Jordan Green
For The Oklahoman
SAYRE – With thick, heavy coats of brown fur, hundreds of bison roam the vast, sweeping prairie near this western Oklahoma town, grazing on the waving grass in their native land.
Bison like these once numbered in the millions and covered the Midwest, providing food and resources to Native American tribes. But as settlers pushed westward in the 1800s, they killed the animals in droves.
Now, a company here is working to grow the herd.
Kyle Benjamin Reynolds and Austin Lee Puckett co-founded the Benjamin Lee Bison company in 2017 when they purchased land in the Sayre area and bought bison of their own. They added to a herd Puckett’s family started a few years earlier.