Watch: Yellowstone bison, fleeing hunters, stampede back to park

A Montana photographer on Friday shared footage showing dozens of bison stampeding toward Yellowstone National Park after apparently being targeted by hunters.

A description on Elizabeth Aluck’s Facebook reel reads: “Bison running back into Yellowstone National Park after being shot at by hunters.” (Click here to view the reel.)

The footage, posted on the Yellowstone Critters public page, was captured in late February near Gardiner, just north of the park. It does not feature audio of weapons being fired.

Aluck told FTW Outdoors, however, that she watched tribal hunters shooting at bison and “heard the gunshots.”

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On Friday, Aluck added: “Hunters are all over town right now, and will be all weekend.”

Montana’s general bison season closed Feb. 15. But Native American tribes, which enjoy traditional hunting rights, operate largely within their own system of regulations.

According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, several tribes “have demonstrated their aboriginal right to hunt bison in Montana near Yellowstone National Park under treaties that were negotiated with the U.S. Government.

“These are legal hunting rights, and tribes hunt during seasons and under regulations established through their own regulatory processes. At times, these hunts may occur outside of Montana’s regulated hunting seasons.”

The hunts are controversial, in part because it can seem as though hunters line up to shoot bison as they cross the park boundary toward winter foraging areas such as the Gardiner Basin. (Hunting inside the park is illegal.)

The overall harvest this winter has exceeded 1,000 animals.

That said, management of Yellowstone National Park bison is highly complex. The park boasted a population of about 6,000 bison before the 2022-23 hunting seasons began.

–Image showing bison running toward Yellowstone National Park is courtesy of Elizabeth Aluck