BARNSVILLE, Minn. (AP) - With wranglers on snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, a group of western Minnesotans worked Tuesday to corral a loose herd of about 75 buffalo.
"They are trying to get them corralled back to their place, but they are having no luck," said Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist early Tuesday afternoon.
"They got them going pretty good, but then they just stopped," he said. "Every now and then they charge you because they don't want to be chased."
He said his deputies kept an eye on things and controlled traffic when the herd moved over roads, but the buffalo's owner and his friends staffed the drive.
Bergquist was skeptical the effort would work until the unruly buffalo decided to cooperate. "Hopefully, once they get so hungry and thirsty they will go back to where they get their food," he said.
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Harlan Manston's herd escaped from a 150-acre pasture near Barnsville early Monday and strayed just north of Downer to a gravel pit on the east side of Minnesota Highway 9. Barnsville is about 26 miles southeast of Moorhead.
Linda Schindler, who lives two miles south of Manston, said roaming buffalo were reason for concern.
"I know they can be very difficult," said Schindler. "Of course, there's always the fear of hitting them. They got out during Potato Days about three years ago. They had a heck of a time catching them."
Manston, 74, and nine others also spent Monday trying to get the herd back home.
Manston said there had been no talk of deputies using rifles or tranquilizers.
"They don't have enough shells," he said. "If you had two of them, using tranquilizer guns would be good. You can't tranquilize 75 of them."
Manston said the herd was mostly 850- to 900-pound cows, but there were also five breeding bulls that weigh nearly a ton.
