Osage Nation bison through the facility."

The Osage Nation's Butcher House page lists beef, pork, and bison "when available," and the timing problems above are the reason for that last phrase. The counter's February 2026 price list includes ground bison, bison chuck roast, bison ribeye and bison KC strip. The Nation lists these hours:

The shop has been at this since 2021. In 2025, staff told Osage News that their biggest problem was that many people "still don't realize that … we're open to the public," and that some Hominy residents didn't know the building was there. In June 2026, KGOU reported on a new Osage program that gave eligible citizens $250 to spend at Butcher House Meats and the Nation's Harvest Land farm, with buffalo and beef among the eligible purchases.

Late-Fall Dates Around Pawhuska

Once the herd is back, a drive up the loop fits well with Pawhuska's holiday calendar, since downtown is on the way home:

The Saturday after Thanksgiving works out well. The preserve is open from dawn and the tree lighting starts at 5:30, so you can drive the loop in the afternoon and still make it to Main Street in time. If you're coming up from the south end of the county, the Butcher House counter opens at 9 that Saturday morning and closes at noon.

We work pasture, fences and water for a living at American Pride Realty, so a herd being gathered off thousands of acres and brought through a chute is the kind of thing we notice. If you own grazing ground in Osage County, or you're starting to think about what comes next for it, give us a call and we'll talk it over.