Summer Intern Essay's

Life On The Prairie: By, Yoann Vandendriessche

What the hell is a French boy doing in the South Dakota prairies?! The answer is simple, I live my life the best way I can and the Wild Idea Buffalo Company, Cheyenne River Ranch and Conata Basin Ranch was like heaven to me. I’m not a farmer, I’m not a cowboy, my English is not perfect, but I feel home when I walk through those land.

I met people I will never forget. I train my ears to listen all the sounds from animals and birds. Train my eyes to all the different species of grasses growing. I practice fly-fishing, I tanning leather to craft a pistol holster, ride horses, and make a knife.

Here life is simple, you wake up with the sun enjoy a hard work during the day in the greatest office you can have and go to sleep with the sun set lights, that keep dancing all night in your mind.

Since I can remember, bison always had a great importance to me. Now I have learned a lot about them. I spend time in the middle of the herd, just trying to understand the complexity of their family link, language and way of roaming. I bleed some of them during the harvest on the plains and feel the spirit of the great bison floating around me, smelling like sage smoke and dry tobacco. When you harvest a bison with respect, offer him a quiet death, and give him some presents for the travel to the great pasture, thanking him for the meat he gives to you, you don’t feel bad. You are just in the middle of the circle of life.

Tomorrow I will fly back to a new adventure, with holes in all my pants, and in all my shirts. I will wear cowboy boots and hat. I’m not sad to leave this place, as I know

I will return.

I want to thank these amazing families, the O’Brien & Jones’s. You rock! You made me feel so good. Thank you for everything. Love you guys.

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My Internship: By, Lauren Lay

I interned with Wild Idea Buffalo Company for a month this spring to learn more about prairie ecology and bison production. I’m from South Carolina and working toward my B.S. degree in Biology at Winthrop University in Rock Hills, S.C. I had never been on the Great Plains before – never even ridden in an airplane. South Dakota and South Carolina are very different!

Helping out with Wild Idea confirmed my interest in range management science and I plan now to go to graduate school to study more about it. Wild Idea really is an exceptionally progressive operation and I am very grateful for this opportunity and for Dan and Jill for patiently answering all of my questions. I had lots of questions and I’m looking forward to coming back!